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Direct Entry Nursing Tracks

The School of Nursing’s portfolio of Direct Entry graduate nursing programs is designed specifically for those who hold a bachelor's degree in a non-nursing field wishing to embark upon a meaningful career in nursing as either a Registered Nurse or Nurse Practitioner. Below, you will find instructions on how to apply to each of our direct entry programs. 

  • Direct Entry MSN RN – a Masters Entry to Professional Nursing or “MEPN”
  • Direct Entry MSN and Post Graduate Certificate Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
  • Direct Entry MSN and Post Graduate Certificate Family Nurse Practitioner
  • Direct Entry DNP Family Nurse Practitioner
  • Direct Entry DNP Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

Admission Requirements

You must hold a Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) from a regionally accredited US college or university or a post-secondary institution abroad that is recognized by the Ministry of Education in the home country. The BS or BA must be in a discipline other than nursing to be considered for admission. 

A list of prerequisite courses can be found below. You must complete all prerequisite courses before starting the Direct Entry course sequence, but you don't need to finish them to apply. If you have two or fewer outstanding prerequisite courses, your application will be reviewed by the Admission Committee. However, if you've retaken more than two prerequisites (two separate courses repeated, OR one prerequisite course repeated twice) within the past seven years, you won't be eligible to apply to the Simmons University Direct Entry (MSN) program.

Examples:

  • If you failed both the General Chemistry and Developmental Psychology prerequisites within the last seven years, you wouldn't be eligible to apply, as this would require you to retake two prerequisites.
  • If you earned a D in Microbiology, and retook the course to earn a D+, you also would be ineligible to apply, since you attempted the same prerequisite twice unsuccessfully within the past seven years.

Please note: If you are admitted, you will need to provide satisfactory evidence of secondary school graduation, or its equivalent, and compliance with the immunization requirements specified by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health before matriculating into the program. These two items do not need to be provided to the Admission team while applying but must be demonstrated before beginning the graduate program.

Requirements of all prerequisites

For Fall 2025 applicants: All prerequisites must be completed within TEN YEARS (not seven). Additionally, you may apply with THREE prerequisites outstanding. Please reach out to son-admission@simmons.edu with specific questions.

  • You must complete all prerequisites within seven years before the application deadline.
  • All prerequisite courses must have grades; pass/fail or audit courses, AP (Advanced Placement), IB, or CLEP scores do not fulfill prerequisites.
  • You need to take prerequisites at a regionally accredited institution or a post-secondary institution abroad that is recognized by the Ministry of Education in the home country.
  • You must have a cumulative GPA (of all institutions attended) of 3.0, and a 3.0 or “B” in all prerequisites.
  • If you have exceeded two prerequisite retakes (either two separate course repeats or one prerequisite course repeated twice) within the past seven years, you are not eligible to apply to the Simmons University Direct Entry (MSN) program.

Prerequisite courses (based on semester systems) required for admission

  • Statistics: One semester of statistics, can be taken in a math, psychology, or science department. Course content must include principles of probability, binomial and normal distributions, sample statistics, estimation and testing of hypotheses, and linear regression and correlation.
  • Developmental Psychology: One semester of developmental psychology. Course content must span birth to death; general psychology does not meet this requirement. A series of appropriate courses in combination could fulfill the prerequisite, such as prenatal to adolescence, young-middle adulthood, aging, and dying.
  • Microbiology: One semester of microbiology with a lab.
  • Human Anatomy and Physiology: Two semesters of human anatomy and physiology with lab. Animal physiology will not meet this requirement.
    Pathophysiology
  • General Chemistry with lab (one semester)

For questions regarding specific prerequisite courses, please email the School of Nursing Graduate Admission Office (son-admission@simmons.edu) to confirm the courses meet the requirements. Include the course name and number, when and where it was taken, if a lab is included, and if it was an online or onsite course.


Please note if applicants are/were enrolled in institutions that use(d) quarter or trimester systems, two or three quarters/trimesters may be required to equal one semester.