Can't find a UC preceptor? Why the search stalls and what to do this week

Why UC preceptor searches stall

Sort the refusals you've collected first. Most fit a handful of patterns, each with its own fix.

• The clinician doesn't qualify. UC's baseline is a graduate degree at master's level or above, board certification, twelve months or more practicing in the role, and a clean license in the state where you'd train. An eager NP in their first year of practice still fails the file.
• Your track narrows the pool. AGPCNP students can't train at their employer and need outpatient settings. FNP students need at least three preceptors across women's, pediatric and adult primary care. PMHNP students start with a licensed therapist, not a prescriber.
• The site can't sign in time. Six weeks is the floor for UC's standard Educational Affiliation Agreement, and a site that wants its own contract negotiated can stretch that past six months.
• The request went to the wrong door. Some systems, such as Cleveland Clinic, Norton and Stanford Health Care, have to be cleared with your CSC before you ask anyone there; UC lists eight.
• The ask was vague. Busy offices decline an open-ended request faster than one naming the weekly hours, dates and paperwork.

Rebuild the list around your track's rules

Strike every name that can't pass UC's review; a clinician who fails the file burns the weeks you have least of. Our UC preceptor requirements page has the full rules, and these most often decide a search.

On NP tracks, 20% or more of your hours go to a certified nurse practitioner who shares your population focus, and a physician assistant counts only in states on UC's list.

A plan for this week

1. Write down the dates that matterYour term's packet deadline (fall: May's last Friday; spring: October's first Friday; summer: February's first Friday), the term's first day and the end of its second week. Plan everything backward from the first of those.
2. Sort the refusalsLabel each past contact as unqualified, unable to sign, wrong door or simply busy. Only the busy ones deserve a second ask.
3. Widen the mapAdd FQHCs, health department clinics, private practices and specialty offices that fit your track, including ones a drive away. Near Cincinnati, that can mean Northern Kentucky or southeast Indiana, as long as your RN license is valid there.
4. Use UC's own scriptsThe Clinical Planning page offers email and phone outreach scripts and networking tips. Open with the weekly hours, the term dates and whether the site will sign UC's standard agreement. Our outreach guide covers what to send.
5. Send your CSC a status noteList who you've contacted, who declined and why, and the date you're working to. A coordinator who hears early can look at options while there's still time to use them.

What your Clinical Site Coordinator can do

When networking hasn't worked, UC's Clinical Planning page says you work with your CSC on other options. Expect some of them to be beyond your preferred area and to need travel, possibly to partner sites around Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Ask, too, about past UC preceptors and alumni near you; your coordinator is able to share those contacts for your state.

UC's 2026–27 Student Handbook is plain about the terms. Placements are limited and not promised in your preferred area, and they aren't based on employment, housing or family obligations. Every placement conversation runs through your assigned coordinator. Our page on UC placement help walks through these options one by one.

If this term can't be saved

UC's clinical requirements draw a firm line: the site has to be locked in before the term's second week ends. Without one, UC expects you to leave the course before the drop date passes, which carries a 100% refund. Hanging on without a site invites administrative withdrawal or a failing grade.

Stepping back a term doesn't end your program, but it ripples into your plan of study and the next packet deadline, which may fall within weeks. Talk to your Student Success Coordinator before the drop date, restart the search for the following term at once, and read what a delayed clinical costs before you decide. The cutoff itself is covered on our week-2 deadline page.

Why students hand us a stalled search

A stalled search is the job we're built for. We take it over, looking for a preceptor and site near you that fit your track, and screen each candidate against UC's rules before a name reaches you. We work to your packet Friday, raise the agreement on the first call, and gather what your CSC reviews, from the Preceptor Application details to the agreement contact.

If a preceptor later pulls out, we're on call to start again. Your CSC gives the final approval; we make sure the file they see is complete. Tell us where your search stands.