Master of Nursing Nurse Practitioner Program

What are the admission requirements for the MN Nurse Practitioner Option?

To begin your application, complete the online application form and pay the $115 application fee.
Payment must be received before your application is processed. Methods of payment are included on the online application.

Please be reminded that the application deadlines for Graduate Nursing Programs are specific to the School of Nursing and may differ from other programs at Dalhousie University:

• The next intake for the Master of Nursing Nurse Practitioner Program will be January 2024. The deadline for receipt of the complete application package is October 1, 2023.

• Deadline for receipt of the complete application package for September 2024 admission to all graduate nursing programs is February 1, 2024.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all application materials have been received

• Applicants must include the contact information for three referees via EREF on the Dalhousie Application Portal
  • One (1) current employer – MUST be a direct supervisor/manager
  • Two (2) academic references.
    
    
• Please note the following:
  •  for those applicants who have been out of school for some time, we do accept letters of reference from clinical instructors (if you are still in contact with any of them), clinical nurse educators with whom you have worked closely, or instructors from a certificate program (for example, the Nova Scotia Health RNPDC).
  • Your academic reference should come from someone who can speak to your academic ability, areas of expertise, ability to learn and problem solve, and your suitability for the NP  program from an academic perspective.
  • Your managerial reference must be from a manager who you directly report(ed) to. It should not be a peer or colleague – these references will not be included when evaluating your application – it must be someone who manages you directly and can speak to your nursing assessment skills and attributes that make you suitable for the MN NP Program.
  • Reference letters should be submitted through the electronic reference system in the online application. We do not require letters of recommendation other than the standard format provided through the e-reference system. If using the e-reference system, make sure to have the email addresses of your referees ready to list when completing the online application. Dalhousie University will only accept university, teaching hospital, and government email addresses (i.e. not personal email addresses, such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, or business addresses). Please allow five business days for your referee(s) to be contacted by our system. If you made an error in the submission of an email address, please contact eref@dal.ca.
  • We prefer that all reference forms are sent using the electronic reference system. However, if you are using a professional reference for your application and are unable to use the graduate online e-reference system because of their email address (ie. Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail or business address), please email graduate.nursing@dal.ca with your request, and provide the name(s) and email address(es) for your referee(s). We will send the confidential reference form to your referees, and request that they complete and send the PDF form directly to our office via email.

• A current resume that clearly states all your education and professional clinical practise. Please note: clinical practise you obtained during your undergraduate program does not count towards the 2 years full-time requirement.
• Statement of intent (interest) in a 2-3 page, double-spaced essay, discussing the following points: Tell us about your goals as a nurse practitioner student and after graduation, as a Nurse Practitioner. How will the School of Nursing, Graduate Program help you achieve these goals?   What are the strengths you would bring to the program and to the profession? Explain any gaps or deficiencies in your academic record, or any other factors you wish to have taken into account. 
•  Supplemental application form (click link to access) in addition to your CV and statement of career goals.  Please use this form to identify your practice areas of interest, program option, provide current nursing registration details and your reasons and objectives for pursuing graduate studies in nursing. Verification letter/document from your HR Department (signed by appropriate HR department rep) that verifies that you have met the minimum requirement and which includes the number of hours worked with the agency/organization.
  
  
• Official or unofficial transcript(s)
  • For your initial application to graduate studies, we only require your unofficial academic transcripts for each post-secondary institution you have attended. Please include degree certificates if degree conferral is not stated on your transcripts.
  • Email your unofficial transcripts to graduate.nursing@dal.ca
  • Transcripts should include your first and last name, degree, program type and name of degree issuing university. 
  • If you are accepted for admission, your final and official transcripts will be required within 90 days of the start of your program.
  • If you are accepted for admission, please follow these instructions to arrange for official transcripts to be submitted.
    
    
• Again, please note that all documents should be submitted electronically to graduate.nursing@dal.ca (other than references that are submitted via EREF).

• Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are not required by the School of Nursing Graduate Programs.

• Only those applicants who are chosen to progress to the interview stage will be contacted at the email address provided on the Dal application.

• Applying for admission does not guarantee an interview.

Other important notes

• Please note that the application checklist currently used by the Registrar’s Office, on the Dal Application Portal, is not used by individual graduate programs. Please email graduate.nursing@dal.ca if you wish to confirm that you have submitted all necessary application materials.

• Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all submitted application materials meet departmental requirements (ie. Verification of hours, two academic references and one managerial reference from a current manager).

• The Dal application form and instructions are found at the following URL:   https://www.dal.ca/faculty/gradstudies/graduate-programs-admissions/admission_requirements/admission_process.html.

Please note, that theory courses are offered either synchronously or asynchronously online. Students in NURS5740, Advanced Health Assessment (required of all NP Students), must attend the weekly lab sessions that are scheduled on site (Halifax campus or Cape Breton) during the first 6 weeks of the Fall semester, and are required to be on site for objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) associated with other clinical courses (Full-time students are required to take 1 clinical course per term for program duration; Part-time students are required to take 1 clinical course per term, starting in year 2).

We do not designate seats for in-province/out-of-province students. Preference is given to students from Nova Scotia, but students from outside the province are accepted to the program.

All applicants must have an active license in the province or territory in which they currently practice, and be eligible for a Nova Scotia RN License, for clinical placements. Clinical Placements outside the province are not readily available or guaranteed, and are only negotiable on a limited, case-by-case basis.

Distance delivery of the program is a combination of synchronous (live videoconference) and asynchronous (what one might term “online”) modalities.  In courses that are offered synchronously, classes are scheduled once a week for a 3-hour period.

NP students are required to be on site once a week for the first 7 weeks of the term in which they complete NURS5740, Advanced Health Assessment, for labs and OSCEs.  On-site OSCEs are also completed in NURS5485, Principles and Theories for Nurse Practitioner Practice and NURS5487, Principles and Theories for Health and Disease Management in Family All Ages Nurse Practitioner Practice.

A full-time MN Nurse Practitioner student will complete the Master of Nursing program, Nurse Practitioner Option in 24 months.  A part-time student will complete the program in 36 months. Full-time students in the Master of Nursing (MN) program, Nurse Practitioner option, usually complete three courses per term, unless otherwise specified or pre-determined by the NP Coordinator. Part-time students in the Master of Nursing (MN) program, Nurse Practitioner option, usually complete two courses per term, unless otherwise specified or pre-determined by the NP Coordinator.   

The following table shows course sequencing for full-time and part-time students in the MN NP Program:

Fall Start
Full-time Nurse Practitioner Program

Part-time Nurse Practitioner Program

January Start
Full-time Nurse Practitioner Program

Part-time Nurse Practitioner Program