The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing offers four Pediatric Nurse Practitioner pathways, all at the MSN level:
Primary Care (CPNP-PC)
- MSN
Acute Care (CPNP-AC)
- MSN – Acute/Chronic
- MSN – Critical Care
- MSN – Oncology
All four are campus-based in Philadelphia. Each requires a BSN and an RN license, and students need a Pennsylvania RN license before clinical rotations begin. Penn does not offer a PNP DNP or a published pediatric post-graduate certificate curriculum.
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN – PC | $93K | 12 mos FT; 2–3 yrs PT | 12 CUs (48 sem. hrs) |
| MSN – AC Acute/Chronic | $93K | 1 yr FT; PT available | 12 CUs (48 sem. hrs) |
| MSN – AC Critical Care | $94K | 4 terms FT; 2 yrs PT | 12 CUs (48 sem. hrs) |
| MSN – AC Oncology | $93K | 12 mos FT | 12 CUs (48 sem. hrs) |
Tuition estimates apply Penn’s 2026–2027 MSN schedule ($7,160 per course unit, plus technology, general, and clinical fees) to each track’s published full-time plan of study. Penn converts one course unit to four semester hours (about $1,790 per semester hour).
- Why choose it: Penn splits pediatric acute care into three concentrations, including dedicated PICU/CICU and pediatric oncology tracks, and arranges every clinical site and preceptor.
- Trade-off: Every track is campus-based in Philadelphia, costs about $93K–$94K, and Penn publishes no clinical hour totals.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN only (1 primary care track, 3 acute care concentrations) |
| Population Focus | MSN – PC: Primary Care (CPNP-PC) | All AC concentrations: Acute Care (CPNP-AC) |
| Format | Campus. Some courses online or hybrid; all clinicals in person |
| Clinical Hours | Not published for any track |
| Clinical Placement | Penn arranges all sites and preceptors |
| Concentrations | Acute care: Acute/Chronic, Critical Care (PICU/CICU), Oncology |
| RN License | Active RN license; Pennsylvania RN license before clinicals |
| RN Experience | PC: not stated. AC: inpatient pediatric experience required |
| Tuition | $7,160 per CU (2026–2027); about $93K–$94K per MSN |
| Accreditation | CCNE through June 30, 2034 |
Clinical Education at Penn
- Penn arranges and coordinates all clinical experiences and preceptors for both populations. Students do not search for their own sites.
- The acute care program has a dedicated clinical site coordinator.
- All clinical experiences are in person, on campus or at Penn-affiliated sites.
- A Pennsylvania RN license is required before rotations start.
- Penn does not publish total clinical hours, hours per clinical course unit, or weekly clinical loads for either population.
School-arranged placement removes the biggest risk in NP school: stalled progress while hunting for a pediatric preceptor. The cost is geography. Placements are tied to Penn’s affiliated sites, so students should plan to live within commuting distance of Philadelphia for the length of the program.
The missing hour totals matter for comparison. PNCB requires at least 500 supervised clinical hours for certification, and most single-population programs publish 600–750. Penn’s three clinical course units for primary care and four for acute care cannot be converted to hours from published sources.
General Admissions
Both populations use the same MSN application. The rules below apply to every track; acute care adds an experience gate covered in its section.
- BSN from an accredited program, with transcripts from all colleges attended
- Active RN license (Pennsylvania license required before clinicals)
- Completed statistics course
- No minimum GPA published; a GPA of 3.2 or higher waives the GRE
- GRE required below 3.2 (competitive: 50th percentile verbal and quantitative, 4.0 writing)
- Three recommendations (academic, employer, professional)
- Essay responses; interview by invitation
- $80 application fee
- Deadlines vary by start term and full-time or part-time status. See Penn’s MSN deadlines page
The GRE rule is easy to miss. Applicants with a GPA below 3.2 need recent scores, which adds weeks to the application timeline. Full MSN application requirements are available here.
Penn PNP Tracks in Detail
MSN – Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
The Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner MSN prepares graduates for the PNCB CPNP-PC exam and Pennsylvania certification as a pediatric CRNP. Estimated tuition is about $93,072 full-time (12 CUs at $7,160 per CU, or $85,920, plus about $7,150 in term fees).
Full-time study takes one calendar year: fall, spring, and summer. Part-time plans run two or three years. No pediatric RN experience requirement is published for this track.
MSN – PC Curriculum
The 12-CU plan splits into four core courses, three theory courses, three clinical courses, and two electives. Full-time students take four CUs every term, and the clinical load is back-loaded: one practicum in spring, then two in the final summer alongside research and an elective.
The two free electives are unusual for a 12-month PNP plan. They let students add depth in an area such as palliative care or global health without extending the program.
- NURS 6560 Professional Role Issues for Nurse Practitioners (1 CU)
- NURS 6570 Advanced Physical Assessment and Clinical Decision Making (1 CU)
- NURS 7200 Nursing of Children Theory I: Child and Family Development (1 CU)
- NURS 6580 Clinical Management of Primary Care with Young Families (1 CU)
- NURS 6590 Clinical Practicum: Primary Care with Young Families (1 CU)
- NURS 6600 Clinical Practice with Select Populations: Adolescents (1 CU)
- NURS 6630 Advanced Concepts in Primary Care (1 CU)
- Two graduate NURS electives (2 CUs)
More curriculum details are available here.
MSN – PC Clinical Requirements
- Clinical courses: NURS 6590, NURS 6600, and NURS 6630 (3 CUs)
- Total clinical hours: not published
- Settings: young-family primary care and adolescent care, per course titles
- Full-time sequence: one clinical course in spring, two in summer
A separate adolescent practicum is a useful feature, since many PNP programs fold adolescents into general primary care rotations. The compressed final summer is the trade-off. Two clinical courses plus two other courses in one summer leaves little room for outside work.
MSN – PC Admissions
Admission follows the general MSN rules above. Full-time students who want Lauder Fellowship funding must first be admitted, then be invited to apply (see Tuition).
MSN – Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
The Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner MSN prepares graduates for the PNCB CPNP-AC exam. All three concentrations earn the same degree and sit for the same boards. Estimated tuition is about $93,072–$93,602 (12 CUs at $7,160 per CU, or $85,920, plus term fees), depending on how the concentration spreads its courses.
Penn says any concentration can be finished in one calendar year full-time, and part-time plans are available. Inpatient pediatric nursing experience is required for all three concentrations, so new graduates and nurses with only outpatient or adult experience are not eligible.
MSN – AC Shared Curriculum
Ten courses are common to all three concentrations. The concentration decides the eleventh and twelfth CUs: one theory or elective course and the final advanced clinical course.
- NURS 5090 The Child with Special Healthcare Needs (1 CU)
- NURS 7210 Advanced Physical Assessment and Clinical Decision Making: Nursing of Children (1 CU)
- NURS 7340 Intermediate Principles of Pediatric Acute Care (1 CU)
- NURS 7350 Pediatric Acute Care NP: Professional Role and Intermediate Clinical Practice (1 CU)
- NURS 7360 Advanced Principles of Pediatric Acute Care (1 CU)
- NURS 7370 Pediatric Acute Care NP: Professional Role and Advanced Clinical Practice (1 CU)
- Plus NURS 6080, 6850, 7200, and a research course (4 CUs)
A required course on children with special healthcare needs is a strength here. Medically complex children make up much of the pediatric acute care caseload, and many programs cover them only inside general theory courses.
Acute/Chronic Concentration
- Final clinical: NURS 7410 Management of Children with Acute and Chronic Conditions in the Community (1 CU)
- Eleventh CU: one free graduate NURS elective
- Settings: inpatient and step-down units, emergency departments, community sites, and ambulatory, rehabilitative, and specialty clinics
- Term-by-term plan: not published on the catalog page
This is the broadest of the three. It suits nurses who want to follow children with chronic conditions across inpatient and outpatient care rather than work only in the hospital. Catalog requirements are available here.
Critical Care Concentration
- Final clinical: NURS 7140 Management of the Critically Ill Child with Acute/Chronic Conditions, Advanced Clinical (1 CU), in PICU and CICU settings
- Eleventh CU: NURS 7640 Advanced Technologies and Clinical Decisions in Acute Care (replaces the elective)
- Full-time plan: summer (1 CU), fall (4), spring (4), final summer (3)
- Part-time plan: two years, starting in fall
A published conflict worth knowing about. Penn’s acute care page says every concentration can be completed in one calendar year full-time, but the catalog’s full-time Critical Care plan places NURS 5090 in a summer term before the first fall. That makes four terms, roughly 14 months. This page uses the catalog plan because it is the course-by-course requirement.
Critical Care is the clearest fit for PICU and cardiac ICU nurses who want to stay in intensive care. The technology course replaces the free elective, so there is no room for outside interests. Catalog requirements are available here.
Oncology Concentration
- Theory addition: NURS 7150 Management of Children with Acute and Chronic Conditions: Pediatric Oncology (replaces the elective)
- Final clinical: NURS 7410 Advanced Clinical (1 CU)
- Settings: inpatient and outpatient pediatric oncology centers
- Full-time plan: fall (4 CUs), spring (4), summer (4)
Dedicated pediatric oncology NP preparation is rare. Many programs offer it only through a subspecialty rotation inside a general acute care track. This concentration suits hematology-oncology nurses who plan to stay in the specialty. Catalog requirements are available here.
MSN – AC Clinical Requirements
- Clinical courses: NURS 7210, 7350, 7370, plus the concentration’s final clinical (4 CUs)
- Total clinical hours: not published for any concentration
- Settings determined by concentration, as listed above
Acute care carries one more clinical course unit than primary care. Without published hours, readers cannot tell whether that produces more clinical time than the 600–750 hours typical of single-population programs.
MSN – AC Admissions
The experience gate is the deciding rule. Penn requires work experience before applying and inpatient pediatric experience for every concentration. It does not state a minimum number of years on the pages reviewed.
- General MSN requirements above
- Inpatient pediatric RN experience (all concentrations)
- Full-time study starts in fall per Penn’s program page; the Critical Care catalog plan begins with a summer course
Tuition
Estimated tuition and fees run about $93K–$94K for every Penn PNP track. Penn is private, so residency does not change the price.
| Program | Est. Tuition and Fees |
|---|---|
| MSN – PC (full-time) | $93,072 |
| MSN – PC (2-year part-time) | $92,804 |
| MSN – AC Acute/Chronic | About $93,000 |
| MSN – AC Critical Care (full-time) | $93,602 |
| MSN – AC Oncology (full-time) | $93,072 |
Figures are calculated from Penn’s 2026–2027 per-term tuition and fee schedule applied to each published plan of study. They are not university-published totals.
Key Cost Takeaways
- Base tuition is $85,920 for every track (12 CUs at $7,160). Term fees add about $6,900–$7,700.
- Fall and spring terms of three or more CUs carry a $385 clinical fee and a higher general fee, whether or not a clinical course is taken that term.
- Fall and spring charges cap at the four-CU rate, but no full-time PNP plan exceeds four CUs per term, so the cap saves nothing.
- Part-time pacing costs about the same as full-time.
- Some courses carry section fees listed in Path@Penn. They are not included above.
- Full-time students in Penn’s primary care NP programs may be selected for the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care NP Fellowship, which covers tuition and fees in exchange for practice in underserved communities. Penn ties it to primary care programs; the specific eligible-program list was not available for this update.
Penn’s price is high for a 12-month PNP MSN, and it does not vary by track or residency. For primary care students, the Lauder Fellowship is the main variable: selected fellows pay no tuition or fees. See the official tuition page for more details.
Why Choose This PNP Program?
Best suited for: Experienced inpatient pediatric nurses in the Philadelphia area who want a specialized acute care track, and full-time primary care students who can compete for full Lauder funding.
Three Acute Care Concentrations, One Credential
Many PNP-AC programs offer one general track. Penn lets students commit to critical care or oncology during training while still sitting the same CPNP-AC exam. Students who are unsure can choose Acute/Chronic, which keeps a free elective and the widest range of settings.
No Preceptor Search
Penn arranges every site and preceptor for both populations. That matters most in acute care, where PICU, CICU, and oncology preceptors are hard to secure independently.
A Possible Full Scholarship for Primary Care
The Lauder Fellowship covers tuition and fees for selected full-time primary care students, with a stipend for those with greater need. Fellows commit to practice in underserved communities after graduation. Students are invited to apply after admission, so funding is not known when deciding whether to apply.
Potential Drawbacks
- Campus-based in Philadelphia; no online option
- About $93K–$94K for every track without the Lauder Fellowship
- No published clinical hour totals for any track
- Acute care requires inpatient pediatric RN experience
- Pennsylvania RN license needed before clinicals
- No PNP DNP, dual PC/AC track, or published pediatric certificate curriculum
The Verdict
Penn makes the most sense for inpatient pediatric nurses who already live near Philadelphia and know their acute care niche, especially PICU, CICU, or hematology-oncology nurses who want concentration-specific training. Full-time primary care applicants with an underserved-community focus should also apply, since the Lauder Fellowship can remove the cost entirely. Working nurses who need to keep a full-time job, live outside commuting range, or want a lower price should compare the mostly online programs at Drexel and Thomas Jefferson, or the hybrid program at Villanova.
Accreditation
Penn Nursing’s MSN programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) through June 30, 2034, and its master’s NP programs are approved by the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing. Graduates of the primary care track are eligible for PNCB CPNP-PC certification and acute care graduates for CPNP-AC. Penn reports 2023 first-time certification pass rates of 81% for primary care and 90% for acute care. See Penn’s accreditation page.
Other PNP Programs in Pennsylvania
- Drexel University - Philadelphia
- Thomas Jefferson University - Philadelphia
- Villanova University - Villanova