A master’s in nursing management and leadership program built for a busy RN’s schedule.
Competency-based education puts working nurses in the driver’s seat of their education. As a busy nurse, you need a degree program that's more than simply online—you need a program that truly reflects the realities of your work life and experience. At WGU, your progress is driven by your ability to prove what you’ve learned. How—and how quickly—are largely up to you. Once you’ve mastered the defined competencies (knowledge and skills), you prove what you know through tests, papers, projects, or other assessments. Demonstrating mastery is how you pass a course, so learning what it takes to be outstanding in your career is at the heart of WGU’s MSN – Leadership and Management curriculum. Other universities' online M.S. programs may give you the convenience of distance learning; WGU's competency-based online programs take that flexibility further—many steps further!
“I became a nurse and a mom within the same year at the age of 23. I thought about getting my master’s but thought I didn't have time. I found WGU and thought, ‘Maybe this will work.’ I've been able to not only get my master's degree, but also build a foundation that will make it a little bit easier for me to go back for my nurse practitioner’s license."
Jennifer Evans
MSN – Leadership and Management
Designed for working nurses.
Day shift, night shift, or on-call; flu season or the onslaught of summertime injuries; 5-minute coffee breaks where you’re still on your feet… A registered nurse's schedule is never predictable—and not very forgiving. That’s why we focus on making the best use of your time and experience and why we maximize the real-world impact of the competencies you master—so your years as a registered nurse can help you graduate faster, and the hours of study time you squeeze in actually pay off at work.
Efficient
Save time and money by focusing efforts where they matter the most.
No two students are alike—especially working adult students with nursing experience. Students enroll in a university knowing different things, they learn at different speeds, and they have different amounts of time to spend studying. Competency-based education lets you prioritize where to spend your valuable time.
Flexible
Learn on your own terms.
Nurses' schedules are unpredictable. Whatever your week looks like, competency-based learning allows you to study and complete assessments when it fits your life—even if that means taking a proctored test online at 3 a.m. While you will be required to maintain a base level of consistent progress through your program, WGU is designed to empower you to maximize your personal schedule by allowing you to build a study plan that fits into your life—not one that requires you to rearrange it.
Results
Know you’re learning real-world skills.
You earn a nursing degree for results—not simply to accrue credits. Competency-based education centers on your ability to master competencies—the clearly defined knowledge and skills that leading healthcare employers are looking for. How do we know what they’re looking for? They tell us—and their input drives our curriculum.
Finish courses by proving what you know, when you’re ready.
With competency-based education at WGU, success is measured by actual learning, not class time. You advance by demonstrating that you've mastered the course subject matter—whether you learned it through your study at WGU or picked up that knowledge through years of work experience.
Your progress through a course is driven by you.
![How quickly you learn]()
How quickly you learn
+
![Time devoted to studying]()
The time you devote to studying
+
![Previous knowledge]()
How much previous knowledge you bring
Your experience pays at WGU.
Why start from square one when you could already be well on your way to a degree?
REQUEST INFO
