PhD How to Apply

Our goal is to admit promising students who are a good fit for our program and desire a research career upon program completion. To support PhD student-faculty engagement in the mentoring process, applicants must have a research topic that aligns with the research area (i.e., the scientific expertise in content, methods, and/or population) of one or more faculty members in the School of Nursing.

Research at the School of Nursing attracts national attention and support for its ongoing high quality and innovation. Faculty are highly successful in obtaining external grant support from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to name only a few. The following are the areas of concentration for faculty research and scholarship:

• Community Engagement
• Multi-level Determinants of Health
• Nursing and Health Systems
• Preventing Chronic Illness and Promoting Health
• Digital Innovation

During the application and interview process, prospective doctoral students are asked to identify a specific area of research and potential faculty with whom they might work during their doctoral program. Faculty assist students to link their interests with one of the above areas of concentration. The doctoral program prepares students to recognize the value of, and to capably use a variety of methodological and analytic approaches from the biological, behavioral, and social sciences and the humanities. Interdisciplinary education and research participation are hallmarks of research in the School of Nursing. We strongly encourage students to enroll in courses outside of Nursing and collaborate with students and faculty in other disciplines to strengthen their dissertation.

The overall goal of the Program is to prepare competent, culturally sensitive, and compassionate scholars of nursing who will, through their active engagement with and passion for scholarship, contribute to the goal of improving the health of our nation.

• Carefully review the directory of faculty currently accepting PhD students and the research areas of excellence and identify two faculty members whose scientific work reflects your research interests.

• Once you have identified potential faculty research advisors or if you need assistance identifying potential advisors, please complete a brief online survey. In this survey, you may identify the faculty members of interest and submit a description of how your research interest aligns with the ongoing work of each faculty member identified, or request assistance identifying a potential faculty member. Completion of this survey alerts PhD Program Leadership who will contact you. Taking the time to determine student-faculty match is a crucial part of the admissions process, as a clearly articulated match, or “fit” with faculty members will strengthen your application.

• Applicants are strongly encouraged to connect with their potential mentor(s) prior to applying.

Please be mindful that faculty members accept new students each year based in part on the faculty member’s capacity to commit to additional students. Each faculty member strives to provide a wide variety of guided research experiences and ample advisement time for each student accepted into our program. We only admit students for whom there is an appropriate research faculty match, and when a faculty member identified as an appropriate match has the capacity to work with you upon admission.

• Education Requirements: The minimum education requirement for all applicants is the Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from a CCNE or NLN-AC accredited School of Nursing in the US or an international equivalent. The bachelor’s degree in nursing must have been earned prior to matriculation in the PhD program. In addition to the BS degree, applicants may have earned a masters degree in nursing or a master’s degree in another field, but a master’s degree is not required. Applicants who have completed an RN to MSN program and are without an earned bachelor’s degree in any field may need to submit additional documentation about the curriculum of their specific RN to MSN program (please contact Office of Student Affairs for details, at nursing@unc.edu).
  • Competitive applicants will present a grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) in the major courses of their undergraduate nursing program.
  • Applicants with a master’s degree in nursing are expected to have earned a 3.5 cumulative grade point average in graduate coursework
• All applicants must be admissible to all previously attended colleges/universities. If you have been declared academically ineligible and as such are unable to return to any previous institutions, you must contact that institution and seek documentation that reinstates your eligibility or your application cannot undergo review. Copies of ALL correspondence regarding your reinstatement request must be submitted in the application. Additionally, if your final institutional cumulative GPA is below 2.0 (on a 4.0 scale), please upload documentation of your eligibility to return to that particular institution on your application in the Supplemental Questions section under Supplemental Documents.

One unofficial transcript from each university attended must be uploaded within the application. All unofficial transcripts must be uploaded to your application in order for your application to be reviewed.

International Applicants: A transcript evaluation from World Education Services, Inc. (WES) or Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc must be included with your unofficial transcript at the time of application submission.

Please do not mail transcripts as part of your admission application; we only accept unofficial uploads for application evaluation. If you are offered admission, one official transcript for each university attended will be required prior to registration.

Three recommendation letters are required. The online application will prompt you to submit the email addresses for your three required recommenders. The recommender will then receive an email request for recommendation and must upload the letter into the application.

• Favorable recommendations should be submitted by at least three individuals who have worked with you in their capacity as a professor for a class or advisor for a substantive academic, research, or scholarly project (e.g., honors/thesis advisor, research mentor, etc.).
• These individuals must be familiar with your intellectual ability, academic achievement, research potential, and professional commitment and address these areas in their letter.
• At least one of these individuals should hold an earned doctorate.
• Additional references from employers may be submitted.
• Letters from relatives, family friends, fellow staff members, clients/patients or religious/spiritual leaders will not be accepted.

Note: The Letters of Recommendation are traditionally the most challenging portion of the process to complete for applicants. To ensure that your application is reviewed, please follow these instructions carefully.

Instructions: Please write and upload a two-part essay. It is critical that you address each item noted below and format the document as requested. Each part of the essay should be approximately three typed, double-spaced pages. Please include APA-formatted references on a separate page.

In Part A, describe your background, including:

1. Why are you pursuing a PhD in nursing at this stage of your career? In your response, reflect on how your past professional, clinical, academic, and research experiences have influenced your decision to pursue a PhD.

2. PhD programs differ significantly from undergraduate and master’s-level education. Pursuing a PhD is a rigorous and self-directed journey that requires sustained motivation, intellectual resilience, the ability to engage with complex ideas and willingness to grow through feedback and setbacks. What strategies do you intend to use to address such challenges, and what types of support might you require?

3. Why have you chosen to pursue your PhD at the UNC School of Nursing?

Part B: Selecting a research topic is a key first step in pursuing a PhD. While you may refine your topic with your research advisor during your studies, entering the program with a clear research idea lays the foundation for success. In Part B, discuss your research interests.

1. What research question do you propose to explore, and how does it address a specific gap in the existing literature? In your response, explain the significance of the problem and its impacts on individuals, families, communities, or health systems. Support your response with relevant citations from the scientific literature.

2. Working closely with your research advisor(s) is essential for scientific development and success in a PhD program. We aim to admit promising students who are a strong fit for our program and who are committed to pursuing a research career upon graduation. To support PhD student-faculty engagement in the mentoring process, applicants must propose a research topic that aligns with the expertise of one or more faculty members in the School of Nursing. You previously identified two SON faculty members as potential mentors. Please describe how your research interests align with their ongoing scientific work. Consider areas such as research topics, methodological approaches, geographical location, settings, or populations of interest (across the lifespan or within specific developmental stages).

Please upload a current curriculum vitae or resume to detail your career path, explaining any gap in employment greater than one year. Full disclosure of your complete education background, including a list of all colleges and universities you’ve attended is required.

We welcome international applicants, but it is essential that you be fluent in English. Presently, the University (including the School of Nursing) does not offer ESL programs or an English language institute. For this reason, candidates interested in attending the University must be able to understand rapid, idiomatic English as spoken in lectures, group discussions, and clinical settings by individuals of widely varying accents. Students from non-English-speaking countries must be able to communicate quickly and clearly in spoken and written English.

• International students must provide a full credit evaluation of all courses completed at a foreign institution through World Education Services, Inc. (WES) or Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.
  • NOTE: As part of the transcript submission, degree credentials are also reviewed by the UNC Graduate School. Assessment of a foreign degree, including those conferred from institutions participating in the Bologna Accord, is based upon the characteristics of a national system of education, the type of institution attended, its accreditation and the level of studies completed. The following guidelines indicate the level of study expected of international applicants prior to graduate enrollment:
    • British patterned education bachelor’s degree with honours
    • French patterned education degree of diplme requiring four years of post baccalauréat study
    • Germany university Diplom Applicants with very strong academic records may be considered if they have completed the Staatsexamen, a bachelor’s degree after a 13-year Abitur, or at least one year of full-time study beyond Vorprfung, Zwichenprfung, Vordiplom, or any other bachelor’s degree
    • Other European countries: university degree requiring a minimum of four years of study
    • Canada: university degree requiring a minimum of four years of study
    • Latin America: university degree requiring a minimum of four years of study
    • India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal: bachelor’s degree in engineering or medicine; master’s degree in all other fields
    • Philippines: five-year bachelor’s degree or four-year bachelor’s degree plus one year of graduate course work
    • Other Asian countries: university degree requiring a minimum of four years of study
• TOEFL (iBT, iBT Home Edition, and iBT Paper Edition accepted), IELTS, or Duolingo English Test Score: All international applicants must submit acceptable, official TOEFL scores (reported directly to school code #5816 from ETS.org), IELTS scores (reported directly from IELTS.org, either by mail or electronically to The Graduate School), or Duolingo English Test scores (students should search for “University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill – Graduate Admissions” to share their test scores). We do not accept TOEFL MyBest scores, IELTS One-Skill Retake, or other English language proficiency tests. Refer to The Graduate School for more information. This is not a requirement of applicants who are residents of a country where English is the official language of instruction or if applicants hold a degree from an accredited United States institution of higher education.

  Meeting the minimum total score on TOEFL does not guarantee admission to the School of Nursing. Admission decisions are made on the basis of multiple factors including: scholastic performance; English proficiency; essays; letters of recommendation; the appropriateness of the requested advanced practice area to the applicant’s goals and clinical experiences; and verification of financial support to insure proper visa status.

  We recommend that you plan to take any required exams no later than September to allow time for scores to arrive in time for consideration for fall admission.

Additional resources for international applicants:

UNC Global International Student and Scholar Services
North Carolina Board of Nursing

A non-refundable $95.00 application fee is required. Application fee waiver requests are available for ten groups of applicants. You can learn more about the fee waiver requirements here.

 Apply Now

• Please ensure that the online application is submitted prior to the posted deadline, all requested documents are uploaded properly into the application, and that your application is complete.

  You can check the status of your application review by logging on to the application to see if any required items are missing on the checklist. The Admissions Committee only considers complete applications.

  Please check your application in the online application portal and follow up with your recommenders, if needed. The School of Nursing will contact you directly if we need additional documents or information.

• Notification of Decision: The School of Nursing and the Dean of the Graduate School will notify you in writing via email with a decision as soon as they are made. If your email address changes during this time, please contact us at: nursing@unc.edu.

• After Acceptance: If you’re accepted, you’ll be asked to pay a $250 deposit and submit official transcripts to the Graduate School. Instructions on how to do so will be included in your acceptance letter. If you’re seeking residency for tuition purposes, apply at this site.
  • As noted in the prerequisite section of these instructions, those applicants offered admission who have completed a master’s level statistics course will be contacted by the PhD Program Office with additional information concerning the Statistics Placement Exam. Those without a graduate statistics course must have one prior to spring semester of the first year in the program.