Nurse Practitioner Program information
In the nurse practitioner (NP) field, students will be prepared to provide collaborative and autonomous primary health care to individuals, groups or communities, with an emphasize on health promotion as well as illness/injury prevention. Students will develop advanced assessment, diagnostic and clinical reasoning skills in preparation for ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests, communicating diagnoses, prescribing pharmaceuticals, and performing other specific controlled procedures.
The Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Windsor is approved by the College of Nurses of Ontario (www.cno.org). Graduates from this program are eligible to apply for Extended Class (EC)/Nurse Practitioner (NP) registration as a Nurse Practitioner in Ontario. Please download MScN-NP flyer for more details.
Watch the NP Open House Webinar
Admission requirements for the Ontario Nurse Practitioner Program
- All general regulations of the Faculty of Graduate Studies are applicable.
- Applicants must have a CNO-approved Bachelor of Science in Nursing or equivalent which includes physical assessment, and courses in research and statistics. Consideration may be given to nurse applicants holding degrees in other cognate disciplines (e.g. BN, etc.).
- Applicants must have a minimum B (70%) average in the last two years of full-time study of the undergraduate nursing program.
- Must have current RN registration with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) with no practice restrictions.
- Applicants must have 3640 hours practicing as a registered nurse with direct patient care working in a clinical setting. Employer-submitted proof of hours is required from all nursing employers. All hours are considered; however, clinical experience within the past five years is required.
- Applications for admission must be completed and submitted by February 1.
- An interview may be required.
- Preference will be given to Ontario residents whose work experience in nursing has been continuous and who have clinical experience in various clinical settings with patients across the lifespan.
- For the Nurse Practitioner Graduate Diploma program only - must also have a completed master’s degree in nursing or health-related field (nursing preferred).
- Forms can be found at the following link: Master’s Programs Application Instructions and Forms | Faculty of Nursing
Application Submission Requirements
- One completed on-line application. Details can be found at www.uwindsor.ca/graduate.
- CNO Registration (For Registered Nurses ONLY). Applicants must have current registration with the College of Nurses of Ontario with no practice restrictions. Please submit a copy of your registration status via Find a Nurse from the CNO website. The date that you printed a copy should be on the document.
- Three Faculty of Nursing Confidential Reports: Applicants who are unable to obtain an academic reference must provide sufficient rationale for not being able to obtain a reference; otherwise, their application will not be considered. Important: Apply at least three weeks before the application deadline to ensure your referees complete the form by the deadline.
- Verification of Employment Hours Form(s) must be submitted to all employers throughout your nursing career. Employers will complete and send the forms to the University of Windsor, Office of the Registrar-Graduate Division at gradadmit@uwindsor.ca. Students are not to upload the forms.
- NP Personal Essay Questions
- Applicant Profile
- Certification of English Proficiency: International applicants are required to demonstrate English language proficiency at a level consistent with the minimum benchmark scores established by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) for nurse registration in Ontario. Applicants must achieve the current CNO minimum benchmark scores for all components in one complete attempt of an approved English language proficiency test. Accepted tests include those recognized by the CNO for registration purposes (e.g., IELTS, OET, PTE Academic). Current CNO benchmark scores for each accepted test are available at https://www.cno.org/become-a-nurse/registration-requirements/proficiency-in-english-or-french/accepted-language-proficiency-tests.
- The Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT) is also accepted as an alternative, provided the applicant achieves scores that are consistent with the current CNO IELTS benchmarks, based on the official score comparison table published by IELTS at https://ielts.org/organisations/ielts-for-organisations/compare-ielts. Applicants must arrange to send the appropriate language proficiency test scores directly to the University of Windsor.
- Official Transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work from all colleges or universities attended. Current or past University of Windsor students can print their transcripts through their UWinsite student account. Official transcripts are not required for University of Windsor graduates.
Applications for admission with required documents must be submitted by February 1.
- Applications that are incomplete by the February 1st deadline will not be reviewed. This includes the submission of completed Confidential Report forms from referees and the Verification of Employment Hours form.
- Late admissions are not accepted for the Nurse Practitioner Program.
- An interview may be required.
How to Apply:
Tuition Information:
- Please refer to Master's candidate year base tuition as well as Compulsory Incidentals. Click https://www.uwindsor.ca/finance/student-accounts to go to the Cashier's website.
- Tuition Fee Estimator per Semester
Other Resources and Information:
Nurse Practitioner Program information
Contact Information:
Suneeta Singh
Graduate Secretary
Faculty of Nursing
ssingh@uwindsor.ca
519.253.3000, x2260
Dr. Kathy Pfaff
Associate Dean, Graduate Programs in the Faculty of Nursing
kpfaff@uwindsor.ca
519.253.3000, x4977
Dr. Sherry Morrell
Associate Professor and NP Program Graduate Coordinator
Faculty of Nursing
morrells@uwindsor.ca
Fax: 519.973.7084