Bethanie Sorrentino New Graduate Registered Nurse, BSN Providence, 02906, United States [email protected] · (401) 555-1354
11 September 2026
Ms. Adaeze Whitcombe Nurse Residency Coordinator Cranston Point Medical Center Providence, United States
Application for the July 2026 Nurse Residency Cohort, Cranston Point Medical Center
Dear Ms. Whitcombe,
I am applying to the July 2026 nurse residency cohort at Cranston Point Medical Center, with medical-surgical telemetry as my first preference. I graduate from Salve Regina University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing on 16 May 2026 and sit NCLEX-RN in June, and I have spent the last two years working 24 hours a week as a patient care assistant on an inpatient medical unit while studying.
I finished my program with 720 supervised clinical hours across medical-surgical, maternal-newborn, pediatric, psychiatric, community and telemetry rotations. The last 180 of those were a capstone preceptorship on a 36-bed telemetry unit, where I moved from two patients to four over twelve weeks and was taking my own admissions and discharges by the end, including handover and discharge teaching with teach-back. Working as a patient care assistant through school is the part I would point to most: I know what a night shift feels like at hour ten, and in the last year I escalated three sepsis screens that met criteria, two of which ended in a bundle activation.
I want medical-surgical telemetry because it was the rotation where I stopped having to think about the order of a shift, and because your residency runs a twelve month cohort with a practice council project attached rather than a short orientation. I spent my externship summer on your surgical unit, so I already know your documentation and your handover template.
I can start with the July cohort and expect my Rhode Island license in early July. Thank you for considering my application.
Sincerely, Bethanie Sorrentino, BSN
Summary
A new graduate nursing cover letter names the residency cohort and unit you are applying to, the clinical hours behind you, the capstone preceptorship you finished and your NCLEX date. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, what to write when you have no nursing job yet, and the openings that get a file read past the first line.
New Graduate Nursing cover letter examples by experience level
A new graduate nursing cover letter is a one page letter naming the residency cohort and unit you want, the clinical hours behind you, and the reason a preceptor would get a return on a year of their time.
Coordinators read these in one sitting, in batches of hundreds, against a fixed cohort start date. The letter that names the cohort, the unit and the dates gets read past the first line.
Guide to a new graduate nursing cover letter
This guide and the corresponding new graduate nursing cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why the cohort, unit and NCLEX date belong in the opening
- What to write as evidence when you have no nursing job yet
- How to name the capstone so it reads as experience
- The openings that work, and the ones that lose a file
How to write a new graduate nursing cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The cohort and unit, your graduation date and your NCLEX status | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | Clinical hours, the capstone unit and the assignment you finished on | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Why this unit and this program, from something you saw or read | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Start date, license timing, thank you | 2 sentences |
Name the cohort, not the hospital
Nurse residencies recruit in cohorts with fixed start dates, and coordinators sort by unit preference before anyone reads a paragraph.
So write it in the first sentence: "I am applying to the July 2026 nurse residency cohort, medical-surgical telemetry as my first preference." That single line puts your file in the right pile.
Then give the two dates that decide eligibility: your graduation date, and your NCLEX date or authorization to test. Everything else is argument; those are the facts the screen runs on.
A new graduate nursing cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Whitcombe,
I am applying to the July 2026 nurse residency cohort at Cranston Point Medical Center, with medical-surgical telemetry as my first preference. I graduate from Salve Regina University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing on 16 May 2026 and sit NCLEX-RN in June, and I have spent the last two years working 24 hours a week as a patient care assistant on an inpatient medical unit while studying.
I finished my program with 720 supervised clinical hours across medical-surgical, maternal-newborn, pediatric, psychiatric, community and telemetry rotations. The last 180 of those were a capstone preceptorship on a 36-bed telemetry unit, where I moved from two patients to four over twelve weeks and was taking my own admissions and discharges by the end, including handover and discharge teaching with teach-back. Working as a patient care assistant through school is the part I would point to most: I know what a night shift feels like at hour ten, and in the last year I escalated three sepsis screens that met criteria, two of which ended in a bundle activation.
I want medical-surgical telemetry because it was the rotation where I stopped having to think about the order of a shift, and because your residency runs a twelve month cohort with a practice council project attached rather than a short orientation. I spent my externship summer on your surgical unit, so I already know your documentation and your handover template.
I can start with the July cohort and expect my Rhode Island license in early July. Thank you for considering my application.
Sincerely, Bethanie Sorrentino, BSN
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I have always dreamed of becoming a nurse | I am applying to the July 2026 nurse residency cohort, medical-surgical telemetry as my first preference |
| I am writing to apply for any available nursing position | I graduate on 16 May 2026 and sit NCLEX-RN in June |
| I gained valuable experience during my clinical rotations | I finished my program with 720 supervised clinical hours across six rotation areas |
| I am a fast learner and a hard worker | My 180-hour capstone took me from two patients to four on a 36-bed telemetry unit |
What counts as evidence when you have no nursing job
| Kind of evidence | What it looks like in a sentence |
|---|---|
| Clinical hours | 720 supervised clinical hours across six rotation areas at three sites |
| Capstone | 180-hour preceptorship on a 36-bed telemetry unit, finishing on a four-patient assignment |
| Paid healthcare work | Two years as a patient care assistant, 24 hours a week, 8 to 10 patients a shift |
| Externship | 200-hour paid summer externship on a 28-bed surgical unit |
| Judgment | Escalated three sepsis screens that met criteria; two led to a bundle activation |
The class you are competing with is nearly the size of the annual opening count
NCSBN reported 192,916 first-time NCLEX-RN candidates educated in United States member board jurisdictions during 2025, with a first-time pass rate of 86.71 percent (NCSBN NCLEX-RN 2025 year-end report, reporting period 1 January to 31 December 2025).
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 180,800 registered nurse openings each year from 2025 to 2035, with employment growing 6 percent over the decade and a May 2025 median annual wage of $97,550 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses).
The market is not short of jobs, it is short of structured first years, because a residency place costs a unit a preceptor rather than a vacancy. A letter showing you would be efficient to precept argues the thing the coordinator is deciding.
Naming the program and the accreditation
If the residency you are applying to is accredited, name it. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education accredits Entry-to-Practice Nurse Residency Programs and approved revised standards for them on 3 June 2026, and the American Nurses Credentialing Center runs the Practice Transition Accreditation Program, which accredits RN residencies, RN fellowships and APRN fellowships (CCNE and ANCC, checked September 2026).
Naming the accreditor shows you researched the program rather than the hospital, and that you understand the structure of the year is what you are choosing.
Name the cohort, the start date and your first-preference unit in the first sentence. Give your graduation date and NCLEX date or authorization to test. Total your clinical hours and name the capstone unit and the patient load you finished on. Say what you did outside the requirement: the nurse tech job, the externship, the weekend rotation. Name one real thing about their program or unit.
Do not say you have always wanted to be a nurse; every letter in the pile opens that way. Do not apologize for a lack of experience; the rotations and the capstone are the experience the reader expects. Do not claim critical care device competence or certifications that require post-licensure practice hours you have not accrued. Do not name or describe an identifiable patient. Do not send the same letter to three units without changing the unit name.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the residency portal specifies otherwise, named for yourself and the cohort: bethanie-sorrentino-july-2026-nurse-residency-cover-letter.pdf.
Address the residency coordinator or the nurse recruiter by name. Both are usually named on the program page.
Keep every figure identical to the one on your resume. Our new graduate nursing resume example uses the same hours, capstone and dates as this letter.
Key takeaways
- Name the cohort, the start date and your first-preference unit in the opening sentence.
- Give your graduation date and NCLEX date or authorization to test.
- Total your clinical hours; name the capstone unit and final patient load.
- Include the nurse tech, patient care assistant or externship work with hours a week.
- Say why this unit, using something you saw or read.
- Name the program's accreditation if it has one.
- Address a named person and keep it to one page.
Write your new graduate nursing cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
New graduate nursing cover letter questions, answered
How long should a new graduate nursing cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. A coordinator screening several hundred applications in one sitting reads the first two sentences carefully and skims the rest, so put the cohort, the unit and the dates where they cannot be missed.
Do I need a cover letter if the residency application is a portal?
Attach one wherever the portal offers a field. The structured application collects the same dates and grade point average from everyone. The letter is the only place you can say which unit you want, why, and what you did beyond the requirement.
What do I write if I have not passed NCLEX yet?
Write the date you sit it, or your authorization to test date. Residency cohorts are built months ahead of the start, so applying before licensure is the normal case rather than the exception. NCSBN reported a first-time pass rate of 86.71 percent among 192,916 United States educated candidates in 2025 (NCSBN NCLEX-RN 2025 year-end report), so the reader is not treating an unwritten exam as a risk; they are checking your date against their start date.
Should I mention that I worked as a CNA or nurse tech?
Yes, with the hours a week and the unit. It answers the two questions behind every residency decision: whether you know what the work feels like, and whether you stay. Two years at 24 hours a week through full-time study is an argument no rotation can make for you.
How do I write about a unit I have only seen for one rotation?
Say what you saw and what it changed, briefly. One rotation is enough for an honest reason: a handover structure that made sense, a patient population you followed better than the others, a shift where the order of the work became obvious. A short, true observation beats a paragraph about the mission statement, which the coordinator wrote.