Undergraduate BSN Application and Admission Procedures

Prior to applying to the University, students should refer to The Valley Foundation School of Nursing ’ website for application information. Virtual advising is available through monthly group sessions. and individual advising appointments.  Applicants are encouraged to attend a 2-hour monthly group advising session offered during the spring and fall semesters. Group advising recorded presentation PowerPoints are available for review. Nursing has been an impacted major since Spring 2005 and certain supplemental criteria must be met.  A student may apply a maximum of two times to this program. If not admitted by then, the student should seek general University advising to change to a different major.

The Valley Foundation School of Nursing has biannual admission application periods - Spring and Fall. Transfer students can only apply to the fall semester and post-baccalaureate students can only apply to the Spring semester. Application to the nursing program is a 2-step application process:

1. Submit a University application to Cal State Apply and official transcripts of all previous college work to the Office of Admissions. For current SJSU students, apply via NursingCAS only.

2. Submit to the nursing program via NursingCAS

The Valley Foundation School of Nursing has biannual admission application periods - Spring and Fall, although the University does not open Spring applications for transfer students. Students must have all 8 prerequisites completed in order to apply to NursingCAS for the applicant pool. 

To be considered in the nursing application pool, applicants must meet the following supplemental criteria:

1. A minimum composite GPA of 3.3 for 8 prerequisite courses (BIOL 65 , BIOL 66 , MICR 20 , ENGL 1A , CHEM 30A , COMM 20 , STAT 95 , and GE Area A3 ). All courses must be passed with a C or better.
2. BIOL 65 , BIOL 66 , and MICR 20  must be completed within 5 years of establishing eligibility and passed with a grade of “C” or better. If the course does not meet the 5-year, recency requirement the student will need to retake that course. The grade for any of these 3 courses taken within the 5 years will be used for calculation purposes. Courses may not be repeated, except for academic grade forgiveness when taken at the original school and this designation must appear on official transcripts. (“W” and “WB” grades are excluded).
3. A minimum TEAS score of 84%. This exam may only be taken within the past 5 years with a maximum of two trials. The highest score will be used in the impaction scoring.
4. Corequisites (NUFS 8 , PSYC 1 , and CHAD 70  must have a minimum of C, have been repeated no more than once, and either be completed or “in progress at the time of the Nursing application to NursingCAS. 

Impaction Scoring

Students meeting the above minimum criteria will be ranked according to the following: 

1. GPA of all 8 required prerequisites of 3.3. The 8 prerequisite GPA counts as ⅔ of the impaction score.
2. Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) - version 6 or 7 - available through the SJSU Testing Office. The TEAS minimum score is 84%. The TEAS test may be repeated only one time, regardless of version. The highest score will be used in the impaction scoring. To sign up for the TEAS exam, please see the SJSU Testing website  For impaction scoring purposes, your TEAS score is divided by 30, to use a score that is similar to a GPA. For impaction calculations your TEAS 6.0 or 7.0 score is divided by 30 to create a score to be included in the final “impaction” scoring.
3. A minimum TEAS test of 84% counts as ⅓ of the score. An increase in impaction score is applied if the applicant has the following: specific healthcare experience of a minimum of 100 hours within the past 3 years of application, completion of the three corequisites prior to applying, and first generation applicants based on the University criteria.

Application to nursing and documentation deadlines for entry in Fall semester is Feb. 15. Application and documentation deadline for entry in Spring semester is September 15.

Students may apply to NursingCAS up to one month prior to these NursingCAS deadlines.

In order to join the applicant pool for The Valley Foundation School of Nursing, students must:

1. Declare “pre-nursing undeclared” or any other major. The student does not receive the designation of “nursing major” until they are accepted and receive final confirmation by the School of Nursing.
2. Submit an application to NursingCAS with documented completion of prerequisites and TEAS score during the online application process. No prerequisites may be “in progress”.
3. Three (3) corequisite courses must be completed with a C or better before beginning nursing courses.
4. Submit United States citizenship (U.S. Birth Certificate or current U.S. Passport) or Green Card Permanent Resident (documentation required). DACA or non-DACA students need certain documentation. Additionally, a California Driver’s License (or picture ID from Driver’s License Bureau) is also required. 
5. Submit a signed functional competencies form (available on nursing website).
6. If applicable, submit documentation of healthcare experience using the Healthcare Experience Form.
7. Once admitted “provisionally”, the student completes a required background check and drug clearance, using the School’s vendor. A clear background check and drug screen are required. More information on this content is on the School’s website under “Policies”.
8. There is priority admission for persons with past military experience who meet minimum criteria.
9. Prior Baccalaureate applicants can only apply for Spring starts, and spots are limited to 10% of applicant selectees allowed by administration (e.g. 6 spots maximum, out of 60) within the application pool ranking.

Please note that application requirements and prerequisite courses are subject to change. Interested students should check the nursing website frequently for updates and changes.