The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) offers one Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner pathway: the BSN Entry to DNP – Advanced Nursing Focus, with an optional Occupational and Environmental Health focus inside the specialty. UCSF’s MS and Post-Master’s Certificate programs are closed to new admissions in every specialty. The only certificate UCSF still offers is the UC PMHNP Certificate.
Program highlights include:
- Every clinical placement arranged by the School of Nursing’s Office of Clinical Placements – students never recruit preceptors
- No RN work experience required for AGPCNP applicants
- Hybrid delivery with in-person clinical training across the San Francisco Bay Area; F-1 visa holders are not eligible
The trade-off is geography and price. A California RN license is required to apply, years two and three are mostly in-person clinical work in the Bay Area, and three years of tuition and required fees run roughly $172,000 for a California resident.
Program Track Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition & Fees | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSN Entry to DNP – AGPCNP | ~$171,700 (CA resident) ~$208,400 (nonresident) | 11 quarters / 3 years, full-time | Total not published; Year 1 totals 39 units |
Tuition figures are calculated from 2026-27 registrar rates held flat across three years. They include mandatory campus fees and the student health insurance premium, which is waivable with proof of comparable coverage.
Quick Facts
| Program Types | BSN Entry to DNP only (DNP degree awarded) |
| Format | Hybrid: mix of online and in-person didactic courses, in-person clinical |
| Campus Visits | Minimal on-campus time in fall of year one; more days in winter, spring and summer; years two and three are mostly in-person |
| Clinical Hours | 1,000 post-baccalaureate practice hours required for DNP conferral |
| Clinical Placement | Arranged entirely by UCSF’s Office of Clinical Placements |
| Geographic Range | San Francisco Bay Area clinical sites; California RN license required |
| Population Focus | Adolescents, adults and older adults; optional Occupational and Environmental Health focus |
| RN Experience | Not required for AGPCNP applicants |
| Start Terms | Fall only, cohort model, full-time |
| Fall 2027 Cycle | Opens Sept. 15, 2026; deadline Feb. 14, 2027; decisions March-April 2027 |
| Accreditation | CCNE; this pathway is under California BRN review |
| International | F-1 visa holders are not eligible |
BSN Entry to DNP – Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
The BSN Entry to DNP – Advanced Nursing Focus pathway runs 11 academic quarters across three continuous years, starting only in fall. Estimated tuition and required fees total about $171,700 for a California resident and $208,400 for a nonresident.
Eligibility differs between UCSF sources. The current application requirements page states that applicants may hold a BSN or an MSN, including an MSN paired with a bachelor’s degree in another field. The 2026-27 catalog and the program FAQ both still say a bachelor’s degree in nursing is required, with the FAQ answering “no” to applicants whose bachelor’s is not in nursing.
DNP Curriculum
Year one is a shared advanced practice core taken by every specialty in the pathway. It covers the 3 Ps, health policy, evidence appraisal, quality improvement and population health, plus two courses that are less common as standalone requirements: structural racism and social justice in health care, and genomics for advanced practice.
AGPCNP specialty content begins partway through year one and dominates years two and three. The DNP scholarly project runs on a separate track: students are told to start identifying a topic in year one, formal project courses begin in quarter 8, and most projects are completed at the student’s own workplace.
Year 1, as published on the School of Nursing sample curriculum (39 units):
- Quarter 1 – BSN-DNP Prologue (2), Concepts and Contemporary Issues for Advanced Practice (3), Racism, Health Care and Social Justice (2), Principles of Genomics for the Advanced Practice Provider (1)
- Quarter 2 – Advanced Health Policy and Advocacy Across Diverse Populations (3), Foundation in Nursing Scholarship for the Nurse Leader (3), Principles of Clinical Prevention and Population Health (3), Interprofessional Education (1)
- Quarter 3 – Advanced Health Assessment Concepts (2), Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology Concepts (2), Advanced Pharmacologic Concepts (3), Advanced Practice Skills Lab (1), APRN Specialty Content (2)
- Quarter 4 – Improving Health Outcomes by Advancing QI and Safety Initiatives (3), APRN Specialty Content (3), APRN Specialty Content (3), APRN Specialty Clinical/Residency Application (2)
Two published versions of year one disagree. The 2026-27 general catalog lists 28 units of foundational coursework (NURSADVPR 200-212) sequenced Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring with specialty courses beginning in winter, while the School of Nursing sample curriculum runs Fall-Winter-Spring-Summer and adds 11 units of specialty content. The 28-unit catalog figure is the foundational core only.
Neither source publishes a total unit count for the full 11 quarters, and neither publishes years two and three. Applicants comparing UCSF against programs that publish a complete plan of study are working with less information here.
DNP Clinical Requirements
- 1,000 post-baccalaureate practice hours required for DNP degree conferral, per CCNE accreditation standards
- UCSF does not publish a separate AGPCNP direct patient care hour count; ANCC and AANPCB each require a minimum of 500 supervised direct care hours for AGPCNP certification
- Placement arranged by the School of Nursing’s Office of Clinical Placements, including site-specific onboarding requirements
- Settings include community and hospital-based primary care clinics, patient homes, sub-acute and skilled nursing facilities, long-term care, worksite occupational health clinics and private practice
- Named partner sites: UCSF Health, Zuckerberg San Francisco General/SFDPH, Kaiser Northern California, Stanford Health Care, Sutter Health, Alameda Health Systems, Dignity Health, John Muir Health and the Veterans Administration
- All sites are in the San Francisco Bay Area; students travel to assignments and cover their own travel costs
- Active California RN license required
School-arranged placement removes the most common failure point in NP education, where students spend months cold-calling clinics and can stall a degree when no preceptor materializes. It also fixes where you live. There is no distance option, and Bay Area housing is a real line item on top of tuition.
UCSF recommends that students work no more than 60% time during the academic year, and estimates roughly three weekdays per week devoted to coursework alone, before clinical hours. Applicants planning to keep a full-time RN job should treat that as a hard constraint.
DNP Admissions & Prerequisites
- BSN from an accredited institution; the requirements page also accepts an MSN (see the eligibility conflict above)
- Minimum 3.0 GPA
- Active California RN license; out-of-state RNs should review CA BRN licensure by endorsement
- No RN work experience required for AGPCNP; only the AGACNP and acute care PNP specialties require prior practice
- Statistics course: no longer required beginning with fall 2027 applications, though still listed as required in the 2026-27 catalog
- Résumé or CV, 2-5 pages
- Three letters of recommendation: one from a current or recent supervisor, one from a faculty member, one from a professional colleague
- Goal statement, 500 words maximum; AI-generated text is prohibited
- Personal statement
- No GRE required
- Application fee $120 (U.S. citizens and permanent residents) or $140 (international); need-based waivers available
- International applicants: TOEFL 92 overall with 24 speaking and 24 writing, or IELTS 7.0; scores valid two years
- Fall 2027 cycle opens Sept. 15, 2026 and closes Feb. 14, 2027; interviews are conducted at faculty discretion, not for all applicants
Two rules matter more than the rest. Specialties may close before the posted deadline once seats fill, so a February submission carries real risk. Specialty selection is also locked at admission, with no switching between AGPCNP and another population focus later.
The absence of an RN experience requirement is unusual for a doctoral NP program and opens the pathway to nurses within a year or two of their BSN. Admissions review still weighs work history heavily through the CV and recommendation letters.
Tuition
UCSF charges flat quarterly rates for the Post-BSN DNP rather than a per-unit price, so per-credit comparisons against semester-based programs do not translate cleanly. The 2026-27 registrar schedule is the current source; the School of Nursing tuition page still links to the archived 2025-26 table.
| 2026-27 Doctor of Nursing Practice: Post-BSN | CA Resident | Nonresident |
|---|---|---|
| New students (fall, winter, spring) | $52,306 | $64,551 |
| Continuing students (summer, fall, winter, spring) | $59,675 | $71,920 |
Both totals include the student health insurance premium ($11,914 new, $14,629 continuing), which students can waive with proof of comparable coverage. They also include professional degree supplemental tuition of $24,792 per year, the largest single component, which applies to residents and nonresidents alike.
Estimated three-year totals (2026-27 rates held flat; one new-student year plus two continuing years):
- CA resident: ~$171,700, or ~$130,500 excluding health insurance
- Nonresident: ~$208,400, or ~$167,200 excluding health insurance
Nonresident supplemental tuition adds $12,245 per year. Students who establish California residency during the program can reduce that; UCSF’s residency page sets out the criteria. UCSF states that posted figures may not be final and that the Regents can change them, so a three-year plan should assume increases.
The one meaningful discount is for UC employees. Regular-status employees in eligible titles qualify for a two-thirds reduction in the Student Services Fee and Tuition for up to 12 units or four courses per quarter. UCSF’s overview and tuition pages say this runs through spring 2031, while the program FAQ says spring 2026.
Living costs are not incidental here. San Francisco housing, plus the recommendation to work no more than 60% time, means the tuition number understates the real financial commitment more than it would at a program allowing full-time employment.
More tuition details are available here.
Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?
Best suited for: a Bay Area nurse with a BSN and a California RN license who wants a doctoral AGPCNP credential, values guaranteed clinical placement at major health systems over cost or flexibility, and can reduce paid work for three years.
Placement is handled, and that is the whole argument. UCSF assigns clinical training at UCSF Health, ZSFGH, Kaiser, Stanford, Sutter and the VA. For applicants weighing programs that require self-sourced preceptors, this converts the largest scheduling risk in NP education into a fixed variable.
No RN experience gate. AGPCNP applicants need a BSN, a 3.0 GPA and a California license. Nurses with one to two years of experience who would be screened out of doctoral acute care tracks can enter here directly.
Direct BSN-to-doctorate with no interim credential. UCSF closed its MS pathway, so no MSN is awarded along the way and there is no shorter master’s option. A nurse who wants to be licensed and practicing in two years will not find that here, and an APRN already certified in another population has no certificate route into AGPCNP at UCSF.
Cost and location are the constraints. Three years of resident tuition and fees approach $172,000 before living expenses, and nonresidents add roughly $36,700 in supplemental tuition. Clinical training is Bay Area only, and part-time study is not an offered plan.
The Verdict
The strongest case for UCSF belongs to a Bay Area BSN nurse who can afford three full-time years and wants faculty-arranged placement inside top-tier health systems, particularly one drawn to the Occupational and Environmental Health focus, which few AGPCNP programs offer.
Applicants outside California, those needing part-time enrollment, those already holding an APRN credential, and anyone for whom total cost is a primary filter should look elsewhere. Two open items also deserve weight: this pathway remains under California BRN review, and UCSF publishes a plan of study for year one only.
Accreditation
The Doctor of Nursing Practice program at UCSF is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. UCSF states that the BSN Entry to DNP Advanced Practice pathway is one track within that program and is currently under review by the California Board of Registered Nursing.
UCSF states that AGPCNP graduates are eligible for Nurse Practitioner certification through the California BRN without examination, and for national certification through ANCC and AANPCB.
There is no meaningful state authorization question here, because the program requires a California RN license and places all clinical training in the Bay Area. The BRN review status is the item to verify, since California NP certification depends on completing a board-approved program.
More AGPCNP Programs in California
- Azusa Pacific University - Azusa
- Loma Linda University - Loma Linda
- San Diego State University - San Diego
- West Coast University - Anaheim