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Academic Policies

Writing and Papers

Graduate level writing is expected of all students.  “APA Style” is the writing style, and paper format for the graduate nursing courses. This can be found in The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (most recent edition).  Copies are available in the library or can be purchased at the bookstore or on-line.

Grading Policies

The following is the grade distribution followed by the Department of Nursing for Graduate Students :

Letter Grade                      Percent

A                                             95-100

A-                                           90-94

B+                                           87-89

B                                             83-86

B-                                            80-82

C+                                           78-79

C                                             75-77

C-                                            72-74

F                                              71 and below

College-wide policies on academic standing are found in the Graduate Bulletin of the College of New Jersey.

Academic Policy Statement on Minimum Grades and Academic Progression in All Graduate Nursing Programs

Graduate students must achieve a grade of B- or better in the following courses in order to continue in the course sequence:

NURS 503

NURS 504

NURS 633

NURS 643

NURS 636

NURS 637

NURS 638

NURS 690

NURS 660

NURS 695

A graduate student who earns a C or C+ in any of the above courses may repeat the course once, the next time it is offered. A student who earns a C- or F in any of the above courses will be dismissed from the program.

Graduate nursing students may only repeat one course in the program, one time.  If a student repeats a course and subsequently earns a grade less than B- in one of the above courses, that student will be dismissed from the program.

Clinical courses are those that include both theoretical learning in the classroom as well as practice in a clinical setting. Students who are not meeting the academic requirements of the theoretical component of any clinical course may not be considered safe and may, at the discretion of the instructor, be removed/excluded from the clinical practicum for that course.

The college policy for all graduate programs specifies that students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0. Students who fall below this cumulative GPA are placed on academic probation and given one semester to bring the GPA up to ≥ 3.0. If the student does not achieve a GPA of ≥ 3.0, the student is dismissed from the college.  In the Department of Nursing, if a student received a low grade in a course that is offered only once a year and that grade is solely responsible for lowering the GPA, the student may be allowed to stay in the program until that course is repeated. However, progression may not be allowed until the course is repeated and the GPA is ≥ 3.0.

Ethical Considerations for the Graduate Nursing Students

All nursing students at TCNJ are required to adhere to and are held accountable to the American Nursing Association’s Code of Ethics. Graduate students are required to review this code which may be found at: http://www.nursingworld.org/codeofethics

Academic Integrity Policy

All students are required to adhere to the college’s standards for academic honesty and integrity.  The College of New Jersey defines academic dishonesty as any attempt to gain academic advantage through dishonest means; to submit, as his or her own, work that has not been done by him or her; or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, submitting as one’s own a project, paper, test, or speech copied from, partially copied or partially paraphrased from the work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright, internet-based, or in manuscript form). Credit must be given for words quoted or paraphrased or for the ideas of others.  These standards apply to any academic work, whether it is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written, or oral.

Cheating and plagiarism are each grounds for academic jeopardy of dismissal. Students are referred to the TCNJ Graduate Bulletin for further information on academic policies and standards of conduct. All students are required to read and abide by the TCNJ Academic Integrity Policy which may be found at in the Graduate Bulletin.

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TCNJ's Department of Nursing is not accepting transfers into our four year traditional bachelor’s of science in nursing program at this time. We are accepting applications for the ABSN program for May 2025.Learn More
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