Exploration of nursing doctoral admissions and performance outcomes

This research aims to identify current admission criteria and academic performance outcomes in nursing PhD programs. A descriptive exploratory design was used to survey all American Association of Colleges of Nursing PhD programs (N = 110) via a Web-mediated standardized survey; the response rate was 51% (n = 56). Conclusions indicate six diverse yet complementary admission criteria: graduate grade point average (GPA), Graduate Record Examinations ® scores, writing samples, letters of recommendation, interviews, and research match with faculty. Findings also indicated that admission criteria largely lack predictive validity testing in regard to academic performance outcomes and are deficient in internal reliability. Academic performance outcomes included comprehensive examination, ongoing minimum graduate GPA of 3.0, formal dissertation, time to degree attainment, degree attainment, time to candidacy, type of employment after graduation, and publications and grants as a student and at 5 years postgraduation.