Special Consideration Program

Special Consideration Program for Pre-Nursing Students

Mercer University offers a Special Consideration Program for Pre-Nursing students (SPC-PNU) for first-year students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who intend to apply to the nursing program.

Coursework and Residency Requirements

To participate in the SCP-PNU, a student must complete their pre-nursing coursework within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; students who take college courses at institutions other than Mercer after they graduate from high school are no longer eligible for the SCP-PNU. In order to earn special consideration status upon application to the Georgia Baptist College of Nursing Bachelor of Science in Nursing program (BSN), a SCP-PNU student must adhere to the program requirements indicated below, and complete a minimum of 60 credit hours before matriculating into the nursing program. Forty-eight credit hours of the pre-nursing curriculum requirements must be taken in residence at Mercer by the end of the spring semester of the student’s second year.

With the approval of the College of Nursing’s associate dean for the undergraduate program, dual enrollment credit, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate credit may be accepted to fulfill the pre-nursing requirements, though cannot count toward the 48 minimum semester hours required “in residence” at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Academic Performance

An SCP-PNU student must maintain an overall GPA of at least 3.0, as well as a 3.0 GPA in the four biology prerequisites for admission. Students may not elect to be graded on an “S/U” basis in those math and science courses required for the pre-nursing curriculum. The overall and biology GPAs of all SCP-PNU students will be reviewed after their first year as undergraduates and after both the fall and spring semesters of their second year. If a student’s overall GPA or biology GPA is below a 3.0 at any of these times, the student will no longer be eligible to participate in the SCP-PNU. (Note that pre-nursing students who have lost eligibility for the SCP-PNU must declare a major or risk losing eligibility for federal financial aid.)

Request for Participation

Students interested in and eligible to participate in the SCP-PNU must submit a completed “Request for SCP-PNU Participation” form to one of the pre-nursing advisers on the Mercer-Macon campus by Nov. 15 of their first year at Mercer.

Application to the College of Nursing

SCP-PNU students are required to apply to the College of Nursing by Jan. 15 of their second year. SCP-PNU students are required to submit scores for the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) with their application packet. A minimum composite TEAS score is required to maintain eligibility for the SCP-PNU. Final acceptance into the nursing program may be contingent upon a successful interview with the program’s faculty.