Ohio University's semester calendar for nursing clinicals

Three semesters, and a 14-or-15-week question

Ohio University's academic year opens with fall, then runs through spring and summer. For graduate nursing, summer is a full semester rather than a short session: in 2027 it runs from May 10 to August 14. The nursing program pages describe "15-week courses in the spring, summer and fall semesters."

Other Ohio University pages count 14 weeks. The Graduate Catalog's drop rule refers to "the 14-week semester," and the DNP sample schedule makes the close of a 14-week term the cutoff for practicum hours. The gap shows up in a practicum: 250 hours is about 16.7 a week over 15 weeks and about 17.9 over 14. Treat the posted start and end dates as fixed, and take your hour deadline from your syllabus.

One clinical course per semester

Once clinicals start, FNP and PMHNP students carry a single clinical course each term. The track FAQs say students "typically take one Pre-requisite class per semester. Once they begin clinical courses they will take one clinical course per semester." The general MSN FAQ describes a heavier load, "two 15-week courses each semester for 5-9 total credits," so your own program of study is the document to follow.

Two features hold that rhythm in place. The practicums chain together: NRSE 6842 cannot start until NRSE 6841 is done, and NRSE 6841 waits on NRSE 6840, with the PMHNP and AG-ACNP courses linked the same way. And each practicum is a 6-credit, 250-hour course, which the MSN FAQ pairs with roughly 18-20 study hours a week and 2-3 days on site.

Registration is handled by your School of Nursing academic advisor, working from your program of study. The piece you control is the preceptor, and the calendar shows exactly when each one is needed.

Reading the table for your own sequence

Lay your track over the table and the unbroken paths show up. FNP students can run NRSE 6840, NRSE 6841 and NRSE 6842 as fall, spring, summer, or as spring, summer, fall. AG-ACNP students have a single path, fall to spring to summer, and the Emergency NP courses keep the same order. On the DNP side, NRSE 8920 in spring followed by NRSE 8921 in summer matches the school's sample schedule.

PMHNP is the track to read closely. Starting NRSE 6846 in spring gives spring, summer, fall with no gap. Starting it in fall puts NRSE 6847 in spring, but NRSE 6848 is not listed for summer, so the third practicum would fall the next fall unless your program of study fills that term another way. These are readings of a tentative table rather than stated rules; check them with your advisor.

In practice you need a preceptor for three terms in close succession, and the packet for the next practicum falls due while the current one is still running. If one preceptor's practice suits more than one course, ask about consecutive terms at the outset.

How we plan preceptors around your calendar

We start from your program of study and this table. Your placement advisor maps which practicum falls in which term, notes the clinical packet deadline and any hospital window attached to each, and opens every search early enough to beat the first of those dates.

Once-a-year practicums get the earliest start, because a missed term can cost a full year. For two-term courses we still aim to have a preceptor confirmed well before the packet date, with weekly clinical days, OCI dates and holidays agreed at the outset. Faculty at Ohio University approve every preceptor and site, and we hand them the credentials, license and site details they check, complete. Send your track and next practicum term through the form below.