10 Easiest Online ABSN Programs To Get Into 2027

An Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program turns a degree you already hold into a nursing license in 12 to 20 months, and the admissions bar is far less uniform than it looks. Some easier accredited programs set grade point average (GPA) minimums at 2.5 or 2.75, treat the familiar 3.0 benchmark as a recommendation rather than a cutoff, or accept an associate degree in place of a bachelor's. Others open three or four cohorts a year, which can matter more to your odds than any single number on your transcript.

Below are ten programs at nonprofit universities, each accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). Read on for what each one asks of applicants, how the online portion actually works, and where the degree leads.

Are ABSN Programs Hard To Get Into?

Yes, as a category. Accelerated nursing cohorts are capped by clinical placement capacity rather than classroom space, so a program with 48 seats cannot expand to meet demand. The University of Massachusetts Boston reports roughly 300 applications for about 48 accelerated seats, which works out near 15%. Concordia University Irvine publishes an acceptance rate in the 24% to 26% range for its accelerated track, and the University of North Carolina has reported admitting about a third of its applicants.

What varies, and varies widely, is the published requirements. That is where a weaker transcript or an unconventional background has room, and it is what the ten programs below are ranked on.

What Makes an ABSN Program Easier To Get Into?

Selectivity in accelerated nursing comes down to a handful of specific policies rather than overall prestige. These are the levers worth checking on any program's own admissions page.

• A lower GPA requirement: A 3.0 GPA cutoff is common enough to feel universal, but accredited programs publish floors as low as 2.5, and some apply the minimum only to prerequisite or science coursework rather than your full undergraduate record.
• A recommended GPA rather than a required one: Wording matters. A program that calls 3.0 recommended is signaling holistic review, which means a 2.9 does not auto-reject.
• No entrance exam: Many programs require the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) or a Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) exam, sometimes with a minimum score that gates the interview. Programs that skip the exam remove a hurdle and a fee.
• Multiple start dates: A program with one annual cohort gives you one chance a year against the full applicant pool. Three or four rolling starts spread the same applicants across more seats.
• No bachelor's degree required: Some accelerated tracks admit applicants with an associate degree or roughly 60 transferable credits, which widens eligibility considerably.
• Prerequisites offered in house and online: If a program teaches its own prerequisites online, you can satisfy a gap without finding a seat at another institution first.
• Transparent scoring: A published points formula tells you exactly where you stand before you pay the application fee, rather than leaving selectivity to guesswork.

What "Online" Means in an ABSN Program

No accredited ABSN program is fully online, and you should treat any claim otherwise as marketing. Nursing licensure requires supervised clinical hours and hands-on skills validation, both of which happen in person. Madonna University puts it bluntly on its own admissions page: there is no such thing as a fully online nursing program. Instead, these are typically hybrid nursing programs.

What the online label actually describes is the didactic half of the curriculum. Lecture content, exams, discussion, and case work move to a learning platform, sometimes asynchronously and sometimes on a live schedule. Skills labs, simulation, and clinical rotations stay on the ground, either at a campus or a learning site or at partner hospitals near you. Every program below follows that pattern, and each entry names where the in-person requirement lands so you can judge the travel before you apply.

10 Easiest Hybrid ABSN Programs To Get Into

The programs below appear alphabetically, not in order of preference. Each one was confirmed on the university's own website or academic catalog rather than on a third-party directory or a marketing microsite, and each holds current programmatic nursing accreditation. Where a program's own pages disagree with each other, the entry says so.

1. Brenau University

Brenau is a private nonprofit university in Gainesville, Georgia, and its accelerated nursing program holds CCNE accreditation. Coursework runs online while labs, simulation, and clinical rotations take place in person in the Gainesville area. The sequence covers 60 to 62 nursing credits across roughly 16 months.

Two things make Brenau unusually accessible. First, its published 3.0 cumulative and 3.0 science GPA figures are recommended rather than required, and the program describes its review as holistic. Second, Brenau runs a parallel accelerated transfer track for applicants who hold an associate degree or 60 transferable credits instead of a bachelor's, which opens the door to candidates most accelerated programs screen out immediately. A HESI exam is required.

2. Felician University

Felician is a Franciscan nonprofit university in New Jersey with CCNE accreditation. Its accelerated program delivers classes fully online and concentrates the hands-on requirement at the Parsippany campus for labs and testing. The curriculum runs 70 credits across four 14-week trimesters, finishing in about 16 months.

Felician accepts either a non-nursing bachelor's degree or at least 60 non-nursing college credits, so a completed degree is not a precondition. The GPA minimum is 3.0 cumulative with prerequisites completed at C+ or higher within the past 10 years, and Felician teaches those prerequisites online itself, which means a missing microbiology or pathophysiology course does not send you elsewhere. The accelerated track also starts three times a year in January, May, and September, compared with a single annual start for the on-ground option. No prior nursing education or healthcare experience is required.

3. Gwynedd Mercy University

Gwynedd Mercy is a nonprofit Catholic university in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and approved by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, with CCNE accreditation for its nursing programs. The accelerated option covers 67 credits in about 16 months, with online coursework and in-person clinical and lab components in the Philadelphia region.

Three starts a year keep the cohort pipeline open, and Gwynedd Mercy offers its nursing prerequisites online, so applicants can close gaps without transferring in credit from a third institution. The university also runs a separate weekend second-degree nursing track for applicants who cannot leave full-time work, which is a genuinely different accommodation from simply moving lectures online. Confirm the current GPA minimum directly with the nursing admissions office, since the figure published across Gwynedd Mercy's pages is not consistent.

4. Indiana State University

Indiana State is a public university in Terre Haute, and its accelerated second-degree track is accredited by ACEN rather than CCNE and approved by the Indiana State Board of Nursing. Both accreditors are recognized for licensure and graduate study, so the distinction affects paperwork more than outcomes. The hybrid online track runs 15 months, with online didactic coursework and in-person clinical placement.

The admissions floor is among the lowest here: a 2.75 prerequisite GPA and a 2.50 science GPA. Indiana State also publishes a state eligibility list, which is more transparency than most programs offer and spares out-of-state applicants from discovering a licensure restriction after they have already applied. The application deadline is March 15 for a single annual cohort, so the calendar is the main constraint. Note that the 2.25 figure that circulates for Indiana State is a progression and graduation standard, not an admission minimum.

5. Methodist College

Methodist College is a small private nonprofit institution in Peoria, Illinois, affiliated with Carle Health and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with CCNE accreditation for nursing. Its second-degree track carries the lowest verified admission GPA on this page: a minimum cumulative 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.

The format is built for people who are still working. Nursing classes run online during the week and in-person classes and clinicals happen on weekends in the Peoria area, which is a meaningfully different arrangement from a weekday hybrid. Be careful not to confuse this track with Methodist's separate accelerated prelicensure BSN, which requires a 3.0 and is designed for transfer students rather than degree holders.

6. Mount Carmel College of Nursing

Mount Carmel is a private nonprofit nursing college in Columbus, Ohio, with CCNE accreditation and a single academic focus. Its second-degree accelerated program finishes in 13 months, among the shortest timelines available, and admissions operate on a rolling basis rather than against one annual deadline.

The distinguishing feature is scheduling. Mount Carmel runs an evening and weekend option built specifically for working adults, which addresses the real obstacle in accelerated nursing: an intensive program is difficult to combine with employment regardless of how much coursework sits online. Mount Carmel does not publish a hard GPA floor for the accelerated track, describing 3.0 as recommended, so applicants below that line should contact admissions directly rather than assume a rejection.

7. Rockhurst University

Rockhurst is a Jesuit nonprofit university in Kansas City, Missouri, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission with CCNE accreditation for nursing. Its accelerated program blends online coursework with a 10-day on-campus residency and clinical rotations placed near the student, finishing in about 16 months.

The published minimum is a 2.7 cumulative GPA, and Rockhurst opens three cohorts a year. The program also handles preceptor and clinical placement matching rather than leaving students to secure their own, which removes the step that stalls applicants in many distance nursing programs. State eligibility is the one item to verify before applying, because Rockhurst has published more than one version of its eligible-state list and the authoritative answer should come from an admissions counselor.

8. Roseman University of Health Sciences

Roseman is a private nonprofit health sciences university with campuses in Henderson, Nevada, and South Jordan, Utah, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, with CCNE accreditation for nursing. Its hybrid-online accelerated program delivers didactic content online through a mix of live and self-paced sessions, while assessments, group work, skills labs, and clinicals take place in person. The program runs under 18 months.

Roseman offers four start dates a year with rolling admissions, the most frequent cohort cycle on this page, and sets its GPA minimum at 2.75 cumulative with 49 prerequisite credits completed at C or higher. A TEAS score of at least 58.7% is required and also determines whether you advance to the interview stage. Admitted applicants place a $250 seating deposit within 14 days, so plan for that timing. Roseman's own pages report several different NCLEX pass rates, which is worth asking about during the interview.

9. Spalding University

Spalding is a private nonprofit university in Louisville, Kentucky, with CCNE accreditation. Its second-degree accelerated program is the shortest here at 13 months, starting each June and combining online coursework with on-campus sessions. Students transfer up to 40 credits from their first degree toward the 120-credit total.

The GPA requirement applies narrowly: a 2.75 across the science core of anatomy and physiology, microbiology, chemistry, and pathophysiology with their labs, rather than across an entire undergraduate transcript. That distinction helps anyone whose overall GPA was pulled down by unrelated coursework. Spalding also does not list an entrance exam among its accelerated-track requirements, and it assigns each student a dedicated success coach. A nursing assistant course or equivalent is required before entry.

10. University of Texas at Arlington

UT Arlington is a large public university with CCNE accreditation, and its accelerated online prelicensure program is the most transparent about how decisions get made. The university publishes a composite scoring formula with a maximum total of 10.5 points, then ranks applicants and admits by available space, so you can calculate roughly where you stand before applying.

The GPA requirement is a 2.75 minimum in each of two separately calculated averages, natural science and overall prerequisite coursework, which rewards applicants whose strength is concentrated rather than uniform. TEAS scores must land in the proficient range of 58.7 to 77.3 per section. Deadlines fall on January 15 for fall and June 1 for spring, and priority goes to applicants employed by partner hospital systems. One firm limit applies: the accelerated prelicensure track admits Texas residents only, since UT Arlington's out-of-state online nursing options are reserved for licensed nurses pursuing a BSN or MSN.

How We Rank Schools

To create this list, we review data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), along with program-level details published by each university.

• Programmatic accreditation: Every program holds current CCNE or ACEN accreditation, which licensure boards and graduate programs require.
• Institutional status: We include nonprofit, regionally accredited universities only.
• Published admissions requirements: We weigh GPA minimums, entrance exam policies, prerequisite rules, and degree prerequisites as each program states them on its own site.
• Cohort frequency: Programs with multiple annual start dates rank higher, since more cohorts mean more seats across a year.
• Delivery transparency: We favor programs that state clearly where in-person attendance is required rather than describing themselves as fully online.
• Source verification: We confirm each detail on the university's own website or academic catalog rather than on third-party directories or marketing microsites, which frequently carry outdated figures.

Learn more about our ranking methodology.

Typical Admissions Requirements for an ABSN Program

Accelerated nursing admissions follow a fairly consistent template, and knowing it lets you spot the places where a given program is more flexible than its peers.

• A prior degree or substantial credit: Most programs require a completed bachelor's degree in any field. A minority accept an associate degree or roughly 60 transferable credits.
• Prerequisite science coursework: Anatomy and physiology, microbiology, chemistry, nutrition, statistics, and sometimes pathophysiology, usually with a minimum grade of C or C+ and sometimes a recency limit of five to 10 years.
• A minimum GPA: Commonly 3.0, but published floors run as low as 2.5, and some programs calculate the minimum on prerequisites or sciences alone.
• An entrance exam: TEAS or HESI, frequently with a minimum score. Some programs use the score to decide who gets an interview.
• An interview: Increasingly common, sometimes conducted asynchronously through recorded responses.
• Health and background clearances: Immunization records, a criminal background check, drug screening, and basic life support certification, typically required after admission rather than during the application.
• State eligibility: Clinical placement and licensure rules mean many programs admit residents of specific states only.

If your transcript sits below a program's stated minimum, it is worth reviewing options built around that situation, including accelerated nursing programs that accept a low GPA and those that consider applicants at or near a 2.5.

What You'll Learn in an ABSN Program

An accelerated curriculum covers the same material as a traditional four-year BSN, compressed by removing general education requirements your first degree already satisfied. Coursework moves quickly and builds in sequence, so falling behind in one term is difficult to recover from.

Expect foundational science applied to practice through pathophysiology and pharmacology, then clinical specialties covering medical-surgical nursing, maternal and newborn care, pediatrics, mental health, and community or public health nursing. Courses in health assessment, nursing informatics, evidence-based practice, ethics, and leadership round out the degree. Running alongside all of it are supervised clinical rotations, which most states require in the range of 500 to 800 hours, plus skills labs and simulation that must be completed in person. The degree prepares you to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN), which is the gateway to licensure in every state.

How Long Does It Take To Earn an ABSN?

Most accelerated programs run 12 to 20 months of continuous full-time study, with no summers off. The programs above cluster between 13 and 18 months, and the two shortest, Spalding and Mount Carmel, finish in 13.

That timeline assumes your prerequisites are already complete, which is the variable most applicants underestimate. Finishing six to eight science courses can add a year or more, though programs like Felician and Gwynedd Mercy teach their prerequisites online, which compresses that stage. Factor in licensure as well: NCLEX scheduling and board processing typically add several weeks to a few months after graduation before you can practice.

How Much Does an Online ABSN Cost?

Cost varies widely and depends less on the online label than on whether the institution is public or private. Public universities like UT Arlington and Indiana State are generally the most affordable ABSN programs, particularly for in-state students, while private nonprofits run considerably higher per credit. Because accelerated programs compress 60 to 70 nursing credits into little more than a year, the total arrives faster than it would in a traditional program even when the per-credit rate is identical.

Budget beyond tuition as well. Accelerated nursing carries costs that other online degrees do not: uniforms and equipment, immunizations and health clearances, background checks and drug screening, liability insurance, NCLEX preparation materials and exam fees, licensure application fees, and travel to clinical sites and campus intensives. Programs with a residency requirement, like Rockhurst's 10-day on-campus session, add lodging to that list. The more significant financial factor for most students is the loss of full-time income, since accelerated programs are rarely compatible with a full-time job outside of the evening and weekend formats at Methodist College and Mount Carmel.

Financial Aid for Online ABSN Programs

Accelerated nursing students qualify for the same aid as other undergraduates, and nursing specifically attracts funding that other fields do not.

• Federal aid: Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to access Pell Grants, subsidized and unsubsidized loans, and work-study. Note that a prior bachelor's degree makes you ineligible for the Pell Grant, so second-degree students typically rely on loans and scholarships.
• Nursing-specific scholarships: The Health Resources and Services Administration Nurse Corps Scholarship Program covers tuition and fees in exchange for service at a critical shortage facility, and state nursing boards and hospital foundations fund similar awards.
• Employer tuition assistance: Hospital systems frequently pay for nursing education, sometimes with a work commitment attached. Several programs above, including UT Arlington and Methodist College, maintain partnerships with health systems that extend this benefit.
• Military and veteran benefits: The GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon Program, and tuition assistance for active-duty service members all apply to accredited nursing programs.
• Resident tuition for online students: Some public universities charge in-state rates for online enrollment regardless of residency, which can substantially change the comparison between a public and private option.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Nurses employed by nonprofit hospitals and government health agencies may qualify for forgiveness of remaining federal loan balances after 120 qualifying payments.
• Institutional aid: Ask each program directly about departmental scholarships for second-degree students, which are often small, underpublicized, and less competitive than national awards.

Career Outlook With an ABSN

Nursing remains one of the most stable paths available at the bachelor's level. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), registered nurses earned a median annual wage of $93,600 as of May 2024, and the occupation held about 3,391,000 jobs in 2024.

The BLS projects 5% employment growth for registered nurses from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average across all occupations, adding roughly 166,100 positions. More relevant to a job search is the churn: about 189,100 openings are projected each year over the decade, driven largely by retirements and workers moving into other fields. The BLS also lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for the role, which is the gap an accelerated program closes. A BSN additionally serves as the prerequisite for graduate study, whether toward a nurse practitioner role, nurse anesthesia, nursing education, or administration.

FAQs About the Easiest Online ABSN Programs To Get Into

Accelerated nursing admissions raise a predictable set of questions, and the answers below address the ones that come up most often.

Can You Get Into an ABSN Program With a 2.5 GPA?

Yes, at a small number of accredited programs. Methodist College in Peoria publishes a 2.5 cumulative minimum, and Indiana State sets its science GPA floor at 2.50. Several other programs offer conditional or petition pathways for applicants between 2.75 and 2.99. Meeting the minimum does not guarantee admission, though, since most programs rank applicants rather than admit everyone who qualifies.

Do ABSN Programs Require the TEAS or HESI Exam?

Most do, but not all. Roseman and UT Arlington both require the TEAS with minimum scores, and Brenau requires the HESI. Spalding does not list an entrance exam among its accelerated-track requirements. Where an exam is required, check whether the score simply screens applicants or also determines interview eligibility, as it does at Roseman.

Can You Work While Enrolled in an ABSN Program?

Rarely on a full-time basis. Accelerated programs compress a full nursing curriculum into little more than a year, and clinical rotations are scheduled around hospital shifts rather than student availability. The exceptions are programs designed around the problem, including the weekend format at Methodist College and the evening and weekend option at Mount Carmel.

Does It Matter Whether a Program Is CCNE or ACEN Accredited?

Not for licensure or employment. Both accreditors are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and state boards accept graduates of either. The practical difference appears occasionally in graduate admissions or specific employer policies, so if you have a particular doctoral program or employer in mind, confirm which accreditation it requires before enrolling.

Can You Apply to an ABSN Program in Another State?

Sometimes, but verify before you apply. Clinical placement agreements and state authorization rules mean many programs admit residents of specific states only. UT Arlington restricts its accelerated prelicensure track to Texas residents, and Indiana State and Rockhurst both publish state eligibility lists. Because those lists change, confirm your state with an admissions counselor rather than relying on a published list alone.

Explore Online ABSN Programs

A GPA below 3.0, a missing prerequisite, or an unwillingness to sit for an entrance exam does not close off accelerated nursing, and the ten programs above show how differently accredited schools set their bars. Explore Learn.org to find more on nursing careers, licensure requirements, and what accelerated study actually asks of you.