Last Updated: October 14, 2026
Program Overview
National University’s second-bachelor BSN combines onsite and hybrid learning with a nursing sequence advertised at an average of 22 months.
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing — Second Bachelor (California) is designed for students who already hold a bachelor’s degree and want to prepare for RN licensure. The program develops clinical reasoning, therapeutic communication, leadership and culturally responsive care.
National advertises an average completion time of 22 months. Its current second-bachelor program page lists Fresno as the campus location. Hybrid study still includes in-person laboratory and clinical requirements.
The university accepts applications year-round, but admission to a nursing cohort is a separate, competitive process with its own deadlines. University-wide monthly start advertising should not be read as a guarantee of monthly nursing cohort entry.
Accreditation and Licensure
National’s second-bachelor BSN is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The California prelicensure nursing program is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, and National University is institutionally accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.
Graduates prepare for the NCLEX-RN. Community Healthcare coursework also contributes to the educational requirements for California Public Health Nurse certification; completing the BSN does not itself issue either credential.
Admissions Requirements
Nursing admission requires both a university application and a separate nursing application. National’s $0 university application fee does not waive the nursing selection process, including testing and an interview.
The university’s published prelicensure nursing requirements include:
- An earned bachelor’s degree for the second-bachelor pathway.
- A 2.75 cumulative GPA in general education and prerequisite coursework and grades of C or better in prerequisites.
- Attendance at a Pre-Nursing Forum before submitting the nursing application.
- Official transcripts evaluated for prerequisite equivalency.
- Completed prerequisites with final grades posted before the nursing application; courses still in progress do not satisfy this requirement.
- TEAS testing, followed by competitive selection that considers academic performance, test results and an interview.
- Required background, drug-screening and clinical health clearance.
The nursing admissions packet linked by National also specifies a 2.75 cumulative GPA from all institutions. For applicants with a completed bachelor’s degree below 2.75, it describes a 3.0 GPA in the final 60 semester credits of that degree as an alternative; coursework completed after degree conferral does not count toward that calculation.
Testing and cohort selection
National’s prelicensure admissions policies require TEAS scores and an interview; the university’s general “no exams” application statement should not be applied to nursing admission. TEAS attempts are limited to three, at least 60 days apart, and students should finish the mathematics and science prerequisites before testing.
Admission is not guaranteed by meeting the minimums. Obtain the current nursing-cohort application window from the department rather than treating year-round university applications as rolling admission to the clinical sequence. New-student orientation is mandatory after acceptance.
Prerequisites and Transfer Credit
The university-linked packet identifies these prerequisites for applicants who already hold a bachelor’s degree:
- COM 103 — Public Speaking.
- BST 322 — Introduction to Biomedical Statistics.
- SOC 100 — Principles of Sociology.
- PSY 100 — Introduction to Psychology.
- BIO 201 / 201A — Anatomy and Physiology I with lab.
- BIO 202 / 202A — Anatomy and Physiology II with lab.
- BIO 203 / 203A — Microbiology with lab.
Transfer equivalents require university evaluation. The packet does not accept NU’s asynchronous BIO 191A, BIO 192A and BIO 193A labs or the listed StraighterLine biology courses as equivalents for nursing prerequisites.
Prior bachelor’s coursework is evaluated toward the degree. The current program page expresses graduation requirements as 120 semester credits, including at least 30 completed at National and 51 upper-division credits; these are total-degree requirements, not 120 new nursing credits for every second-degree student.
The packet distinguishes this pathway from generic entry: English composition and information literacy appear in its generic-entry prerequisite list, while the generic-entry Spanish and cross-cultural corequisites are waived for prior-degree students. The individual degree evaluation determines any remaining non-nursing requirements.
Curriculum
The nursing core moves from assessment, pharmacology and foundational care through increasingly complex adult nursing and specialty practice, then community health, leadership and professional issues. Theory courses are paired with laboratory and clinical experiences; the subject groups below do not assign courses to particular semesters.
Catalog 89 specifies 25 required nursing courses totaling 63 semester credits. Community Healthcare I and its lab are combined in one four-credit row. Course tables use the catalog’s credits; optional electives and conditional advanced-placement study are separate.
Required Courses and Credits
Foundations and adult nursing
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NSG 403 — Nursing Theories and Models | 3 | Apply nursing theories to care and develop a professional nursing identity. |
NSG 214 — Health Assessment | 3 | Holistic assessment using evidence and attention to sociocultural differences. |
NSG 214A — Health Assessment Clinical | 1 | Practice patient assessment techniques in clinical settings alongside NSG 214. |
NSG 422 — Nursing Research | 3 | Research methods, ethics and evidence-based approaches to improving care. |
NSG 304 — Pharmacology in Nursing | 3 | Drug actions, classifications, medication laws and safe administration and monitoring. |
NSG 240 — Foundations of Nursing | 3 | The nursing process, patient-centered care and legal and ethical principles for adults and older adults. |
NSG 240A — Foundations Clinical Lab | 2.33 | Plan and provide basic nursing care for adults and older adults with stable conditions. |
NSG 245 — Medical-Surgical Nursing I | 3 | Care and coordination for adults and older adults with acute and chronic medical-surgical needs. |
NSG 245A — Medical-Surgical I Clinical | 2.33 | Apply medical-surgical skills in simulated and patient-care settings. |
NSG 330 — Medical-Surgical Nursing II | 3 | Evidence-based care for acute, critical and complex adult conditions within interdisciplinary teams. |
NSG 330A — Medical-Surgical II Clinical | 2.33 | Practice care of adults with complex and critical conditions in lab and clinical settings. |
NSG 305 — PathoPharmacology | 3 | Connect disease mechanisms, medication effects and clinical judgment across body systems. |
Family, pediatric and mental health nursing
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NSG 333 — Childbearing Family Nursing | 3 | Assessment and care from pregnancy through postpartum, including newborn and family needs. |
NSG 333A — Childbearing Family Clinical | 2.33 | Apply maternal–newborn nursing with patients and families. |
NSG 334 — Pediatric Nursing | 3 | Child and adolescent nursing with developmental, cultural and environmental considerations. |
NSG 334A — Pediatric Nursing Clinical | 2.33 | Practice developmental and family-centered nursing for children and their families. |
NSG 335 — Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing | 3 | Mental health concepts, therapeutic communication and nursing care for psychiatric disorders. |
NSG 335A — Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical | 2.33 | Apply mental health nursing across the lifespan in clinical, laboratory and outpatient settings, concurrently with NSG 335. |
Community health, leadership and professional practice
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NSG 460 / 460A — Community Healthcare I and Lab | 4 | Family and community assessment, prevention and practical community health interventions, including work with vulnerable populations. |
NSG 462 — Community Healthcare II | 3 | Public health systems, population health, resource mobilization and disaster response. |
NSG 462A — Community Healthcare II Lab | 1 | Plan and evaluate population-focused interventions, including outcomes and costs. |
NSG 340 — Nursing Leadership/Management | 3 | Healthcare delivery, leadership roles and quality improvement. |
NSG 340A — Leadership/Management Clinical | 1 | Coordinate care for multiple patients, collaborate with nurse leaders and participate in quality improvement. |
NSG 440 — Professional Issues in Nursing | 3 | Analyze historical and current issues in nursing education, practice and scholarship. |
Clinical integration and elective options
Health assessment, foundations, adult medical-surgical, maternal–newborn, pediatric and mental health theory are paired with practical learning. Community Healthcare I and II develop population-focused practice, while Leadership/Management Clinical integrates coordination of care for multiple patients and quality improvement.
The published required core finishes with professional issues rather than a separately named capstone course. NSG 470A, Work Experience in a Clinical Setting, and NSG 490, Guided Study, are listed as electives, not requirements for every student; work experience has nursing-course and GPA conditions, and guided study requires department approval.
LVNs and military medics may be considered for advanced placement through approved challenge or equivalency procedures. For direct equivalency, National sets a seven-year recency limit on relevant prior content; older learning may be evaluated through challenge examinations and skill validation. Linked theory and clinical courses must be challenged together. Professional experience does not confer automatic credit.
Clinical Experience
Students complete practical learning in laboratories and clinical agencies alongside nursing theory. Placements may change, and students are responsible for transportation to their assigned sites.
Clinical participation requires current health and immunization documentation, background and drug screening, CPR/BLS certification, insurance and other agency requirements. Failure to meet a placement site’s requirements can prevent completion of required clinical coursework.
Tuition and Costs
Estimated nursing-core tuition: $63,000. National University’s Catalog 89 states 63 semester credits for the second-bachelor nursing core and a nursing-specific rate of $1,000 per credit. The estimate is 63 × $1,000 at the published rate; actual charges may change and approved advanced-placement credit can reduce the courses required. Prerequisites, additional university fees and personal expenses are extra. The catalog lists no Course Materials Fee for these nursing-core courses; the general undergraduate term-based cap does not apply to this exception.
Other Nursing Pathways
National also offers a generic-entry BSN, RN-to-BSN study and graduate nursing programs. These have separate admissions and degree requirements; the second-bachelor pathway is intended for applicants who already hold a degree.
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