Minnesota State University – Mankato Nursing School Review

From the humble begging as a Normal School, Minnesota State University (MSU) has come a long way to its current state. 1868 was when the history of this state university starting unfolding. Two and three year programs were introduced to the Mankato Normal School which warranted the change of name to Mankato State Teachers College.  Further in 1956, the school started offering four-year degrees changing name again to Mankato State College. By the year 1999, the school finally settled to the current name. The university is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU).

College of Allied Health and Nursing- Minnesota State University Mankato

The college of Allied health and Nursing is mother to the school of nursing at Minnesota State University Mankato (MSU, MSU-M, Minnesota State Mankato).  Programs under this school range from undergraduate to the terminal doctorate degree in nursing. Accreditation for the program is by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing education and they are also approved by the Minnesota Board of Nursing. A full description of the nursing programs offered in the university is given below.

Basic Nursing Program

This program leads to the award of a Bachelor of Science with a nursing major degree. The Curriculum is designed to meet the needs of pre-licensure students who do not have any nursing experience. Students take a total of 120 credits 59 of which are for the nursing major portion while the remaining are prerequisites and general education bracket. 

The curriculum for the program requires four traditional academic years of full time study. During the first and sophomore year, students take the general education courses while nursing major course are only offered at the sophomore 2nd semester onwards. Transfer students from community colleges and other smaller colleges are also welcome to apply for the program. For them, only two years are required to complete the program on a full time basis. Students have a great experience of preparing for the NCLEX-RN exam in their journey to becoming registered nurses.

RN Baccalaureate Completion Program

The Bachelors degree in nursing for RNs targets RNs who consider completing a Bachelors degree. Although the program is designed for full time study, students wishing to take part time classes must apply to the school of nursing for consideration, although the school does not guarantee part time classes. Students from other BS or BA programs can also progress into a second nursing degree under this program.

Master of Science in Nursing

Under the graduate nursing programs, there are two tracks for those who want to get into advanced practical nursing. The two tracks are Family Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Educator tracks. The Family Nurse Practitioner curriculum consists of 53 nursing credits while the Nurse Educator option require 52 credits for completion. Both programs take 9 semester of year round study i.e. fall, spring and summer semesters. However, the Nurse Educator students have the option of completing the program in eight semesters although the 9 Semester plan is the basic plan of study. Two post-masters Certificate programs are also available for each of the two concentrations

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Under the terminal nursing degree program, students have two entry options. On the first option, Master prepared students who have nursing specialties as Nurse Midwives, Nurse Anesthetist and Nurse practitioner, and Clinical Nurse Specialists are welcome to enroll. On the Second option, BSN prepared students can enroll to undertake the DNP but the completion period is prolonged. It is a distance learning program and courses are delivered using online and web based modalities.

Contact:
Minnesota State University – Mankato
122 Taylor Centre, Mankato,
MN 56001