Integrating holistic admissions review

By: Joseph Tacy, PhD, RN

The University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing is excited to announce a revised admissions process. Beginning spring 2024, the SON will transition to a holistic admission review process for some of its programs. A holistic admission process involves looking at an applicant’s academic metrics (i.e., GPA), in addition to a balanced consideration of other experiences and attributes, such as community service, leadership experiences, integrity, and perseverance. The holistic admissions review process is a valuable tool as we strive to increase the diversity of the SON student body as well as Mississippi’s nursing workforce.

Careful consideration was given during the creation and implementation of the SON’s holistic admissions process. SON leadership reviewed national trends and consulted with national leaders to design a process that aligns with the School of Nursing’s mission and vision, to develop nurse leaders. While new to the SON the holistic admissions review process is currently utilized by several schools across the medical center campus. The UMMC SON will be the first school of nursing in the state to admit students using this process. The admission process is gaining momentum with schools of nursing across the country who were initially hesitant to adopt these practices despite the evidence of improving diversity in healthcare professions while maintaining pass rates on licensing exams (AACN, 2020).

The UMMC School of Nursing will continue to use metrics to determine the academic success of the applicant as these have continued to be good predictors of success in nursing school. As a part of the holistic process, the applicant will provide additional information that contributes to their individualism and can be instrumental in their success as a professional nurse by completing four statements sharing experiences demonstrating perseverance, service, leadership, and diversity.

Under the new application process, applicants may also participate in an interview to demonstrate various personal attributes. Specifically, the School of Nursing’s traditional BSN interview process, modeled after the process used by the School of Medicine, will host individuals in our traditional undergraduate programs on campus to participate in multi-mini interviews (MMI) with individuals trained in this process.

The UMMC School of Nursing anticipates the positive results of qualified and diverse students while maintaining outstanding outcomes such as high pass rates and qualified, competent nurse leaders. For more information about the School of Nursing’s admission’s criteria, you can go to our website.