Olivet MSN FNP clinicals and preceptors
Olivet Nazarene University's online MSN Family Nurse Practitioner program runs 53 credits and 750 clinical hours, all done in your own area under preceptors you select and Olivet approves. We take that search off your plate for every FNP clinical, matched to the course and kept inside Olivet's approved states.
Plan your FNP clinicals
Tell us your clinical course and start date, and your placement advisor will map the search.
The Olivet MSN FNP at a glance
The MSN FNP is 100% online and 53 credit hours, with up to 9 credits accepted in transfer. Olivet's program page says online classes start three times a year and lists two dates, January 4, 2027 and April 26, 2027. Graduates are prepared for the national FNP certification exam from ANCC and/or AANPCB.
Program length is one place where Olivet's own sources differ. Its program page puts the length at 36 months; an Olivet news feature from 2025 describes students completing it in less than two years. Your pace depends on your plan of study, so ask the Online Advising Team which timeline fits you before you sketch out your clinical year.
| Item | What Olivet publishes |
|---|---|
| Delivery | 100% online; clinical hours in your local area |
| Credits | 53, with up to 9 accepted in transfer |
| Clinical hours | 750 across four clinical courses (new curriculum) |
| Admission items tied to clinicals | BSN, unencumbered US RN license, signed consent to background and drug screening |
| RN experience | 2,000 RN hours, finished by the end of NRSG 681 |
| Exams | Midterm and final may be requested at an Olivet testing location |
| Certification | ANCC and/or AANPCB FNP exam |
The RN-hours item has a firm edge. Anyone below the 2,000 mark when NRSG 681 ends goes on temporary withdrawal until the hours are in, so plan your work schedule with that course in mind.
Your first clinical comes after nine courses
In the new-curriculum sample schedule, the first clinical, NRSG 636C, follows nine courses: five core courses, running NRSG 601, then NRSG 603 and NRSG 602, then NRSG 604 and NRSG 681; the FNP role course, NRSG 635; and the 3P block, where pathophysiology (NRSG 643) and pharmacology (NRSG 644) can come in either sequence before health assessment (NRSG 645). Olivet posts only this single sample sequence rather than distinct full-time and part-time tracks, and it gives no length in weeks for the clinical courses.
From there, each clinical is paired with its didactic course, and the pairs move through the FNP patient populations one at a time. The table follows the new-curriculum handbook; each clinical has its own page with the details.
| Didactic course | Clinical course | Hours |
|---|---|---|
NRSG 636 Adult and Older Adult Primary Care | NRSG 636C | 240 |
NRSG 637 Women's Health Primary Care | NRSG 637C | 135 |
NRSG 638 Pediatric Primary Care | NRSG 638C | 135 |
NRSG 639 Primary Care Across the Lifespan | NRSG 639C | 240 |
NRSG 688 FNP Immersion | Last course in the sample schedule | Not stated |
One quirk worth raising with your advisor: the NEL sample schedule attaches 30 direct clinical hours to NRSG 604, but in the FNP sample schedule that course shows no hour figure at all. Ask whether any practicum hours attach to it in your plan before you assume they do not.
Continuing students follow a six-clinical version
Olivet runs two FNP curricula side by side. Continuing students work from the current-curriculum handbook, the version dated 8/31/26. Its clinical sequence has six parts, lettered A to F under NRSG 665, and their didactic partners are numbered NRSG 667 to NRSG 672. Two parts are growing: the E course gains 5 hours in October 2026 to reach 125, and the F course does the same in January 2027, which lifts that sequence to 750 as well. Immersion there is NRSG 685, and NRSG 686 Virtual Clinical is an elective.
The two handbooks also name different compliance systems: Verified Credentials QualifiedFirst in the new one and CastleBranch in the current one. Olivet does not state which curriculum a given start date falls under, so confirm yours with your advisor before you order anything. Our curriculum comparison sets both versions next to each other.
Who finds your FNP preceptor
Olivet puts the first move with you. Its FNP page asks students to begin by drawing on the people they already know, personally and at work, to line up a preceptor and a practicum site, and each clinical happens near home under an approved preceptor of your choosing. Olivet's pages show no preceptor list or site database for students.
School help on this track has a threshold. After 30 unsuccessful attempts, the SON Clinical Coordinator steps in with Olivet's own contacts, and the page cautions that a site found that way might not sit in the area the student hoped for. The 30-attempt rule page walks through what counts and how to document your tries.
Who qualifies to precept, the approval paperwork and its timing all live in the Student Clinical Requirements Course in Canvas, which only enrolled students can open. Read it early, because it is the rulebook your approval is measured against.
Four clinicals can mean four separate searches, since women's health and pediatric hours need a preceptor who actually sees those patients.
Approved states set the map
FNP practicum hours may be done only in a state on Olivet's approved list, which covers 37 states plus the District of Columbia. Thirteen states sit on the not-approved list because Olivet has yet to decide whether its FNP satisfies their rules, and the bar holds even when your home is in an approved state and the site is just across a border. Kansas is approved with added requirements, and Olivet points those students to the FNPpracticum mailbox.
Olivet also warns that certain states attach their own APRN licensure conditions, covering things like hour totals, who may precept and how hours are recorded. If a move is possible during the program, tell the Online Advising Team about any address change and check the new state's board rules before you commit to a site there. The full list is on our not-approved states page.
Clinical grades leave little room for a gap
FNP clinicals are graded Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, yet a pass still rests on numbers: at least 83% across graded work, and every logged hour judged satisfactory. Per the fee sheet, Project Concert is where FNP students record competencies and each clinical encounter, so your preceptor's clinic needs a steady flow of patients you can document.
Falling short is expensive in time. A failed population-focused course, didactic or clinical, is taken again in full while its partner course is audited, and that audit can mean redoing as much as half of the clinical hours. A clinical completed over two years before you finish the program can also be pulled in for audit, so a long stall between clinicals carries its own risk.
Every compliance item has to be in place before your first clinical day and stay current after it, and the drug screen result must come back clear two to four weeks ahead of the practicum. The compliance checklist lists every item.
Why Olivet FNP students choose us
We are specialists in Olivet's FNP process, so our work lines up with each step the School of Nursing asks of you, course by course.
- Map your four clinicalsEach course gets the preceptor it calls for: adult and older adult primary care, women's health, pediatrics and lifespan primary care, close to home and within a state Olivet approves.
- Screen for fitWe confirm the preceptor's patient mix, clinic hours and readiness to take an Olivet student for the full hour count before anything goes to Olivet.
- Build the approval packetCredentials, license and site details are gathered, along with whatever the site's onboarding needs, including MyClinicalExchange steps where a site uses it, so Olivet's reviewer opens a finished file on the first pass.
- Keep the compliance calendarDrug screen timing, annual TB and flu, in-person BLS and each site's extra items stay in view so nothing lapses mid-course.
- Stay on callIf a preceptor steps away partway through a course, your placement advisor has a replacement search running within the week.
The approval decision on each preceptor is Olivet's, and faculty judge your results. Our part is to put a strong, ready candidate in front of that approval for each clinical, well before the course opens. Share your course and start term in the form below and your placement advisor will take it from there.
Questions Olivet students ask
Can I start Olivet's FNP before I have 2,000 hours as an RN?
Olivet lists 2,000 RN hours among the admission items, and anyone admitted without them has until NRSG 681 closes to reach the total. Missing that point means a temporary withdrawal until the hours are complete. Because NRSG 681 comes before the FNP role and 3P courses, the hours need to be banked well before your first clinical is on the horizon.
Does Olivet hand FNP students a preceptor roster?
Olivet's public pages offer no roster of preceptors or clinical sites. The FNP page points students first to their own contacts, and the SON Clinical Coordinator gets involved for FNP students only after 30 failed attempts. A placement service lets you run that search with a dedicated team behind you from the start instead of working through attempts alone.
Is any part of Olivet's online FNP in person?
The coursework is online, but two pieces can bring you to Olivet. The FNP Immersion (NRSG 688 in the new curriculum, NRSG 685 in the current one) carries a lab fee on the fee sheet, which points to an in-person lab; its location and length are not posted. FNP students may also request to sit their midterm and final at an Olivet testing location by the end of Week 1.
How early should I search for an NRSG 636C preceptor?
Olivet posts no approval lead time on its public pages; that timing sits in the Student Clinical Requirements Course. What is public is the drug-screen window of two to four weeks pre-practicum, plus compliance that must be complete before day one and any site onboarding on top. Starting the search while you are in the 3P courses leaves room for all of it.
What board prep comes with Olivet's FNP program?
The new-curriculum handbook lists the Amplify platform from Fitzgerald Health as an FNP program resource, which comes with a 3P competency exam, and Amplify also appears on the fee sheet among extra FNP costs. Graduates then sit the national FNP certification exam from ANCC and/or AANPCB, depending on which credential they choose.
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.