RN-MSN Program

Requirements & Process

Admission

  • Submit application, a $30.00 application fee and all supporting materials to the Admissions office by the appropriate deadline, including transcripts, recommendations and health immunization form.
  • Admission to Jacksonville University
  • Have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA in non-nursing required courses.
  • Students must either complete at JU or receive transfer credit for the following prerequisite courses prior to admission to the RN-MSN Program. Prerequisites courses with less than a “C” (2.0) grade may be repeated once, and no more than two courses may be repeated.
  • Graduation from a state approved Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or Diploma nursing program.
  • Florida license to practice nursing.
  • Current CPR/BCLS Certification.
  • Current driver’s license.
  • Three recommendations; two of which should be professional letters of recommendation.
  • A completed health care form.
  • An official copy of your Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score. A composite score of 900 or more on verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE is required. Students not meeting these requirements may be admitted on conditional status for six credit hours.
  • All students, whose first language is not English, must also take the TOEFL Examination and score either 540 on the paper-based exam or 207 on the computer-based exam.
  • All applications and official transcripts of undergraduate and graduate work must be on file in the School of Nursing office prior to initial registration.

Credit by Examination
In order to meet prerequisite course requirements, students may CLEP any of the courses approved by Jacksonville University. A maximum of 30 credit hours may be awarded for CLEP. The minimum passing score is 50. The test must be taken within a five-year time limit.

Portfolio Credit
Credit may be awarded for content included in certain approved nursing courses for on campus and satellite students only. The student is responsible to demonstrate, through the use of a portfolio that supports the individual’s knowledge and skill, that course credit is warranted.

Credit for Licensure
Registered Nurses receive a maximum of 30 credit hours for successful completion of a standardized State Board Licensure Examination.

Undergraduate Program Promotion and Retention
Each student registered in the nursing major is expected to maintain the minimum of a 2.0 cumulative grade point average for all work attempted while recognized as a nursing major. Students who do not maintain this minimum will be declared ineligible to continue in the major unless an individually designed continuation program has been prepared by the Director and approved by the School of Nursing Admissions, Progression and Retention Committee. Only grades of “A,” “B,” or “C” are considered passing for nursing courses required for the major. A nursing major
shall not progress to any higher level nursing course unless at least a grade of “C” is earned in all preceding nursing courses. In all clinical courses, the student must pass the clinical evaluation. Students shall not progress to Nursing Synthesis until all other nursing and non-nursing required courses are successfully completed. After admission to the nursing major, placement in upper division nursing courses for the academic year will be based on the following priority ranking:

  • Full-time, regularly progressing students.
  • Part-time, regularly progressing students (RN-BSN, RN-MSN and MSN Programs).
  • Students who have interrupted their studies but are in good academic standing.
  • Students who have withdrawn from one or more nursing courses.
  • Students who need to repeat one nursing course.
  • Students who have failed and successfully repeated one or more nursing courses.
  • Students who need to repeat two nursing courses.
  • Transfers from other baccalaureate nursing programs according to Admission, Progression and Retention Committee guidelines. If additional criteria are needed to determine placement, date of becoming out of sequence and cumulative GPA will be used. (See academic counselor).

Licensure
Graduation from the School of Nursing meets the educational requirement for eligibility to take the examination for registered nurse licensure. Application to take this examination must be made to the State Board of Nursing. Any person who has been arrested or convicted, regardless of adjudication, for any offense other than a minor traffic violation, may be restricted from licensure by the Board of Nursing.