Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) to Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)

Yes. Transfer of credit is granted on an individual basis. Up to 9 credits completed in a DNP program can be considered for transfer towards your PhD elective credits.

Considering coursework, research residency hours and any teaching responsibilities, as well as other PhD program requirements, a maximum of 19 hours per week is allowed per School of Nursing policy.

We believe we offer something different at Johns Hopkins and we strive to create the next generation of clinically-focused nurse scientist.   Our ideal candidate seeks to grow the work undertaken as part of their prior doctoral training.   We seek students who plan to move their clinical, implementation and process improvement expertise into a program of research and discovery. 

Your essay should outline your areas of interest and how they align with current faculty areas of research. The Admissions Committee will look for a summary of your previous experience, qualifications, and information about your interest in a specific area of research. We will also consider your writing skills and determine whether there is a good match between your research interests and our faculty expertise.  The committee will seek to explore ways you plan to grow from your prior experience in your DNP program.  The strongest applications show a clear trajectory of progressive inquiry.  

Although contacting a faculty member in your research area is not required, it is an opportunity to become familiar with researchers in your area of interest and to ask questions not addressed on the school’s website. While it can be helpful to have a direct match, students often have great success in the program when a piece of the research overlaps with the advisor.  If there is a particular faculty member whose work interests you, you may discuss this as part of your application essay.  The best place to start is with the PhD Senior Admissions Officer, Deb Driscoll [email protected] and with a review of our most recent PhD virtual information session at https://nursing.jhu.edu/admissions/index.html.

Once you are admitted to the PhD program and decide to matriculate, the PhD Admissions Committee determines who will be your advisor(s). Generally, one advisor is selected, but in some instances-depending on your research area-two advisors are assigned, one of them serving as the primary advisor and the second serving as a co-advisor. One of the faculty would be your primary advisor and the second would serve as a co-advisor. We try to match students with faculty members who have similar research interests.

The time needed to complete the program varies, depending on how fast you progress. Some students in our program finish their degree in three years, others take four years or longer. For students who have a prior DNP degree, the faculty anticipate a shorter time to degree completion – not only as a result of increased credit transfer for DNP students, but also because of your preparatory background.  While the time to degree completion is flexible, The School of Nursing caps the time to degree completion to a maximum of 7 years. 

Students whose native language is not English are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Johns Hopkins School of Nursing requires a minimum TOEFL-IBT score of 100 to be eligible for admission. More

The PhD program has a Biostatistics heavy curriculum so previous coursework in Biostatistics is helpful.  We encourage students that have not had previous coursework in this area, or have not taken the coursework in the past five years, to look for ways to strengthen that knowledge base before matriculating into the program.  Please reach out to Deb Driscoll, Senior Admissions Officer, at [email protected] for a list of resources to help you prepare while applying and before matriculating into the program.

All applicants to the PhD program must submit GRE scores from the last five years.  The GRE scores are used as part of the holistic review process for all PhD applications

For students who wish to receive PhD program funding support – including stipend – the program has a full time and onsite requirement for one year. Coursework and research after year one is flexible and arranged on a case-by-case basis related to a student’s interest, research goals, along with research and teaching residency requirements. 

Students should expect to spend 15 hours a week either on campus or in the field during their funded research residency in collaboration with their faculty advisor for all three years that they receive full funding.  Students should expect to spend an additional 15-20 hours per week on coursework.

Coursework completed outside the United States must be evaluated and translated into US equivalencies.  Official transcript evaluations must be submitted as part of the application process, and applications will not be considered complete until all evaluations for any work completed outside the United States are received.  The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing recommends WES-ICAP.