UC's BSN-to-DNP: specialty clinicals first, then 500 DNP practicum hours

How UC's BSN-to-DNP is laid out

UC offers the BSN-to-DNP in nine tracks. Five lead to nurse practitioner certification: FNP, AGPCNP, AGACNP, PNP-AC and PMHNP. The others are Nurse Anesthesia, Occupational Health Nursing, Public Health Nursing and Systems Leadership. This page covers the five NP tracks; Systems Leadership has its own page.

The plans run three years over nine semesters, and part-time study is possible. FNP, AGPCNP, PNP-AC and PMHNP are online apart from in-person clinicals and, from Spring 2027, the three-day on-campus immersion in NURS8020C. AGACNP keeps all but one course online but brings you to campus once a week for health assessment in one semester and for hands-on labs in two more. Credits run from 75 to 80, depending on the track.

UC looks for an unrestricted RN license, a year of US RN experience, a science GPA of 3.0 and statistics taken within five years, and it recommends a BSN GPA of 3.25. For Fall 2027, applications open November 1, 2026 and close June 1, 2027, and classes start August 23, 2027.

Two kinds of practicum hours

A BSN-to-DNP student carries two separate blocks of practicum work. The specialty clinicals need NP-track preceptors, approved sites, Preceptor Applications and affiliation agreements. The DNP practicums, by contrast, center on a scholarly project that UC faculty oversee. UC doesn't publish a combined total, so describe each block on its own when you talk to a preceptor.

The PMHNP numbers above come from UC's clinical requirement document; the DNP major map shows ANPS8020, ANPS8022 and ANPS8024 in their place, so confirm which you register for. Adding UC's figures gives 1,172 hours for FNP, 1,116 for PNP-AC and 1,004 for the other three tracks, but those sums are our arithmetic, not a UC total.

Specialty clinicals follow the MSN rules

The specialty practicums fall in semesters 6 to 8 and run under the same requirement documents as the MSN or certificate; the FNP, AGPC and AGAC documents each cover MSN and DNP students together. Each NP track requires a fifth or more of the hours with a certified NP in the same population, and every preceptor needs a master's or higher, certification, a year in the role and a license in the state you train in.

The tracks differ in the details. FNP needs three or more preceptors and outpatient hours spread across women's health, pediatrics and adults. AGPCNP keeps you outpatient and away from your employer. AGACNP runs in acute-care units with at least 80 hours per preceptor and no single preceptor for all three terms. PNP-AC begins with primary care before moving into a pediatric hospital, and PMHNP starts with a psychotherapy preceptor before prescribers take over.

Hours by course and track are collected on the clinical hours page, and the rules on training where you work are on the employer site page.

The 500 DNP practicum hours

All five tracks finish with NDNP9025 Strategy Development, NDNP9035 Implementation and NDNP9038 Analysis and Dissemination Planning. UC's DNP Project page puts the three at 500 hours in total. The older 2019 DNP handbook gave each course 168 immersion hours (504 overall, 12 a week), but the current figure is 500, with no published split by course.

These are project courses, not NP clinicals. You pick a topic with faculty advisors and defend the proposal in the first practicum, implement and disseminate the work in the second, and hold the final defense in the third, meeting your project team at least twice in each. Your project team pairs a UC chair with at least one more member of UC's doctoral faculty, and the work closes with a public defense and a manuscript sent to a peer-reviewed journal.

UC's DNP FAQ says a student's workplace is often a good setting for the project. What UC leaves unsaid is whether the project practicums call for a site preceptor or an affiliation agreement like the specialty courses do, so raise it with your chair early. The DNP project page goes further.

State and residency limits for DNP students

DNP programs carry one more closed state than UC's MSNs. Clinicals can't take place in Arizona, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island or Tennessee, and UC isn't authorized for DNP programs in Washington, even though its MSN and certificate students can train there. U.S. territories are closed to every program. The state authorization page has the details.

The AGACNP DNP admits only Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana residents; the AGACNP page covers its local preceptor promise. Students admitted from Kansas take NURS8098, a variable-credit clinical elective that closes the gap between UC's hours and what Kansas's nursing board expects. You need an RN license that is valid where you train, and Ohio clinicals add a fingerprint-based background check.

Using three years of lead time

About five semesters pass before the first specialty practicum. That time only helps if you use it, and UC encourages students to start networking in their first semester.

1. Early semesters: map the regionList practices and units that fit your track, and note which systems UC wants your CSC to approach first.
2. Before the first practicum term: file the packetCount back from the deadline for that term: May's last Friday for fall, October's first Friday for spring, February's first Friday for summer.
3. Line up the next two termsFNP and PMHNP need three or more preceptors, and AGACNP can't keep one preceptor for all three terms, so plan past the first course.
4. Keep the DNP project separateIf the project will sit at your workplace, raise it with your chair early and treat it apart from your clinical site.
5. Clear week 2 every termEvery specialty course has the same cutoff: a site secured by the end of week 2, or a withdrawal by the drop date to recover tuition in full.

Where we fit: we look for specialty preceptors and sites near you for each practicum on your plan, and help you put together what your CSC reviews. Each approval is UC's decision rather than ours, so we make no promise about approval or timing.