Penn Nursing is one of four undergraduate schools at the University of Pennsylvania, alongside the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Wharton, and it consistently ranks among the top nursing programs in the United States. Unlike most nursing schools, Penn's BSN students benefit from full access to an Ivy League university's cross-school electives, research opportunities, and a large clinical network in Philadelphia, one of the country's major hospital and biomedical research hubs. At the graduate level, the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) gives international nurses and career-changers a path to advanced practice credentials backed by Penn's brand and research strength.
This guide walks through what it takes to get into Penn Nursing at both the undergraduate and graduate level, including the acceptance-rate reality, cost, requirements, English-test rules, and where graduates go.
Acceptance Rate
Penn does not publish a Nursing-specific undergraduate acceptance rate; applicants apply to the University of Pennsylvania as a whole and are admitted into a specific school, including Nursing:
- Undergraduate (university-wide): Penn's overall acceptance rate is 4.9%. There is no separately published Nursing-specific figure, but Penn's own graduate-level editorial guidance (used for its MSN program) notes that Nursing is meaningfully less selective than Penn's other schools once inside the graduate admissions process, which is a directional signal, not a confirmed undergraduate figure.
- Graduate (MSN, published proxy): Penn's own research notes put the School of Nursing's graduate acceptance rate at over 60%, dramatically higher than Wharton MBA, SEAS Engineering, or Arts & Sciences, which each run in the 18-21% range, and far higher than Perelman Medicine's 2-4%.
Bottom line: treat the 4.9% figure as an honest university-wide proxy for undergraduate Nursing admissions, since no BSN-specific rate is published, but treat the 60%+ figure for the graduate MSN program as a genuine, published-adjacent School of Nursing statistic rather than a university-wide blend.
Fees and Cost of Attendance
Undergraduate (BSN, 4-year degree):
| Cost Item | Amount (USD/year) |
|---|---|
| Tuition | $65,670 |
| Living expenses (Philadelphia) | $20,604 |
| Total estimated cost of attendance | $94,582 |
Tuition is identical for BSN students and other Penn undergraduates, and identical for domestic and international students. For the full four-year BSN, total program cost runs roughly $375,000-$380,000 before financial aid. Penn's undergraduate aid is need-based, with admitted students who qualify for aid having 100% of demonstrated need met, primarily through grants.
Graduate (MSN):
Penn's published per-course-unit graduate tuition rate for 2026-27 is $8,825/c.u., though the School of Nursing does not publish a standalone flat annual MSN tuition figure in Penn's own data, so applicants should confirm the exact per-unit cost and expected course load directly with Penn Nursing's graduate admissions office rather than assume it matches SEAS or Wharton figures exactly. The graduate application fee is $95.
Admission Requirements
Undergraduate (BSN), based on Penn's published international applicant requirements:
- Common Application or Coalition Application
- Official secondary school transcript / School Report
- Letters of recommendation (teacher and counselor)
- Personal essay and Penn Nursing-specific supplement
- SAT or ACT scores (Penn reinstated a test-required policy from the 2025-26 cycle)
- English proficiency test (TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo) for non-exempt applicants
- Application fee of $75, or an approved fee waiver
Early Decision is due November 1 (binding, decisions mid-December); Regular Decision is due January 5 (decisions early-to-mid April).
Graduate (MSN), based on Penn's published graduate requirements:
- Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
- Statement of Purpose
- Two to three letters of recommendation
- Resume/CV
- GRE: optional for most Penn graduate programs, including Nursing
- TOEFL or IELTS scores, required for non-exempt international applicants
- Application fee of $95, or an approved fee waiver
How to Get Into Penn's Nursing Program
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Show genuine, sustained interest in healthcare, not just strong grades. Because Penn Nursing draws from the same overall applicant pool as Penn's other schools, admissions readers look for evidence of hands-on healthcare exposure, volunteering, or shadowing, rather than academics alone.
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Use the Nursing-specific supplemental essay to explain your "why nursing, why Penn" story. A generic pre-health essay reads differently from one that shows the applicant understands Penn Nursing's specific research strengths and its access to Philadelphia's large clinical network.
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Get a recommendation that speaks to caregiving, teamwork, or clinical aptitude. A reference that can describe how an applicant handled responsibility, stress, or interpersonal challenges carries real weight for a field built on direct patient interaction.
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Clear the English-proficiency bar comfortably, especially Speaking. Nursing involves constant real-time verbal communication with patients and care teams, so a comfortable margin above the minimum IELTS/TOEFL score reduces risk of struggling with clinical coursework and rotations.
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For MSN applicants, be explicit about your specialization goal. Advanced practice nursing covers many distinct tracks (e.g., nurse practitioner specialties, nurse-midwifery, health leadership); naming a specific target and connecting it to prior clinical experience strengthens a graduate application considerably.
English Proficiency Requirement (IELTS/TOEFL)
Undergraduate:
- IELTS: minimum 7.0 overall, recommended 7.5
- TOEFL: minimum 100 overall, recommended 105; no official per-section minimum, but Penn Admissions notes that the most competitive applicants show consistency across all four sections
- Waiver: granted if English is the applicant's native and first language, or if English was the sole language of secondary-school instruction
Graduate (MSN):
- IELTS: minimum 7.0 overall, recommended 7.5
- TOEFL: minimum 100 overall (Penn's graduate schools generally recommend 100+, a higher bar than the undergraduate figure)
- Waiver: granted for applicants who have graduated (or will graduate by matriculation) from a program taught entirely in English
Given how communication-intensive nursing practice is, applicants comfortably above these minimums, especially in Speaking, tend to transition more smoothly into clinical coursework. For the full breakdown of Penn's testing policy across schools, see University of Pennsylvania IELTS requirements and University of Pennsylvania TOEFL requirements.
Career Outcomes
Penn does not publish outcomes broken out specifically for Nursing; the figures below are Penn's broader university-wide outcomes, presented as an honest proxy rather than a Nursing-specific statistic:
- Undergraduate employment rate after 6 months: 74% (university-wide figure); nursing graduates typically place at or above this figure given consistent healthcare demand
- Undergraduate average starting salary: roughly $95,000 (university-wide figure; nursing-specific starting salaries in major metro hospital systems commonly fall in a similar or somewhat lower range depending on specialty and location)
- Graduate employment rate after 6 months: 87% (university-wide figure)
- Graduate average starting salary: roughly $185,000 (university-wide figure, which is likely skewed upward by high-paying MBA and finance/consulting placements rather than representative of typical MSN outcomes)
- Top recruiters (university-wide, both levels): Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, McKinsey & Company, Morgan Stanley, Google, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company; Nursing graduates specifically are recruited heavily by major Philadelphia-area health systems and academic medical centers given Penn's dense local clinical network
Because Penn does not break out Nursing-specific salary or employment data, applicants researching realistic nursing compensation should also consult national nursing salary data and Pennsylvania-specific hospital system pay scales rather than relying solely on Penn's blended university-wide figures.
FAQ
Does Penn publish a separate acceptance rate for Nursing? Not at the undergraduate level; applicants apply to Penn as a whole and are admitted into a specific school. Penn's own data shows Nursing's graduate (MSN) acceptance rate at over 60%, considerably higher than Wharton, Engineering, or Arts & Sciences, which each run around 18-21%.
What IELTS or TOEFL score do I need for Penn Nursing? Undergraduate applicants should target IELTS 7.0+ (7.5 recommended) or TOEFL 100+ (105 recommended). Graduate MSN applicants face a similar IELTS floor with a TOEFL recommendation of 100+.
Is the GRE required for Penn's MSN program? No. The GRE is optional for most Penn graduate programs, including Nursing, and applications are evaluated holistically.
How much does Penn Nursing cost? Undergraduate (BSN) tuition is $65,670/year, with total cost of attendance around $94,582/year, the same as Penn's other undergraduate schools. Graduate MSN tuition is billed per course unit at Penn's standard 2026-27 rate of $8,825/c.u.; Penn Nursing does not publish a separate flat annual MSN figure, so confirm the exact cost directly with the program.
Does Penn offer financial aid to international Nursing students? Yes, at the undergraduate level, need-based aid covers 100% of demonstrated need for admitted students who qualify, though Penn is need-aware (not need-blind) for international applicants. Graduate financial support is more limited and typically comes through research or teaching assistant positions.
Is Penn Nursing a good choice compared to a standalone nursing school? Penn Nursing offers something most standalone nursing schools cannot: full access to an Ivy League university's cross-school electives, research funding, and a large academic medical center ecosystem in Philadelphia, though it also comes with a considerably higher cost of attendance than most public nursing programs.