Applying to NP school before graduation

[Darkstar1485, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

Hello everyone!

I am a Senior BSN student researching Grad programs. I would like to get into a Women's Health NP program, or a Midwifery program. I see the deadlines for Fall 2015 are before I graduate (May 2015). Has anyone applied to a grad program before taking the NCLEX and was admitted as along as they passed the test before classes began? I'm new to this process. I have called schools and been given the run around.

I will be 30 when a graduate and I would like to keep going with my education. I want to go straight through. RN exp is important and I will work while in school. I don't have any kids and I'm single. I am a second degree student with a BA in Business.

Right now I have a 4.0 nursing GPA and a cum 3.77 GPA. Hopefully I can get that up to a 3.8-3.9 by graduation.

If there are any topic on this subject already, lease post the link bc I can't seem to find any.

Thanks for your help!!!

[TammyG]

Schools spell this out very specifically in their admission requirements; I am surprised you are getting a run-around. Often the same school will have different requirements for this depending on the program. I think that many schools are moving toward requiring some experience before matriculation, but not all. I applied to schools while I was still an undergrad student, though I ultimately did not start grad school until a year or so later. If you work while you are in school, you will gain plenty of RN experience prior to graduation.

[HopefulRN3]

I agree with TammyG, it's very important to gain som experience first. Are you planning to work while in NP school? Experience is very important especially if you are planning on doing it online. At least 1 yr will give you some resource to draw from.

[Darkstar1485, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

I do plan to work while in in NP school.

[RN543]

I know some schools, at least the school I'm attending, will take into consideration the amount of experience you will have by the time you actually start your clinical rotations. It's different in every program and would depend on whether you are going part time or full time, but at my school we start clinicals the 2nd year. The school I go to also has an additional course with clinical hours (that must be done with an RN, BSN) to compensate for not having the full 2 years of experience or not having enough experience in that particular specialty area. However, it didn't state any of this on the admission requirements listed on the university's website, or at least not anywhere that I saw. It specifically stated that you needed 2 years RN experience in that specialty. So some schools may have exceptions like that eventhough their admission requirements list otherwise. However, I would imagine they would be more likely to accept an applicant that at least had a job secured, and was already working in that specialty as an RN, even if it wasn't the full 2 years. In my opinion, I think it's a long shot, but you never know. You might have more luck waiting until you take your boards and getting a job before you apply. However, if the expense of application fees isn't a big concern to you, I don't see how it could really hurt to at least try. Good luck to you!

[BostonFNP, APRN]

If that's what you want to do, apply.

[anh06005, MSN, APRN, NP]

As someone else mentioned my school required experience before the CLINICAL portion of the program. I had 3 years of book work before so had plenty of hours of RN experience (I only went part time in my MSN program...and for FNP).