A world-class city filled with art and culture and an incredible campus that offers cutting edge resources–that’s what students receive at Penn Nursing. And that’s just the start. Penn Nursing and the wider university offer something for everyone, as well as a lifelong community.
Penn Nursing is globally known for educating dynamic nurses—because our School values evidence-based science and health equity. That’s where our expertise lies, whether in research, practice, community health, or beyond. Everything we do upholds a through-line of innovation, encouraging our exceptional students, alumni, and faculty share their knowledge and skills to reshape health care.
Penn Nursing students are bold and unafraid, ready to embrace any challenge that comes their way. Whether you are exploring a career in nursing or interested in advancing your nursing career, a Penn Nursing education will help you meet your goals and become an innovative leader, prepared to change the face of health and wellness.
Penn Nursing is the #1-ranked nursing school in the world. Its highly-ranked programs help develop highly-skilled leaders in health care who are prepared to work alongside communities to tackle issues of health equity and social justice to improve health and wellness for everyone.
Penn Nursing’s rigorous academic curricula are taught by world renowned experts, ensuring that students at every level receive an exceptional Ivy League education. From augmented reality classrooms and clinical simulations to coursework that includes experiential global travel to clinical placements in top notch facilities, a Penn Nursing education prepares our graduates to lead.
Nurse-Midwifery
As one of the top Nurse-Midwifery programs in the country, we offer unique clinical opportunities arranged by the School and exposure to the latest research. In addition, you’ll graduate with a skill set that far surpasses that of other institutions including endometrial biopsies, IUD insertion, and OB ultrasonography.
About the Program
Penn Nursing’s Nurse-Midwifery program creates leaders in the field whose practice and life’s work reflect the highest standards of care for families and communities, both locally and globally. To this end, Midwifery education is a process whereby students and faculty engage and grow in an environment conducive to inquiry, learning, and critical thinking. Scholarship, research, education, and practice are guided by an ethical commitment to the well-being of clients and their families; the promotion of comprehensive, quality public health; and the growth of the profession of Midwifery, thus enabling all people the choice of Midwifery care throughout their lives.
Become dually certified in Nurse-Midwifery and Women’s Health Nurse-Practitioner
We prepare you for a midwifery practice focused on providing family-centered, comprehensive care to essentially healthy people and their families. We believe that the autonomous practice of nurse practitioners/midwives is based on the health promotion model and interdependent practice—a system that emphasizes the unique aspects each health professional brings to the care of a client.
The autonomous practice of Midwifery is based on the health promotion model and the concept of interdependent practice – the promotion and effective utilization of the unique aspects of each health care professional’s and client’s knowledge and skills joined together to ensure safe, satisfying health care for every client. Midwifery practice encompasses the provision of family-centered, comprehensive care to essentially healthy people and to newborns with respect for human dignity and worth, variety in cultural forms, and the client’s right to self-determination in health care.
The faculty further believe that to provide optimal holistic care, midwives must promote the empowerment of all people in controlling their lives and their health. Midwives need to use the political process for the benefit of their clients throughout the world and their profession. Midwives also need to participate with other professionals in health planning, and to create and institute systems for the delivery of safe, cost-effective health care to all socioeconomic and cultural groups.
All of Penn Nursing’s programs are accredited. To learn more about the accreditation and pass rates, please visit our Accreditation page.
Program Information
Full-Time
Program Length
2 years
Financial aid available?
Yes
Start Semester
Spring
Learning Format
In-person *
Although this program is in-person, to accommodate the busy schedules of our students some courses will be offered in an online or hybrid format. All clinical experiences for this program are in-person on Penn’s campus or at affiliated clinical sites.
Part-Time
Program Length
2 Years, 4 Months
Financial aid available?
Yes
Start Semester
Year-round
Learning Format
In-person *
Although this program is in-person, to accommodate the busy schedules of our students some courses will be offered in an online or hybrid format. All clinical experiences for this program are in-person on Penn’s campus or at affiliated clinical sites.
Program Details
Curriculum
To develop well-rounded midwives, we offer courses ranging from advanced physiology and pathophysiology to the use of ultrasonography during pregnancy. We also cover public policy, complementary therapies, and fetal evaluation. You’ll become a highly competent clinician, and an effective and a culturally sensitive patient advocate while learning to manage a team within the varied systems of healthcare delivery.
Your clinical work can be completed in hospitals, birthing centers, and in home birth experiences, as well as abroad through international study opportunities. As an added benefit, clinical experiences and preceptors for our students are all arranged and coordinated by the School.
*Please note: BSN students who graduate in May from Nursing School and who are interested in applying to the Nurse-Midwifery Program are not eligible to apply full-time to the Program for that summer due to RN licensure requirements. These applicants are encouraged to either apply for part-time study beginning in the fall with an option to enter the Clinical Cohort/Clinical Course Sequence the following summer term, OR to apply for direct entry into the Clinical Cohort the following summer term.
Full-time Enrollment
Summer & Fall 2024 Start Deadline: November 1, 2023
Latest Decision Notification: late-February
Part-time Enrollment
Spring 2024 Start Deadline: October 16, 2023
Summer & Fall 2024 Start Deadline: March 15, 2024
Latest Decision Notification: late-April
*Dates subject to change without notice.
Costs & Tuition
Your program costs will depend on how many course units (CU) you take per semester.
Discount available for employees of our Academic Practice Partners. Click here to learn more.
To be considered a full-time student you must have a course load of 3 CUs or more per semester, including summer terms; anything less, in any semester, is considered part-time. If you apply as a full-time student, but switch to part-time, lowering the number of CUs you take per semester will decrease the cost of your tuition and fees, which will in turn lower your student budget and reduce your financial aid eligibility. You will no longer be eligible for nursing grant or endowed scholarship funds.
The charts below outline costs based on the school year/summer sessions as well as include estimated other expenses like housing.
Tuition & Fee Rates and Living Expense Budgets (Fall 2023 & Spring 2024)
Tuition and Fees
$56,262
Housing
$17,388
Meals
$5,796
Books*
$1,358
Other Personal Expenses*
$7,276
TOTAL
$88,080
*Category for Other Personal Expenses includes a budget for the cost of Student Health Insurance. Please keep in mind that the school does not bill the student for books and personal expenses. We do, however, build these figures into the Student Budget to better help students and their families plan for all costs associated with a Penn Nursing education. Likewise, loan eligibility and financial aid is based on the total student budget per term, not just on the cost of tuition and fees.
Every student’s living situation and personal expenses are different, but below are the projected academic year Summer and Fall/Spring costs per CU. These can be multiplied by the total number of CUs in your part-time plan of study to estimate the total cost of an MSN program.
Summer 2023 - per course unit (CU):
Tuition
$6,392
General Fees
$474
TOTAL
$6,866
Summer 2023 - living expenses:
TOTAL (both sessions)
$9,205
Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 - per course unit (CU)
Tuition
$6,392
General Fee
$474
Technology Fee
$116
TOTAL
$6,982
Program Outcomes
Our graduates go on to become home-birth practitioners, birth center practice directors, directors of midwifery educational programs, and directors of CNM services in large teaching and small community hospitals.
Upon completion, the graduate will be:
A safe, entry-level midwife who meets the criteria of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) for the practice of midwifery
A provider of primary health care for people throughout their lifetime
Able to empower clients to participate in their own health care
A provider of reproductive and perinatal health care autonomously yet collaboratively within the context of an interdisciplinary health care team
An advocate for the overall advancement of reproductive and perinatal health
Knowledgeable about the basic concepts of public policy in health care practice settings
An active participant in life-long learning, education, and research
Proficient in the utilization of information technology so as to provide and promote high quality health care
Certification
Upon completion, you’ll be eligible for two national certifications: the certification exam for Certified Nurse-Midwives, given by the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB), and certification to be a Women’s Health Nurse-Practitioner, by the National Certification Corporation (NCC).