At a Glance
Basic Facts
- 1,229 students
- 55 standing faculty, 33 full-time lecturers
- Dean: Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN
- Ranked #1: Top nursing school in the world by QS World University
- Ranked #1: Nursing and Healthcare Administration program by U.S. News & World Report
- Ranked #2: Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner programs by U.S. News & World Report
- Ranked #3 overall by U.S. News & World Report in Nursing Graduate Programs
- Ranked #3: Psychiatric-Mental Health program by U.S. News & World Report
- Ranked #5: Family Nurse Practitioner program by U.S. News & World Report
- In 2020 had a 100% pass rate for first-time test takers on the AMCB certification exam in 2020 ( One of only 13 programs in the country to accomplish this)
- Most selective undergraduate program at Penn
- 14 active, nursing-centered student organizations
- 90% of Penn Nursing BSN graduates go on to pursue their MSN
- Two T32 institutional training grants from the National Institute of Nursing Research for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellows
- Nearly 14,000 alumni living in 51 countries
Students
- BSN: 583
- MSN: 416
- DNP: 104
- PhD: 56
- Non-degree and certificates: 22
- Post-MSN: 136
- Under-represented minority (URM): 17%
- Male: 12%
- Desirable student-faculty ratios in labs and clinical practicums
Undergraduate degree options
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) — only Ivy League program
- Dual degree and minor options with Penn’s other schools including a coordinated Nursing and Healthcare Management program (BSN/BS Econ with Wharton)
- Opportunities to submatriculate (beginning graduate study while earning an undergraduate degree), toward an MSN at Nursing or a JD at Penn Law and Masters in Public Health at Perelman School of Medicine
Graduate degree options
- 11 Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs
- Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing PhD
- Doctor of Nursing Practice
- Post Graduate APRN certificate program that includes Adult Gerontology Acute Care, Streamlined, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Acute Care Acute/Chronic Care Concentration, Pediatric Acute Care Oncology Concentration, Pediatric Acute Care Critical Care Concentration
- 10 Minor options
- Nurse Midwifery is one of only 13 programs in the country with a 100% pass rate for first-time test takers on the national certification
Faculty
- Highest percentage of Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing and members of the National Academy of Medicine than any other peer institution
- American Academy of Nursing Living Legends and American Nurses Association Hall of Fame honorees
- 10 members of the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame
- Editors of leading scientific journals and researchers who amass hundreds of publications and thousands of citations annually
- Our scientists consistently receive more research funding from the National Institutes of Health than any other private nursing school
School of Nursing firsts
- First nursing doctorate in the Ivy League
- First privately funded center for nursing research in the country
- First school at Penn and one of the first in North America to be named a World Health Organization Collaborating Center
- First operating room nurse in the nation
- First nurse anesthetist in Philadelphia
- One of the first aerospace nurses in the NASA program
- First nurse to receive the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the “genius” award
- Among the first endowed chairs for nursing in the country
- First nursing school to use interactive simulated (SIM) patients
- One of the first nursing schools to integrate the electronic health record into the curriculum