Prelicensure Option Admission Requirements
Application Deadline: Applications are due January 19, 2024, for the following Fall Term entry. Applications will still be accepted after the due date and be considered for the waitlist.
Students interested in nursing will be admitted to Elmhurst University as pre-nursing majors while they work on prerequisite coursework. When a majority of prerequisite coursework is successfully completed, students must apply to the Prelicensure Nursing Program.
- Students admitted to Elmhurst University as first-year students, i.e. freshmen, are automatically admitted to the nursing program if they meet all admission criteria. During their sophomore year, they complete the nursing application and take the admission nursing test as outlined below.
- Transfer students apply separately to the nursing program.
Admission to the nursing major is competitive, and meeting the minimum academic qualifications does not guarantee admission to the nursing program.
To be admitted to the nursing program, students must:
- Meet certain health requirements and functional abilities;
- Have the demonstrated ability to engage in diverse, complex and specific experience essential to the acquisition and practice of essential nursing skills and functions; and
- Have the unique combinations of cognitive, affective, psychomotor, physical and social abilities required to satisfactorily perform these skills and functions.
View the Elmhurst University Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Program Student Handbook for further information on these requirements for admission.
The following requirements are necessary to be admitted to the upper-division nursing program:
- Submission of official transcripts of every college attended, including transcript of current courses (transfer students only)
- A minimum college-level cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 2.8. Guaranteed admission students must have a minimum GPA of 2.8 after the first two semesters, and maintain a GPA of 2.8. Transfer students applying to the program must have a minimum GPA of 3.2 and maintain at least a GPA of 2.8.
- Completion of the prerequisite natural science and behavioral science courses with a grade of C or better prior to matriculation to the junior year of the pre-licensure nursing program
- Prerequisite courses: ENG 105, ENG 106, PSY 210, PSY 315, PSY 327, one college-level mathematics course, and one statistic course
- All prerequisite courses must be completed the spring semester before beginning the upper-division nursing courses
- Earn a cumulative science GPA of 2.8 or better in the prerequisite science courses
- Must earn a C or better in all nursing prerequisite courses
- Students may repeat one science prerequisite course to replace a W or a letter grade with a point value 2.00 or less
- Students may repeat a maximum of one (1) non-science prerequisite to replace a W or a letter grade with a point value less than 2.0
- A completed Elmhurst University Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Program Application, which includes verification of:
- Review of the Elmhurst University Pre-Licensure Baccalaureate Nursing Program Student Handbook
- Health requirements
- Comprehensive health insurance
- Functional abilities to meet program requirements
- Essential qualifications to meet program requirements
- Truthfulness of application to the nursing program
- A personal statement
- This is a word-processed personal statement answering the following questions in 250 words or less. When writing your answers, keep in mind that nursing is more than just “helping people.” It is a science-based, professional practice discipline. For further information on nursing as a professional practice discipline, see The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. In your personal statement, address:
- In what ways is nursing a science-based, professional practice discipline?
- What makes you interested in a science-based, professional nursing career?
- This is a word-processed personal statement answering the following questions in 250 words or less. When writing your answers, keep in mind that nursing is more than just “helping people.” It is a science-based, professional practice discipline. For further information on nursing as a professional practice discipline, see The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. In your personal statement, address:
- Two letters of recommendation from professors. When the student fills out the online application for nursing, the student will be prompted to submit two email addresses for the people who will fill out their letters of recommendation. The application will then automatically send the recommendation form to those people with instructions on how to send the completed form back to the university.
- A passing score on the Nursing Admission Assessment (A2) Exam (75% on each of the three exams)
- A monitored writing sample before or after the HESI Admission Assessment (A2) examination*
- This is a one-paragraph written response to a selected topic that is given to the applicant at the time of the A2 test. This will be completed on campus during the A2 testing time. The topic will be given during the testing time.
- A letter of recommendation(s) from the director(s)/dean(s) of all nursing programs previously attended. This applies to those who have completed nursing courses or are currently enrolled in nursing courses