Please review all application requirements below. All documents should be uploaded into your online application.

The appropriate foundation for graduate level entry is a professional degree. Candidates must comply with the School of Graduate Studies Regulations for the M.Sc. degrees.

The specific admission requirements are:

1. A Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing (60 units taken at a university) with a minimum of the equivalent to a McMaster B+ average over the final 60 units from an undergraduate nursing program. Applicants who are graduates of a baccalaureate nursing degree program for registered nurses and who have between 50 and 59 units of university study will be considered on a case-by-case basis. These 60 units will not include advanced credit for college courses. 
2. Submit official transcripts of academic work completed to date, sent directly from the issuing institution. This document can be sent electronically to gradson@mcmaster.ca or the Nursing Graduate Office. Please include any additional course work transcripts. Please note that non-English transcripts must be translated and notarized. Please submit copies of unofficial transcripts in your online application. 
3. Submit two academic references. McMaster University uses the Electronic Referencing System. By entering the email address of your Academic referee through the online application, the system will automatically send an e-Reference request on your behalf. The report from referees must be received by McMaster by the application deadline. 
4. Submit  two clinical references from people who have known you in a professional context and can attest to your clinical experience. McMaster University uses the Electronic Referencing System. By entering the email address of your clinical referee through the online application, the system will automatically send an e-Reference request on your behalf. The report from referees must be received by McMaster by the application deadline. 
5. Submit a Curriculum Vitae, please upload this document directly in the online application. 
6. Submit a personal essay responding to the questions included to provide us with insight into your motivation and interest in becoming a nurse practitioner. Please answer the questions directly in the online application. Answers should be limited to one page per question, single spaced. References are not required. 
7. Submit Health Professional Requirements: Please upload these documents directly in the online application. Evidence of health professional requirements include: copy of Ontario RN license/registration or renewal.  
8. Submit Verification of Employment Hours. Two years of direct patient care nursing practice within the past five years (3640 hours) is required to begin the program. If you have not completed 3,640 hours at the application deadline, please upload a document stating your plan to complete all the required hours by September 1. Verification of Hours documentation is required for hours to date.  Please download the Verification of Employment Hours form. Please note: applicants are not allowed to submit VOE (Verification of Employment) documents – these documents must be submitted on your behalf to the Graduate Nursing Programs by the Human Resources department of the organization where the hours are worked via email to gradson@mcmaster.ca or letter mail to the address below. 

Applicants whose native language is not English are required to supply evidence of their proficiency in the use of the English language. The most common evidence is a score of at least 92 (iBT), 580 (paper-based test) or 237 (computer-based test) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The Nursing Graduate Program requires a minimum overall score of 7.0 for IELTS (Academic Test). 

FACILITATED INDIGENOUS ADMISSIONS PROGRAM (FIAP): SELF-IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

With an understanding that Indigenous learners can face specific barriers or challenges when pursuing higher education, schools and programs within McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences have facilitated admissions streams for applicants with Indigenous North American (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) ancestry. This process is intended to provide equitable access to Indigenous applicants and aligns with the intent of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action. Applicants wishing to apply through McMaster’s FIAP need to complete the supplementary self-identification application in addition to  McMaster university and program specific application processes. All Indigenous applicants who meet the admission criteria will be considered within an Indigenous applicant cohort.

Full details are found on the Indigenous Students Health Sciences Website.

Entry Qualifications: 

Baccalaureate Nursing, minimum B+ average 

Required Courses:  

Four half courses from McMaster Graduate Programs: 

NUR 707 (Foundations of Nursing Leadership) 

NUR 712 Evidence Based Nursing 

NUR 706 Applied Research and Evaluation Methods 

One elective half course (approved by advisor and Assistant Dean of the Nursing Graduate Program )  

AND, Seven Courses from COUPN NP Curriculum: 

• NUR 766 Roles and Responsibilities
• NUR 761 Pathophysiology
• NUR 762 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnosis 1
• NUR 763 Advanced health Assessment and Diagnosis II
• NUR 764 Therapeutics in Primary Health Care I
• NUR 765 Therapeutics in Primary Health Care II
• NUR 767 Integrative Practicum in Primary Health Care

SGS 101 and SGS 201 

Indigenous Health Online Modules 

Program timeline

Students register full time and complete the program over the course of 24 months.

This program is not offered part-time.

No, this program is only offered full-time. 

This program is in-person and requires students to attend in-person lectures weekly on campus in Hamilton, Ontario. Clinical experiences are also in the Hamilton region. 

Typically, classes take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. When taking the clinical NP courses, there are also clinical days on other days. Student’s complete courses every term (Fall, Winter, and Summer). 

Program requirements can be found in the School of Graduate Studies Graduate Calendar. 

Students in the two-year Masters Course Based PHC NP degree program do their clinical placements in the second year. 

Students take the one year Graduate Diploma have all 7 COUPN NP courses and the clinical placements in the one year.  

• Placements are coordinated by the Graduate Office and can be anywhere in the Hamilton-Niagara- Guelph region. Please view our placement catchment area on the Ontario PHCNP Program website. 
• Most placements take place in primary-care settings (Family doctors office, Community Health Centre, Family Health Teams). Students cannot be placed at their current work location and should expect placements to be in primary care settings. 

Please contact gradson@mcmaster.ca. 

All references and supporting documentation are due by the application deadline. The names and email addresses of clinical and academic referees must be entered in the online application portal prior to the admission deadline. They will be contacted electronically.  

Yes, Official transcripts must be received for every institution listed on your application form. Official transcripts are transcripts directly sent from the issuing institution to the Graduate Programs Nursing Office. Transcripts submitted by students or uploaded to your application are unofficial. 

All applicants must submit two academic references, references from your employment colleagues cannot be used in replacement. Academic referees are people who have evaluated your work in an academic setting, such as university or college professors or tutors.  Students who do not have an academic reference should consider taking a university or college course prior to applying to the program to obtain an academic reference. 

To be eligible for this program, applicants must be a licensed and registered nurse in Ontario.  

Please review McMaster’s Grading system for a breakdown of McMasters GPA system. 

References should be labelled as clinical and academic. Do not label your references as professional – this will result in technical issues with your application. 

References from faculty who have evaluated your academic work in your undergraduate or graduate programs.  Appropriate academic referees are professors or tutors from you nursing, science or elective courses in undergraduate, graduate or continuing education programs.  

Clinical references are from people who can describe your nursing work such as clinical educators, Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, managers, or administrators 

Yes, applicants with an international BScN from an accredited institution are eligible to apply.  

Applications and transcripts are not reviewed prior to the application deadline. Applicants with international degrees can use the free WES degree equivalency tool for an idea of what their degree is equivalent to in Canada.    

Yes, if you do not have 3640 hours by January 15th you can still apply. All hours must be completed by September 1st of the year you start the program. 

All hours must be completed by September 1st of the year you start the program. 

Yes, applicants will need to submit a VOE for hours earned to date at the time they apply and another VOE form by September 1st with the updated hours. 

Verification of Employment (VOE) hour forms must be submitted directly from the Human Resources department at the place of employment to the Graduate Nursing Programs office at McMaster University. We will not accept forms from applicants.  

1. Form can be submitted by email to gradson@mcmaster.ca 

1. Forms can be mailed in by the HR department or mailed by the applicant if the form is an unopened envelope received from HR.  

Mail to: 

Graduate Nursing Programs  

McMaster University 

1280 Main Street West, HSC- 2J41 

Hamilton, Ontario 

L8S 4K1