Frequently asked questions
Applications are assessed as they arrive but are not ranked until after the application deadline and all qualified applications have been evaluated. The application deadlines are:
- B.S. in Nursing—College Place entry: April 15th for the fall term that begins in late September on the College Place campus.
- B.S. in Nursing—Portland entry: March 1, 2024, for the summer term that begins in June on the Portland campus. Earliest consideration begins for complete applications by February 1, 2024.
Walla Walla University School of Nursing and most of our clinical partners require proof of immunizations. In the interest of public safety, this includes the COVID-19 immunization series, which continues to be highly recommended. Alternatively, at some clinical partner locations, a student may submit a COVID-19 declination form based upon a qualifying sincerely held religious belief or disability. All students must adhere to the clinical site’s requirements designed to minimize COVID-19 transmission. If a clinical site requires the COVID-19 vaccine, then unvaccinated students will not be permitted to participate in that clinical partner’s program and the student’s preferred clinical rotation may therefore be affected.
The Portland summer entry option offers an accelerated start in the nursing program. Students complete the bachelor's degree in 7 quarters, including the initial summer quarter intensive. The College Place entry option is 9 quarters long. Find a sample College Place course schedule here and find a sample Portland course schedule here.
No. Freshman (College Place Start) take general studies and nursing pre-requisites. In the spring quarter, freshmen can apply for official acceptance into nursing classes. If accepted, you would take the sophomore year on the College Place, WA campus completing sophomore-level nursing and cognate courses. The last 2 years (junior and senior years) of the program are completed on the Portland campus.
Transfer applicants (Portland Start) who are accepted for Portland entry will complete 16 credits of intensively paced, sophomore-level nursing courses on the Portland campus during a summer term. In the fall, those students will continue in Portland, completing the last 2 years (junior and senior years) of the program.
Either way, the final 2 years of the program (junior and senior level nursing classes) are located on the Portland campus.
You may be finishing some of the pre-requisite and/or general studies courses when you apply, but most should be complete at the time of application. If accepted, any “in progress” courses must be completed, with a minimal grade of C, by the program start date. Official transcripts documenting completion of all courses must be sent to the WWU Academic Records office prior to the program start date.
Yes! All pre-requisite courses are offered on the WWU main campus in College Place, WA. Students completing pre-requisite courses at WWU are given priority consideration during the application process.
Please see our nursing Transfer Course guide for information on specific pre-requisite course transferability. If you cannot find your institution, contact Rebecca Connell on the College Place campus at nursing@wallawalla.edu or Lindsay Loa-Siahaan on the Portland campus at portland.advising@wallawalla.edu for the campus on which you prefer to begin the program.
Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry, and Microbiology must be completed within 5 years of the application due date.
Yes. Current WWU students who have declared a nursing major will receive application instructions by email from the School of Nursing. You will also work with your nursing academic advisor to plan your course schedule to include the required pre-requisite courses.
Yes, if you are applying as a transfer student. Three letters of recommendation are requested at the time of application. These can be obtained via an electronic form found here. Currently enrolled WWU students are not required to submit additional letters of recommendation.
The School of Nursing requires the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT). This 50-minute timed test has 33 multiple-choice questions that measures critical thinking skills of health science students. Test-takers apply their skills in a variety of different scenarios in the areas of analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, explanation, induction, deduction, and numeracy. Learn more about the HSRT. We do not use or accept TEAS or other similar testing products as substitution.
We use your cumulative GPA for admissions decisions. Your cumulative GPA calculation is based on all college level courses completed at the time of application. Your GPA must remain above the required level as you complete pre-requisite courses for your acceptance to be valid. GPA requirements are as follow:
- B.S. in Nursing—College Place entry: 3.0 cumulative GPA
- B.S. in Nursing—Portland entry: 3.0 cumulative GPA
- B.S. in Nursing—LPN entry: 3.0 cumulative GPA
- B.S. in Nursing—RN entry: 3.0 cumulative GPA
The School of Nursing uses an application scoring system that is based on academic and non-academic factors including: Cumulative GPA, anatomy & physiology and the other lab science course grades (research indicates performance in these courses has a strong correlation to success in nursing school), entrance test score, pre-requisite completion at WWU, and content of the application essay.
Having your CNA license is not required for the nursing program. We do recommend professional or volunteer medical related experience prior to nursing school.
The nursing admissions committee will not consider an incomplete application. Application files are compiled in the Admissions Office on the College Place campus. A complete file consists of all of the following:
- WWU application
- Submission of ALL official transcripts
- Three letters of reference
- Completion of the nursing essay
- Admissions testing with a passing score
Learn more about the WWU School of Nursing admissions processes:
When you complete the WWU application, you will receive a student ID number and correspondence from the Admissions Office which will describe how you can track your application file on mywwu.wallawalla.edu. If you do not receive this information, please call the Admissions Office at (800) 541-8900 ext. 2327. The Admissions Office routinely sends out electronic notification to applicants indicating missing items.
It takes about 8 weeks after the close of applications to review all applications and process them.
We can accommodate 70 students each year in our junior class. On average, 50 students are accepted into the College Place entry program and 20 into the Portland entry program to complete the sophomore level nursing courses.
Yes. If not accepted into the Portland summer entry (beginning each June) you can contact the Admissions Office to request that your application file be considered for the College Place fall entry (beginning each September). There is no fall entry on the Portland campus.
Yes. The Portland campus offers resident housing for nursing students in Hansen Hall. Students accepted and attending classes on the Portland campus can submit an online application for housing in Hansen Hall.
No. We have no online, evening, or weekend nursing classes.
In College Place, classroom days are variable as students are also concurrently taking cognate courses. In fall, clinical lab days are Monday and Tuesdays and that means six-hour labs which can be either a.m. or p.m. shifts. During winter and spring terms, clinical lab days can be Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday either a.m. or p.m. shifts. You are assigned to a clinical day/time by the course instructor.
During the summer quarter for the sophomore intensive courses, Monday and Tuesday are classroom days which can go from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday is for skills lab practice; hours can vary depending on the number and difficulty of the skill being practiced/tested. Thursday and Friday are clinical lab days of about 7-8 hours each, all a.m. shift.
During the regular school year in Portland, Monday and Tuesday are classroom days. Clinical labs are completed in 8-12 hour shifts and can occur on either the day or night shift. Most students will complete two labs per week. Clinical labs can occur on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, or Sundays. There are no labs on Friday night or Saturday/Sabbath days, but occasionally Saturday nights are used.
A prospective student that is/has been enrolled in a nursing program can apply for admission into the School of Nursing. You will need to complete the regular application process, submit transcripts and reference letters, and complete admissions testing. You must also submit course syllabi from all completed nursing courses, and a letter or email directly from the dean or associate dean of the nursing program stating that you are/were a student in good standing and would be allowed to continue in their nursing program. Only credits from an accredited baccalaureate institution with regional accreditation and national professional accreditation as recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, such as the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) will be evaluated for possible nursing transfer credit. Transfer students with nursing courses completed are accepted only if space becomes available.