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MSN in Nurse Midwifery

Nurse is a red sweater sitting down on a gray sofa talking with a pregnant patient.

The University of Cincinnati College of Nursing’s MSN Nurse Midwifery program prepares you to deliver comprehensive, compassionate care focused on women’s health, pregnancy, labor, and birth.

What is a Nurse Midwife?

Certified nurse midwives are recognized women's health care providers who offer a full spectrum of services—including gynecological care, contraceptive management, prenatal and postnatal care, birth attendance, and newborn care through the first month of life.

The University of Cincinnati College of Nursing’s online MSN Nurse-Midwifery program prepares registered nurses to deliver comprehensive, compassionate care focused on women’s health, pregnancy, labor, and birth.

Certified Nurse-Midwives are recognized primary care providers who offer a full spectrum of services—including gynecological care, contraceptive management, prenatal and postnatal care, birth attendance, and newborn care through the first month of life.

Certified Nurse-Midwives are required to have a BSN and MSN with previous RN experience. Read more about what is a nurse-midwife and how to become a certified nurse-midwife through the UC College of Nursing’s online MSN nurse-midwifery program. 

MSN in Nurse Midwifery

High Quality Education

  • The degree requires 57 total credit hours, 784 clinical hours, 42 lab hours and a skills intensive site visit to the University of Cincinnati campus
  • Courses taught by practicing, clinically up-to-date faculty 
  • American Midwifery Certification Board (CNM) national certification preparation

Flexibility

  • Option to transfer credits
  • Courses offered in spring, summer and fall semesters
  • Online with clinical requirement
    • Program delivery combines flexible online coursework with in-person precepted clinical practice and on-campus immersions.

Support from Application to Graduation

At UC, you’ll learn from faculty who practice what they teach—clinically active nurses who bring real-world experience to every course. You’ll also have a full support team behind you:

  • Enrollment Services Advisor: Your go-to resource during the application process

  • Student Success Coordinator: Helping you prepare for classes and stay on track

  • Clinical Site Coordinator: Guiding you through clinical and practicum requirements


Prerequisites:

  • A current, active, unrestricted Registered Nurse (RN) licensure with no disciplinary action
  • Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree conferred from a regionally and ACEN (formerly NLNAC) or CCNE accredited institution.
  • Overall minimum BSN GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (recommended).
  • Completion of an undergraduate statistics course with a 2.0 or higher on 4.0 scale.
  • Science GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
  • A minimum of one year of RN experience in the United States, with labor and delivery experience preferred.
    • Prior experience working with women during the antepartum, intrapartum and/or postpartum periods is strongly preferred.

The program is certified through the Commission for Midwifery Education and accepts students three times a year. 

Deadline Schedule
Term Application Deadline Classes Start

Summer 2026

Fall 2026

March 15, 2026

July 1, 2026

May 11, 2026

August 24, 2026

The University of Cincinnati's online course fees differ depending on the program. On average, students will accrue fewer fees than students attending on-campus classes.

The one fee applied across all UC Online programs is the distance learning fee. Students living outside the state of Ohio must also pay an additional “non-resident” fee to enroll in courses at UC Online. This fee is lower than the out-of-state fee for traditional on-campus programs.

To view tuition information and program costs, visit the Online Program Fees page.

Applications for the online Master of Science in Nursing and online Post-Graduate Certificate programs are submitted through NursingCAS.

For helpful tips on your NursingCAS application, please visit application instructions on our Apply page.

Official transcripts from all institutions attended should be sent directly to NursingCAS (American Association of College of Nursing). NO TRANSCRIPTS should be sent to the University.

International Transcripts must be evaluated by World Education Services (WES). WES evaluations are to be sent to NursingCAS directly.

Overall minimum BSN GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. A comparable level of achievement is expected for other grading systems.

If your GPA or science GPA is low, you will need to work hard to ensure the rest of your application stands out to the committee.

Three letters of reference:

References should come from individuals who can attest to your academic and professional skills. Reference letters should come from educators, managers, supervising physicians or APNs in specialty. Peer references are not encouraged.

Length: 500–700 words

Your goal statement should:

  • Demonstrate a clear understanding of the specialty area
  • Explain your interest in the specialty
  • Highlight your preparedness and reasons for pursuing the program
  • Describe your goals after graduation

This statement will also serve as an academic writing sample.

Professional resume required.

Demonstrate your interest in Nurse Midwifery by including leadership roles, committees, volunteer work, professional organizations, and special certifications. Labor and delivery experience is strongly preferred, but consideration for other work experiences will be considered.

The review committee is looking to see that you are developing yourself professionally beyond your current role requirements. Take time to properly update your resume with all of the items listed above to set yourself a part from other applicants.

  • $65 ($70 international) non-refundable University of Cincinnati Graduate School application fee.
  • $85 NursingCAS Application Fee, paid directly to NursingCAS.
  • Non-refundable matriculation fee required upon acceptance (applied toward your tuition in your first semester).
  • State & U.S. Territory Restrictions

    • The University of Cincinnati’s online graduate nursing programs are not currently available to students located in Arizona, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Tennessee. For more information on restricted states, please visit our State Authorization page.
    • Kansas: Effective March 1, 2025, the Kansas State Board of Nursing made a change to their licensure education requirements for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN’s). Additional information can be found on the organization’s website.
      • Applicants who are admitted to an ARPN program that leads to licensure will be provided a revised plan to include an additional variable credit course (NURS8098: Clinical Elective) to complete the difference in clinical hours required by the University of Cincinnati and the Kansas State Board of Nursing (if applicable). The number of credit hours for this course will vary based on the number of clinical hours needed to meet licensure education requirements. Further guidance, including an individualized plan of study, will be provided for admitted students.
      • This change doesn’t apply to non-APRN specialties: Systems Leadership, Public Health Nursing, Occupational Health Nursing, and Nursing Education.
    • Washington: The University of Cincinnati is approved by the Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission to provide practice experiences in the state of Washington for the following programs:
      • Adult-Gerontology Primary Care
      • Family Nurse Practitioner
      • Nurse Midwifery
      • Nursing Administration
      • Women’s Health
  • For more information, visit Washington’s State Board of Nursing site.
  • Washington: The University of Cincinnati is approved by the Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission to provide practice experiences in the state of Washington for the following programs:    
    • Nursing Education

For more information, visit Washington’s State Board of Nursing Education site

  • Currently, we cannot admit students from any U.S. territory: America Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
  • International Student Restrictions

    • An international student is defined as someone who holds citizenship in another country and is not a permanent resident of the United States.
    • International students are admissible to our online programs, providing they commit to doing their clinical requirements in the United States.
    • Due to the clinical requirements in our graduate online programs, international students must already have a visa that gives them legal status to work within the United States or must be able to obtain the legal status that will allow them to come to the U.S. and engage in clinical activities.
    • International students are not eligible for student visas for online programs, including clinical requirements.
    • It is the responsibility of the international student to have the appropriate work authorization documents or be able to obtain the appropriate work authorization before applying to online programs in the College of Nursing at the University of Cincinnati.
  • We cannot admit residents of U.S. Territories or in a country outside of the U.S. Only persons serving in the military who reside on a military base and can complete clinical requirements on the military base should apply to our College of Nursing graduate online programs. Prior to application to our program, the prospective student should confirm that they will have the ability to complete clinical requirements on the military base.
  • Students cannot complete clinicals at a U.S. Embassy.

This curriculum prepares nurses to take the American Midwifery Certification Board (CNM) national certification.

Federal regulations require the University of Cincinnati to publicly disclose whether completion of certain programs that lead or may lead to professional licensure or certification would meet a given state’s educational requirements for a specific professional license or certification required for employment in an occupation (regardless of whether the program is on-ground, online, or hybrid).   To learn whether a University program meets a given state’s educational requirements, please visit the University of Cincinnati State Authorization webpage.

The University of Cincinnati's College of Nursing online programs are nationally recognized for our academic standards, technology application, and research activity. Explore complete accreditation details on the College of Nursing's accreditation page.

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