College of Southern Maryland (CSM) Acceptance Rate, GPA, and Admission Requirements

CSM's Nursing program is a competitive admission track where first consideration goes to residents of the college's official service area - Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties - before applicants are ranked by cumulative GPA (calculated across all colleges where transfer coursework applies) and ATI TEAS score. Out-of-service-area applicants aren't excluded, but they're competing from a lower priority tier, so students living just outside these three counties should factor that into their timeline and backup planning rather than assuming residency doesn't matter in Maryland the way it might elsewhere.

CSM offers multiple distinct Associate-to-Bachelor's (ATB) nursing partnerships - Towson University, Frostburg State University, Stevenson University Online, American Public University System - plus a separate Dual Admission agreement specifically with the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) and University of Maryland Global Campus. These aren't interchangeable: each has different completion formats (online vs. on-site), different timelines, and different post-associate entry requirements, so a student set on becoming an RN with a BSN should pick their ATB partner in their first nursing semester, not after graduation, since course sequencing can differ by partner.

Because CSM sits near Naval Air Station Patuxent River and its unmanned aviation and autonomous systems research ecosystem, the Patuxent Partnership offers a Pathways Scholarship specifically for CSM students majoring toward engineering - requiring Southern Maryland residency, a minimum 3.0 GPA with no grade below a B in courses like Calculus II and Physics, and a commitment to apply into the Southern Maryland Pathways Program in Engineering (Electrical or Mechanical) taught at the University System of Maryland's Southern Maryland campus. Students interested in defense-sector STEM careers should build their CSM math/physics sequence around this GPA floor from day one, since the no-B-below requirement is stricter than typical scholarship GPA minimums.

CSM's clinical partner sites require documented vaccinations (including COVID-19) for any student to receive a clinical placement, and students who decline may be unable to remain registered in clinical courses, potentially forcing a withdrawal from the nursing or health program entirely. Because clinical partner requirements can shift between admission and the start of clinical rotations, students should confirm current documentation requirements with the Nursing Department directly each term rather than relying on what was true when they first applied.