Behind on clinical hours at midterm in a Clarkson course

Updated September 27, 2026, reviewed by the Clarkson Preceptor placement team

Clarkson College's 2021-22 graduate handbook wanted clinical hours paced evenly across the term, and a student needed half or more completed at midterm to pass that checkpoint. If your count is short, tell course faculty this week, add approved hours with your current preceptor or a second one, and learn the incomplete and drop rules before the last weeks arrive.

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Numbered steps. What to do this week: 1 Tell course faculty first; 2 Ask your preceptor for more time; 3 Add a second preceptor; 4 Use observation hours where allowed; 5 PMHNP students: consider telehealth. — What to do this week: 1 Tell course faculty first; 2 Ask your preceptor for more time; 3 Add a second preceptor; 4 Use observation hours where allowed; 5 PMHNP students: consider telehealth.

Where the midterm line sits for your course

Half the hours is simple math, but the target moves a lot between Clarkson's courses and plans. The halfway and weekly figures below are our arithmetic from the 2026-27 catalog hours, not numbers Clarkson publishes.

Halfway points and weekly pace by course hours
Course hours	Where you meet it	Half by midterm	Per week, 15 weeks	Per week, 12-week summer
100	NRS 830 (MSN and certificate)	50	About 6.7	About 8.3
125	NRS 830 (BSN to DNP)	About 63	About 8.3	About 10.4
150	NRS 832, NRS 856, NRS 861; the NRS 894 and NRS 898 practicums	75	10	12.5
160	NRS 840, NRS 842, NRS 857, NRS 858, NRS 862, NRS 863	80	About 10.7	About 13.3
180	NRS 844, NRS 859, NRS 864	90	12	15
200	BSN to DNP NRS 832, 840, 842, 856 to 858 and 861 to 863	100	About 13.3	About 16.7
250	BSN to DNP NRS 844, NRS 859, NRS 864	125	About 16.7	About 20.8

Your syllabus sets the actual midterm date. As a rough guide, the middle of a 15-week term falls near the switch between Clarkson's two 7.5-week sessions: fall 2026's second session begins Oct. 19, and spring 2027's first session ends Feb. 26. The pacing guide turns these numbers into a full-term schedule.

How students end up short

A late approval. Hours before final approval of the agreement and faculty sign-off are not counted, so paperwork finished in week three costs you three weeks.
A shrinking schedule. The preceptor takes leave, cuts clinic days or changes jobs partway through.
Hours done but not credited. Clarkson's sheets required hours to be logged in Typhon to earn credit, and a preceptor could be added to Typhon only once the DocuSign paperwork was complete.
The wrong mix. Enough hours overall but short of a required population, such as the pediatric hours in NRS 840 or the PMHNP age-group minimums.
A late start in NRS 830. Hours in that course begin only after the Graduate Weekend skills check-off.

What to do this week

Tell course faculty firstBring an honest count of approved hours, the weeks left and a plan. Faculty decide what counts, and the 2021-22 handbook made them the first call when a preceptor fell through.
Ask your preceptor for more timeAn extra half-day a week for the rest of the term often closes a modest gap with no new paperwork.
Add a second preceptorUp to two preceptors per course need no special sign-off under Clarkson's sheets; a third takes written approval from faculty. The newcomer needs a new agreement and approval before any hours with them count.
Use observation hours where allowedThey need faculty approval beforehand, you only watch, and they still go into Typhon. The FNP and AGACNP sheets set the ceiling at 10 a course once NRS 830 is behind you.
PMHNP students: consider telehealthThe PMHNP sheet allowed up to 300 telehealth hours in the psychiatric clinicals, with you present with the provider.

A second preceptor adds nothing until their agreement is fully approved, so start that paperwork the day you decide to add one.

When the hours cannot fit the term

If the gap is too wide for the weeks left, two formal routes remain. Under Policy AA-10, a passing student can be given an "I" if course faculty and the program director agree to it, and the 2021-22 handbook named unfinished clinical hours as a reason to use one. The remaining work then has a deadline set by faculty; miss it and the grade turns into an F.

The other route is a drop. The 2021-22 handbook put that decision on the student once the hours could not be finished in time, after a conversation with course faculty and the Graduate Nursing advisor. Because Clarkson schedules NP clinicals singly and in sequence, either route can push the next course back; the delayed graduation page explains the knock-on effect, and progression rules cover grades and repeats.

Catches that depend on your track

FNP students can be on pace overall and still short where it counts. NRS 840 requires 110 or more hours with a pediatric primary care provider and NRS 842 120 or more with a women's health provider, while the FNP sheet let NRS 844 include 56 specialty hours, NRS 840 50 and NRS 842 just 40. Catching up with a specialist can run into those caps.

AGACNP students face similar specialty caps (NRS 864 allows 56, NRS 862 50, and NRS 861 and NRS 863 40 each), and any added NP preceptor must hold acute care certification. PMHNP students need a psychiatrist or PMHNP for any added hours and should keep the age-group minimums in view while they catch up.

How we get you back on pace

When hours slip, time is the scarce resource, and we work that way. We find a second preceptor who meets Clarkson's rules for your course, licensed in your state with at least two years in practice and the population you still need, and hand you the details the DocuSign agreement asks for, so approval can move as quickly as Clarkson's offices allow.

We also build the rest-of-term plan with you: hours per week, which preceptor covers which days, and where any required population will come from. If your preceptor has left altogether, start with preceptor dropped out. Tell us your course and hours logged in the form below.

Questions Clarkson students ask

What happens if I have less than half my hours at midterm?

Under the 2021-22 handbook, a student short of half the hours at midterm did not pass that checkpoint. Course faculty decide what follows, which is why the first step is telling them early, with a plan. A current handbook may word the rule differently, so check the midterm expectation in your syllabus.

Can I add a second preceptor partway through a course?

Yes. A second preceptor fits within Clarkson's limit, which called for written faculty approval only once a course went past two. The second preceptor needs a new Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement Form, and hours with them count only once that paperwork is approved and faculty have signed off.

My hours are done but missing from Typhon. Do they count?

Clarkson's 2023 sheets required clinical hours to be documented in Typhon for credit, and a preceptor could not be added there until the DocuSign paperwork was finished. If your paperwork is complete and hours still are not showing, raise it with course faculty and your Graduate Nursing advisor, whom the 2021-22 handbook listed among those overseeing Typhon.

Can I make up clinical hours over spring break?

Spring break on the 2026-27 calendar runs Mar. 1-5, 2027; classes stop but the college stays open. Nothing Clarkson publishes says whether clinical hours pause that week, so check with course faculty and your preceptor before planning around it.

Will being behind in one course affect the next one?

It can. Clarkson runs NP clinical courses one at a time, each the prerequisite for the next, so a course that ends in an incomplete or a drop holds the following one back. Tell your advisor early, and give your next preceptor a heads-up if their start date may move.

PacingPacing clinical hoursHow to pace Clarkson College clinical hours: one clinical course per term, half the hours by midterm, and weekly targets for 15-week and 12-week terms.Placement helpPreceptor dropped outClarkson College preceptor quit mid-course? The 2021-22 handbook rule, the unavoidable-change exception, what happens to your hours, and when dropping applies.Placement helpDelayed graduationHow a missing preceptor pushes back a Clarkson College graduation: one clinical course at a time, what a lost term does to your dates, and the seven-year limit.TyphonTyphon clinical logsHow Clarkson College NP students log hours in Typhon: observation and specialty hours, required experiences, and the preceptor records DocuSign creates.PolicyProgression rulesClarkson College progression rules for nursing students: B- and C- minimums, one repeat, dismissal triggers, incompletes for clinical hours, leaves, seven years.Placement helpNeed a preceptor fastA Clarkson College agreement date or semester start is close and you have no preceptor. What Clarkson's rules allow, what to do today, and how we move quickly.

Last checked 2026-09-27

We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.

Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.

Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.

Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements

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