RPN to BScN Admission Information

Admission consideration will be given to applicants who have successfully completed a Registered Practical Nursing (RPN) diploma program within Canada with a minimum GPA of 70%. Applicants must also be a current registered member in good standing with the College of Nurses in Ontario (CNO) in the General Class as an RPN and be an employee (with a letter of support) of one of Nipissing's partner health care agencies. A list of Nipissing’s partners can be found on the Current Partners tab on the School of Nursing website.

An applicant’s admission average is calculated on all courses completed as part of their Practical Nursing diploma. RPN certificates alone are not an acceptable basis of admission. Applicants who have completed a Practical Nursing program for Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN) may be considered for admission.  However, Nipissing's Second Degree Policy may apply dependent upon the Canadian Equivalency determined by World Education Services (WES) on their assessment of the international credentials submitted. Registration with the CNO as an RPN is not considered equivalent to the required RPN diploma.

Applications will only be considered if all required documents are received by the application and document deadlines. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all required documents (including all postsecondary transcripts whether it is relevant to your RPN education or not) are received by the document deadline.

NOTE: Applicants offered admission must remain in good standing with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) and remain employed by the partner institution that provided the applicant their letter of support as part of the application. Any change at the time of admission and/or registration up until the last date to register for courses will void the offer of admission and the applicant will be withdrawn from the program.

Applicants MUST declare and submit transcripts for ALL postsecondary institutions attended whether it is relevant to your RPN education or not. If any information in your application is determined to be false or misleading, concealed or withheld, your application may be invalidated and this could result in its immediate rejection or in the revocation of an offer of admission or registration at the university. This includes not disclosing all post-secondary education. Transfer credit will not be awarded for transcripts received past the start of the program.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their employer will be able to meet the document requirements and deadline for the letter of support. Deadline extensions or refunds will not be granted due to the inability of your employer to meet the template requirements and to complete your letter by the required deadline. It is highly recommended that you connect with the appropriate person at your place of employment prior to applying to ensure this requirement can be met.

Applicants are responsible to ensure that all documentation submitted in support of their application contains the correct information and is in the correct format. All documents received by the document deadline will be reviewed. If anything is determined to be incorrect or incomplete, it will be rejected. If this happens too close to the document deadline to allow for a re-submission of revised documents, you will not be considered for admission to the program. There are no exceptions for late submissions.

Applicants are required to provide proof of name change, (ie: marriage certificate, divorce decree, etc.,) if transcripts and/or documents show a name other than the name in which the application is made.  Copies of these documents can be emailed to the Registrar’s Office at rpndistdocs@nipissingu.ca. If your documents will show a preferred name as opposed to your legal name and/or the name you applied under, please email rpndistdocs@nipissingu.ca to inform us of your preferred name.

Email is the primary communication tool for every stage of the admission process for this program. Important messages with time sensitive information, will be sent to the email address noted on your application. Please add the nipissingu.ca domain as a "safe sender".  It is also highly recommended that you also check your "Junk" folder on a regular basis. Failure to respond to any of our emails may result in your application not being considered for admission.

Failure to read any of the information contained on the application, on this website or not properly investigating your ability to provide any of the required documentation prior to applying or throughout the application/admission process is not a valid reason for not understanding or meeting the admission and/or document requirements. This includes checking WebAdvisor to ensure that there are no outstanding documents required. If there is anything you do not understand please contact our office at admissions@nipissingu.ca. Application fees are non-refundable.

Transcripts should include all courses completed or in progress, grades achieved and diploma(s)/degree(s) granted. All transcripts must be sent directly to Nipissing University from all post-secondary institutions attended or currently attending. Applicants MUST disclose and provide ALL academic transcripts whether it is relevant to your RPN education or not. Official original transcripts must be sent directly from the academic institution. Transcripts can only be accepted from the applicant if still sealed in the envelope from the academic institution. Emailed copies will only be accepted when we can verify that they come directly to us from the issuing institutions. For applicants that attended an Ontario institution: If you ordered your transcript as part of the application process you DO NOT need to also contact your institution and request a transcript be sent. 

If your RPN diploma was completed through an upgrading program, we need to also receive the official transcripts of all certificates or programs that were used to gain admission to the upgrading program. This also includes the high school certificate programs that lead to upgrading to a RPN diploma program.

If you have completed courses outside of Canada or the United States, you MUST have all your foreign transcripts evaluated and authenticated by World Education Services (WES): www.wes.org/ca. No other evaluation credentials will be accepted. A Canadian Equivalency WES Credential Evaluation Report, including a Course-By-Course Analysis, must be sent directly to Nipissing University and received by the document deadline. Applicants are responsible for the costs associated with the WES evaluation and any translation required. Note that it can take upwards of six weeks for WES to receive official transcripts from a foreign academic institution, after which point the WES evaluation can take a week or longer to complete. Applicants are advised to consider this when applying. It is highly recommended that applicants review this process prior to submitting their application. Deadline extensions will not be given for transcript delays. Any questions related to your WES evaluation should be submitted well in advance of the application and document deadlines.

Nipissing University transcripts need not be submitted, however, if you attended Nipissing University prior to 1992, you are considered a Laurentian University student and you must submit a Laurentian transcript.

Official transcripts from Ontario universities and colleges should be ordered through the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) as part of the application process. You must contact your university directly for all transcripts from outside Ontario. It is your responsibility to ensure that all completed and in progress courses (if applicable) and degree/diploma status show on the transcript your institution sends. Nipissing University is not responsible for determining if information is missing and/or incomplete. Please note that some institutions provide separate records for continuing education. Ensure that you are ordering a transcript that will show your complete record. 

Applicants looking to raise their admission average may consider repeating courses they completed as part of their RPN diploma program. Repeated courses must have the same course code, course title and credit value as the original course. If the course code, title or credit value has changed but it is still the same course, you will need to have your college send us an official letter indicating that the course you repeated is exactly the same course that you previously took as part of your RPN diploma program. The letter must be sent directly to Nipissing from the issuing institution.

When contacting your college to inquire about repeating courses please note that we are not asking the college to recalculate your diploma GPA using the repeated courses. Nipissing is responsible for the recalculation of your GPA using acceptable repeated courses. 

Applicants must be an employee at one of our partner health care agencies. Your employer must provide you with a letter of support. This letter must follow the template provided as per the appendix attached to the partnership agreement signed between your employer and Nipissing University. The template cannot be found on our website.  It also will not be released to applicants. Letters of support must be on the correct template. The letter of support will need to come directly from someone in a supervisory role, for example Director of Nursing, Director of Clinical Practice & Quality, etc. who can indicate they support you in this program at the Partnered Agency. Your employer will have access to this template. If your employer has difficulty accessing the template they can email nursing@nipissingu.ca to request a new copy. Letters should not be dated prior to January 6, 2025. The letter of support must be on your employer’s letterhead and be signed by yourself and the appropriate signing authority at your place of employment before sending the letter to rpndistdocs@nipissingu.ca.

Letters of support will only be accepted if they are sent as a .jpeg or .pdf. No other file format will be accepted. The file should be an attachment. Imbedded files will not be accepted. It is your responsibility to ensure that all documents sent are clear and legible.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your employer will be able to meet the document requirements and deadline. Deadline extensions or refunds will not be granted due to the inability of your employer to meet the template requirements and to complete your letter by the required deadline. It is highly recommended that you connect with the appropriate person at your place of employment prior to applying to ensure this requirement can be met.

NOTE: Applicants offered admission must remain in good standing with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) and remain employed by the partner institution that provided the applicant their letter of support as part of the application.  Any change at the time of admission and/or registration up until the last date to register for courses will void the offer of admission and the applicant will be withdrawn from the program.  

Applicants to Nipissing University's RPN to BScN (Blended Delivery) program must be a current registered member in good standing entitled to practice with no restrictions in the General Class with the College of Nursing of Ontario (CNO) as an RPN.  

Nipissing uses the Nurse Renewal Check service provided by the CNO.  The Nurse Renewal Check will enable us to check the membership status of all applicants quickly and efficiently. The only information that CNO will be providing to us is what can be found publicly under "Find a Nurse" on the CNO website.  No additional information will be provided. This form is a Nipissing University form and applicants should not be contacting the CNO to request access to this.

Applicants are required to fill out the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) Registration form.

By filling out this form you are providing Nipissing University your consent to access your CNO certificate of registration information through the Nurse Renewal Check.  If you have any questions, please email admissions@nipissingu.ca.

If we do not receive confirmation of your CNO membership status we will be unable to consider you for admission to the RPN to BScN - Blended Delivery Program.

Please note:  All applicants will be asked to declare any terms, limits, or conditions (e.g., cautions, remedial requirements) that appear on their certificate of registration.

**NEW FOR FALL 2025** Should you be admitted to the program, applicants who have previously been asked to withdraw from a BScN program within the last 5 years, will be required to submit a petition to the Academic Appeals and Petitions Committee. This petition will be a condition of your admission. Details about this condition will be outlined in your Offer Permit, which will be attached to your offer email. Please review your email and Offer Permit carefully, as they will include instructions on how to access the petition form, as well as the deadline for submission and/or decision notification. The petition should outline the extenuating circumstances that affected your performance and what steps you have taken to ensure success in Nipissing's BScN program. Applicants will also be required to submit a Release of Information form granting the institution where you were registered in a BScN program to release any misconduct and/or clinical performance information to Nipissing.

A Readmission/Former applicant is someone who has previously applied to the program, was offered admission and accepted the offer. Whether or not you registered for courses at the time of first admission has no bearing on whether you are considered a readmission applicant or not. Applicants who are applying for readmission are required to submit a new application, fee, updated letter of support from their employer, be a current registered member in good standing with the College of Nurses in Ontario (CNO) in the General Class as an RPN, as well as provide official original transcripts from any additional post-secondary education taken since last enrollment at Nipissing University.

Applicants must still be employed at a partner health care agency and must complete the degree within seven years from the time of first admission (whether you completed courses or not).

**NEW FOR FALL 2025** Should you be admitted to the program, Readmission/Former applicants for whom it has been deemed that they will be unable to complete the degree within the required timeframe (refer to the "Time to Completion" tab below) must submit a petition to the Academic Appeals and Petitions Committee requesting an extension. This petition will be a condition of your admission. Details about this condition will be outlined in your Offer Permit, which will be attached to your offer email. Please review your email and Offer Permit carefully, as they will include instructions on how to access the petition form, as well as the deadline for submission and/or decision notification.

Credit cannot be retained for any university nursing course older than ten years. This also applies to transfer credits from another university that were granted upon first admission.

Applicants whose first language is not English may be required to supply proof of proficiency in English.  Acceptable proof of English proficiency includes the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Test Service (IELTS), the Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic, the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL/CAEL Online) or the Cambridge English Qualifications. Refer to our Academic Calendar or www.nipissingu.ca/englishproficiency for our complete English Language Proficiency Policy.

Transcripts and supporting documentation can be submitted by email to:

rpndistdocs@nipissingu.ca

OR be mailed to:

Nipissing University
Office of the Registrar – Admissions
100 College Drive, Box 5002
North Bay ON P1B 8L7

Transcripts that are sent by email must be sent to us directly from the issuing institution and we must be able to verify this information for the transcript to be considered an official document.

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) Registration form must be submitted by the document deadline.

Please note that the rpndistdocs@nipissingu.ca is the only email address that applicants are to submit their documents for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing – RPN to BScN Bridging Blended Delivery Program. Emails sent to this account will not be replied to indicating that we have received your documentation. Please do not re-submit documentation multiple times or send multiple emails. This email is also not monitored for questions regarding general application or admission inquiries. If you have any general questions about your application, please email admissions@nipissingu.ca.

To check your application status and documents received please login to WebAdvisor and look under Important Documents – Outstanding/Received. Please allow up to 10 business days for your documents to be reflected on WebAdvisor. Any documents will be dated as received for the date in which they arrived in our office.

Application and application fee deadline:  March 21, 2025

Document deadline:  April 4, 2025 (4:30 pm EDT)

All documents received by the document deadline will be reviewed. If anything is determined to be incorrect or incomplete it will be rejected. If this happens too close to the document deadline to allow for a re-submission of revised documents then you will not be considered for admission to the program. There are no exceptions for late submissions. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all documents are received by the deadline. Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

Please note that decisions will not be released until late June.

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) – RPN Bridging Blended Delivery Program is a limited enrollment program. Having the minimum admission requirements does not guarantee admission to the program. There are many intersecting factors that go into deciding to offer admission to an applicant. The following factors are applied to each applicant when making admission decisions:

• Partner agency locations and services offered
• Applicants' home address in relation to practicum opportunities
• Clinical practicum capacity in geographical locations (includes instructor capacity and placement space in agencies)
• Distance required to travel to clinical practicums
• Potential re-admissions applicants and their locations
• GPA from RPN diploma
• Previous studies in a BScN program (if applicable)
• Total number of seats available for the intake

Applied previously? It is important to understand that this program is limited enrollment and highly competitive for each and every intake. Each time you apply you are competing with the group of applicants for that particular intake. The likelihood of a repeat applicant receiving an offer of admission is dependent on the quality and quantity of applications in addition to the list of criteria above and is difficult to predict.

Students admitted to this program receive 30 credits of transfer credits for their successful RPN diploma. Students with additional education beyond the two year RPN diploma or have previously completed a university degree may receive additional credit. An academic advisor will contact transfer students prior to course registration opening with more information about course selection and provide an individualized academic audit to show how their transfer credits will apply to their degree requirements.

Registration information will be emailed with your offer of admission. When applicants accept an offer of admission to Nipissing University they can then register for courses online, through ‘My Nipissing’. After receiving and accepting an Offer of Admission, students with additional university transfer credits (more than 30 credits) will be contacted by the Academic Advising team with course registration advice specific to their individual situation.

All applicants are asked to review the Essential Requirements for Study in Baccalaureate Nursing Program in Ontario. This document discusses the essential requirements required for successful completion of a Nursing program.

Student must complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program within seven years from the time the original date of admission.

Whether or not you registered for courses at the time of your original date of admission has no bearing on the calculation of your time to completion.

**NEW FOR FALL 2025** Should you be admitted to the program, Readmission/Former applicants for whom it has been deemed that they will be unable to complete the degree within the required timeframe must submit a petition to the Academic Appeals and Petitions Committee requesting an extension. This petition will be a condition of your admission. Details about this condition will be outlined in your Offer Permit, which will be attached to your offer email. Please review your email and Offer Permit carefully, as they will include instructions on how to access the petition form, as well as the deadline for submission and/or decision notification.

Students admitted to the RPN-BScN Blended Delivery Program are admitted as full-time students. This does not mean that they are required to take a full-course load.  All admitted students will have the choice of following either a part-time pathway or a flex-time fast-track pathway. The part-time pathway completion plan is 5 years or 15 semesters. The flex-time fast-track pathway can be completed in 3 ½ years or 10 semesters.  Please note that not all Nursing courses are offered every semester. The ability to register in courses earlier than what is outlined in your study plan may not be possible.

Although students are required to be employed at a partner agency, this does not guarantee that you will be having placements at your own agency. We arrange the clinical placements as close to your home address as possible, however, students may be required to travel up to 100km for placements. There are some areas where students will be required to travel over 100km for placements. Please refer to the Current Partners tab on the School of Nursing website to find out which locations will require this additional travel.

Using 'My Nipissing' and WebAdvisor is essential for all applicants. You will be able to view up-to-date information about your application status, including whether your transcripts and other required documents have been received. You are also able to update personal details, such as your address, ensuring our records remain accurate.

Access information for 'My Nipissing' was included in your acknowledgment email. We strongly encourage you to utilize these platforms regularly to stay informed about your application progress. By doing so, you’ll have the answers you need at your fingertips, reducing delays and minimizing the need for follow-up calls or emails.

By prioritizing the use of 'My Nipissing' and WebAdvisor, you can take control of your application process and stay on track.

Nipissing actively promotes an accessible and barrier-free learning environment. If you require student accessibility services, identify yourself as early as possible so that accommodations and support systems can be arranged prior to the beginning of classes. For more information about the services available and the required documentation, visit the Student Accessibility website.

Nipissing University invites you to join us for an information session about our RPN-BScN Blended Delivery Bridging Program. We’ll cover topics such as program structure and admission requirements, with plenty of time for questions too.

The session dates are:

• Tuesday, January 14, 2025 - 7:00PM - 8:00PM
• Thursday, February 13, 2025 - 7:00PM - 8:00PM
• Tuesday, March 11, 2025 - 7:00PM - 8:00PM

You can register for the session that works for you by visiting either the RPN-BScN blended delivery website and click on your preferred session date (under Upcoming Deadlines) or by visiting Nipissing University's events calendar. Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with a zoom link for your selected session.