Apply to earn a Post-MSN certificate in a Nurse Practitioner specialty
Indiana University School of Nursing offers Post-MSN graduate certificates in four Nurse Practitioner (NP) specialties that allow MSN-prepared advanced practice nurses (APRNs) to expand their expertise through additional certification in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care, Family, Pediatric Primary Care, or Psychiatric-Mental Health. The graduate certificate requires 780 clinical hours and 22-32 credit hours, depending on prior graduate coursework.
Application Deadlines
Admission to the Post-MSN nurse practitioner certificate program is offered one time per year, for the fall. Applications are accepted in three cycles:
Cycle I
Cycle II
Cycle III
July 15 - October 15
October 16 - January 15
January 16 - March 15
To increase your chance of gaining admission, we recommend submitting your application in the earliest cycle available. If all seats are filled in an earlier cycle, applications will continue to be accepted for the waitlist. The School of Nursing admits the most qualified applicants.
Financial Aid
The graduate certificate program is not eligible for federal student loans. Graduate certificate students are eligible for School of Nursing scholarships and teaching or research assistantships. Students interested in pursuing private student loans should contact nursaid@iu.edu for guidance from our financial aid liaison on what to look for when selecting a private student loan provider.
Eligibility
To apply for our Post-MSN Nurse Practitioner certificate program, you must have:
A Master of Science in Nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice degree in an APRN specialty (Clinical Nurse Specialist, Midwife, Nurse Anesthetist, or Nurse Practitioner) from an accredited program.
An MSN or DNP degree GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
An active, unencumbered Indiana or Compact RN license.
One year of full-time RN or APRN experience (1,800 hours) in an appropriate setting for the NP specialty you are pursuing.
Steps to apply
You must have the equivalent of one year of full-time RN or APRN experience (1,800 hours) in the appropriate setting for your NP specialty prior to application:
Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: Critical care experience in an Adult ICU, ED, or PCU, and current ACLS certification.
Family Nurse Practitioner: Any bedside experience.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner: Experience in pediatrics or NICU.
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner: Any bedside experience. Psychiatric nursing experience is preferred but not required.
Post-MSN nurse practitioner certificate applicants are strongly encouraged to meet with a graduate nursing advisor prior to applying to the program to obtain a draft individualized plan of study based on prior graduate coursework completed. Applicants can self-schedule an online advising appointment or email nuadmit@iu.edu to schedule an in-person appointment. Please email an unofficial copy of your graduate nursing transcripts to nuadmit@iu.edu prior to your appointment.
Your resume should include (if applicable):
Clinical RN and APRN experience - be sure to include employment dates (month & year) and hospital unit, if applicable
Other healthcare-related work experience
Significant prior careers
National certifications (please spell out certification & organization names - do not use acronyms)
Professional development leadership and/or committee roles in your place of employment (examples: charge nurse, shift leader, committee member, committee chair)
Awards, nominations, or other recognition within the field of healthcare (or academics for recent grads)
Preceptor experience
Healthcare-related volunteer experience
Membership to nursing organizations (including nursing student organizations, if a recent graduate) - denote any leadership roles held
There is no page limit - please feel free to use as much space as you need to in order to convey to the admission committee who you are as a nurse and potential graduate student. The IU School of Nursing does not provide a resume template. You may use whatever resume format you prefer.
Using your computer or phone, take a screenshot (not a photo) from the state licensing board website showing your full name, license number, and license expiration date. If you have current prescriptive authority, please include that as well.
The following are examples of appropriate professional references:
Current or former nurse/APRN manager or other clinical supervisor
Physician who has supervised/worked closely with you
Nursing faculty member
References from co-workers who are peers, close friends, or relatives are not appropriate.
You will enter your reference contact information into the application. Please be sure to include your reference's job title and to use your reference's professional email associated with their workplace, and not a personal account such as Gmail. If we are unable to verify the identity of your reference, the reference may not be considered as part of your application.
Electronic evaluation requests will be sent to your references once you submit their information into the application.
Complete and submit an IU graduate application for your intended Post-MSN nurse practitioner certificate program by the application deadline. We recommend using Google Chrome to complete your application.
Be sure to upload the required supplemental materials to your application before submitting:
Résumé/CV
License
You do not need to upload unofficial transcripts to your application.There are optional places in the application to do so, but you may skip those.
If you have questions about your application submission, please contact Graduate Nursing Admissions at nuadmit@iu.edu.
Request official transcripts be sent from ALL college and universities that you have previously attended (including IU). Only transcripts sent directly from the institution to the IU Indianapolis Graduate School are considered official.
IU Student Transcripts: Applicants must request their IU transcripts through the Office of the Registrar (How to Order). There is no charge to the student/applicant for electronic delivery.
Current or recently enrolled students with active IU computing accounts request transcripts here (One.IU login required).
