Nurse-Midwifery: Applicant Qualifications

Qualified applicants to the nurse-midwifery education program must successfully demonstrate a strong interest in women's health care issues as well as the ability to succeed in graduate school.

We believe that professional experience is important to success in graduate school and will evaluate applicants based on both work and volunteer experiences that demonstrate a commitment to women's and maternal-child health issues. Applicants with a background in nursing specialty areas such as labor & delivery, mother-baby, antepartum, gynecology, or ambulatory women's health are excellent candidates for nurse-midwifery education. For non-nurses, education and /or work experience in fields such as childbirth education, doula, lactation consultant, health education, counseling, public health and international health all provide a strong background for graduate nurse-midwifery education. Advanced practice nurses (who already have a masters in nursing), in specialty areas such as women's health or family nurse practitioners and perinatal clinical nurse specialists are excellent candidates for the post-graduate certificate program.

Applicants should demonstrate a high level of professionalism and provide examples of leadership, teaching, research, and/or community service activities. Competitive applicants will be able to articulate a clear understanding of what nurse-midwifery is and a strong commitment to the profession and to women's health care.

To this end, the midwifery faculty will conduct an interview (either in person or by telephone) with each applicant as part of the admissions process.

In addition to meeting the requirements for entry to the nurse-midwifery education program, all applicants must meet the School of Nursing and the Graduate School's admission requirements. Criteria specific to admission to the nurse-midwifery program are:

• Three letters of recommendation, preferably including one from a nurse-midwife
• Essay demonstrating that applicant’s goals are consistent with nurse-midwifery education and practice
• Resume describing relevant experience in women’s/maternal-child health care and professional activities, as described above
• Interview with nurse-midwifery faculty satisfactorily demonstrating the qualifications for admission, as described above

All nurse-midwifery students will be expected to be able and willing to travel to clinical sites outside the immediate Seattle area, as needed (or to the UW campus, if a distance program student).

Finally, all nurse-midwifery students are required to provide proof of current Neonatal Resuscitation Provider (NRP) certification prior to entering the clinical sites. Students who do not have previous labor and delivery nursing experience will also be required to complete a formal electronic fetal monitoring course (for example, one offered by AWHONN) prior to beginning intrapartum clinical rotations.

Additional Nurse-Midwifery Information

• Nurse-Midwifery Home

• Program Philosophy
• Curriculum
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Department of Family and Child Nursing
• Sources of Funding - in Current Students
• Master of Nursing Admissions Information - in Prospective Students