Clarkson College BSN to DNP: five clinicals at doctoral hours, then the project
Clarkson College's BSN to DNP takes a BSN-prepared RN to a doctorate as a Family, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care or Psychiatric-Mental Health nurse practitioner. It runs 71 credits (73 for PMHNP), puts 975 clinical hours into the same five NRS courses the MSN uses, and adds DNP hours and a scholarly project guided by a mentor you recruit. Each preceptor, and the mentor, begins with your own search.
Plan your DNP clinicals
Tell us your track and your next clinical course.
How the credits add up
Thirty-two credits form the doctoral core: two graduate courses, GRD 798 and GRD 847, eleven DNP courses running from DNP 915 up to the project sequence ending in DNP 962, and the zero-credit IPE 301. Two nursing courses shared with the MSN, NRS 805 and NRS 807, contribute five more. The NP specialty adds 30 credits for FNP and AGACNP or 32 for PMHNP, and two electives add four.
That arithmetic gives 71, 71 and 73, which is what the website and the Fall 2025 degree plans say. The 2026-27 catalog table prints lower totals because it leaves the electives out, and its elective line reads "Electives: Choose from" with nothing after it. The Fall 2025 plan names the choices: DNP 901, DNP 924, DNP 926, DNP 927, DNP 928, DNP 933, DNP 934, DNP 963 and DNP 964.
Entry requirements track the MSN's closely. Policy AD-1 wants your bachelor's degree from a nursing program holding ACEN, CCNE or NLN CNEA accreditation, an undergraduate GPA of 3.0, two references, and RN licensure valid in whatever state will host your clinicals.
The same five clinicals, with more hours in each
BSN to DNP students take the clinical courses of their track in the same order as MSN students, but every course page carries a second, larger figure marked "DNP-effective Spring 2024." The totals match Policy AA-55: 750 clock hours for the MSN and 975 for the BSN to DNP.
| Position | FNP | AGACNP | PMHNP | DNP hours | MSN hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | NRS 830 | NRS 830 | NRS 830 | 125 | 100 |
| Second | NRS 832 | NRS 861 | NRS 856 | 200 | 150 |
| Third | NRS 840 | NRS 862 | NRS 857 | 200 | 160 |
| Fourth | NRS 842 | NRS 863 | NRS 858 | 200 | 160 |
| Fifth | NRS 844 | NRS 864 | NRS 859 | 250 | 180 |
| Total | 975 | 750 |
The larger figures change what you ask of a preceptor. A 250-hour final course works out to about 17 hours a week across a 15-week semester, and about 21 in the 12-week summer (our arithmetic). The pacing guide shows every course at both term lengths.
DNP hours on top of the clinicals
Clarkson requires every DNP student to finish at least 1,100 professional practice hours. A Spring 2024 addendum to Clarkson's DNP guide divided that total for anyone whose BSN to DNP began that term or later: 975 in the NP courses, 125 as DNP hours. The earlier cohorts had divided it 750 and 350. For you, the shift puts the weight on the clinical courses: 225 more preceptor hours than an MSN student logs, and a smaller block of DNP hours afterward.
The current catalog's credit-hour policy has not caught up and still prints the 350 figure, which describes the older split. Either way the sum is 1,100, and your faculty chair can confirm which version your cohort follows. The DNP hours guide covers the counting, the logging and the history in full.
The scholarly project and the mentor you recruit
Your scholarly project is carried out at a practice site across the three two-credit project courses at the end of the core, and it closes with a presentation to both the site and Clarkson. Clarkson's 2023-24 DNP guide staffs each project with the student, a Clarkson faculty chair and an outside expert who serves as mentor. Recruiting that expert falls to you: "It is your responsibility to identify, contact and secure" the mentor, in the guide's words.
Start the hunt early. The guide points you toward candidates while you are in DNP 948, because formal approval happens as DNP 960 opens, on a form the whole team signs. Look for someone with graduate training or expertise that matches your question; a doctoral degree is welcome but optional. If you get stuck, the program director can suggest names and may help set up an agreement with the site. The DNP hours guide covers the mentor's part in your hours.
A known error in the AGACNP course list
Acute care applicants should read the course list with a skeptical eye. Under the AGACNP heading, both the current catalog page for the BSN to DNP and Clarkson's program web page print the family practice sequence, from NRS 832 to NRS 844, plus the FNP transition course NRS 852. The Fall 2025 AGACNP degree plan (an archived copy from November 2025) shows what the track actually uses: NRS 861 to NRS 864, with NRS 854 alongside the last one.
The acute care courses are the ones that make sense for the track, and the acute care preceptor rules apply to them. Still, the printed list is wrong in two places, so ask your advisor for your personal degree plan before you start searching for preceptors, and search for the settings that plan names.
Search for AGACNP preceptors against your advisor's degree plan, not the catalog's printed course list.
Length, pace and the campus visit
Full-time students should expect 10 to 11 semesters (a different line on the same page promises ten); part-time students, 18 or more. All of it must fit inside Clarkson's seven-year completion limit, and a one-semester leave of absence counts against those seven years. The clinicals go one per term, beginning with NRS 830, whose on-campus weekend in Omaha is the only trip the degree requires; the Graduate Weekend page lists the dates.
The back half of the degree leans hardest on people outside Clarkson: a preceptor for the 250-hour final clinical, and a mentor and practice site for the project. Lining up both early keeps the doctorate on schedule. The NP tracks comparison helps if you are still deciding which specialty to pursue.
Why BSN to DNP students choose us
A doctoral NP student needs five preceptors willing to take on more hours than an MSN student would ask for. We search with that in mind, looking for providers in your track's settings whose schedules can carry 200 to 250 hours in a term, and we check each against Clarkson's preceptor rules before you file. We gather the details the DocuSign agreement asks for, flag sites that may need a new affiliation agreement, and plan the whole sequence together so each course has its preceptor well before its deadline.
When your project nears, we can also look for mentor candidates and project sites that fit your topic, ready for your team's approval. Start with the form on this page.
Questions Clarkson students ask
How many clinical hours are in Clarkson's BSN to DNP?
Nine hundred seventy-five, spread over five NP courses at the DNP-level figures that took effect in Spring 2024. Add the 125 DNP hours required of that cohort and later ones, and the total reaches 1,100, the professional practice minimum Clarkson sets for any doctorate in nursing practice.
Do BSN to DNP students follow the same preceptor rules as MSN students?
Yes. The November 2023 clinical sheets are written per track, not per degree, so a doctoral student's preceptor meets the same tests: licensed where the clinical happens, two or more years in practice, unrelated to you, working in a field that matches the course, plus limits such as acute care certification for NPs precepting AGACNP courses. The DNP course pages differ mainly in their hour figures.
Who chooses the DNP project mentor at Clarkson?
You do. The 2023-24 DNP Hours Guide makes the student responsible for finding and securing the External Subject Area Expert/Mentor, whom the project team then approves at the start of DNP 960. Clarkson appoints the faculty chair. If a mentor has to be replaced, the full approval process is repeated.
Is the Clarkson BSN to DNP online?
Almost entirely. The one exception is the Omaha weekend that comes with NRS 830. Your clinicals run close to home, provided your state is one Clarkson's AY 2026-27 workbook clears for Graduate Nursing; see the state authorization guide for the 12 that are not cleared. Plan too for the project's closing presentation to your site and to Clarkson.
Can I start clinicals in my first term of the BSN to DNP?
Not in the first term. NRS 830 lists prerequisite courses, so the clinical phase begins after early coursework. Use that gap: Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook told students to begin interviewing preceptors on entering the program, and under the dated deadlines your first agreement falls due two to three months before NRS 830 begins.
Related pages
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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.