School of Nursing

Admission requirements

Applications for admission are welcome from men and women from any cultural or ethnic background who are interested in a career in professional nursing. Students are admitted as sophomores. High school seniors can be admitted to the VCU Honors College and will have guaranteed admission to the School of Nursing as sophomores if they are in good academic standing with the Honors College. Admission into the School of Nursing is competitive. Applicants should follow the university guidelines in the “Admission to the University” section of this bulletin. Minimum admission criteria require that an applicant must be eligible for readmission to or in good standing at the last college attended and have a minimum GPA of 2.5 based on a 4.0 scale. Grades lower than C in any of the required courses are not acceptable for transfer. Admission GPA is calculated on courses required for the School of Nursing. Applicants should submit SAT (verbal and math), ACT or GRE scores. All applicants to the undergraduate program must have a minimum of at least 900 combined critical reading and math on the SAT (with neither score below 400) or a comparable score on the ACT or GRE to be considered for admission to the program. Applicants are required to complete an application and submit required transcripts, references and standardized test scores. Applicants to the R.N.-B.S. program are not required to submit standardized test scores.

Applicants for admission to the undergraduate program who wish to be considered for early acceptance will be considered if the following criteria are met:

Submission of the complete application by Nov. 1.
GPA of at least 3.4 on a 4.0 scale (calculated from a minimum of 30 semester hours of credit).
SAT test scores of at least 1100 combined verbal and math recentered.

Applicants who hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution in another discipline, but are not registered nurses, may apply to either the traditional or accelerated B.S. program.

Applicants who are registered nurses and who seek a baccalaureate degree apply to the R.N.-B.S. completion program. In addition to traditional admission criteria, applicants must meet the following requirements to be considered:

Be graduates of accredited (NLNAC) diploma or associate degree programs in nursing.
Hold a current R.N. license or authorization to practice as an R.N. in Virginia or obtain a visa screen certificate issued by the Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools.

In addition to the above criteria, highly qualified applicants to the R.N.-B.S. program who meet the following criteria are eligible for guaranteed admission:

Cumulative GPA of 3.0 on all college courses
No grade less than B in any nursing class
Three recommendations that highly recommend or recommend without reservation

In addition to taking courses, R.N. students may establish credit toward the baccalaureate degree in several ways:

Through transfer of credit from other colleges
Through proficiency examinations using the College Level Examination Program for general education and through National League for Nursing standardized examinations for anatomy, physiology, microbiology and nutrition

Information about the CLEP tests may be obtained from the Web at www.has.vcu.edu/bis/clep, or from the CLEP Administrator, Office of Interdisciplinary Studies and Special Student Advising, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 842002, Richmond, VA 23284-2002, (804) 828-2333. CLEP tests are offered by appointment. Subject examinations are available in multiple areas as listed in information available for the College Entrance Examination Board. Students may earn full course credit by examination for general education courses.