Admission Criteria and Application Process

Criteria required to be considered for the Master of Nursing program

• A baccalaureate degree in nursing, normally four years in duration or its academic equivalent, with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0/4.0 or the equivalent calculated on the basis of the last 60 course weights (i.e., last two years of full time study).
• One undergraduate course in statistics and one in research methods with a final grade of B or higher in each, preferably completed within the past 6 years. Applicants who do not meet this requirement may be required to complete an undergraduate statistics and/or research course prior to beginning the MN program, or to complete a statistics refresher course.
• MN applicants who desire to become eligible for entry-to-practice as a nurse practitioner require 4,500 hours of registered nursing practice, appropriate to the program category (i.e. Adult RNs who have worked with adult populations, Neonatal RNs who have worked in at least level III or higher NICU environments, or Family/All Ages RNs who have worked with adults and children across some diversity of settings), prior to entering the program. Students will be tested on physical assessment skills at the beginning of NURS 516 (Adult/FAA) or NURS 518 (Neonate). In light of anticipated licensure category changes for nurse practitioners, the Faculty of Nursing will only be admitting full time applicants into the MN/NP program for Fall 2025. 
• All applicants must demonstrate English language proficiency prior to admission either by possession of a degree from an academic institution recognized by the University of Alberta, where the language of instruction is English; or a satisfactory score on an approved English language examination as described below. Graduate programs reserve the right to require a further demonstration of English language proficiency. Applicants who currently hold RN licensure with College of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CRNA) or another Canadian nursing regulatory body may also be exempt from ELP requirements. Although the satisfactory completion of an English language proficiency test cannot guarantee adequate language skills, a TOEFL score of at least 587 (paper-based), or a total score of 97 with a score of at least 22 on each of the individual skill areas (Internet-based); an IELTS overall score of 7.0 with the following minimum scores: Listening-7.5, Reading-6.5, Writing-7.0, Speaking-7.0, Overall-7.0; or equivalent where applicable is required by the Faculty of Nursing. In addition, the Faculty of Nursing may require applicants to successfully complete EAP 550.
• International applicants who do not have RN registration and clinical work experience in Canada can not be admitted to the advanced clinical (NP) focus.

Supporting documentation required for an application to be considered

• A completed online application for graduate admission. Applications not submitted are deleted 21 calendar days after you begin your application or the application deadline (whichever comes first). We suggest before you start your application, you gather the documents necessary to complete and submit your application (e.g., transcripts, degree certificates, English language proficiency scores, referee contact information and other documents required by the department offering the program to which you're applying). If you require assistance or have questions regarding the application process, please contact us through your student portal or refer to the FAQ section of the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) website.
• An official transcript issued to you by the post-secondary institution (preferred) or a transcript/student record obtained from a self-serve web system of the post-secondary institution (must meet the criteria listed in the Application Requirement for Academic Documents).
• Three letters of reference (two from an academic setting and one from a nursing practice setting). Please disregard the statement on the online application that it must be one academic and two work references. Unfortunately, this can not be changed but does not reflect the options available in choosing referees for our program. Students seeking admission to the program in a specific advanced practice specialty area should provide a letter of support regarding their clinical expertise in that specialty area if possible. Reference request emails (system-generated) will be sent to referees upon final submission of the application.
  Please contact your referee once you have submitted your application to ensure that they have received the message. If the email does not show up in their inbox, they can search (possibly in their spam/junk folder) for a message from graddnr@ualberta.ca with the subject line "UAlberta Graduate Admissions Applicant Reference Request". Referees are given two weeks to submit a reference.
  Please note that reference letters must be written in English
• MN Applicant Background Information document (Forms and Guidelines - Admission Documents): required form is also available in the Documents section of the online application.

Applications are not considered until all supporting documentation has been uploaded and your application has been submitted. Each application is reviewed for GPA in the final two years of the baccalaureate nursing program (or most recent 60 credits), grades in undergraduate research and statistics courses, grades in any graduate courses, references, nursing work experience, expectations about the MN program and career goals.

A recommendation is made by the Faculty of Nursing Graduate Admissions Committee to the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Nursing, who, in turn, makes a recommendation to the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS). GPS makes the final decision to accept or decline a student’s application. Although the program has minimum requirements, competition for places is high, and meeting the minimum standard is not a guarantee of admission

MN application scoring criteria

What students must provide after acceptance into the program?

• Official documents (transcripts, degree certificates, etc.) as noted in the conditional offer of admission letter. Documents must be sent directly from the post-secondary institution to the FGSR Office.
• The official admission letter for successful applicants is posted directly on the GSMS application.
• Students who are admitted to the Clinical focus area in order to obtain licensure as a Nurse Practitioner, please see Clinical Requirements for Graduate Nursing Courses.  

Tuition and Fees

Visit the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies Tuition Page for the most up-to-date information about tuition and fees.