Pre-Nursing Track

Registered Nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care in clinical and community settings. They educate patients, their families, and the public about various health conditions and evidence-based care. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs)—such as nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse practitioners—deliver primary and specialty health care, manage health care teams, engage in research, and serve as leaders in preventative health care. 

With nearly 4 million RNs nationwide, nursing is the largest health care profession in the U.S. The demand for advanced practice nurses is expected to grow by 40% from 2023 to 2033, making Loyola’s rigorous pre-nursing track an excellent foundation for a thriving career.

Loyola’s pre-nursing model prepares you for excellence in nursing by developing: 

• Mastery of natural and behavioral sciences 
• Critical writing and analytical reasoning skills 
• Opportunities for service, health care internships, and research 

Standard prerequisite courses for nursing schools include: 

• 3 semesters of Foundations of Biology with laboratory (Loyola's biology requirement)
• 1-2 semesters of general chemistry with laboratory (most accelerated programs call for only 1 semester)
• 2 semesters of human anatomy and physiology with laboratory 
• 1 semester of microbiology with laboratory 
• 1 semester of human nutrition 
• 1 semester of statistics 
• 1 semester of human development across the lifespan (psychology) 

These courses build your competency to process advanced scientific knowledge and respond to culturally complex health care situations. Loyola students report a 90-100% success rate when applying to accelerated BSN and accelerated, direct-entry MSN programs.

Loyola’s pre-nursing track equips you to pursue two main pathways after graduation: 

1. Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Programs:
   1. Program lengths usually range from 11-16 months
   2. Over 280 fast-track BSN programs available nationwide
   3. Ideal for highly motivated students who excel in fast-paced environments 
2. Accelerated Direct-Entry Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) Programs:
   1. Program lengths range from 15-22 months
   2. Nearly 70 direct-entry MSN programs to choose from
   3. Options for general MSN degrees or specialized pathways like Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) 

Some graduate-educated nurses often continue their studies into doctoral programs, such as the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).

Some accelerated Master of Science in Nursing programs require a competitive Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test score. The GRE is commonly waived if your GPA is above 3.3-3.4. Additionally, a few highly competitive accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs, such as Duke University School of Nursing and Columbia University School of Nursing, call for a competitive GRE score. The GRE is a standardized test designed to test your capacity to master graduate level information in three primary areas: analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. The GRE tests are managed through Prometric testing centers—they are easily available throughout the year. Loyola’s liberal arts curriculum will prepare you to succeed across the testing areas, but it is important to refresh your foundational mathematical skills, just as you did with your SAT, and give focused attention to your English vocabulary and writing strategies. It is important to familiarize yourself with the test by taking practice exams. This will help you to understand what you will encounter in this 2-4 hour test.

Most accelerated baccalaureate level programs do not require a GRE score. A sometimes-used standardized test for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree programs is the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS), which tests basic reading and language usage skills, mathematics, and science concepts. Your successful studies at Loyola will give you a solid foundation to succeed with the GRE test and TEAS.

Due to the high demand of registered nurses, many nursing colleges offer fall, winter, and even summer starting dates. You will need about a year for the application phase. Make sure to understand the specific requirements of your choice schools and their application timeline. Search for nursing schools and programs on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) member program directory. Also make sure you are set with the prerequisite courses, take your GRE or TEAS exam if required, contact your two to three references, finalize your resume, request your official transcript(s), write your application essay and/or personal statement, and prepare for the interviews.

You may find that some of your choice schools use a centralized application platform, NursingCAS, which is offered through The American Association of Colleges of Nursing, while others use their own systems, even paper applications. Expect a broad range of application practices and prepare your references for that as well.

At bachelor and master level accelerated nursing programs, the course work and clinical training move quickly. All your courses will focus on nursing theory or clinicals. Your successful completion of pre-requisite courses combined with a degree from Loyola show that you are prepared to absorb information and learn skills at a fast pace. In both accelerated bachelor's and master’s degree nursing programs, you will learn about preventative health promotion, effective and cost-sensitive management of infectious and non-infectious diseases, and indicators of high-quality health care across the continuum of health care environments and across the human life span. You will take courses and do projects on pharmacology, ethics and culturally sensitive care, information management, and evidence-based health promotion. You will build your clinical competency through skills-based training and rotations in such settings as medical-surgical nursing, pediatrics, and psychiatric health care. You will also learn to offer culturally sensitive nursing care in diverse ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic settings. Upon completion of your bachelor's degree course work and clinical training, you will be eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) to practice nursing in your state. At this point, you can begin practicing as a registered nurse, and you may set a goal to continue into a master’s degree and advanced practice nursing later in your career.

If you are enrolled in an accelerated master’s degree program, you will build upon the same nursing basics as in a BSN program, but you will also have an increased focus on leadership and management. During your master’s degree program, you will broaden your skill set and gain competence in assessing the patient, planning, and implementing care, and evaluating outcomes, especially within your chosen scope of practice. In nurse accelerated practitioner programs you have several practice areas to choose from. These include pediatric, family, adult,  and psychiatric areas. As a master's-level registered nurse, you become eligible to earn your final certification as an advanced practice registered nurse by passing APRN licensure exam offered through The American Nurses Credentialing Center and some other authorized credentialing bodies. Students in clinical nurse leader (CNL) programs focus on practices related to communicating, planning, implementing, and evaluating care delivery. As a clinical nurse leader, you will take a certification examination before you are eligible to practice as a CNL.