Finding your own preceptor through your personal and professional network
Olivet Nazarene University asks its online graduate nursing students to find their first preceptor leads themselves, starting with people they already know. Below: what that request means for each track, what you are searching for course by course, and a method for running the search so it holds up.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Olivet program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Olivet course.
What Olivet asks of you, in its own words
The same line appears on three Olivet program pages, the MSN Nursing Education & Leadership, the Post-Graduate APRN (FNP) certificate and the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner: "Initially, students are encouraged to leverage their personal and professional networks to find a preceptor and practicum site." The key word is initially. Your own contacts are the first route, and the school's help comes later, in a form that differs by track.
The same pages describe the outcome Olivet expects: clinical hours close to where you live, under an approved preceptor of your choosing. The Post-Bachelor's NEL certificate page states the same self-selected, approved preceptor for both of its practicums but says nothing about coordinator support. For FNP students, the point where the SON Clinical Coordinator takes over is fixed at 30 attempts, and the 30-attempt page explains that rule and its gaps.
Olivet does not hand students a roster of preceptors or sites, so the search genuinely starts with you and whoever you bring in to help.
What each track is looking for
A search goes faster when you know whose patients or learners the hours are about, and Olivet's course titles answer that. Your curriculum decides which list applies, so confirm it with your advisor before you start asking.
| Track | Course | Hours | Look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNP and PG-APRN, new curriculum | NRSG 636C Adult and Older Adult Primary Care Clinical | 240 | Primary care of adults and older adults |
| FNP and PG-APRN, new curriculum | NRSG 637C Women's Health Primary Care Clinical | 135 | Women's health in a primary care setting |
| FNP and PG-APRN, new curriculum | NRSG 638C Pediatric Primary Care Clinical | 135 | Primary care of children |
| FNP and PG-APRN, new curriculum | NRSG 639C Primary Care Across the Lifespan Clinical | 240 | A practice that sees patients of every age |
| FNP, current curriculum | NRSG 665A to NRSG 665F | 125 each once NRSG 665E and NRSG 665F rise from 120 | The population of the paired NRSG 667 to NRSG 672 course |
| MSN NEL, new curriculum | NRSG 604 Population Health | 30 direct clinical | Population and community health |
| MSN NEL, new curriculum | NRSG 620 Nursing Education and Leadership Practicum | 120 | A nurse educator or nurse leader |
Current-curriculum NEL students take NRSG 658 (30 hours) and NRSG 634 (120 hours) instead. The certificate's web page lists two practicums; its handbook schedule includes NRSG 620 alone, so ask your advisor which applies before you recruit a population-health preceptor.
Mapping the network you already have
Most working RNs know more potential preceptors than they realize. Write down every nurse practitioner, provider, nurse educator and nurse leader you have worked beside, studied under or met through a professional group, then mark which of them see the population your next course needs. Whether a given credential qualifies is set by your Canvas requirements course, as the preceptor requirements page explains.
Places to look first
- Clinicians at your current and past workplaces, including other departments and affiliated clinics
- Instructors and classmates from your earlier nursing programs
- Colleagues who finished an NP or MSN program and still keep in touch with their own preceptors
- Local chapters of nursing and nurse practitioner associations
- Nurse educators and managers at hospitals and schools near you, for NEL practicums
- Community and public health nurses, for a population-health practicum
Olivet's graduate pages do not address relatives as preceptors or precepting at your own employer, so clear both with the SON Clinical Coordinator before you count on them. What Olivet has said about employers is collected on the working where you work page.
Running the search: a method that holds up
A network search works best as a planned campaign rather than a string of favors. Keep it organized and treat every contact as a record you may need later.
- Read the rules firstOpen your Canvas requirements course and check your state against Olivet's approved list before you contact anyone.
- Build a short, fitted listRank contacts by how closely their patients or learners match the course, then by distance from home.
- Make a specific askGive the course number, the hour total and the 8-week window, and explain that Olivet approves every preceptor, so their credentials will be requested.
- Log each contactNote the date, the practice, how you reached out and the answer. FNP students may need this record if the search reaches 30 attempts.
- Follow up once, then move onA courteous second message is fair; silence after that is an answer, and your time is better spent on the next name.
- Get the yes in writingAsk the preceptor to confirm dates and hours by email so Olivet's approval and the site's onboarding can begin at once.
Timing your search around 8-week courses
Olivet's online graduate courses run in 8-week blocks, each course week opening Monday at 12:01 a.m. CST and closing Sunday at 11:59 p.m. CST, so a clinical course leaves little room for a late start. No lead time for securing a preceptor appears in Olivet's materials. What it does publish is a chain of steps that all follow a yes: approval, compliance, a drug screen with a 2 to 4 week clearance window before the practicum, and the site's own onboarding.
So the useful question is how long those later steps take where you live. A preceptor who agrees the week before a course opens leaves almost no room for any of them. Aim to have your confirmation well before the requirements course asks for approval paperwork.
NEL students have an extra reason to start early. Hours left unfinished at the end of the 8-week NRSG 620 earn an X grade and a second 8 weeks, and after 16 weeks the course must be retaken.
Where a network search tends to stall
A network search stalls for predictable reasons. A course with a narrow population, such as NRSG 638C or NRSG 637C, shrinks the pool to clinicians who see those patients every day. Practices near home may already be committed to other students. A contact across a state line may work somewhere Olivet does not permit FNP hours. And a clinician's yes still depends on the site agreeing to onboard you.
Each of these is a reason to widen the list early rather than wait. If you reach the end of your contacts with weeks still to go, the can't find a preceptor page lays out the next moves.
A preceptor's yes becomes a placement only after Olivet approves them and the site onboards you. Keep other leads warm until both are done.
Why Olivet students add our network to theirs
Olivet invites you to use your network, and adding ours is the fastest way to widen it. We build the fitted list for your exact course, adults and older adults for NRSG 636C, children for NRSG 638C, educators and leaders for NRSG 620, in your own community and inside a state Olivet approves. We make the calls, keep the contact log, and come back with preceptors who have said yes to your dates and hour total.
We also prepare what follows the yes: the credential and site details for approval, the site's onboarding steps, and your drug screen timing. Olivet reviews and approves each preceptor, and we see that the information it receives is complete and in line with its rules from the start. Share your track, city and course start date through the form below.
Questions Olivet students ask
Is there an Olivet preceptor directory I can pick from?
Olivet's public pages offer no roster or directory of preceptors or clinical sites. The FNP, PG-APRN and MSN NEL program pages point students to their own networks first. After that, FNP students can turn to the SON Clinical Coordinator once they reach 30 unsuccessful attempts, and the PG-APRN and NEL pages describe the coordinator's support without a number.
What should I send a potential preceptor in my first message?
Keep it short and specific: your name, that you are an Olivet graduate nursing student, the course number and title, the hour total, the 8-week dates and the city where you would attend. Add that Olivet approves every preceptor and that your compliance items will be complete before the first day. Offer a brief call to answer questions.
Can my preceptor be in a different state from where I live?
Olivet expects hours near home, and an FNP site must also sit in a state on Olivet's approved list. Living in an approved state does not open up a not-approved one, and Kansas carries added requirements handled through the FNPpracticum@olivet.edu mailbox. Check your plan against Olivet's licensure disclosures and ask before committing to an out-of-state site.
Do NEL students search the same way as FNP students?
The first step is the same: Olivet's MSN NEL page uses the same network-first sentence. The targets differ. NRSG 604 calls for population-health experience, and NRSG 620 for a nurse educator or nurse leader. The MSN NEL page speaks of substantial assistance from the Clinical Coordinator but sets no attempt count.
Can a classmate and I use the same preceptor?
Olivet does not publish how many students one graduate preceptor may take at a time, so the answer sits with your Canvas requirements course and course faculty. Even where two students are allowed, the site has to agree, and two schedules have to fit inside the same weeks. Ask before you both commit.
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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and start date is all we need to begin.