Pre-Nursing (DTA/MRP)

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This pathway is applicable to students planning to prepare for upper-division Bachelor of Science-Nursing (entry-to-practice/basic BSN pathway) by completing a broad selection of academic courses. Many students transfer to the BSN program after completing the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program (RN to BSN pathway); however, this agreement is not applicable to and does not alter those ADN to BSN articulation agreements.

Due to high interest and limited space in BSN programs, admission to all BSN programs is highly competitive with many qualified applicants finding themselves on waiting lists for admission.

Degree Outcomes

General Degree Requirements

Minimum of 90 earned credits in courses numbered 100 or above is required to complete the AA-DTA degree. The 90 credits must include at least 60 Core Requirement credits, 15 General Transferable Elective (GTE) credits, and 15 General Elective credits.
ENGL& 101 English Composition I - required
COLLG 110 College Success required during the first or second quarter of attendance
Earn the lesser of (at least) 20 college level credits or 25% of the credits applicable to the degree or certificate at Pierce College
Cumulative college-level grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher is required
1.5 grade (C-) or better for all Core Requirement and GTE courses is required unless stated otherwise
“Pass” (P) grades, independent study and cooperative work experience/work-based learning credits may be used for general elective credits only
Once a course has been successfully completed, credits earned may be used in only one category

Core Requirements

Communication Skills (10 Credits)

ENGL& 101 requires a 2.0 or higher grade. Second communications course requires a 1.5 or higher grade. Northwest University and Walla Walla College require that the second English composition class be a research writing class.

Quantitative/Symbolic Reasoning Skills (5 Credits)

MATH& 146 requires a 1.5 or higher grade. UW-Seattle and Seattle University require 10 credits in quantitative/symbolic reasoning with the addition class in college algebra or precalculus (at UW-Seattle, a class in Logic also serves for the additional). Intermediate Algebra proficiency is required.

MATH& 146 Introduction to Statistics (5 credits)

Humanities (15 Credits)

Requires a 1.5 or higher grade. No more than 10 credits per discipline area. No more than five credits in world language at the 100 level. No more than five credits in performance/skills courses are allowed.

In order to better prepare for successful transfer, students are encouraged to consult with the institution(s) to which they wish to transfer regarding the humanities courses that best support or may be required as prerequisites to their nursing curriculum.

See the humanities choices in the WSU “Diversity Course Identification Guidelines” for possible selection or choose courses that include minority, non-western, ethic or other “area” studies. Selected from at least two disciplines.

Humanities Performance/Skills

Social Sciences (15 Credits)

Requires a 1.5 grade or higher.

Northwest University requires Cultural Anthropology and does not accept a course in the sociology discipline as a substitute. Students may be admitted to the BSN without Cultural Anthropology if they agree to complete the course at NU in the summer prior the junior year.

See the sociology choices in the WSU “Diversity Course Identification Guidelines” for possible selection or choose courses that include minority, non-western, ethnic or other “area” studies.

Select one:

Natural Sciences (38 Credits)

Requires a 1.5 grade or higher. Introductory survey courses or review courses do not meet the content level expectations for these natural science requirements.

Northwest University requires two credits of Genetics as well. Students may be admitted to the BSN without Genetics if they agree to complete the course at NU in the summer prior to junior year.

At the time of application when some of the course work may not yet be completed, UW-Seattle requires a minimum GPA of 3.0 for three out of the seven courses or 2.8 for four out of the seven.

General Electives (10 Credits)

Minimum of 1.0 grade is required. Five credits that meet the CM, QS, HM, NS or SS designation as stated on the AA-DTA degree lists. Up to five credits that are numbered 100 or above. A maximum of three physical activity (PE) credits can be applied to this degree.

COLLG 110 College Success (3 credits) required with a 2.0 or higher grade

Total Credits Required 93

Notes

Admissions application deadlines vary; students must meet the deadline for the university or universities to which they plan to apply for admission to transfer.
For admission to nursing as a major it is critical to note that grade point average requirements vary and admission is competitive across the several programs in Nursing.
Certain schools may have additional “university-specific” requirements that are not pre-requisites to admission to the Nursing major but will need to be completed prior to graduation or, as noted above for NU, prior to commencement of nursing courses. Contact with advisor from individual schools for institutional requirements is highly recommended since this DTA may not meet every institution-specific graduation requirement. NU, for example requires Old Testament and New Testament in the summer prior to beginning nursing classes.
Certain schools may have additional “university-specific” requirements for admission to the institution that are not prerequisites specifically identified in the DTA requirements. UW-Seattle, for example, requires 10 credits of a world language if the applicant has not completed two years of a single language in high school; PLU requires a year of a world language at the college level, if two years of high school world language has not been completed.

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