Fast-track to PhD
Outstanding Master of Nursing students who have exceptional academic standing in completion of specified coursework in the program may apply for admission to the PhD program without completing the master of nursing degree requirements.
Adequate faculty resources (i.e., appropriate graduate supervisor) must be available to support the student’s proposed program of study. Additional research experience may be required within the PhD program for students selecting this option.
Full-time coursework is completed in Year 1 by the Master of Nursing candidate in order to be eligible to accelerate through the master’s degree, including NURS 589 (fall)/590 (winter) plus 9 credits of MN coursework in each academic term.
Students must demonstrate strong academic standing throughout the first year of the MN program.
Application deadline is Nov. 25th for each upcoming academic year (there is a fall-term intake only).
Before a file can be reviewed for a Change of Category (Master of Nursing fast-tracked to PhD program), the following is required:
- Two letters of reference, one of which should be from the proposed supervisor
- References should complete both the reference form and a reference letter on letterhead, and submit these directly to nugrad@ualberta.ca
- Updated curriculum vitae
- Recommendation for Change of Category or Academic Standing form
- PhD Applicant Background Information document
Applications are submitted directly to the Graduate Office through your student service portal. The application file is evaluated by the admissions committee on the same criteria as other PhD applications.
If you are planning to apply to the Fast-track to PhD program, please reach out to the Graduate Office to inform them prior to submitting your application.
If the student is approved for admission to the PhD program via the Fast-track to PhD, the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) considers this transfer to be a Change of Category rather than a new admission. Therefore, the student’s PhD time limitation (six years) actually begins at the date of initial admission to GPS as a Master of Nursing student.
Once a student has been enrolled in the PhD (Nursing) program via the Fast-track to PhD option and completed part of the PhD program requirements, only special circumstances will be considered valid reasons for the student to withdraw from the PhD program and change their category back to Master of Nursing candidate with the intention of completing the master of nursing degree.