The Upper Division program is our traditional baccalaureate nursing major for students who have completed nursing prerequisite courses and university general education requirements. This is a full-time limited-access program, as mandated by the state, and is structured sequentially. Admission is competitive. Any student who applies to the undergraduate program at the College of Nursing is initially coded as “pre-nursing” prior to official acceptance to the College of Nursing. Admissions are determined on the basis of availability of sufficient qualified faculty, laboratory and classroom facilities, and clinical teaching resources.

• Admission to the University of South Florida (Tampa) as a degree-seeking undergraduate student
• Completed application to the College of Nursing prior to the published deadline for the intended term of entry; students who are transferring to USF should be aware of the separate GPA requirements for admission to USF as a pre-nursing student
• Minimum 3.2 cumulative GPA on all undergraduate work
• Completion of at least seven of the eight nursing prerequisites course by published application deadline for the intended term of entry (Note: Any outstanding nursing prerequisites must be completed with a B or better by the program start date)
• Completion of English Composition I, English Composition II and State Computation Math by the published application deadline
• Completion of the university’s foreign language entrance requirement and university general education requirement by the intended term of entry
• Participation in a formal interview with College of Nursing faculty, if selected 

Students must be admitted by the USF Tampa Undergraduate Admissions Office as a pre-nursing student. (Students must have USF Tampa Campus as the home campus.) 

• BSC 2085/L Human Anatomy & Physiology I OR any Human Anatomy & Physiology I course with lab, 4 semester hours 
• BSC 2086/L Human Anatomy & Physiology II or any Human Anatomy & Physiology II course with lab, 4 semester hours 
• Any CHM, BSC, PHY, PCB, BCH (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, or Biochemistry) course, 3 semester hours 
• DEP 2004 Human Growth & Development course (covering the life span), 3 semester hours 
• HUN 2201 Human Nutrition or any human nutrition course OR NUR 1192, 3 semester hours* 
• MCB 2000/L Microbiology or any microbiology course with lab, 4 semester hours 
• Any PSY, SYG, or SOP (Psychology, Sociology, or Social Psychology) course, 3 semester hours 
• STA 2122 or 2023 Statistics or any Statistics course, 3 semester hours

NOTE: Students will be considered only if all of the above criteria are met. 

*Please note: Special Topics Nutrition courses will not fulfill this requirement.

Important Notification:

All admitted nursing students are required to complete a Background Check, Immunization Verification, and Drug Screening. Admitted students will be provided with the steps to complete this process.

Note: This requirement is not the same as the USF Student Health Services (USF Health Form) and cannot be submitted as a substitute.

USF Foundations of Knowledge and Learning (FKL) and Enhanced General Education Requirements 

The university has general education requirements for every program. Learn more from the academic catalog.

These requirement listings are for informational purposes only and are superseded by the academic catalog for your intended term of entry. Be sure to reference the catalog for more information.

Courses listed are published for information purposes only. 

Total Credit Hours 68: includes 720 clinical and simulation hours, as well as 60 lab hours

Approved by Faculty Council on 10/21/16 Curriculum update.

Interested students who meet the minimum published criteria are encouraged to apply by deadline for each term. Follow the steps below to successfully apply for the Upper Division. At this time current USF students may skip step 1.

Step 1 Submit a USF Admissions Application

Submit a degree-seeking transfer application to Undergraduate Admissions. For questions regarding undergraduate admissions (including USF deadlines), please call (813) 974-3350 or check the website. Students must be admitted to the USF Tampa Campus.

Required documentation: Submit official transcripts from every college or university attended, as well as official AP, IB, CLEP, and other test scores (if applicable), directly to the USF Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SVC1036, Tampa, FL 33620-6900. Transcripts will not be considered until they are received, opened, and processed in the system by the Undergraduate Admissions office. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions will decide what course work is transferable to the university.

Step 2 Submit a College of Nursing Application

Once you have completed step 1, and have been admitted as an undergraduate pre-nursing student at USF, complete the College of Nursing application (SOAR). The application requires a university identification number (UID) to apply. All students receive their UID after admission to the university.

We strongly recommend that students apply for general admission to USF Undergraduate Admissions (step 1) about two to three months before you plan to apply to the College of Nursing (step 2). It can take Undergraduate Admissions up to eight weeks to determine admission decisions. You must be accepted to USF first in order to apply directly to the College of Nursing.

Apple users, please note: The SOAR application is not compatible with the Safari internet browser; please use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as an alternative.

Application Deadlines

All steps in the application process must be completed by 5 p.m. on the deadline for the application term.

Nursing Mandatory Orientation Dates

All undergraduate students must attend the mandatory College of Nursing Orientation & Pre-Immersion Orientation. Please keep these dates in mind and plan activities accordingly. Students who cannot attend the orientations will forfeit their seat in the program.

(1) I am a high school/transfer student interested in nursing. What is my best route to apply for the program?

Pre-nursing is a major designation at USF designed for undergraduate students who plan to enroll in courses on a path to apply to one of the College of Nursing's undergraduate programs (Accelerated Second Degree, RN to Bachelor's, Upper Division, Veteran to Bachelor's V-CARE). Because pre-nursing is not a degree program, there are certain requirements that must be met in order to declare pre-nursing as an incoming student to the university or to change your major to pre-nursing once admitted or enrolled.

Benefits to pre-nursing include dedicated pre-nursing academic advisors; access to our pre-nursing student organization (Stampede into Bull Nursing) and the Pre-Nursing Living Learning Community; priority registration in several of the state-mandated nursing prerequisite courses; and application and interview preparation workshops.

It is important to note that pre-nursing and the undergraduate nursing programs do NOT prepare students to pursue and/or apply for other health care fields, such as medicine, pharmacy, and/or physician's assistant programs. If interested in these areas, please consult with the Division of Health Professions Advising.

(2) What is the Military Commissioning Programs institution/program’s eligibility?

• MECP (Navy)
  Upper Division, Accelerated Second Degree, and V-CARE are currently all eligible under the MECP guidelines. Please speak with your commissioning program recruiter for more information on institution/program eligibility.
  • Applicants should apply one year in advance by using the current application process. For example, if students wish to begin the nursing program in Fall 2019, they would go through the Fall 2018 application process. If admitted, their admission would be deferred to Fall 2019.
  • Applicants must submit a SOAR application and indicate which term they wish to actually begin the program (i.e., Fall 2019). 
  • Admitted students will receive an acceptance letter (conditional or nonconditional), a projected degree completion plan, and a summary of estimated tuition and fees that they will submit as part of their application to MECP.

• NECP (Air Force)

  Upper Division, Accelerated Second Degree, and V-CARE are currently all eligible under the NECP guidelines. Please speak with your commissioning program recruiter for more information on institution/program eligibility.

  Applicant decisions are made by the end of March, which ensures time to meet NECP board deadlines. Admitted students will receive an acceptance letter, a projected degree completion plan, and a summary of estimated tuition and fees which they will submit as part of their applications to the NECP. Applicants should apply directly to the term they wish to begin the nursing program.

• AECP (Army)
  Accelerated Second Degree and V-CARE are currently eligible under the AECP guidelines. Upper Division is not eligible due to the five online courses in the curriculum. AECP requires two or fewer online courses. Please speak with your commissioning program recruiter for more information on institution/program eligibility.
  • Applicants should apply one year in advance by using the current application process. For example, if students wishing to begin the nursing program in Fall 2019, they would go through the Fall 2018 application process. If admitted, their admission would be deferred to Fall 2019.
  • Applicants must submit a SOAR application and indicate which term they wish to actually begin the program (i.e., Fall 2019).
  • Admitted students will receive an acceptance letter (conditional or nonconditional), a projected degree completion plan, and a summary of estimated tuition and fees that they will submit as part of their applications to AECP.

(3) What courses are required for admission?
There are specific courses you would enroll in to meet all state-mandated prerequisites for the College of Nursing. The course numbers listed are the equivalent courses offered here at USF. 

• English Composition I and II (6) – ENC 1101 and ENC 1102 (satisfied by bachelor's or associate degree)
• Gordon Rule Math (College Algebra or Finite Math preferred) (3) - MAC 1105 or MGF 1106 (satisfied by bachelor's or associate degree)
• Human Anatomy & Physiology I with lab (4) – BSC 2085/L
• Human Anatomy and Physiology II with lab (4) – BSC 2086/L
• Any Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biology, or Physics (3-4) – (Any CHM, BCH, BSC, PHY, or PCB)
• Life Span (Human Growth and Development) (3) – DEP 2004 
  • Note: The course content must cover development of the individual from birth to death. Any course that does not cover the entire lifespan will not be accepted.
• Human Nutrition (3) – HUN 2201 
  • Note: The course content must cover the basics of human nutrition. The course should NOT have a specific focus or topic, such as Nutrition and Drugs, Sports Nutrition, or Nutrition and Disease.
• Microbiology with lab (4) – MCB 2000/L
• Statistics (3) – STA 2122 (Any Statistics) 
  • Note: The course content must be statistics-based, not research-based. Courses similar to Research Methods will not satisfy this requirement. 
• Psychology or Sociology (3) – (Any PSY, SYG, or SOP)

(4) What GPA do I need to apply? How competitive is admission?

The College of Nursing requires a minimum overall GPA of 3.20 to be eligible for the Upper Division program, but the average GPA of students chosen for admission falls around a 3.8 overall GPA. Admission is highly competitive and is based on a combination of factors, including overall GPA, grades on the first attempt in the prerequisite courses, and an interview identifying student’s motivations for nursing and professional approach to potential clinical scenarios.

See our most recent admissions statistics for the Upper Division program here.

These statistics are provided for information purposes only and are intended to assist prospective students in understanding the competitive admissions processes for some of our programs. The undergraduate program is designated as limited access by the state of Florida.

(5) Where do students complete clinical experiences?

The USF College of Nursing partners with hospitals and health care agencies across the Tampa Bay area to place students in clinical experiences throughout the program. Some of these partnerships include Tampa General Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, Florida Hospital Tampa, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Lakeland Regional Health, James A. Haley VA Hospital, Morton Plant Mease Health Care, and St. Anthony’s Hospital. Students also have community-based experiences and the opportunity to participate in global experiences in Panama, Scotland, and St. Croix.

Important note regarding clinicals: We cannot provide guarantees on any one specific clinical location. Transportation for clinical experience is the responsibility of the student, and some locations may be as much as two hours from the USF Tampa Campus. All of our clinical partners provide excellent opportunities to our students.