Master of Science in Nursing

Mission Statement

The North Central College Graduate Nursing Programs will prepare advanced nurse professionals for life-long learning, transformational leadership and to function as ethical change agents in the local, national and global healthcare system and community.

Program Goals

1. Prepare graduates to engage in clinical reasoning that provides safe, evidence-based, patient-centered care to diverse populations across the lifespan. 
2. Deliver a curriculum grounded in the liberal arts and sciences that promotes nursing’s unique way of knowing and caring to support the development of clinical judgement, compassionate caring and diversity, equity, and inclusion.    
3. To provide an innovative interprofessional approach for fostering the next generation of healthcare leaders who embrace diversity, promote health equity, and improve population health outcomes locally, nationally and globally. 
4. Graduate advanced nursing professionals, dedicated to leading with moral courage to promote evidence-based practice and health policy to advance population health. 

Graduate Nursing Program Outcomes

The graduate nursing program is designed to build on baccalaureate education to prepare the graduate for the advanced nursing role in accordance with The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education, and relevant standards and guidelines. Upon completion of the graduate nursing program, students will have the requisite skills and knowledge to accomplish the following: 

1. Integrate, translate and apply established and evolving scientific knowledge from diverse disciplines as a basis for clinical judgement and innovation in nursing practice.  
2. Use evidence-based best practices to design, manage, and evaluate comprehensive person-centered care that is within the regulatory and educational scope of practice.  
3. Integrate foundational evidence-based knowledge into ethical, just, culturally competent practices to promote equitable population health outcomes at a local, national and global level.  
4. Generate, synthesize, translate, apply and disseminate nursing knowledge to improve health outcomes and transform health care.  
5. Utilize knowledge and principles of translational and improvement science methodologies to mitigate potential harm and improve quality and safety for providers, patients, populations and systems of care. 
6. Collaborate with the interprofessional team to optimize care and strengthen outcomes through meaningful communication and active participation in person-centered and population-centered care.  
7. Effectively lead and proactively coordinate resources to provide safe, quality, equitable care to diverse populations within complex systems of healthcare.  
8. Utilize informatics and health care technologies to manage and enhance delivery of safe, high-quality, and efficient healthcare services in alignment with professional and regulatory standards.  
9. Form and cultivate a sustainable professional nursing identity that reflects the characteristics and values of the nursing profession, and to actively engage as a dedicated and equal partner within the interprofessional healthcare team.
10. Engage in self-reflective practices to develop a sustainable progression towards profession and interpersonal maturity, and improved resilience while nursing a robust capacity for leadership and nursing expertise.

Important Dates

Launch Your Degree in Fall 2025

Fall 2025 Start

July 21, 2025 - Deadline to apply

August 20, 2025 - First day of class

Admissions Criteria

Apply using our free North Central application.

• A username and password will be generated and sent to the email you provide. You will have 30 days to complete the online application.

North Central College’s MSN program is committed to holistic admission, which assesses an applicant’s unique experiences alongside traditional measures of academic achievement such as grades and test scores. Admission decisions will be made within two months of the application deadline. Applicants will be invited to participate in an on-campus and/or virtual interview format.

Applicants must have:

• An earned BSN of CCNE or ACEN baccalaureate accredited program
• A current, unencumbered RN license
  • While North Central accepts students from multiple states/territories, applicants outside of Illinois should check with their state regulatory body
• A cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for the last 60 hours of their BSN program
• Completed undergraduate statistics (3 credit hours) with a “C” or higher

Required Application Materials

• Submitted official post-secondary academic transcripts
• Submitted a resume/CV with academic and work history, certificates and services
• Submitted three letters of recommendation--at least one from a professional nurse colleague (supervisor or preceptor) and one from a professor or graduate-level prepared nursing colleague who can address the applicant’s professional and/or academic qualifications
  • Applicants - please send this recommendation submission link to colleagues and supervisors
• Completed a personal narrative including experiences (healthcare experiences, educational background, community enrichment), and attributes (resilience, integrity, intellectual curiosity, ethnicity/race, socioeconomic status, multilingual abilities, geography, faith, perseverance)
• Completed application 

Apply Today!

State Authorization and Reciprocity Agreements

The U.S. Department of Education requires institutions offering distance education to attain authorization from the state where educational services are offered. North Central College is authorized by the state of Illinois to participate in the National Council for State Authorization and Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA). The NC-SARA provides oversight of post-secondary distance education, allowing the institution to provide online education to students in participating SARA member states, without obtaining authorization in that state. Regulations vary from state to state. All states EXCEPT California are currently authorized as SARA member states. SARA provides institutional reciprocity for educational offerings only and does not provide reciprocity for professional licensing. Information regarding NC-SARA can be found here.

Professional Licensure

State Board of Nursing requirements vary by state. Therefore, students considering enrollment in online graduate nursing programs, should contact the licensing agency of the state where their educational institution is located prior to beginning their academic program to ensure that the program meets the standards established by their home state’s licensure regulations.

For Fall 2025 admissions, North Central College Graduate Nursing Program, is offering the MSN and Post-Master Certificates to students in the following states and US Territories:

• American Samoa
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• District of Colombia
• Florida
• Guam
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Montana
• New Jersey
• North Carolina
• Rhode Island
• Texas
• Virgin Islands
• Virginia
• West Virginia

Onsite Requirements

In addition to on-site practicum experiences local to the student at approved institutional affiliates to meet required practicum hours, students in the graduate nursing program are required to come to Naperville, IL campus for 2-3 campus visits* during the course of their program. The number and length of the visits varies by specialty program. Prospective students may inquire with the Graduate Nursing Program at North Central College to confirm on-campus requirements. Limited assistance to support the visits may be available.

*Dates will be provided prior to the start of the program