BSN Admission Requirements

Use the links below to skip to a section:

• BSN Eligibility
• BSN Prerequisite and Corequisite Courses
• TEAS Exam

For information on the application process and deadlines please visit Undergraduate How to Apply.

REMINDER: If you are not already a student at SJSU, there is a two-step application process to be admitted to the BSN program. Applicants must also meet CSU admission requirements.

BSN Eligibility 

BSN applicants must meet the following requirements to be eligible:

1. Students must complete lower division coursework before the time they intend to start the BSN major coursework.
2. Due to impaction, The School of Nursing does not accept international students and only admits California residents. Applicants must provide proof of citizenship and/or California residency with the NursingCAS application.
   • DACA and non-DACA undocumented students must include the DACA/AB540 form with the NursingCAS application. 
3. Currently enrolled SJSU students can apply for both Fall and Spring terms
   1. Transfer applicants can only apply for Fall terms.

   2. Prior Baccalaureate applicants can only apply for Spring terms and are limited to 10% of the available spots (6 out of 60). 

BSN Prerequisites and Corequisites

Applicants must have all 8 prerequisite courses completed and all 3 corequisite courses completed or in progress by time they apply. Prerequisite and corequsiite courses must show on the official transcript submitted to NursingCAS.

Please review Transfer Course Information on our How to Apply page if you are using courses from another school for any prerequisite or corequisite courses.

• Requirements

  • - Applicants must achieve a 'C' grade or better in all BSN prerequisite and corequisite courses. 
    - The combined GPA of the 8 BSN prerequisite courses must meet the minimum GPA of 3.3 or better.
    - All prerequisite and corequisite courses must be completed with a grade of 'C' or higher. A maximum of two attempts is allowed to meet this requirement. We will use the first attempt if a grade of 'C' or better is earned, even if second attempt is higher.
    - Corequisite and Prerequisite courses must be taken with a letter grade.
    - Only letter grades are calculated in the prerequisite GPA. If using AP scores for a prerequisite course, the grade will be viewed as "Credit" and the prerequisite GPA will be calculated on the rest of the prerequisite letter graded courses.

• 8 Prerequisite Courses
  • 1. BIOL 65: Human Anatomy*
    2. BIOL 66: Human Physiology*
    3. MICR 20: General Bacteriology*
    4. ENGL 1A: Composition**
    5. STAT 95: Elementary Statistics
    6. CHEM 30A: Intro to Chemistry-Inorganic (or general chemistry equivalent)
    7. COMM 20/COMM 96PS: Public Speaking**
    8. CSU GE Area A3: Critical Thinking Course**
• *Recency Requirements for Prerequisites
  • BIOL 65, BIOL 66, MICR 20 must be completed within five (5) years of nursing application deadline. Courses may be repeated only once for academic forgiveness or recency requirements to achieve a minimum “C” grade. If a combined “Anatomy & Physiology” course is taken, all courses in the sequence should be taken at the same campus.
• **Prior Baccalaureate Applicants

  • ​Nursing program admission prerequisites that are to be considered as equivalent under Title 5 section 40509 are oral communication, written communication, and critical thinking.

    This means that you will be exempt from taking the above highlighted three prerequisite courses. You may enter those three as "credit".  The grade of the remaining five prerequisites will be used partly in the calculation of the admission impaction score.

• 3 Corequisite Courses
  • 1. PSYC 1: Introduction to Psychology
    2. CHAD 70: Lifespan Development in the 21st Century (development from birth to death)
    3. NUFS 8: Nutrition for Health Professionals
• AP Scores

  • AP courses are accepted for ENGL 1A, STAT 95, CHEM 30A, and PSYC 1 if a 3 or higher score was achieved. You must submit your college board scores to the NursingCAS Application.

    If you are already a current SJSU students and your AP courses show at the top of your SJSU transcript, you do not need to submit your college board scores.

TEAS Exam

• Applicants must complete the TEAS exam and achieve a minimum score of 84%.
• TEAS exams must be taken within five years of application.
• Version 7 is preferred.
• A total of two attempts is allowed. The highest score of the first two attempts will be used. 

Applicants are required to upload a copy of your TEAS score to your NursingCAS application as instructed by the deadline. Review our BSN TEAS FAQs for more helpful information regarding the TEAS exam.