Certain number of years?

Specialties NP

Published

Hello! If I may ask a NP here, how many years were you a RN before you could apply to become a NP?

Do you have to be a RN first, or can you just do the BSN program, and immediately do the MSN (Masters)?

I am getting misinformation, because one person told me that you need to be a RN for a couple of years, and then apply to be a NP. However, someone else told me that you have to complete the MSN before you can do it, whereas someone else told me that you don't even need the MSN at all. So confused lol...

Thank you for any replies! :)

Could anyone please reply? I would really appreciate it coming from an ACTUAL NP, and not an advisor, or some information on the web.

Thank you!

Specializes in Cardiac, Pulmonary, Anesthesia.

Some schools require experience, some don't. Some require BSN, some just require RN. All are MSN. Do a search.

To sit for the NP certification exam, you need to have completed a MSN program in that specialty (or a post-masters in that specialty).

But first you need to be admitted to a NP program. Some MSN programs require experience as a condition for admissions, and some do not. I am the Assistant Dean for Admissions at one university. This year we had 40+ applications for 10 spaces in our Family NP program. Although our printed admissions requirement indicates that applicants have 1 year of full-time experience for our NP programs, the successful applicants all had at least 3 years of experience.

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