Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist MS - Master of Science

Admission Requirements

Applicants should have a bachelor’s degree with a major in Nursing from an accredited school or a bachelor’s degree in another field, three years of appropriate full-time clinical experience in nursing as determined by the graduate nursing faculty, and completion of required nursing, science, and mathematics courses. A TOEFL score of 550 or higher is required for all students for whom English is a second language.

Applications will be evaluated on an individual basis when all official transcripts and supporting documents have been received. Application deadlines are as follows: October 15th for spring admission. Applicants will be notified by mail regarding their acceptance. Enrollment with matriculated status is contingent upon satisfaction of admission criteria

International Educated Nurse Admission Guidelines

The College of Staten Island (CSI) School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing welcomes international education nurse (IEN) applicants for the Masters of Science, Post-Masters Advanced Certificate, and Doctorate of Nursing Practice Adult-Gerontological Health programs for either the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) or Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (PCNP) roles.  IENs need to submit the regular graduate application plus meet the following additional requirements as set forth by the New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (NYSED-OP) and CSI-CUNY:

English Language Testing

English proficiency is required of all applicants whose native language is not English. Applicants who have completed a post-secondary university degree in a non-English speaking country must submit either the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing (IETLS) scores. These scores must be recent (within the previous two years). Please submit the scores to the Graduate Admissions Office at CSI-CUNY. Information on these tests can found at www.toefl.org or www.ietls.org. Graduate and clinical doctorate nursing student IEN applicants must meet minimum standards on the TOEFL or IETLS as follows:

• TOEFL: paper (PBT) score > 550 (total score ranges from 310-677); internet (iBT) score > 79 (total score ranges from 0-120) with a speaking (iBT) score > 25 (total score 0-30)

• IETLS: academic exam score of 6.57 overall (total score ranges from 1-9)

Students who have completed a post-secondary university degree in an English speaking country are exempt from the English proficiency requirement. The following list is an example of some countries that are waived:

Antigua & Barbados 

Australia 

Bahamas 

Belize

Bermuda 

British Virgin Islands 

Canada (except Quebec) 

Cayman Islands 

China (Hong Kong Public Universities only)

Dominica

Fiji 

Grenada 

Ireland 

Jamaica 

Liberia

Malawi

New Zealand

Singapore

St. Kitts & Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent & The Grenadines

United Kingdom

USA

Academic Credentials Evaluation

All IEN student applicants should have transcripts evaluated from all post-secondary programs attended. All original/official transcripts are to be sent to the Graduate Admissions Office according to CUNY guidelines for assessment of grade point average GPA based on the American 4.0 system.

Nursing Credential and License

All IEN applicants to our graduate and clinical doctorate programs in nursing must have a Registered Nurse (RN) license from a US state (no territories) at the time of application submission. If offered admission you must obtain a RN license from New York before enrollment in any classes. Consult with the New York State Board of Nursing through http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/nurse/ and with the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools through http://www.cgfns.org/ for information on how to obtain your RN license in NYS. If you received your RN nursing education and license overseas it may take one to two years for review and testing (English language testing and NCLEX-RN examination) prior to entering the graduate or clinical doctorate in nursing programs.

Currently in New York State all IEN’s who wish to practice nursing and who wish to continue their academic studies in a nursing college, school or university must follow NYSED-OP guidelines for securing a New York RN license:

• CGFNS International (formerly the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) must be contacted to verify your nursing education and license credentials according to NYSED-OP. You are to arrange to verify the authenticity of your foreign nursing credentials using CGFNS’s Credential Verification Service for New York State http://www.cgfns.org/services/credential-verification-service-for-ny-state/ . If you are licensed as a nurse in another country you must also request that CGFNS verify your foreign nursing license. You must contact CGFNS directly in order to sign up and pay for the credential verification services. After you sign-up and pay for CGFNS’s services they will send a report regarding your foreign education credentials directly to NYSED-OP. The main website for CGFN is http://www.cgfns.org/ . They provide comprehensive evaluation of credentials, documented English proficiency, and success on the NCLEX-RN exam through successful passing of the CGFNS exam, a predictor of passing the NCLEX-RN exam. Take note that it can take one-year or longer to receive your credentials verification providing you with an “Authorization to Test (ATT)” to then take the NCLEX-RN examination for your NYS license so plan accordingly.

Applicants educated outside the United States may opt to have their transcripts evaluated by the College of Staten Island or to have them evaluated by one of the evaluation services listed below:

• Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.: www.ece.org/

• Evaluation Service, Inc.: www.evaluationservice.net/

• Josef Silny & Associates, Inc., International Education Consultants: www.jsilny.org/

• Transcript Research: www.transcriptresearch.com/

Admission Deadlines

All application materials for the Master of Science and Post-Master Advanced Certificate programs must be received by October 15th for spring admission. All application materials for the Doctor of Nursing Practice programs must be received December 1st for fall admission. Please contact the Graduate Studies Admissions office for further details or changes in the admission dates at: www.csi.cuny.edu/graduatestudies.

Clinical Practice Requirements

All applicants (IEN and US educated nursing [USEN] students) to the graduate and clinical doctorate programs in nursing must have a minimum of one year full-time clinical nursing experience as a registered nurse in an appropriate clinical setting working with the adult and gerontological population prior to initiating the application; the experience must be within three years of application. In addition by the time the student is ready to commence the clinical coursework, a total of three years full-time clinical nursing experience is required and must be verified by the applicants employer in writing. For the IEN student a minimum of one of the three years’ experience must be in a US based facility and must be verified in writing by the employer. This requirement is to provide a basic understanding of quality and safety, patient-centered care, teamwork, cultural competence, and collaborative practice standards unique to the US healthcare system.

Interviews

The graduate and clinical doctorate nursing programs admission committee’s reserve the right to interview any applicant to the graduate or clinical doctorate programs in nursing at the College of Staten Island. Telephone or web-based (Skype or Face-Time) formats may be used. If an interview is requested the Graduate Admissions Office will contact the applicant.

Matriculated Status

Admission requirements for fully matriculated graduate status:

1. Official transcript(s) documenting a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 point scale in the nursing courses.

2. Evidence of successful completion of undergraduate courses (or comparable learning experiences approved by the Graduate Admissions Committee) in nursing research, statistics, and health assessment/physical examination; community health nursing, leadership and management in nursing, general chemistry, and pharmacotherapeutics.

3. Two recommendation letters supporting the applicant’s potential for completing graduate studies; one must be from a current nursing supervisor or recent professor who can speak to clinical performance.

4. Personal Statement:

   Instructions: All master’s degree applicants must answer questions below. Your personal statement should be 300 words, 2 to 4 pages in length total, double-spaced with one-inch margins, in 12 point font.

5. We want to know more about you – your life and goals, your challenges and strengths, and the clinical path that you have chosen that has lead you to this point in your career. Imagine that you are writing your autobiography and you are describing your greatest nursing career achievement.

6. Share specific experiences from your nursing career where your leadership efforts and caring intentions fostered the success of patients from diverse cultural backgrounds.

7. Describe why you want to advance your career by becoming one of the following advanced practice nurses: clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist/nurse practitioner. Include a discussion of whether your interests lie in the wellness to acute care continuum or in the primary care realm.

8. Current RN license to practice in New York State

Non-Matriculated Status

Applicants with exceptional qualifications, but who do not meet all the admission requirements, may be granted admission with non-matriculated graduate status at the discretion of the Graduate Nursing Admissions Committee

A minimum of 500 hours of supervised practice.