Admission Criteria

Fall 2025 NursingCAS Application Deadline: January 15, 2025, 10:00 p.m. CST.

Refer to the Application Information page to ensure a successful application process.

1. Bachelor's Degree

   At the time of application deadline an applicant must have earned a Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university. Provisional admission may be offered if degree conferral will occur the semester following the application deadline.

2. Pre-requisite Coursework

   An applicant must complete 43 hours of required pre-requisite coursework. Of the required pre-requisites, Biology Lecture, Biology Lab, Microbiology, and Physical Science courses must have earned a grade of B or better. All pre-requisite coursework must be completed and final grades reflected on official transcripts at the time of application deadline. Provisional admission may be offered to applicants with no more than 12 outstanding prerequisite hours. Outstanding prerequisite courses must be completed before beginning at LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing. A listing of all pre-requisite courses is available on the Curriculum page.

   LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans School of Nursing will recognize up to a combined nine (9) hours Accelerated Program (AP) and CLEP coursework. Official AP and/or CLEP transcript must be sent to the School of Nursing.  Nine (9) hours of advanced standing credit will be recognized if earned from the college/university.

3. Grade Point Average Criteria

   An applicant must complete all prerequisite coursework with a GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. A grade of C or better must be achieved in all non-science prerequisite courses. A grade of B or better must be achieved in all science prerequisites courses (Biology Lecture, Biology Lab, Microbiology, and Physical Science).

   If a student receives a grade of D or F in a pre-requisite course, it may be repeated one (1) time only. Failure of any pre-requisite course twice makes an applicant ineligible for admission.

4. Written Statement

   Applicants will be required to write an essay on a given topic as part of the NursingCAS application.

5. Endorsement

   One academic and one professional endorsement must be submitted at the time of application. The applicant will have an opportunity to input endorsee information within NursingCAS References section. Once the electronic information is saved within NursingCAS, an email request will automatically be sent to the endorsee on your behalf. Please advise your endorsee to look for the email from NursingCAS in their inbox, as well as their spam or junk-mail folder, as emails do occasionally get filtered out.

   You may submit your application prior to the endorsements submitted in NursingCAS.

6. Interview

   The interview will be completed and submitted online by the applicant. Only qualified applicants meeting all admission criteria will be invited to submit an online interview. Instructions will be forthcoming to all eligible applicants.

7. Previous Nursing Program

   If an applicant has attended a previous nursing program, a letter of academic good standing must be provided from that school of nursing.

NOTE: Students are expected to attend the mandatory, in-person 2-day New Student Orientation. Fall semester orientation is scheduled the end of July. The admission letter will state the exact dates.

NOTE: Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee program admission.

NOTE: An applicant may apply to only one LSUHSC School of Nursing BSN program at one time.

NOTE: It is strongly suggested to attend an informational session and/or program webinar in preparation for application.