Becoming a navy family nurse practitioner

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Sep 17, 2014

You should start looking at college ROTC scholarships. That is the only way to guarantee yourself a slot as a nurse corps officer. Direct commission after you finish nursing school is very competitive. If you aren't a high-caliber student, you won't be competitive with either route.

It all depends on whether you want to practice as a nurse practioner after getting a few years of RN experience. If you have to be an NP ASAP, then you should skip ROTC. Do a BSN as a civilian and jump right to a DNP (3 year practical doctorate...required for military NP). If you want to start as an RN, do ROTC. Then apply for a full-time grad school program after 3-5 years.

oaktown2 · Sep 21, 2014

You first need to decide which is more important - being a nurse in the Navy or being a FNP in the Navy? If you are ok with the idea of being any kind of nurse in the Navy then you can apply for ROTC or the Nurse Candidate Program. You can search on this site to find discussions of the differences between the two. If you really want to be a FNP in the Navy then you need to get your BSN and then do a FNP program and then join the Navy. You also have the option of getting experience as a nurse before a FNP program (probably a good idea) and getting experience as a FNP prior to joining the Navy (which may be necessary depending on how competitive things are).

If you do join the Navy as a RN, that doesn't mean that won't be able to do a FNP program in the Navy, but there are no guarantees. The only way to guarantee that you will be a FNP in the Navy is to join as a FNP. But as a nurse in the Navy, you do have the option of applying for duty under instruction and if selected, the Navy will pay for your program or you can do your initial service commitment and use your GI benefits to pay for a NP program.

Whatever path you choose, you will need to be competitive. So work hard, get good grades and participate in extra curricular activities.