Pine Technical & Community College Acceptance Rate, GPA, and Admission Requirements

General admission is free (no application fee, ever) and open, but the Associate Degree Nursing program ranks applicants on a points rubric built from prerequisite GPA, TEAS or NLN NEX score, and LPN work experience - with only 30 full-time and 10 part-time seats admitted each Fall. Applicants who were waitlisted the previous semester automatically receive 5 bonus points on the scoring rubric, so reapplying preserves a real edge that starting fresh elsewhere would forfeit.

Pine only accepts TEAS or NLN NEX scores from in-person, campus-proctored exams; no virtual or online testing scores are accepted. You need a 149 or better on the NLN NEX (or the equivalent TEAS threshold), and you're allowed up to 3 NLN NEX attempts per application period with your highest score counted - so schedule your first attempt early enough in the March 30?May 22 Fall application window to leave room for a retake.

Pine's Gunsmithing and Firearms Technology program is one of the most complete in the country and consistently has a waitlist independent of GPA. Because every student must pass a criminal background check due to firearms handling, submit that paperwork the moment you apply rather than after acceptance - processing delays on the background check, not academic review, are what actually determine your place in line.

High schoolers can earn tuition-free college credit through Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO), and Pine holds direct articulation agreements with Metropolitan State University, St. Cloud State, Southwest Minnesota State, UW-Stout, and Concordia University St. Paul. If a bachelor's degree is the end goal, pick your PTCC courses against one of these five schools' transfer requirements from day one rather than treating Pine as a terminal stop.