Frequently Asked Questions - Practical Nursing Program

A great place to start is the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course at the DATC or other regionally accredited institution. Besides being a prerequisite for the Practical Nursing program, the CNA course will give you a great introduction to the nursing profession, and you will learn vital skills that will be built upon in the PN and RN programs.

Once you complete your CNA, you can get a job and get experience doing hands-on patient care. This will give you additional points on the PN program application. From there, you can go on to complete all the prerequisite and support courses required for PN admission and/or graduation.

Weber State University offers a contractual RN Completion nursing program at the DATC campus. This program is only for those who have successfully completed a Practical Nursing program. Current DATC PN students are given first preference for this program, former DATC PN students receive second preference, and then graduates of other programs are considered to fill any remaining slots. The nursing facility is housed on the DATC campus. If admitted to this program, you are enrolled at Weber State, but take your nursing courses at the DATC campus.

The Admissions Committee has a set of policies and procedures that are used to select our future students. Candidates are selected based on a competitive point system split into three areas:

Area 1: Cumulative grade point average (GPA). This area awards the most points. The higher your cumulative GPA, the more points you will receive. We use your high school GPA until you have 15 or more credits of college.

Area 2: Completed Prerequisite and/or Support Courses: Completing prerequisite and/or support courses before you apply will award you more points.  Extra points are given for completion of three or more of the support courses. More points will also be awarded if all prerequisite and support courses are completed at the time of application with a 3.0 GPA or higher in those courses.  For a list of prerequisite and support courses, please see “What are the requirements for the Nursing Program?”

Area 3: Additional Areas. This area gives equal points for each of the noted areas below:

Associate of Science or Associate of Art or higher degree (Bachelor’s, Master’s, etc.) from a regionally accredited institution

Paid medical work experience, such as 6+ months working as a CNA, Medical Assistant, Surgical Technician, Respiratory Therapist, Paramedic, or EMT (these fields award the most points).

A typed personal letter detailing why you wish to become a nurse. Points will be based on guideline items and grammar.

References: three from a supervisor, employer, or teacher.

Reapplicant points will be awarded one year after initial application.  

The application document is available during our select application times (See “When can I apply for the Practical Nursing program?”). To apply:

Go to the Nursing Application Process Page

Under Step 3 is a link to the Nursing Application (or download here). The link will take you to a pdf file you can print out and either hand-deliver or mail in to the DATC Nursing program by the deadline.

The application process is very competitive. We typically receive around 300 applicants for the 40 openings per semester. On average, most students apply about three times before they are accepted.

Qualified applicants can apply twice a year for our program. The application dates are as follows:

November 1 – February 14 (to begin the following August)

April 1 – June 17 (to begin the following January)

Any application received after the application deadline will be considered late and will be disqualified.

Theory courses for the program are held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Clinical courses are held on Thursdays and Fridays. The exact hours of your clinical courses will depend on which hospital you are assigned, but they are typically 6-8 hours long. Nursing students are expected to attend all these hours. No part-time or evening hours are available at this time.

Unlike most of the programs offered at DATC, the Practical Nursing program is taught in a “lock-step” method. This means that all students attend the same courses at the same times set up for the program. For more information, please see” What are the days/hours of the Practical Nursing program?”

The Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course and Math courses up through Intermediate Algebra are available at the DATC. The other prerequisite and support courses can be taken at Weber State University or another regionally accredited university (restrictions may apply; if you have concerns about courses you have taken qualifying for prerequisite or support courses, please call us).

Yes. A current Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification is required before the first day of the Practical Nursing (PN) program, even if you have other medical certifications.

Applicants must have a 3.0 or better GPA at the time of application to be considered qualified for the program. Additionally, all prerequisite and support courses must be passed with a C grade or better.

All university and/or college courses will be combined to produce one GPA.

Remedial Math courses will not be included in the credit and GPA total. These include Math courses below the Intermediate Algebra level.

Religious courses taken at a university or college with religious affiliation will not be included in the credit and GPA totals.

If the same course was taken two or more times, the most recent course grade will be used to compute the GPA and the previous course grade(s) will be eliminated.

The following courses are Prerequisite courses and must be completed by the first day of the PN program:

Human Anatomy (ZOOL 2100 at WSU) or Biomedical Core I (HTHS 1110 at WSU)

Human Physiology (ZOOL 2200 at WSU) or Biomedical Core II (HTHS 1111 at WSU)

Elementary Chemistry (CHEM 1110 at WSU) or Introduction to General, Organic, and Biochemistry (CHEM 1050 at WSU) or Introduction to Chemistry (CHEM 1010 at WSU)

Intermediate Algebra completion in past 1 year ( SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1MATH 1010  at WSU) or ACCUPLACER Score: CLM 50+ or ACT Math Score: 23+ (in past 2 yrs) or completion of Quantitative Literacy Math

The following courses are Support courses and must be completed during your PN program. To be completed before the Second PN Semester:

Introductory Microbiology (MICR 1113)

Introductory Psychology (PSY 1010)

Foundations in Nutrition (NUTR 1020)

To be completed prior to PN Graduation:

Introductory College Writing (ENGL 1010)

Quantitative Literacy Math (MATH 1030, 1040, or 1050)

In addition, applicants must have a current Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification prior to starting the program.
For more information on how we select candidates for our program, please see “How do you select applicants?”