Nursing, B.S.N.

Coordinator: Julie Sutherland
Email: stanarjj@jmu.edu

Program Description

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) program prepares students for licensure as entry-level professional nurses. The General Education program engages students in the liberal arts, promotes community and civic engagement, and develops students' abilities to use ethical reasoning in decision-making. The B.S.N. program, including the traditional B.S.N. pathway and the fast flex pathway, builds on the liberal arts to develop discipline-specific knowledge, skills and abilities needed to promote health, prevent disease, manage acute and chronic conditions, and coordinate care to individuals, families and communities across the lifespan in a variety of healthcare and community settings.

Admission and Retention Requirements

The B.S.N. in nursing offers three options for completion: the traditional pathway, the Fast Flex pathway and the R.N.-B.S.N. pathway. Admission to the traditional pathway is limited to 113 students each fall and spring. Admission to the Fast Flex pathway is limited to 30 students each summer. For information on the R.N.-B.S.N. pathway, see the R.N.-B.S.N. catalog page.

All applicants must be currently admitted to the university, meet admission criteria, and complete the application to the pathway of choice. Detailed application information is available on the nursing school website.

Application Requirements

Admission to the B.S.N. requires completion of a secondary application. The application process consists of two steps.

Step One: The following are required to apply for admission to the traditional B.S.N. pathway and the Fast Flex pathway. Admission is conditional upon meeting all admission requirements.

• Enrolled at JMU
• B.S.N. declared major (deadlines are October 1 for spring registration and March 1 for summer and fall registration)
  • Change of major requests received after the deadline will be processed the following semester. Students changing their major to Nursing after March 1 of their sophomore year should expect an additional semester(s) to complete the program. The number of additional semesters required to complete the program will depend on the timing of the change to Nursing and the number of summer courses completed.
  • The first step for changing your major is to log into MyMadison and visit your Student Center. In the “Other Academic…” dropdown menu you should find options for adding and dropping a major. Once you have completed this process, you will need to schedule an appointment with Anna Cho, Academic advisor for the School of Nursing, also through MyMadison.
  • Please note that to apply to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program you must be a full-time student at James Madison University and meet all admission requirements and prerequisites as stated on the B.S.N. website.
• One full-time semester at JMU completed (by the end of the semester of application)
• 36 credit hours completed (by the end of the semester of application)
• Earn a minimum grade of "C-" in prerequisite courses and maintain a minimum prerequisite GPA of 3.0
  • General Education "Madison Foundations" -- one Critical Thinking and one Human Communication course. The average of the grades earned in "Madison Foundations" and "Critical Thinking" will be used in your prerequisite GPA calculation.
  • One of the two biology course sequences: BIO 270/BIO 270L or BIO 290/BIO 290L
  • PSYC 160
• After the criteria and pre-requisite courses are met, the following will be used in applicant consideration:
  • Experiences: ROTC, work experiences, and community service
  • An essay of no more than 500 words to address a prompt that demonstrates students’ commitment to the values of the School of Nursing 

Admission Requirements

Step Two: Conditional admission is contingent upon the student’s successful completion of all remaining admission requirements prior to program entry.

After application and before entry into the traditional or Fast Flex pathway, students must maintain a minimum prerequisite GPA of 3.00, complete 48 credit hours, and earn a minimum grade of "C-" in the remaining prerequisite courses:

• Earn a minimum grade of "C-" in prerequisite courses:
• NUTR 280
• MATH 220
• CHEM 120
• BIO 245/BIO 245L
• Complete remaining biology course: BIO 270/BIO 270L or BIO 290/BIO 290L

Students may elect to repeat up to two courses during their enrollment at JMU on a repeat/forgive basis following university policy. For prerequisite courses used in the admission application, specifically biology, chemistry and statistics, when taken at JMU or other institutions as repeat credit, the nursing program will average the grade of the repeated course for a final grade used in the admission application.

Students on the traditional pathway are full-time and take courses and clinicals during day, evening and night-time hours. Students on the fast flex pathway are full-time and take courses and clinicals during evening, night-time and weekend hours. The associate director for undergraduate programs must approve any deviation from the full-time enrollment pattern as outlined in the catalog. Once admitted, the student must earn a minimum grade of "C-" or "Credit" in each required nursing course to remain in good standing in the nursing program. A grade of "D+/-", "F" or "No Credit" is considered a course failure. A student who receives a failing grade in a nursing course may repeat one nursing course with school approval. A student who receives a second failing grade will be ineligible to continue in the program.

Other academic and related policies in effect for students in the nursing program are outlined on the school website.

Additional Information

Madison Foundations normally is completed during the first year. General Education courses in Arts and Humanities, The Natural World, American and Global Perspectives and Sociocultural and Wellness Area can be scheduled as desired by the student across the first and second years.

Most students can complete general education and prerequisite courses in four semesters, but some students find it necessary to enroll in summer school or an additional year to complete the work satisfactorily.

Degree Requirements

¹

The General Education program contains a set of requirements each student must fulfill. Some credits may be fulfilled by courses that are prerequisites for or required within the major.

²

13 credits of prerequisite courses count towards General Education requirements.

Prerequisites

The following are course prerequisites required for the nursing major. Courses must be completed with a minimum grade of "C-."

¹

Contained in The Natural World.

²

CHEM 131 and CHEM 132 can be substituted for CHEM 120.

³

Contained in Sociocultural and Wellness Area.

Major Requirements

The core curriculum for nursing must be completed in a specific sequence and accounts for 59 credits. Students also take 2-3 credits of restricted electives.

Recommended Schedule for the Traditional Pathway

Students may fulfill the restricted electives requirement (2-3 credit hours) any time during their third or fourth year.

Recommended Schedule for the Fast Flex Pathway

Students may fulfill the restricted electives requirement (2-3 credit hours) any time during their third or fourth year.