Doing your UC clinicals in Texas

Which UC programs can train in Texas

UC's state-authorization data puts no program-level bar on Texas, and Washington's DNP carve-out doesn't reach it, so for a Texas student the only question is whether your track carries a residency rule.

A Dallas nurse drawn to UC's acute-care NP would need a tri-state address. State authorization has the full list.

Precepting under Texas delegation rules

AANP classes Texas as restricted. A Texas NP works under physician delegation and supervision, keeps written protocols with a physician for an entire career, and prescribes Schedule II drugs only within setting limits. That doesn't bar an NP from precepting you, but a physician sits behind every NP practice there, so put your request to the whole practice early.

UC's own test travels with you: a graduate degree, national certification, at least a year practicing in the role, and a Texas license without encumbrance. On an NP track, one hour in five or more has to be spent with a certified NP from your population focus.

Physician assistants have a door open in Texas that most states don't, since UC's Clinical Planning page puts Texas on its short PA list. Each PA gets an individual review and only a limited slice of your hours, and nurse-midwifery students may log no more than 20 PA hours, in ANW8006 alone, with the program director's approval. Plan PA time as a supplement; see PA preceptors at UC.

The Texas Board, and UC's own background check

The Texas Board of Nursing wants out-of-state schools approved before they run clinical learning in Texas, but its rules and Education Guideline 3.1.3 point that process at pre-licensure programs such as ADN, BSN and entry-level master's degrees. As far as our research shows, programs for students who already hold an RN license, which covers everyone UC places, fall outside it.

UC adds a layer the Board doesn't. The 2026-27 Student Handbook adds Texas to its short list for a supplemental state background check, separate from the standard check in your Critical Requirements, and counts extra checks and fingerprinting as student costs. Follow UC's instructions; background checks and drug screens explains UC's side.

Where Texas NP students search

Four Texas metros top two million residents in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimates, led by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (close to 8.5 million) and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands (around 7.9 million). Houston Methodist, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Baylor Scott & White Health, San Antonio's University Health and Texas Health Resources are among the big employers: a map of where Texas clinicians work, not sites with UC arrangements. UC counts no hours at a site without an Educational Affiliation Agreement.

Texas's preceptor benefit, a tuition exemption under Texas Education Code 54.356, is limited to RNs precepting undergraduate pre-licensure students of public Texas colleges, so it skips anyone teaching you. UC doesn't pay preceptors either; precepting UC students covers what it offers them.

License, and where we fit

NCSBN dates Texas's implementation of the current Nurse Licensure Compact to January 19, 2018. Either a Texas license or a compact license issued by your home compact state meets UC's rule for the state where you train; for telehealth, UC looks at the patient's state. The APRN Compact isn't in force there. More on RN license for clinicals.

Our Texas search targets NPs and physicians suited to your UC track, checks each against UC's preceptor rules, and helps you assemble the Preceptor Application and the site's agreement contact for your CSC. UC approves every preceptor and site. Read how it works, then use the form.