Nursing RN to BSN Program Specifics

Nursing students

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You may already know that this program was designed to keep students on the fast track to career advancement, with flexible schedules, individualized learning, career development advising, and credit for prior coursework. All RN to BSN nursing courses are offered fully online, providing working nurses with the flexibility to balance career and education. Students requiring general education courses may enroll in traditional in-person courses or may transfer approved credits from another institution. Take just a moment to find out more:

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Top 3 Questions + Other Common Questions, by Topic

To apply to the program, complete the Transfer Student common application.

Apply Now as a Transfer Student

Yes! All required courses (30 semester hours) are offered fully online. The program is designed to meet the needs of busy working professionals. 

Please Note: Students requiring general education courses may enroll in traditional in-person courses or may transfer approved credits from another institution.

The program can be completed in as little as one year. Students who begin the program in the fall semester can complete the program the following summer, and students who begin the program in the spring can complete the program at the end of the following fall semester.

Please Note: The program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours. In addition, students must meet the college's general education requirements and earn a minimum of 120 credits to earn a BSN. Up to 90 transfer credits can be accepted. Students who require additional credits to meet the graduation requirements may need to add an additional semester(s) to complete. Your advisor will work with you to develop a plan of study that will work best for you.

Yes. Prior to enrollment, our Program Director, Linda Mendonca, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC, FNASN, will assist you with course selection. 

Call Linda Mendonca Email Linda Mendonca

Once you are enrolled in the college you will be assigned a nursing faculty advisor.

Students must be admitted in the RN to BSN program before enrolling in any of the required nursing courses; however, students are encouraged to complete any courses (if needed) beyond the 30 program credits needed to meet the general education requirement and to maximize the number of transfer credits before enrolling in the program. 

The RN to BSN program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours including 22 nursing credits and 8 elective credits. In addition, students must meet all general education requirements - totaling 120 credits to earn a BSN

Up to 90 transfer credits can be transferred into the program.

Students with an RN license receive 37 transfer credits for their previous nursing courses and may transfer credits for general education and elective courses. Up to 90 transfer credits can be transferred into the program. You must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours at Rhode Island College.

Generally, not if you are a practicing nurse. Once the Admissions Office has reviewed your transcripts, the BSN program director can provide a second review of courses significant to nursing.

Students must meet the college general education requirements, including 40 general education credits within the required distribution areas below:

  • Arts – Visual and Performing
  • History of Philosophy
  • Literature or Language
  • Mathematics
  • Natural Science (met with Anatomy and Physiology I)
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences (met with Introduction to Psychology) 
  • General education elective (met with any general education course not used to meet one of the above categories)

For most students, distribution requirements in Natural Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and General Education have been met through their Associate's Degree Program. 

The college will evaluate all prior transcripts to ensure the maximum amount of transfer credit is awarded for previous general education courses. Your advisor will work with you to develop a plan to complete any remaining general education requirements. 

Please Note: Students requiring general education courses may enroll in traditional in-person courses or may transfer approved credits from another institution.

Program Details

Admission Requirements

Students apply to the RN to BSN program as a transfer student, using the Transfer Student Common Application. Students can enroll to begin in fall or spring and can complete the program in as little as one year.

Apply Now as a Transfer Student

Application Requirements for All Candidate Types

The Nursing BSN portion of our College Catalog provides the specific application requirements for all candidates.

Course Information

Course requirements and course descriptions can be found in the Nursing BSN portion of our College Catalog.

An Academic Rhode Map provides a semester-by-semester plan to help you toward on-time graduation.

Additional Resources

Nursing RN to BSN Advisement Form / Degree Requirements Checklist

Handbook for Undergraduate Students in Nursing

Program/Learning Goals

BSN Program Outcomes

  • Demonstrate clinical judgment and innovation supported by established and evolving nursing knowledge, ways of knowing, and knowledge from other disciplines.
  • Provide person-centered care across the organization/systems for patients, communities and populations, including family or important others to promote positive health outcomes.
  • Integrate population health concepts spanning public health prevention to disease management to promote the improvement of equitable population health outcomes at the local, regional, national, and global levels.
  • Demonstrate the ability to synthesize and apply current evidence that guides clinical practice and patient care decisions.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and use of established and emerging principles of safety science in care delivery.
  • Demonstrate interprofessional person-centered care that reflects core professional values including altruism, caring, ethics, roles and responsibilities, shared accountability, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Apply knowledge of systems, fiscal impact, social determinants of health, health promotion, improved access, social justice, and systemic racism to improve the health of diverse populations.
  • Use information and communication technologies and informatics processes to improve the delivery of safe, high-quality, and efficient healthcare services in accordance with professional and regulatory standards.
  • Acquire a sustainable professional nursing identity that includes self-reflective practice, advocacy, accountability, a collaborative disposition, and ethical comportment that reflects nursing’s characteristics and values.
  • Demonstrate a capacity for leadership that includes a commitment to activities that foster personal health, resilience and lifelong learning.

Writing in the Discipline

In what ways is writing important to your profession?

Writing is essential to communicating as a nurse. Professional nurses write as care givers, advocates, teachers, and researchers. Nurses write to provide high quality safe care to patients and communities, to propose improvements to health care delivery and to promote changes in health care policy.

Which courses are designated as satisfying the Writing in the Discipline (WID) requirement by your department? Why these courses?

NURS 208W: Scholarly Inquiry and Practice in Nursing is the foundational WID course for the RN to BSN Program. In this course, students are introduced to the conventions of writing in nursing, APA formatting, and the role of evidence-based nursing practice. All nursing courses that follow NURS 208W continue to develop students’ writing skills over time.

What forms or genres of writing will students learn and practice in your department’s WID courses? Why these genres?

The forms of writing taught in the nursing program are clinical writing (or workplace writing), academic writing and reflective writing. Through various types of clinical writing, including care plans, charting and discharge summaries, nurses describe and document patient care. Clinical writing may also include promotional materials and policies developed to serve groups and communities. Professional nurses use academic writing to disseminate new knowledge in the discipline and promote evidence-based practice. Reflective writing, such as journaling and informal responses, serve as a way to learn (“writing to learn”) and as a means to self-understanding and professional growth.

What kinds of teaching practices will students encounter in your department’s WID courses?

Some of the teaching practices students will encounter will be journaling, low-stakes and high-stakes writing assignments, peer reviews, scaffolded assignments and opportunities for revisions and incorporating feedback into later drafts.

When they’ve satisfied your department’s WID requirement, what should students know and be able to do with writing?

Upon completion of the Bachelor of Science in nursing, graduates will be able to: 

  • effectively communicate in writing in the various professional nursing roles
  • accurately and precisely document professional practice in clinical settings
  • prepare thoughtful and effective research papers in the discipline of nursing
  • prepare oral and written presentations individually and collaboratively to achieve a specific purpose
  • engage in reflective writing for personal professional development​​​​​​
Rhode Island College entrance

Program Director

Linda Mendonca

Linda Mendonca

Associate Professor