BSN Program (Pre-Licensure)
Lower Division
In order to be admitted into the College of Nursing, freshmen must meet all University and College of Nursing admission requirements. Acceptance into the University with a lower division classification does not guarantee progression into the upper division nursing major. Students who consider studying nursing at Carolina need to be aware that all UofSC undergraduates who seek a nursing degree are first admitted into the College of Nursing's pre-nursing lower division. This does not guarantee later admission into the upper division.¹ Students enrolled in the lower division must meet minimum upper division admission standards set forth by the College of Nursing. Once minimum criteria are met, all qualified applicants are placed into an applicant group and are evaluated, using the same criteria, by their progression grade point averages and essay and/or interview criterion for a total evaluation metric. Based on the number of available seats and available clinical sites, students are admitted based on results of the total evaluation metrics. In recent years admission to the upper division has become highly competitive as demand for the program of study has increased and therefore, the average evaluation metrics will change from cohort to cohort.
To be considered for admission into pre-nursing lower division of the BSN in Nursing generic (pre-licensure) program, transfer students must have a minimum 3.000 overall GPA in their college level coursework. In addition, any below C grades in nursing or science courses will eliminate you from consideration. See major specific transfer information on the admissions website.
NURS courses will not be accepted for transfer to the BSN in Nursing generic (pre-licensure).
To be eligible to apply for the upper division, transfer students must meet the College of Nursing requirements for progression through completion of the lower division science and nursing courses. All entering students are expected to have basic computer skills.
Effective Fall 2020 and After:
- Prerequisite BSN science courses must be completed within 7 years of starting upper division coursework, or 8 years if have continuous fall/spring higher education enrollment. Every attempt at science courses within the last 7 years will be included in progression GPA calculation, or 8 years if have continuous fall/spring higher education enrollment.
- Once a student has begun upper division coursework, they must complete the BSN degree within 5 years.
- Every attempt at science courses within the last 7 years will be included in the progression GPA calculation.
Smart Start Program
¹Students entering the university and meeting South Carolina Honors College (SCHC) admission criteria have a one-time opportunity, at the point of freshman admission only, to enroll in the Smart Start Nursing Program, a partnership between the College of Nursing and the South Carolina Honors College. Students admitted into Smart Start are directly admitted into Upper Division of the Nursing Program contingent upon meeting all SCHC and College of Nursing academic standards criteria and completion of all upper division application progression requirements.
Smart Start students who are not successful with meeting upper division application requirements will lose their direct admit status but will remain eligible for admission under the competitive upper division admissions process.
RN-BSN Program (Post-Licensure)
In order to be eligible for the RN-BSN program, students must meet all the admission requirements of the College of Nursing and University. Specific RN-BSN program admission requirements are as follows:
- An Associate Degree in Nursing or Diploma in Nursing from an accredited ACEN (formerly NLNAC) program
- Official Transcripts from all schools attended
- Application
- Application Fee
- English Proficiency Requirement1
- Other Supporting Materials - Criminal Background check and drug screen
- Current unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN) license to practice professional nursing in the United States
- Minimum Nursing (Previous Associate or Diploma) Degree GPA of 3.0002
| 1 | International applicants must be proficient in the English language. A score of 550 or above on the paper version of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is required. (A score of 210 or higher on the computerized version is required, and a minimum score of 77 on the Internet version is required.) TOEFL scores are not required for international students from countries where the primary language of instruction is English nor from graduates of high schools in the United States. |
| 2 | Students with a life GPA between 2.8 - 2.99 may be conditionally admitted, provided they have not completed more than 120 hours of prior collegiate coursework and have met all other admission requirements. |