Six starts a year, no campus visits: timing your preceptor to Maryville's calendar

100% online, clinicals where you live

That wording runs across the MSN, post-master's certificate and DNP pages, and each also carries the line “Complete clinicals locally in your preferred setting.” On the certificate page, Maryville adds that you'll never have to come to campus, though Maryville would like to see you walk at graduation.

The flip side is that everything clinical happens where you are. You find the preceptor and site near you, Maryville reviews and approves them, and the RN license you use must be unencumbered and valid where the patients are. Nothing about an online start changes those rules; it only changes where the search happens.

If your clinicals could cross a state line, or you live in New York or Louisiana, read the out-of-state clinicals page before you settle on a start. Maryville's June 2026 licensure grids treat some tracks differently in those two states.

The 2026 start dates

Maryville lists the same six starts, each with an application deadline, on its RN-to-BSN, MSN, DNP and post-master's certificate pages.

The six starts fall eight weeks apart. As of this page's update, only the Fall 2 start remains in 2026. For 2027 dates, check your program's page, since the table above covers only the 2026 list.

Not every program opens six times

The six-date table is the current program-page list, but some of Maryville's own pages describe fewer entry points. The 2023 “Why Maryville Nursing” webinar put it plainly: start terms vary “depending on the concentration.”

• FNP, AGPCNP and AGACNP: the concentration landing pages list six entry points each year (January, March, May, July, August, October).
• PMHNP and PNP: their landing pages say three entry points a year, in January, May and August.
• Post-master's DNP: starts are offered “in the spring, summer, or fall,” per the DNP page.
• BSN-to-DNP: “three entry points per year,” in spring, summer and fall.
• RN-to-BSN: fall, spring or summer, alongside the six-date table on the same page.

These pages may not all be current, and they disagree most for PMHNP and PNP. Before you plan a preceptor search around a date, confirm with your enrollment advisor which starts your concentration actually offers.

How long a term runs: what Maryville has said

No current Maryville program page states a term length. The only description we found is in the September 2023 “Why Maryville Nursing” webinar, which said students can start with eight-week sessions and that there are also times with 16-week sessions.

The same webinar tied the longer sessions to the later part of the program, describing 16-week courses “once you are moving into more of your clinical courses and your concentration courses.” If that still holds, a practicum spans two of the eight-week start windows in the table above, and your preceptor has to commit for that whole stretch.

Treat the 2023 description as a starting point, not a rule. Check the actual course dates in your plan of study or in Canvas before you give a preceptor a start and end date, because an agreed window that turns out too short is awkward to renegotiate.

Lining preceptors up to the calendar

Your start date sets things in motion, but plan backward from the term of your first clinical course.

1. Find your first clinical termUse your plan of study. For most NP students that is the NURS 612 clinical or the first practicum; the NURS 611, 612 and 615 page explains the order.
2. Count back three to four monthsExxat access opens roughly 3–4 months ahead of the first clinical semester, per Maryville.
3. Have a yes before access opensOne term ahead of your first clinical, Maryville sends out its preceptor qualifications, the site types that qualify and the set-up steps. With a preceptor already lined up, you can act on them straight away.
4. Leave room for four approvalsCompliance in Exxat, the site's own clearance, course faculty sign-off and the site and preceptor request must all be done before day one.
5. Repeat for each clinical courseRequests in Exxat are made course by course, through the course wishlist. A 2023 webinar said FNP and AGPCNP students may keep the same preceptor across terms.

The clinical timeline goes deeper on each of these steps.

Calendar details that aren't public

Several dates you would want are not on Maryville's public pages. Maryville says its online resource center gets a refresh every semester, including timelines for the required paperwork, so start in the login-only Clinical Resource Center and take anything missing to the Maryville Online Clinical Team.

• Request deadlines. Maryville does not publish the dates by which site and preceptor requests must be in. Older guides refer to a priority request deadline but leave the date out.
• Current term lengths. Only the 2023 webinar describes them.
• Which starts each concentration offers. Program pages and concentration pages disagree for PMHNP and PNP.
• When clinical information reaches you. The welcome page puts it in the term ahead of your first clinical, with no exact dates.

Why students starting online choose us

Six starts a year means six different clocks, and we build your search around yours. Tell us the term your first clinical falls in and a placement advisor works backward from it, looking near you for a preceptor and site that suit your track's practicum while you are still in your core courses. The goal is a committed name before Exxat access opens, not a scramble after it.

We know Maryville's calendar and paperwork well, so the preceptor's CV, license and certification lookups and the site details your request asks for reach you assembled ahead of the request window. If a preceptor steps back mid-term, your advisor is on call to find a replacement. Maryville gives each placement its final approval, and what we hand you is ready for that review. Close to a deadline already? The need a preceptor fast page sets out options by weeks left, or use the form below.