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

An undergraduate degree must be equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s degree, and documentation must be given to the Office of Graduate Admissions.

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

English Proficiency Scores

Submit one score for General English Proficiency (score must be from within the past two years). If you have a score lower than the scores indicated in the table below, you may still be admitted to the graduate certificate, but will be required to enroll in designated Academic English Program (AEP) courses during the first quarter of enrollment. Students enrolled in AEP courses pay additional fees.

If you do not successfully complete the English proficiency requirements, you cannot continue enrollment as a graduate student.

Minimum General Score: Reading, Writing, Comprehension
TOEFLiBT 92
TOEFL PBT 580

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.