Nursing - Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP)

The Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) prepares students for national certification as a Nurse Practitioner specializing in Psychiatric-Mental Health (PMHNP).

The PMHNP is an advanced certification preparing students to provide care in the mental health field including assessment and diagnosis of mental health conditions, integration and implementation of care, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy and related mental health treatments (AACN).

Admission Criteria

• Master of Science in Nursing Applicants:

  • A bachelor’s degree in nursing from a nationally accredited school (either by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC), Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), or an equivalent degree from a foreign institution, as evaluated by a NACES approved agency.

  • A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale. (Applicants with a GPA below 3.0 must demonstrate a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the last 60 undergraduate hours of his/her nursing program.)

  • Completed undergraduate courses in statistics and research with a grade of C+, or higher.

• Post Graduate Certificate Applicants:

  • A master’s degree in nursing with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater from a nationally accredited school (either by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC), Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), or Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

  • A minimum of one year of active practice as an RN or NP during the last 5 years.

• All applicants:

  • Active, unencumbered RN license in the state of student’s practice and expected clinical study. License must be unencumbered throughout the entire course of study. If the license becomes encumbered, the student will be dismissed from the program.

  • Letter of Intent.

  • A letter of recommendation from a direct supervisor is required. There are two methods of submission available:

  • An email will be sent to each reference, requesting that they complete a brief online recommendation regarding your commitment to success in an online program. Please inform all recommenders that they must submit the form for your application to be considered complete. OR,

  • A digital or scanned letter of recommendation on an organization's letterhead with the recommender's signature and contact information.

  • The letter of recommendation will be waived for applicants who are Norwich graduates.

  • Graduate testing is not required.

  • If English is not your first language, proof of English language proficiency is required. This can be demonstrated in one of three ways:

  • TOEFL - a minimum score of 550 (paper-based test) or 80 (Internet-based test) is required.*

  • IELTS – a minimum composite score of 6.5 is required.*

  • The applicant holds a baccalaureate or master’s degree from a college/university/institution in which the primary language of instruction was English.

  • International applicants who are not licensed as registered nurses in the U.S. must achieve a passing score on both the English and nursing sections of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) examination

• For Post Graduate Certificate Students: A gap analysis will be conducted for each applicant who has earned a master’s degree in nursing to determine which coursework is necessary for certification in the desired area of practice.

• Guidelines for transfer credit:

  • Norwich University cannot guarantee that pathophysiology, pharmacology, or health/physical assessment courses taken at other institutions will fulfill state or certification body requirements. Applicants are responsible for verifying with the state board of nursing in their intended practice state and the specialty certifying body to ensure that any courses transferred into a Norwich University School of Nursing program meet the necessary requirements for licensure or certification.

  • A syllabus that contains the course description, course objectives, and matches the date listed on the applicant’s transcript for must be provided by the student upon application to the program for each course to qualify for consideration of the award of transfer credit.

  • The applicant must have earned a grade of B or higher for consideration of transfer credit.

  • A maximum of 15 credits may be awarded for transfer into the MSN program.

  • Unless an applicant has been practicing as a nurse practitioner in the last two years, the following courses must have been completed within the last 7 years for consideration of transfer credit: Advanced Pathophysiology, Advanced Pharmacology, and Advanced Physical Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning. All other proposed courses for transfer must have been completed in the last 10 years.

  • Applicants may refer to the Norwich University Transfer Evaluation System – TES® to determine whether a proposed course has met the requirement for transfer in the past. However, courses may change from time to time and thus are subject to approval by nursing leadership for every application. There is no guarantee that a course listed in the TES® database will still meet the requirements for transfer at the time of application review.

  • To be considered for transfer credit, the proposed course must match at least 70% of the content of the Norwich equivalent course at the time of application.

  • No track-specific courses are eligible for transfer from another institution.