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Admission and Registration

Admission to the University

Admission and readmission of all students to the University is the responsibility of the director of admissions. Information about admission to the University is given in General Information.

Requirements for Enrollment in Upper-Division Nursing Courses

Completion of seventy-two or seventy-three semester hours of prerequisite coursework with an overall grade point average of at least 2.50 is required for enrollment in upper-division (professional sequence) nursing courses. The applicant must not be on scholastic probation at the University. A request to begin upper-division coursework may be submitted only after the student has completed at least fifty semester hours of prescribed lower-division coursework and is enrolled in the last semester of coursework required to meet the prerequisites for the professional sequence.

Request forms for enrollment in upper-division nursing courses must be submitted to the School of Nursing by March 1 for the following fall semester and by October 1 for the following spring semester. Admission decisions are made by the Admissions Committee of the School of Nursing. An applicant whose grade point average exceeds the minimum of 2.50 will gain more favorable consideration, as will an applicant who has completed more of the prerequisite coursework at the University. Required work done at the University and work done elsewhere are evaluated separately.

Applicants requesting admission to the professional sequence are notified of their status as soon as all requested credentials have been received and reviewed by the Admissions Committee of the School of Nursing.

Students from Other Institutions

Students who wish to transfer to the University from another college or university must apply to the Office of Admissions as described in General Information.

In addition to meeting the regular admission requirements, students seeking to transfer from another institution to the professional sequence of nursing courses must apply for admission to the School of Nursing. The student must submit the following documents to the School of Nursing: (1) an application for admission to upper-division nursing courses; (2) an official transcript from each institution attended.

Transfer students must meet the same deadlines as University students seeking admission to the professional sequence; however, they are considered for admission to the School of Nursing only if they are admitted to the University.

Registration

General Information gives information about registration, adding and dropping courses, transfer from one division of the University to another, and auditing a course. The Course Schedule, published before registration each semester and summer session, includes registration instructions, advising locations, and the times, places, and instructors of classes. The Course Schedule and General Information are sold at campus-area bookstores. They are also published on the World Wide Web and are accessible through the registrar's Web site, http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/.

Academic Advising

Students are encouraged to come to the School of Nursing Office of Student Affairs for academic advising as well as for information about professional nursing. The Office of Student Affairs is open Monday through Friday. Staff members are available to advise students during office hours; telephone inquiries and appointments are accepted. Faculty members advise students during registration and during their regular office hours or by appointment. Preregistration advising is required for all undergraduates in the School of Nursing.

Academic Policies and Procedures

Student Responsibility

1. It is the student's responsibility to be informed of general and special notices, including examination schedules posted in the School of Nursing building.

2. The student must make arrangements for the completion of all work, including makeup examinations and requirements for removal of conditional and incomplete grades.

3. A student's combined employment and semester-hour load (including clinical laboratory hours) should not exceed forty hours a week in either a long-session semester or a summer term.

4. Students may be employed as nursing aides, performing functions for which they have been trained by the employing institution and for which the institution has a clearly discernible policy, either in writing or by precedent, defining the scope of these functions. Any individual not licensed in the state of Texas to practice professional nursing who engages in such practice does so illegally and may be prosecuted accordingly. Supervision by a professional licensed nurse does not provide protection to the student or make the student's actions legal.

   Students should be aware that (1) the School of Nursing assumes no responsibility for their activities as employees of an agency; (2) they are personally responsible and liable for any activity they participate in while employed; (3) professional liability insurance purchased by students may be valid only in their student role, not in their employment role; (4) individuals who practice illegally may jeopardize their future careers, since those who are convicted of violating the Nurse Practice Act may not be eligible to write state board examinations and subsequently to be licensed.

   Students employed in an agency are personally and professionally responsible for engaging only in those activities that fall within their job descriptions as nonprofessional workers (such as aides). They have a responsibility to refuse to participate in activities that they have not been legally licensed to perform, such as giving medications and assuming total responsibility for a nursing unit.

5. Students should be familiar with the student standards of conduct described in General Information.

Standards of Nursing Performance and Progress

A student must earn a grade of at least C in each nursing course for the course to be counted toward degree requirements. Concurrent or sequential enrollment is required as stated in each course description.

If the student is not on scholastic probation at the University, permission may be granted to repeat a required nursing course in which he or she failed to earn a grade of C or better. To receive credit, the student must repeat the course at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing. The semester in which a course is repeated is at the discretion of the dean and is dependent on the space available.

A student may repeat a nursing course only once. If the student does not earn a grade of at least C upon repeating the course, he or she cannot continue in the School of Nursing. If, while repeating the course, the student drops the course or withdraws from the University at a time when the student's performance in the course is considered to be inferior to that required for a grade of C, he or she may not reenroll in the course or continue in the School of Nursing.

No more than two nursing courses may be repeated.

A student may not repeat for credit a course in which a grade of C or better was awarded.

As a prerequisite to five clinical nursing courses (Nursing 425P, 455P, 465P, 466P, and 477P) a student is required to pass a medications and calculations test with a grade of at least 90. The student may repeat each test once. Calculators may not be used in any medication examination.

Medical Clearance Requirements

Clinical experiences for nursing students are provided in hospitals and other health care facilities with which the School of Nursing is affiliated. A number of these facilities require that nursing students assigned to them have evidence of immunity to certain diseases; these requirements are subject to change. Nursing students engaged in clinical activities must fulfill the requirements of the individual facilities to which they are assigned, including requirements for preventing the transmission of communicable diseases. If the student has not provided the School of Nursing with evidence of compliance with these requirements, the student's registration for clinical courses may be canceled and the student may be barred from re-enrolling in these courses.

Health and Hospitalization Insurance

Students are not required to purchase health insurance. However, they are strongly encouraged to do so, because the cost of personal health care, including care required as the result of clinical practicum experiences, is not covered by either the University, the School of Nursing, or clinical agencies. Information about low-cost group health insurance is available through University Health Services.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability insurance is required of all students enrolled in the School of Nursing. Coverage in the amount of one million dollars for each claim and one million dollars limit aggregate for one year is required to cover possible claims made against the student in performance of duties as a nursing student. Each student must present evidence of insurance before enrolling in a clinical nursing course. The insurance premium may be paid at registration. All student policies expire on the date of graduation. Approximate premium costs are $13.50 for coverage from August 31 to August 31, $9.00 for coverage from January 1 to August 31, and $5.00 for coverage from June 1 to August 31.

Uniforms and Other Expenses

Students must purchase uniforms, shoes, name pin, identification patch, and other supplies before taking the first clinical nursing course.

Honors

University Honors

The designation University Honors, awarded at the end of each long-session semester, gives official recognition and commendation to students whose grades for the semester indicate distinguished academic accomplishment. Both the quality and the quantity of work done are considered. Criteria for University Honors are given in chapter 1.

Graduation with University Honors

Students who, upon graduation, have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement are eligible to graduate with University Honors. Criteria for graduation with University Honors are given in chapter 1.

Dean's Honor List

Each semester the Dean's Honor List recognizes superior scholastic achievement by students enrolled in nursing prerequisite courses or in the professional sequence of nursing courses. Prenursing students must complete fifteen semester hours in residence on the letter-grade basis and earn at least fifty-two grade points. They must also earn no grade below a C for the semester. Students enrolled in the professional sequence of nursing courses are required to earn forty-eight grade points when enrolled in twelve semester hours and sixty grade points when enrolled in fifteen semester hours.

Sigma Theta Tau

Epsilon Theta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, International Honor Society of Nursing, was chartered at the University on May 16, 1980; before that time, membership in Sigma Theta Tau on the Austin campus was conferred through Alpha Delta Chapter, chartered at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in 1963. Epsilon Theta Chapter presents scholarly programs each semester; program meetings are open to anyone interested in the program topic. An annual meeting, at which new members are inducted, is held in May.

Membership in Sigma Theta Tau is an honor conferred by active chapters on students who demonstrate academic excellence and on nursing leaders who advance the scientific base of the profession. The society recognizes superior achievement in many areas, facilitates the development of leadership qualities, fosters high professional standards, encourages creative work, and strengthens commitment to the ideals of nursing.

Each year qualified students in the undergraduate and graduate programs may apply for consideration for membership. Invitations to membership are extended to students who are in the top 35 percent of their graduating class. Undergraduates must have a grade point average of at least 3.00; graduate students must have a significantly higher grade point average. Qualified community nursing leaders may also be invited to membership. Applications for membership in Epsilon Theta Chapter are available from the Office of Student Affairs in the School of Nursing.

At the annual meeting each spring, Epsilon Theta Chapter announces its awards, grants, and scholarship recipients. A scholarship is awarded to an upper-division nursing student who has demonstrated leadership potential and has a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or above. Recognition awards are given to those who have made significant contributions to the promotion of excellence in nursing through outstanding participation in professional organizations, enhancement of the standards of nursing practice or education, noteworthy involvement in community or public areas that affect health, creative delivery of nursing care, or other substantial professional activities. Small research grants are awarded annually to Epsilon Theta Chapter members and/or students enrolled in the graduate program in nursing.

In 1995, Sigma Theta Tau International had active chapters on 356 campuses with nationally accredited nursing programs granting baccalaureate and higher degrees in nursing. Sigma Theta Tau International offers opportunities for involvement at the chapter, regional, national, and international levels. Programs are offered each year in different parts of the United States under joint sponsorship of chapters and Sigma Theta Tau International. International research congresses are held in cooperation with scholarly nursing organizations in other countries; these programs focus on scholarly topics of relevance to the advancement of nursing knowledge and to the improvement of public health. Research grants are awarded annually by Sigma Theta Tau International as well as by Epsilon Theta and other chapters.

Credit by Examination

The faculty believes that each educational experience should build on previous achievements to encourage fulfillment of each student's potential. Therefore, all students and registered nurses are urged to seek advice on arranging a logical sequence of work. The faculty subscribes to the principle that a candidate's competence should be validated and that credit should be awarded on the basis of satisfactory achievement on examinations as well as in the classroom. Twenty-four of the last thirty semester hours of credit presented for the degree must be earned in residence, rather than by examination, correspondence, or transfer. Therefore, credit may be earned by examination for all nursing courses except Nursing 227, 264, 275, 475P, 377, 477P, 278, and 178P; non-RN students must also take six additional semester hours of upper-division coursework in nursing in residence.

To petition for credit by examination for upper-division nursing courses, a student must have met all the requirements for admission to upper-division courses in the School of Nursing. An examination for credit may not be taken in a course in which the student is enrolled, which the student has completed, or from which the student has withdrawn with either a passing or a failing grade. The candidate should consult the dean for application forms, information about policies, and scheduling of the examination.

A candidate for credit by examination may obtain the course material that would be given to a student enrolling in the course and has access to all material in campus learning centers. He or she may audit any or all of the lecture portion of any course in the School of Nursing, if approval is obtained in advance from the instructor and if space is available. The candidate is subject to the auditor's fee unless he or she is a University student.

Each candidate is assessed a fee by the Measurement and Evaluation Center for taking the examination. Credit is granted only after the student is enrolled in the School of Nursing, and only for a grade of C or better. The student may elect to have the credit recorded as the symbol CR or as the letter grade achieved. In the latter event, the grade is included in computing the cumulative grade point average. No notation appears on the student's record when the examination is failed. Credit earned by examination does not reduce by a corresponding amount the number of courses that may be taken on the pass/fail basis. A candidate may not retake an examination for any nursing course.

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Undergraduate catalog

Contents  |  Chapter 1  |  Chapter 2  |  Chapter 3  |  Chapter 4
Chapter 5  |  Chapter 6  |  Chapter 7  |  Chapter 8  |  Chapter 9
Chapter 10  |  Chapter 11  |  Chapter 12  |  Chapter 13
Texas Common Course Numbering System (Appendix A)
Appendix B

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