College of Health Professions

Nursing Practice

Doctor of Nursing

Admission

Please refer to The Graduate Admissions Process section for general graduate admission information.

For consideration and admission to the Doctor of Nursing Practice program, all applicants must satisfactorily submit the following:

  1. Completed Wilmington University graduate (DNP) application accompanied by a non-refundable application fee

  2. Official transcripts from an accredited college or university verifying completion of a bachelor's and master's degree which reflect nursing. Send official transcript(s) directly to Wilmington University Graduate Admissions Office from the identified college or university.

  3. GPA 3.0 or higher at the graduate level.

  4. Copy of a current Professional Resumé or Curriculum Vitae.

  5. Proof of current RN license.

  6. Three statements of recommendation must be submitted from (1) an immediate supervisor and (2) professional colleagues or academic professor. Personal recommendations are discouraged. The recommendation letters must be submitted directly to the Office of Graduate Admissions.

  7. Complete submission of Statement of Goals

  8. Documentation of Clinical Experience (as defined below):

The DNP is a clinical doctorate requiring 1000 post-baccalaureate clinical hours as delineated in The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice (AACN, 2006). The 1000 post-baccalaureate clinical hours must be completed in a health care setting prior to doctoral degree conferral.
Five hundred (500) of the 1000 post-baccalaureate clinical hours must be completed prior to enrollment in the Wilmington University post-master’s DNP program. The remaining 500 supervised hours will be completed while enrolled in the DNP program.

Therefore, each applicant is required to provide accurate and sufficient evidence describing how the 500 post-baccalaureate clinical hours were earned. This must be completed prior to entering into the Wilmington University DNP program. Applicants can select and prepare one of the following in support of validating 500 post-baccalaureate clinical hours:

  1. Validation by Advanced Practice Certification
     Applicants who have earned an advanced practice certification (e.g. Nurse Practitioner [NP], Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists [CRNA], Certified Nurse Specialist [CNS], and Certified Nurse Midwife [CNM]) must provide a copy of their current national certification as evidence of having completed 500 supervised clinical hours since completing a baccalaureate nursing education program.

  2. Validation by Official Graduate Transcript
    Applicants who have not yet earned an advanced practice certification, but have completed the graduate degree, must provide a thorough description of the supervised clinical/practicum hours completed while enrolled in an NP, CRNA, CNS, or CNM program as validated by an official transcript.

    Acceptable descriptions include any of the following: 1) Course syllabi that demonstrate the number of clinical hours required in each course, 2) Official clinical logs which record the clinical hours in each course, 3) An official letter from the graduate nursing program director, and 4) An official letter from the mentor who supervised the required clinical hours.

  3. Validation by Professional Portfolio
    Although we welcome all other strong applicants, those applicants who do not have a certification or did not earn 500 clinical practicum hours in their graduate nursing program must provide evidence of 500 hours in the form of a professional portfolio describing relevant, clinical projects.

    Examples of project documents are welcome, as well as any other supporting documentation that helps the admission committee understand why the applicant’s portfolio should be considered as appropriate evidence for the required 500 supervised hours.

All of the documents indicated above should be sent directly to:

Wilmington University
Office of Graduate Admissions
31 Reads Way
New Castle, DE 19720

To have an application packet mailed to you, click here, or call the Office of Graduate Admissions at (302) 655-5400.

This information applies to students who enter this degree program during the 2012-2013 Academic Year. If you entered this degree program before the Fall 2012 semester, please refer to the academic catalog for the year you began your degree program.