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Associate in Pre-Nursing DTA/MRP

Download the Nursing DTA Worksheet

Statewide Major Ready Pathway (MRP) Agreement

This pathway is applicable to students planning to prepare for upper division Bachelor of Science, Nursing (entry-to-practice/basic BSN pathway) by completing a broad selection of academic courses. Many students transfer to the BSN program after completing the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program (RN to BSN pathway); however, this agreement is not applicable to and does not alter those ADN to BSN articulation agreements.

This document represents an agreement between the following baccalaureate institutions offering an entry-to-practice/basic BSN program and the community and technical colleges system. Baccalaureate institutions party to this agreement include: University of Washington, Seattle; Washington State University; Northwest University; Seattle University; Seattle Pacific University; Pacific Lutheran University; Walla Walla College. The Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing (WSU-ICN) is a consortium whose members include Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga and Whitworth. Associate degree transfers to WSU-ICN are admitted through EWU, not through the other consortium institutions. EWU participated in the development of this agreement.

General Degree Requirements

  • A minimum of 90 quarter hours of transferable credit.
  • A college cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 is required.*
  • English 101 (Composition – Exposition) is required.
  • A minimum of 25 of the last 45 credits must be earned at Pierce College.
  • A 1.5 grade (C-) or better for all requirements is required unless prerequisites state otherwise.*
  • “Pass” (P) grades may be used for General Elective credits only.
  • Independent Study credits may be used only for General Elective credits.
  • Cooperative work experience/work-based learning credits may be applied to the General Elective area only.
  • Once a course has been successfully completed, credits obtained may be used only once, even if that course is listed in more than one category.

*Specific grade requirements vary from course to course and among transfer institutions. Students must check with the transfer institution. Note that admission to the BSN upper division nursing programs is very competitive; therefore, no particular GPA can guarantee admission to any specific nursing program.

A. Basic Requirements

Communication Skills (10 credits)

ENGL 101, Composition – Exposition (5)

ENGL 103, Composition – Argumentation & Research (5)

Note: Northwest University and Walla Walla College require that the second English composition class be a research writing class.

Quantitative/Symbolic Reasoning Skills (5 credits)

Intermediate Algebra proficiency is required

MATH 281, Intro to Statistics (5)

Note: UW Seattle and Seattle University require 10 credits in quantitative/symbolic reasoning with the additional class in college algebra or pre-calculus (MATH 121) (at UW Seattle, a class in Logic (PHIL 120) also serves for the additional class)

B. Distribution Requirements

Humanities (HM) (15 credits)

Consistent with the requirements in all DTA degrees — no more than 10 credits per discipline area, five credits maximum in world languages or ASL. No more than five credits of performance/skills classes are allowed.

SPCH 110, Fundamentals of Public Speaking (5)

Humanities Electives (GER-HM)* (10)

Note: In order to better prepare for successful transfer, students are encouraged to consult with the institution(s) to which they wish to transfer regarding the humanities courses that best support or may be required as prerequisites to their nursing curriculum.

Social Sciences (SS) (15 credits)

PSYCH 110, General Psychology (5)

PSYCH 205, Human Development (5)

Sociology Elective (GER-SS)* (5)

Note: Northwest University requires Cultural Anthropology and does not accept a course in the sociology discipline as a substitute. Students may be admitted to the BSN without Cultural Anthropology if they agree to complete the course at NU in the summer prior to the junior year.

Natural Sciences (NS) (minimum of 35 credits with at least 25 credits lab-based)

BIOL 101, General Biology (5)

BIOL 240/241, Anatomy & Physiology I (lecture/lab) (6)

BIOL 250/251, Anatomy & Physiology II (lecture/lab) (6)

CHEM 101, Intro to Inorganic Chemistry (5)

CHEM 102, Intro to Organic & Biochemistry (6)

MICRO 201, General Microbiology (5)

HSCI 161, Human Nutrition (5)

Note: Introductory survey courses or review courses do not meet the content level expectations for these natural science requirements. Northwest University requires two credits of Genetics as well. Students may be admitted to the BSN without Genetics if they agree to complete the course at NU in the summer prior to the junior year. UW Seattle requires a minimum GPA of 3.0 for three out of the seven courses or 2.8 for four out of the seven.

C. Electives (10 credits)

Five credits that meet the GER-CM, GER-QS, GER-HM, GER-NS or GER-SS designation as stated on Pierce AA degree lists. Up to five credits that are numbered 100 or above.*

*A curriculum that provides students with an understanding of and sensitivity to human diversity is encouraged (required by WSU). The elective credits in humanities, social science, quantitative/symbolic reasoning and natural science provide one opportunity for such a curriculum. See the choices in the WSU “Diversity Course Identification Guidelines” for possible course selection or select courses that include minority, non-western, ethnic or other “area” studies.

Total Credits Required 90

Notes

  1. Admissions application deadlines vary; students must meet the deadline for the university or universities to which they plan to apply for admission to transfer.
  2. For admission to nursing as a major, it is critical to note that grade point average requirements vary and admission is competitive across the several programs in Nursing.
  3. Certain schools may have additional “university-specific” requirements that are not pre-requisites to admission to the Nursing major but will need to be completed prior to graduation or, as noted above for NU, prior to commencement of nursing courses. Contact with advisors from individual schools for institutional requirements is highly recommended since this DTA may not meet every institution-specific graduation requirement. NU, for example, requires Old Testament and New Testament in the summer prior to beginning nursing classes.
  4. Certain schools may have additional “university-specific” requirements for admission to the institution that are not prerequisites specifically identified in the DTA requirements. UW Seattle and PLU, for example, each require 10 credits of a world language if the applicant has not completed two years of a single language in high school.