Generalist Entry Master’s in Nursing (MSN) for Non-Nurses: Clinical Nurse Leader Admissions

Program Prerequisites

You must complete all required courses with a grade of C or higher by the application deadline and maintain a minimum prerequisite GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. These courses must be taken at a regionally accredited college or university.

Required courses: 

• General Chemistry I*
• Human Anatomy**
• Human Physiology**
• Microbiology*** 

We recommend, but do not require, that required courses include a lab.

While all prerequisite coursework must be completed by the application deadline, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit an application while they are completing the prerequisite courses.  Admission is rolling, and cohorts are often filled well before the deadline. 

*Introductory or survey courses such as Basic Chemistry, Fundamentals of Chemistry, or Foundations of Chemistry are not accepted. Only one semester of General Chemistry is required. 

**Human Anatomy and Human Physiology: These courses may be completed as separate courses or as a combined sequence, such as Anatomy and Physiology I and Anatomy and Physiology II.  We recommend, but do not require, that these courses be completed within the last 3 years.

***Courses such as Cellular and Molecular Biology are not accepted in place of Microbiology.

View the curriculum

Admission Guidelines

We take a holistic approach to reviewing applicant credentials. You are more than just a test score. GRE scores are not required. 

We take the time to thoroughly review all of your credentials. Our program welcomes, and is enriched by, applicants from a variety of backgrounds. 

Applications are evaluated based on the following: 

• A bachelor’s degree (minimum) from a regionally accredited institution.
• Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended (sent directly to NursingCAS).
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
• Prerequisite GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
• Substantive answer to the personal essay question (included in the Program Materials section of NursingCAS).
• Three letters of recommendation.  
  • Letters must be from faculty or work managers.  
  • Choose recommenders who can evaluate your current or prospective clinical and leadership abilities, critical thinking and potential for program completion.
  • Recommendations from friends, relatives or co-workers are not accepted. Your application will be delayed or denied.  
• Resume or CV that includes the following:
  • Community service.
  • Educational, leadership and professional activities.  
  • Scholarly activities (publications, presentations, research, honors and awards).
  • Work experience.
• TOEFL scores if required
• Faculty interview (by invitation only).
• Completed prerequisite courses. 

Applications will not be considered if information is inaccurate or any of the required information is missing. 

How to Apply to the Generalist Entry Master's in Nursing

Applications are submitted through NursingCAS, the centralized application service for nursing. NursingCAS collects and processes your application documents and verifies transcripts. We use the information from NursingCAS to make our admission decision. 

Applicants are encouraged to submit an application while completing prerequisite coursework; however, all prerequisite coursework must be completed by the application deadline.

If the cohort is already full before the final application deadline, applicants will be automatically considered for the next available term of entry.  

How to apply: 

• Submit a completed application to NursingCAS.
  • You will be asked to enter the specific program (Generalist Entry Master's for Non-Nurses) and term of entry.
  • You may apply to only one Rush program and one admission term.
• Complete the brief Rush supplemental application, which will be sent to you after submitting your application to NursingCAS. The supplemental application fee is $40. 

We recommend that you complete your application and have all official transcripts sent to Nursing CAS well before the application deadline. It can take several weeks for NursingCAS to verify and process your transcripts. 

Applications that are inaccurate or incomplete will not be considered for admission.