Program Overview
Washington’s Fastest ABSN — Built on UW Medicine’s Clinical Network
UW’s Accelerated BSN is the fastest second-degree nursing program in Washington state — 12 months, 4 quarters, done. That speed is anchored by a clinical infrastructure that few programs anywhere can replicate:
- the UW Medicine health system
- the Clinical Placement Northwest Consortium,
- a simulation center that just earned the INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards Endorsement
The program awarded over $700,000 in student funding in 2024 alone, and a 91% NCLEX pass rate signals that the accelerated timeline doesn’t dilute outcomes.
Two annual start dates (Spring and Autumn) give career changers two chances per year rather than one.
ABSN Admission Summary
Admission to UW’s ABSN is holistic — essays, healthcare experience, a recommendation, and academic record are all evaluated together. The GPA framework is layered: a 2.8 floor for all college-level coursework, a 3.0 floor in every individual prerequisite, and a 3.0 cumulative Natural Sciences GPA at the time of application. Missing any one of these thresholds makes an applicant ineligible.
Degree and experience requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in a non-nursing field, OR enough time remaining to complete a bachelor’s degree before the program start date
- Minimum 100 hours of paid or volunteer healthcare experience in a single setting within a three-month span, completed within 12 months before applying
- Clear understanding of the Registered Nurse (RN) role
GPA thresholds — all three must be met:
- 2.8 minimum cumulative GPA across all college-level coursework ever completed
- 3.0 minimum grade in every individual ABSN prerequisite course
- 3.0 minimum cumulative Natural Sciences GPA (calculated only from completed NSc courses) — at least three Natural Sciences courses must be complete at time of application
Prerequisite coursework — all must be completed with 3.0/B or higher:
Natural Sciences (minimum 6 courses / 28 quarter credit hours):
- General Chemistry (5 quarter credits)
- Organic Chemistry (5–10 quarter credits)
- Human Anatomy (5 quarter credits)
- Human Physiology with lab (5 quarter credits)
- General Microbiology with lab (5 quarter credits) — lab component required; separate lab course accepted if not integrated
- Nutrition (4 quarter credits) — must cover nutritional needs by group, food composition, and nutritional deficiency diseases
Additional prerequisites:
- Statistics — one course, minimum 3 quarter credits (descriptive and inferential)
- Lifespan Growth & Development — minimum 5 quarter credits; must cover full human lifespan from birth to death
No expiration date applies to prerequisite courses — retaking for a grade refresh or improvement is acceptable. Credit/No Credit and Pass/Fail grades do not count toward prerequisite fulfillment. At least three Natural Sciences courses must be complete (not in progress) when the application is submitted.
Application materials:
- All college transcripts uploaded within the application; international coursework requires a credential evaluation (WES recommended)
- Healthcare, professional, volunteer, and leadership experience descriptions
- Essays responding to required prompts about motivation, preparation, and alignment with the School’s mission; optional statement for academic concerns
- One recommendation addressing specific questions about qualifications, professionalism, and readiness
- Applicants must also apply to UW as a post-baccalaureate student for spring or fall quarter — this is separate from School of Nursing admission; acceptance to one does not guarantee the other
Important: Courses graded below 3.0 in Natural Sciences must be retaken and completed at 3.0 or higher before they count toward prerequisites. Do not include incomplete or below-threshold courses in the Natural Sciences GPA calculation on the application.
Curriculum
Seventy-nine quarter credits are distributed across four consecutive quarters in a fully in-person, full-time format. The sequence runs autumn-to-summer (Autumn start) or spring-to-winter (Spring start), and every quarter integrates both didactic coursework and supervised clinical practice.
Prerequisite Overview
See the admission summary above for the full prerequisite list. All prerequisites must be completed with 3.0/B or higher before the program start date. No expiration applies, but students are encouraged to retake courses where content feels dated.
Full four-quarter nursing sequence (79 quarter credits — Spring start shown):
Quarter 1 — Spring (22 cr.):
- NCLIN 301 – Health Assessment and Foundational Skills for Nursing Practice (6 cr.)
- NURS 303 – Foundations of Professional Nursing Practice (4 cr.)
- NURS 304 – Foundations in Pharmacotherapeutics and Pathophysiology (5 cr.)
- NURS 420 – Community and Public Health Nursing (3 cr.)
- NCLIN 409 – Practicum: Population Health Through Community Health Nursing Partnerships (4 cr.)
Quarter 2 — Summer (19 cr.):
- NCLIN 407 – Practicum: Nursing Care of Ill Adults (5 cr.)
- NCLIN 418 – Practicum: Psychosocial Nursing (3 cr.)
- NMETH 403 – Introduction to Research (1 cr.)
- NURS 401 – Fundamentals of Nursing Practice for Illness Care I (6 cr.)
- NURS 417 – Psychosocial Nursing in Health and Illness (4 cr.)
Quarter 3 — Autumn (21 cr.):
- NCLIN 403 – Practicum: Pediatric Nursing (4 cr.)
- NCLIN 416 – Practicum: Care of Childbearing Families (2 cr.)
- NCLIN 475 – Foundations of Interprofessional Practice / IPE (0 cr. — graded in Winter)
- NMETH 403 – Introduction to Research (1 cr.)
- NURS 405 – Fundamentals of Nursing Practice for Illness Care II (6 cr.)
- NURS 412 – Health Care Systems and Policy (3 cr.)
- NURS 415 – Nursing Care of Childbearing Families (3 cr.)
- NURS 431 – Child Health (2 cr.)
Quarter 4 — Winter (17 cr.):
- NCLIN 411 – Practicum: Transition to Clinical Practice (7 cr.)
- NCLIN 475 – Foundations of Interprofessional Practice / IPE (1 cr. — final grade awarded here)
- NMETH 403 – Introduction to Research (1 cr.)
- NMETH 450 – Informatics, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement (3 cr.)
- NURS 419 – Transition to Professional Practice (5 cr.)
Interprofessional Education (IPE) modules run across Quarters 3 and 4 with the final grade awarded in Winter — a deliberate design choice that builds collaborative practice skills progressively. The Transition to Clinical Practice practicum in the final quarter carries 7 credits, the largest single clinical block in the program.
More curriculum details available in the course catalog: UW ABSN Curriculum
Clinicals
600+ hours of hands-on patient care are embedded throughout all four quarters, beginning in the first quarter with community and population health clinical experiences. The UW Office of Clinical Placements manages all student placements — students focus entirely on learning while the placement team coordinates sites across the UW Medicine system and the Clinical Placement Northwest Consortium.
- Total clinical hours: 600+
- Placement coordination: Fully managed by the UW Office of Clinical Placements — no self-sourcing
- Primary clinical partner: UW Medicine — one of the nation’s premier academic health systems
- Additional networks: Clinical Placement Northwest Consortium; community, clinic, and specialty care partners across the Seattle area
- Specialties covered: Community and public health, medical-surgical adult care, psychosocial nursing, pediatrics, childbearing families, and transition to practice
- Final quarter preceptorship: NCLIN 411 (7 cr.) — a dedicated Transition to Clinical Practice practicum in the program’s highest-intensity term
- Simulation Center: INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards Endorsement™ holder — recognized nationally for excellence in Prebriefing, Facilitation, Professional Integrity, and Debriefing; high-fidelity manikins and diverse clinical scenarios used throughout
- Student learning in the community: Students have participated in events like Hope Festival and the Seattle King County Clinic, gaining population health exposure beyond the clinical rotation structure
- Clinical ratio: Not published — contact asknursing@uw.edu for current student-to-instructor ratios by rotation type
Tuition
Estimated total program cost: ~$53,720
The ABSN is a fee-based program administered through UW’s Professional & Continuing Education (PCE) — the same rate applies to both Washington residents and out-of-state students.
| Cohort | Per Quarter | × 4 Quarters | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Spring/Autumn 2025 | $12,913 | 4 | $51,652 |
Spring 2026 | $13,430 | 4 | $53,720 |
Each cohort pays the rate in effect at the time they start — that rate is locked for the duration of their program. Additional costs include a CastleBranch account (immunization tracking), a Clinical Placements Northwest account registration fee, uniforms, textbooks, and clinical transportation.
At ~$53,720, UW’s ABSN is priced in the mid-range for private and hybrid ABSN programs nationally — less than JU ($72,000), Emory (~$82,000+), and Seton Hall ($110,080), but more than Florida’s public university cluster (~$12,000–$13,000). The fee-based structure removes the resident/non-resident tuition differential entirely, making it equally priced for students relocating from out of state. Over $700,000 in funding was awarded to ABSN students in 2024 — scholarships, grants, and loan opportunities are actively available through the School of Nursing’s Student and Academic Affairs office.
See the official tuition page for more details: UW School of Nursing Costs & Financial Support
Accreditation
The baccalaureate nursing program at the University of Washington is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and approved by the Washington State Board of Nursing.
The UW School of Nursing Simulation Center holds the INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards Endorsement™, a nationally recognized designation for excellence in simulation-based healthcare education. UW is institutionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).