International applicants

International applicants must meet a few other requirements in addition to the nursing graduate certificate application requirements.

Proof of English Proficiency

Non-native English speakers must provide proof of English language proficiency set by the UW School of Nursing. You can waive this requirement only if you either:

  1. have received a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree from a regionally-accredited school in the United States, or from a school in the following countries:
    • Australia
    • The Bahamas
    • Canada
    • Ireland
    • Jamaica
    • Kenya
    • New Zealand
    • Singapore
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • United Kingdom; or
  2. provide official documentation from your undergraduate degree-granting institution (if the institution is in a country not listed in #1 above) verifying that all instruction is in English. Acceptable documentation must be one of the following:
    • Official or attested letter from the undergraduate college, university registrar, or Controller of Examinations office
    • Official transcripts, attested mark sheets, or degree statements if English is stated as the medium of instruction

For questions about whether you can waive this requirement, please contact the School of Nursing.

English Proficiency Scores

Submit two scores, one from each category below (scores must be from within the past two years):

  • 1 general minimum English proficiency score, and
  • 1 speaking only score
Minimum General Score: Reading/Writing/Comprehension
Minimum Spoken English Score
TOEFLiBT 92 TOEFLiBT (speaking only) 26
TOEFLC 237 Versant English Test 70
Duolingo* 120 TSE 55

*Duolingo scores will be accepted through the autumn 2023 admissions cycle (i.e., students enrolling in autumn 2023)

Active Washington State RN Licensure

Graduate certificate applicants must have an active, unrestricted Washington State RN license to begin study.

If you do not have a U.S. RN license

To become licensed as an RN in Washington State, nurses educated outside of the U.S. should refer to the Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission’s Registered Nurse license application process (educated outside of the United States).

This process will determine if you are eligible to take the RN licensing exam, National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), here in Washington State. You must successfully pass the NCLEX-RN exam to receive RN licensure.

If you live in Washington State, the Puget Sound Welcome Back Center at Highline Community College helps foreign-trained nurses get credentialed in Washington State.

You may also get a registered nursing license in another state in the U.S. and then transfer that license to Washington State through the process described below.

If you have a U.S. RN license in a state other than Washington

If you are already licensed in another state in the U.S., Washington State will allow you to apply for a RN license through a process called Registered Nurse License by Endorsement.

Graduate certificate applicants must be currently licensed in a state in the U.S. in order to be eligible to apply. If you are admitted to the graduate certificate program, you are required to have a RN license in Washington State to begin the program.

Transcript Evaluations

You must send foreign transcript evaluations for any college or university you have attended outside the United States. To meet UW Graduate School requirements, this must be done through World Education Services (WES) International Credential Advantage Package (ICAP).

The UW Graduate School does not accept WES Basic or any other credential evaluations. For more information, review the UW Graduate School Official Transcript Requirements page.

Send official foreign transcripts to WES for a course-by-course U.S. equivalency report. Have the evaluation reports sent to you. Your application will include:

  1. Original foreign transcripts with English translations (if applicable; include in the Report Prior Schools section of your UW MyGrad application)
  2. Transcript evaluation reports (upload to the Credential/Transcript Evaluations section of your UW MyGrad application)

You do not need to submit a foreign transcript if you attended a foreign university through a study abroad program and the credits appear on your school’s transcript, but you must submit a foreign transcript and evaluation if you are using a course taken internationally as a prerequisite course.