Prospective Students

School Nurse Certificate Program

Admission Criteria

1. BSN* including required course content (with a grade of "B" or better in the required course content), and an overall GPA of 2.75/4.00 in the last 60 hours of the BSN.

Required course content:

• Public Health Nursing (Public Health Nursing Theory, Practice, or Community)
• Human Growth and Development (Human Development or Child Health Nursing)
• Social Science (Sociology, Psychology, or Cultural Anthropology)
• Mental Health (Mental Health Nursing, Psych Nursing, Child or Adolescent Psychology)

*A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution in a field other than nursing plus an RN license is also acceptable. In this case, applicants must show proof of coursework in the following areas or complete the following three transitional courses at the beginning of their program:

• NURS 210, Health Assessment
• NURS 242, Concepts and Processes for Contemporary Nursing Practice
• NURS 385, Clinical Concepts and Processes in Population-Focused Nursing

2. License to practice as a professional nurse in at least one political jurisdiction.

3*. Requirements for Illinois nurses seeking Type 73 certification ONLY.

3a. Passing score on the ISBE Test of Basic Skills, which is administered by the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS). (Note: Due to recent changes to the Basic Skills Test, applicants are strongly encouraged to prepare for the BST by taking the diagnostic practice exam offered by the ICTS testing service and to identify and remediate any areas of difficulty.)

3b. All professional education and content-area coursework that is needed for certification must have been passed with a grade no lower than "C" or equivalent.

4. Basic computer skills. No student will be admitted who is not proficient in the following: e-mail, attachments, word processing, cutting and pasting, search engines and web resources.