PRACTICAL NURSING CERTIFICATE

Applicants must be 18 years age or older, high school diploma or GED certificate, GPA of 2.5 or greater, admission acceptance to your specific institution, current BLS CPR certification, and proof of math skill readiness with a college math course of ASC 93 or other pre-requisite math course or an Accuplacer score of 255 or greater within the past 2 years.

Yes, all applicants are required to submit their TEAS results with their application to the nursing program.  A score of 45% or above within the last 2 years is accepted. To register for the TEAS test log onto www.atitesting.com.

The TEAS test can be taken at your local college or online through the ATI website.

Some nursing programs may require you to come on campus to take the TEAS. There is the option that the TEAS test can be done in the comfort of your own home; please talk with your local nursing advisor for more information on registering for TEAS.

In person $87.00 and online proctored $120. An additional proctoring fee may apply to your specific institution.

Applications for the nursing program are available December 1^st – March 5^th each year. Find the application on the www.dakotanursing.org homepage.

Acceptance is determined by the capacity set by each institution within the Dakota Nursing Program Consortium. Please note that total acceptance may fluctuate based on the availability of faculty at each campus. Institutions marked with an * offer the PN program every other year.

The nursing program at each institution has a Fall start date only.

Yes, any applicant born outside of the United States or Canada for whom English is not their native language or have not attended 4 years of U.S. High school and achieved a HS GPA of 3.0 or higher must meet additional language proficiency requirements for admission to the program.  English as a second language (ESL) applicants must achieve minimum scores on the TOEFL internet-based test (86 Combined; minimum individual scores of 26 Speaking, 20 Writing, 20 Reading, and 20 Listening) OR the Duolingo English Test scores (115 minimum overall score; with a content score of 90 in each of the following: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing)

Schedules are based on each institution within the Dakota Nursing Program Consortium and may vary.  You can expect theory classes to be held on Tuesdays & Thursdays with on campus labs and clinicals held Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays. Nursing theory classes are held over Teams, an interactive classroom where your instructor will be at another site instructing several locations of students.

LRSC is currently the only institution with a mobility program. Students enrolled in the LRSC Mobility Track complete their theory coursework online, allowing for flexible, self-paced learning that requires strong time management skills. In addition to online theory, students are required to attend campus once a week for hands-on lab and clinical experiences. Please note: lab and clinical schedules are fixed and cannot be adjusted.

Yes, once the semester has been completed, we will check your grades and GPA to make sure you meet the requirements of the nursing program.

The Dakota Nursing Program selects instructors who have a background in the course content.

For example, for the maternal newborn course, there is an instructor at Lake Region State College and one at Williston State College who have worked in Obstetrics. Those faculty will teach you about the care of mothers and babies over the Teams Meeting Room technology. They can see you and you can see them on the monitors in the classroom. There are speakers and microphones so you can hear them, and they can hear you ask questions or make comments as well. This is the same model we use for foundations of nursing, health assessment, medical surgical nursing, and mental health nursing. Sometimes the faculty will be at your location if you are on the main campus and sometimes, they will be on the monitor in your classroom. Each of our courses are built this way. It is an advantage to be able to have the expertise the faculty have in different topics to students across the state.