RN-to-BSN Program Overview
Your experience matters. Your future starts now with online or hybrid learning.
Western’s RN‑to‑BSN program is designed for registered nurses who have completed an associate degree in nursing (ADN) and are ready to take the next step in their careers. Students in the final year of their ADN program are also welcome to apply, provided they can obtain an RN licensure before the winter quarter.
Our program follows a supportive cohort model and admits a new group of students each fall. With just 45 credits (equivalent to 30 semester credits), you can complete your BSN in one year full-time or two years part-time, depending on your schedule.
Choose the learning format that fits your life:
- Online (asynchronous) for maximum flexibility
- Hybrid for a mix of online learning and in-person connection
Both options include 100 hours of practice experience arranged in your own community, so you can build new skills while continuing to live and work where you are.
Online - Flexibility to Meet Your Schedule
Advance your career all while balancing work, life, and learning. With flexible courses, dedicated faculty support, and a curriculum that connects directly to real-world patient care, you can complete your BSN around your schedule and unlock new opportunities in leadership, public health, and advanced nursing degrees.
Classes are asynchronous on Canvas, and students complete 100 hours of practice experience: 50 in the winter quarter and 50 in the spring quarter, in their local community.
Hybrid - Best of Both Worlds
Our hybrid RN‑to‑BSN program is designed for working nurses who want flexibility without losing in-person connection. Complete coursework through convenient, asynchronous online learning while benefiting from face-to-face sessions each quarter that strengthen community, collaboration, and faculty support. With in-person connection and flexible courses, you can complete your BSN and unlock new opportunities in leadership, public health, and advanced nursing degrees.
Students attend in-person classes at Western's Bellingham campus 4 times per quarter on Tuesdays; the summer quarter is fully online. The program includes 100 hours of practice experience, split evenly between the winter and spring quarters.
Mission, Vision, Goals & Outcomes
The primary mission of the nursing program at Western Washington University is to empower graduates to revolutionize healthcare leadership within the nursing field. Our program prepares students to assume pivotal nursing roles while upholding the core values of courage, compassion, commitment, communication, and collaboration. We prepare students to actively address historical injustices while promoting inclusivity and greater healthcare equity and justice.
Values
- Courage: Willingness to actively work for greater equity and justice and to defend individual and collective rights.
- Compassion: Actively centering on the needs of others, being present to them and open to the mysteries of life, suffering, and death that they experience, willing to be affected in heart and mind by those for whom we care.
- Commitment: Actively dedicating ourselves to intellectual, personal, and professional reflection that leads to the ongoing development of our nursing knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
- Communication: Intentional in our words and actions, fostering connections that deepen self-awareness and understanding while building deep and enduring relationships that promote well-being.
- Collaboration: Taking actions that arise from deep respect for all individuals and their unique lifeways, honoring diverse expressions of culture and tradition, and working collaboratively to achieve inclusivity and equitable healthcare.
To be a passionate community of students, educators, and nursing leaders engaged in innovative and creative practices that enhance the nursing profession, healthcare systems, and communities we serve.
The Nursing Program has adopted Western's Strategic Goals as its own.
Goal #1: Western's Nursing Program will provide a transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity.
Goal #2: Western's Nursing Program will advance a deeper understanding of and engagement with place.
Goal #3: Western's Nursing Program will foster a caring and supportive environment where all members are respected and treated fairly.
Goal #4: Western's Nursing Program will pursue justice and equity in its policies, practices, and impacts.
Specific to the practice contexts of baccalaureate-prepared nurses, the graduate will:
- Demonstrate personal and professional reflective practice to enhance leadership skills and advancement in the nursing profession.
- Utilize methods and tools of change to deliver safe, healthy, and sustainable environments in diverse practice settings.
- Demonstrate competency in entry-level nursing education as defined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials and the Quad Council Public Health Nursing Domains.
- Apply leadership and collaborative partnership concepts aimed at delivering accessible, equitable, and high-quality healthcare services.
- Describe the need for and process of advocacy in nursing to promote policies that facilitate equitable health outcomes.
Contact Nursing
Rika Winquist, Nursing Program Manager
Rika.Winquist@wwu.edu
(360) 650-6777