Admissions Requirements - Nurse Practitioner

Admission Requirements

• Official transcripts representing all college course work. Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree must be from a regionally accredited institution and a NLN, CCNE or ACEN accredited nursing program. Recommended undergraduate cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
• Applicants who have attended a college or university outside the United States are also required to submit a course-by-course evaluation of their transcript through World Education Services (WES) or Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE).
• Two letters of recommendation from individuals who can speak to your academic and/or professional capabilities and potential. Recommendations must be from one of the following: nursing supervisor, preceptor, clinical supervisor, faculty. Colleague references must have an advanced nursing degree.  
• Within the Nursing CAS application, be prepared to answer the following questions:
  • Describe your reason for applying to the selected clinical specialty track (for example, family nurse practitioner, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner), including your short- and long-term professional goals.
  • Explain in depth your clinical experience and how it has prepared you for your selected clinical specialty track (for example, family nurse practitioner, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner).  
  • How would you be able to contribute to the educational community and APRN profession?
  • Describe the ways your previous professional and life experiences will help you to be successful in this program.
  • Why are you choosing to pursue a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree? (DNP applicants only)
• Professional resume or curriculum vitae (CV).
• Unencumbered RN license from a U.S. state board of nursing. (Prior to clinicals a RN license in the state of Kentucky or a compact state is required)
• Students for whom English is not their primary language must show English Proficiency

Neonatal applicants: 

• Minimum of one year of RN experience in a Level III or Level IV NICU recommended prior to admission. Must have the equivalent of 2 years of full-time clinical practice experience (within the last 5 years) in Level III and/or IV NICU inpatient settings before beginning clinical courses.
• Prior to beginning clinical courses applicants must have current certification as a NICU Nurse from National Certification Corporation (NCC), with Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing (RNC-NIC) certification, or American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), with Critical Care RN – Neonatal certification.  

Adult-Gerontology Acute Care applicants

• One year of RN experience in the ICU or one year of RN experience in any area and a commitment to complete one year in the ICU prior to starting program clinicals.  Applicants that do not have one year of RN experience at the point of application, but will complete one year prior to starting the program, will satisfy the work requirement.   

Pediatric Acute Care applicants 

• One year of RN experience in an acute care setting or one year of RN experience in any area and a commitment to complete one year in an acute care setting prior to starting program clinicals.

Criminal Background Check

All nursing students are required to submit a criminal background check (CBC) through the School of Nursing third party vendor Castlebranch. Students will be required to submit the CBC along with their decision to accept the admissions decision. Details will be included in the admission offer letter.