The 2,000 RN Hours Rule in Olivet's MSN
Olivet Nazarene University asks MSN students for at least 2,000 hours of RN practice. You can begin the program short of that number, but the hours must be finished by the end of NRSG 681 Nursing Inquiry and Evidence Translation, or Olivet temporarily withdraws you. In the new FNP sample schedule, NRSG 681 comes four courses before the first clinical, so the deadline arrives while your preceptor search should already be moving.
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What the rule says, document by document
Olivet states the rule in several places, and the wording shifts a little between them. Read the row for your own program and curriculum.
| Document | What it says | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| MSN-FNP program page | At least 2,000 RN hours; students short of them finish by the end of NRSG 681 or are temporarily withdrawn | FNP applicants |
| MSN-NEL program page | The same admission items as the FNP, including 2,000 RN hours by the end of NRSG 681 | NEL applicants |
| New-curriculum MSN/PG-APRN handbook | MSN applicants without 2,000 RN hours finish them by the end of NRSG 681 | New starts |
| New-curriculum handbook, PG-APRN admission | 2,000 RN hours, with conditional enrollment possible for students still short | Post-Graduate APRN (FNP) |
| Current-curriculum MSN handbook | Hours done before starting the clinical track (NRSG 665 for FNP, NRSG 634 for Education), with the end of NRSG 681 as the deadline | Continuing students |
| Post-Bachelor's NEL page | The MSN admission items, including 2,000 RN hours by NRSG 681 | PB-NEL applicants |
The rule sits among the admission items that matter most for clinicals, next to a BSN, a current US RN license with no encumbrance, and consent, signed at admission, to the background check and drug screen.
Where NRSG 681 falls in your plan
In the new FNP sample order, NRSG 681 is the fifth course, after NRSG 601, NRSG 603, NRSG 602 and NRSG 604. The role course NRSG 635, the pharmacology and pathophysiology pair NRSG 643 and NRSG 644, and NRSG 645 follow, and only then does NRSG 636C open with its 240 adult and older adult hours. Your RN hours have to be complete while four courses still stand between you and your first clinical.
NEL students meet an earlier practicum. NRSG 604 Population Health (30 direct clinical hours) sits just before NRSG 681 in the new NEL schedule, so on paper the population health practicum can come before the RN hours deadline. The NRSG 604 page covers that course.
The current-curriculum handbook needs a closer look. It frames the rule around starting NRSG 665 or NRSG 634, while its FNP course list shows NRSG 679 and NRSG 680 where the new plan has NRSG 681, and the Education list offers NRSG 679 and NRSG 680 or NRSG 681. If your own plan never shows NRSG 681, ask your advisor which course end is your deadline.
Certificates: where the rule gets unclear
The two graduate certificates do not fit the rule neatly, because neither sample schedule lists NRSG 681.
For the Post-Graduate APRN (FNP) certificate, the new-curriculum handbook sets the same 2,000-hour bar but lets students who are still short enroll conditionally. The certificate's course order runs from NRSG 635 through the 3P courses into NRSG 636C, with no NRSG 681 in it, so the handbook's MSN deadline has no obvious course to attach to. Your advisor sets the point by which your hours must be complete.
The Post-Bachelor's NEL certificate shows an open conflict. Its web page asks for the MSN admission items, 2,000 RN hours by NRSG 681 among them, while the handbook sets a 2.75 BSN GPA, adds its own NRSG 630 rules, and lists a course order without NRSG 681. The NEL certificate page covers the rest of that program; for this rule, get your advisor's answer in writing.
Temporary withdrawal: what Olivet publishes
Olivet's FNP page names the consequence plainly: anyone still short when NRSG 681 ends is temporarily withdrawn. Olivet's public pages do not describe how long that withdrawal lasts, how a student returns or what proof of hours the return requires.
Withdrawals are decided by the program directors (FNP/PG-APRN and MSN), so that is where the answer lives if you see the deadline coming. Raise it before NRSG 681 ends, not after.
A pause also moves everything built on your start dates. A preceptor who agreed to a particular eight-week course may not have room a session later, and compliance items with yearly renewals keep running. The leave and delays page covers how pauses affect clinical courses.
The deadline is the end of NRSG 681, not the first day of your first clinical. Count your hours against that date.
Counting your hours
Olivet publishes the number and the deadline but not a definition. Its pages do not say which settings count, whether part-time or per-diem hours are treated differently, or what proof Olivet wants to see. Ask Online Admissions before you enroll, or your advisor once you are in, and keep the answer.
Keep your own running tally from employer schedules or HR reports so you can answer quickly if Olivet asks. Treat RN work and clinical hours as separate ledgers: RN hours are your practice as a nurse, and clinical hours happen under an approved preceptor during a clinical course, then go into Project Concert. The clinicals where you work page covers the employer side of that line.
Your license matters as much as the count. Olivet asks for a current, unencumbered RN license throughout, and a license that becomes encumbered has to be reported to the SON Clinical Coordinator, as the license page explains.
Planning clinicals around the deadline
- Find the end date of NRSG 681Most of Olivet's online graduate courses run eight weeks, and the NEL page also describes one 16-week evidence-based practice course, so check the length of your own
NRSG 681section. Its last day is the date that counts. - Compare your tally to 2,000Work out how many more shifts you need before that date, and leave room for the unexpected.
- Start the preceptor search nowDo not wait for the hours to be done. The search, Olivet's approval and site onboarding all take time, and the first FNP clinical follows the deadline by only four courses.
- Time compliance to the clinical, not the hoursOlivet wants compliance done before the first clinical day and the drug screen cleared 2 to 4 weeks before it.
- Talk to Olivet early if you will fall shortWrite to your advisor or program director before
NRSG 681ends.
Why Olivet students plan their clinicals with us
The smartest plan runs the RN hours and the preceptor search side by side, and that is the plan we build with Olivet students. While you finish your shifts, we look for preceptors near you, inside the states Olivet approves, whose patients suit the first clinical: adults and older adults for NRSG 636C, or population health for NEL. Olivet's approval materials come together as the search goes.
Your compliance dates and screening window stay on our calendar as well as yours, and a mid-course dropout sends the same desk back out to search. Olivet decides on approval; you hand it a complete file. How it works lays out the steps, and the form below is the simplest way in.
Questions Olivet students ask
Can I start Olivet's MSN with fewer than 2,000 RN hours?
Yes. Olivet's FNP page and new-curriculum handbook let students begin short of 2,000 RN hours as long as the gap is closed before NRSG 681 finishes. Post-Graduate APRN students still short can be enrolled conditionally under the same handbook. Missing the deadline leads to temporary withdrawal, so plan the remaining shifts from your first term.
Do part-time or per-diem RN hours count toward Olivet's 2,000?
Olivet's public pages give the number and the deadline but do not define which hours count or what proof is needed. Ask Online Admissions before you enroll, or your advisor after, and keep the answer in writing. Meanwhile, keep your own record of every shift from employer schedules.
Does the 2,000 RN hours rule apply to Olivet's RN-BSN?
Olivet states the rule for its MSN and graduate certificate admissions. RN-BSN admission instead looks for an ADN or diploma, a 2.75 GPA and an unencumbered RN license; anyone who begins general education before licensure has to pass the NCLEX and show the license before NRSG 302 ends.
Should I wait for my RN hours before looking for an FNP preceptor?
No. The hours deadline and the preceptor search run on separate clocks, and waiting stacks them. In the new sample schedule the first FNP clinical, NRSG 636C, follows NRSG 681 by four courses, and a preceptor, Olivet's approval and site onboarding all need lead time. Start the search while you finish the hours.
Where do I find the date NRSG 681 ends?
Olivet posts online start dates per program and runs most graduate courses in eight-week blocks, but a full online term calendar is not on its public pages. Your course schedule in Canvas and your advisor have the exact end date of your NRSG 681 section. Assignments are due by the last course day at 11:59 p.m. CST.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Olivet's own handbooks, program pages, fee sheet and licensure disclosures. Your handbook version, your Canvas clinical requirements course, your faculty and the SON Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Olivet asks you to start with your own network. We make the search the easy part of your program.
Tell us your Olivet track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, inside Olivet's approved states, and prepare everything Olivet's approval and the site's onboarding need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adults and older adults for
NRSG 636C, women's health forNRSG 637C, children forNRSG 638C, education and leadership forNRSG 620 - Credentials, license and site details ready before your clinical course opens, with the drug screen timing on your calendar
- In your own community, in Illinois or any state Olivet approves for your clinicals
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