Olivet preceptor approval: getting your chosen preceptor approved the first time
At Olivet Nazarene University, you choose your preceptor and Olivet approves them. The approval form, how it is submitted and how long it takes are kept in your Canvas requirements course rather than on Olivet's public pages. What you control is how complete your submission is when it arrives.
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 approved, self-selected means
Olivet's graduate program pages pair two words whenever they describe a preceptor: approved and self-selected. Selection is yours and approval is Olivet's. Because the FNP, PG-APRN and NEL pages describe clinical hours as done with an approved preceptor, approval is the gate between a preceptor's yes and your first counted hour. For MSN NEL and Post-Bachelor's NEL students, the same pairing covers both practicums.
Approval is also only one of several gates. Your compliance record, your drug screen and the site's onboarding each have their own rules and timing, and all of them have to be finished before the first clinical day. The placement process page shows where approval sits in the full sequence, and the preceptor requirements page covers who qualifies in the first place.
What Olivet publishes about approval, and what it keeps in Canvas
The public record on graduate preceptor approval is short. Most of the working detail lives in the Student Clinical or Practicum Requirements Course for your track.
| Detail | Published? | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Who selects the preceptor | Yes: the student | Program pages |
| Who approves | Yes: Olivet | Program pages |
| Name and fields of the approval form | No | Canvas requirements course |
| How the form is submitted | No | Canvas requirements course |
| How long approval takes | No | SON Clinical Coordinator or course faculty |
| Submission deadlines | No | Canvas requirements course |
| Site affiliation agreement for graduate clinicals | Not described | SON Clinical Coordinator; the fee sheet lists DocuSign for signed documents |
Because timing is not published, build your own margin. Submit as soon as the preceptor confirms, then ask in writing when you can expect a decision.
Olivet does not publish how long preceptor approval takes. Leave room in your plan instead of assuming a quick turnaround.
What to prepare before you submit
The form's exact fields are in Canvas, but the facts behind any preceptor approval can be gathered now. Have these ready so the paperwork takes one sitting and nothing has to go back and forth:
- The preceptor's name as licensed, credential, specialty and practice setting
- License type, number, issuing state and expiration, checked on the state board's lookup
- Board certification, if the preceptor holds one
- The site's legal name and street address, in a state Olivet accepts for your hours
- The course code and name, total hours and the dates you plan to attend
- A site contact for onboarding, and whether the site uses MyClinicalExchange or asks for malpractice insurance
- The preceptor's written confirmation of your dates and hours
Where a signature is involved, collect an original. In the one Olivet approval process that is public, the legacy RN-BSN one, stamped and typed signatures were not accepted, and there is no reason to test whether the graduate side is more relaxed.
The one approval process Olivet spells out: the legacy RN-BSN
The RN-BSN handbook written for students whose core courses started before August 2026 is the only Olivet document that walks through a preceptor approval step by step. It is not the graduate process, but it shows the pattern Olivet has used.
- Forms from CanvasStudents pulled the Preceptor Information Form from the course Files, adding the Agency Affiliation Agreement only if the site needed one.
- Signed by handA stamp or a typed name did not count as a signature.
- Email before the courseEverything was emailed to bsnpracticum@olivet.edu ahead of the first day of
NRSG 326. - Wait for the approval emailNo hours until the course was open and the preceptor's approval email had arrived.
Graduate students should not assume the same form or mailbox applies to them; confirm the graduate route in your requirements course. Those legacy courses get fuller treatment on the RN-BSN practicums page.
After approval: the checks that still stand
Approval clears the preceptor, not you. Your compliance items must be complete before the first clinical day, and your drug screen has to clear no later than two weeks and no earlier than four weeks before your practicum; the clinical compliance page lists every item. The site then runs its own onboarding, which may include an orientation or badge pickup to schedule before your course week begins, and some sites run it through MyClinicalExchange and charge for parking, a badge or individual malpractice insurance.
Once hours begin, the roles settle into their published shape. Faculty can invite your preceptor's comments while the evaluation of your outcomes stays with them, and Project Concert holds the record of your hours and competencies. Keep your approval confirmation with your course records in case a question comes up later in the term.
When approval stalls or your preceptor changes
If you have heard nothing, follow up in writing with what you submitted and when, and ask whether anything is missing. A missing detail is the easiest cause to rule out, so compare your submission with the list above first. Questions about timing go to the SON Clinical Coordinator or your course faculty.
A new preceptor needs an approval of their own. If a preceptor withdraws mid-course, the replacement goes through the same process while your course clock keeps running, which is why a ready second option is worth having. For NEL students in NRSG 620, unfinished hours at 8 weeks mean an X grade and 8 more weeks, so a slow replacement costs real time. The preceptor dropped out page covers that week step by step.
Why Olivet students send us the approval legwork
Approval goes smoothly when the submission is complete, accurate and in line with Olivet's rules, and that is the part we are built for. For every preceptor we place, we collect the license and credential details, check them against the state board, record a site address inside an approved state, and match the practice to your course. You receive a ready set of details to enter into whatever the requirements course asks for.
If a follow-up question comes back, we get the answer from the preceptor or the site quickly, and when a preceptor leaves before the course ends, the next one is found and readied for the same review. The decision is always Olivet's. Our part is a submission with no gaps, shaped to Olivet's rules before it is sent. Start with the form below.
Questions Olivet students ask
Who at Olivet approves my preceptor?
Olivet's program pages assign approval to Olivet without naming the office or committee that signs off. Your Canvas requirements course lays out the route. If it is unclear who reviews submissions for your track, ask the SON Clinical Coordinator or your course faculty.
Can I start clinical hours while approval is pending?
Plan to wait for written approval. Olivet's graduate pages link every hour to an approved preceptor, and compliance has to be finished before the first clinical day. The legacy RN-BSN handbook is explicit that hours cannot start until the approval email arrives, so treat the graduate route the same way.
Do I need a new approval for every clinical course?
Olivet's public pages do not say whether one approval covers several courses. FNP clinicals each focus on a different population, so a preceptor who fits NRSG 636C may not fit NRSG 638C. Check your requirements course, and if you plan to keep the same preceptor across courses, confirm how that is handled before the next course opens.
Does my preceptor have to sign anything for Olivet?
The graduate approval form is not public, so check your requirements course for signature steps. For reference, the legacy RN-BSN process required original signatures on the Preceptor Information Form, and Olivet's fee sheet includes DocuSign for documents signed electronically. Tell your preceptor early that a signature may be needed so it does not hold up the file.
What if Olivet does not approve my preceptor?
Olivet does not publish the grounds for declining a preceptor or a route for contesting a decision. Ask what was missing or what did not fit, since a gap in the paperwork may be fixable. Keep at least one other lead active while any approval is pending, so a decline does not leave you starting from zero.
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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Track, city and start date is all we need to begin.