Clarkson College Graduate Weekend: dates, the check-off and your NRS 830 hours
The Graduate Weekend is the one trip to Clarkson College's Omaha campus that nurse practitioner students make, and it belongs to NRS 830 Advanced Physical Assessment. The 2026-27 weekends are Sept. 19-20, 2026, Feb. 6-7, 2027 and Jun. 5-6, 2027. Your NRS 830 clinical hours wait until you pass the skills sign-off there, so the weekend also decides when your first clinical hours can begin.
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Every published weekend through 2028
Clarkson's catalog calendars list one Graduate Weekend per term, each a Saturday and Sunday, and label it "Graduate Weekend (NRS 830)." The dates below are copied from the 2026-27 calendar and the next-academic-year calendar.
| Term | Graduate Weekend | Term dates | Falls in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | Sat.-Sun., Sept. 19-20, 2026 | Aug. 20-Dec. 9, 2026 | Week 5 |
| Spring 2027 | Sat.-Sun., Feb. 6-7, 2027 | Jan. 7-Apr. 28, 2027 | Week 5 |
| Summer 2027 | Sat.-Sun., Jun. 5-6, 2027 | May 13-Aug. 4, 2027 | Week 4 |
| Fall 2027 | Sat.-Sun., Sept. 18-19, 2027 | Aug. 19-Dec. 8, 2027 | Week 5 |
| Spring 2028 | Sat.-Sun., Feb. 5-6, 2028 | Jan. 6-Apr. 26, 2028 | Week 5 |
| Summer 2028 | Sat.-Sun., Jun. 3-4, 2028 | May 11-Aug. 2, 2028 | Week 4 |
Clarkson says all calendar events can be found in The Nest, so check it there before booking travel. The weekend you attend is the one in the term you take NRS 830; the full term calendar is on the semester calendar page.
Who comes to Omaha, and why
Every nurse practitioner student attends: MSN students in FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP, the matching post-graduate certificate students, and BSN to DNP students in all three tracks. The NRS 830 course page states that "A Graduate Weekend is associated with this course," and the MSN web page requires NP students to attend an on-campus weekend "for the specified clinical course (NS 830)," using the older course prefix.
Nursing Education, Nursing Healthcare Administration and DNP post-graduate students have no published campus requirement. Nurse anesthesia is a different model altogether, with a full on-campus year.
The single weekend is a slimmer requirement than it used to be. In 2014, Clarkson's MSN FAQ described three two-day campus sessions for NP students; the 2021-22 handbook and today's program pages name one. The campus is at 101 S. 42 Street, on a one-block site at 42nd and Dodge in Omaha. The clinical hours history covers how the campus requirement shrank.
What the weekend decides
The newest public description comes from Clarkson's 2021-22 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook, which calls the weekend "A required on-campus visit ... for evaluation of clinical skills." Three rules from that handbook shape the course.
First, you could not begin NRS 830 clinical hours until you passed the physical assessment sign-off. Second, a failed check-off could be attempted again, but a second failure meant failing NRS 830. Third, the handbook says: "Failure to attend the entire Graduate Weekend will result in failure of the course." Read literally, that covers partial attendance too, not only a missed weekend.
A failed graduate course has to be repeated, and Clarkson allows only one repeat, so the weekend carries real weight; the progression rules explain the rest. Clarkson now shares the handbook only on request, so ask your advisor or NRS 830 faculty for the current version before you go. Expect the practical details, from the check-off format to what to bring, to come from your course faculty.
Missing any part of the Graduate Weekend failed NRS 830 under the 2021-22 handbook. Plan to be there for both days, start to finish.
Your NRS 830 preceptor is approved before you travel
Here is the timing trap. Like every NP clinical, NRS 830 is marked "Requires preceptor and clinical site approval prior to registration," so your preceptor and site must be approved before the term opens. Yet your hours with that preceptor start only after the weekend, three to four weeks into the term. The preceptor has to be willing to hold a place for you across that gap.
Under the deadlines in the 2021-22 handbook and the November 2023 clinical sheets, the agreement for a fall NRS 830 was due Jun. 1, for spring Nov. 1 and for summer Mar. 1. For the Sept. 19-20, 2026 weekend, that meant an agreement filed by Jun. 1, 2026. Confirm the current dates on the clinical deadlines page.
The right preceptor depends on your track: a general primary care provider for FNP; an MD, DO, NP or PA in family practice or internal medicine for AGACNP; and for PMHNP an MD, DO or NP in family practice, PAs allowed, with no telehealth. The NRS 830 guide covers the course in detail.
The hours window after the weekend
Because the sign-off comes in week 4 or 5, NRS 830 hours squeeze into what remains of the term. Our arithmetic, assuming the hours are spread evenly and ignoring breaks, looks like this:
- Fall or spring: about 11.4 weeks from the weekend to the last day of the term. 100 hours comes to about 9 a week; the DNP-level 125 comes to about 11.
- Summer: about 8.4 weeks. 100 hours comes to about 12 a week; 125 comes to about 15.
- Spring 2027 also contains Spring Break, Mar. 1-5, when classes stop but the college stays open. Whether clinical hours continue that week is a question for your course faculty.
The 2021-22 handbook also asked for at least half of each course's hours by midterm. How that checkpoint applies to a course whose hours start late is not spelled out publicly, so ask your NRS 830 faculty early. The pacing guide covers weekly targets for the later courses.
Preparing for the trip
Clarkson's public pages do not list the weekend's schedule, what to bring or where to stay; that information comes through the NRS 830 course in Canvas and from your faculty. What you can do now is block the dates. Since Clarkson requires graduate nursing students to keep working as RNs, ask your employer for the Saturday and Sunday, plus travel time, as soon as your course plan places NRS 830 in a term.
Keep your health and safety record current in Qualified First/Verified as well. Clarkson's policy bars students who fall out of compliance from clinical, and your NRS 830 hours begin right after the weekend. Clarkson switched that tracker from CastleBranch during 2026, so older instructions you find may name the previous system; the health and safety guide has the current checklist.
Why NP students line up NRS 830 with us
The first clinical sets the pattern for the other four, so we treat it with care. We find an NRS 830 preceptor who fits your track's rules and understands that your hours begin only after the weekend, and we collect the details the DocuSign agreement needs so it is filed ahead of the deadline for your term.
If the practice will need a new affiliation agreement with Clarkson, we tell you immediately, because that paperwork can run up to two months. While you are in Omaha, we are already working on the preceptor for your next course, and if your NRS 830 preceptor withdraws before your hours start, we go straight back to searching for a replacement. Send your track and your NRS 830 term through the form below.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can I skip Clarkson's Graduate Weekend if I already know physical assessment?
Clarkson publishes no waiver. Under the 2021-22 graduate handbook, failing to attend the entire weekend failed NRS 830, and NRS 830 hours could begin only after the physical assessment sign-off held there. No exemption for prior assessment coursework appears in Clarkson's public sources; ask your advisor if you believe your case is unusual.
Where is the Clarkson Graduate Weekend held?
On Clarkson College's campus in Omaha, Nebraska, at 101 S. 42 Street near 42nd and Dodge. The MSN page describes it as an on-campus visit, and the catalog calendar lists it by date each term. Look to your NRS 830 course and faculty for the schedule and arrival details.
What if I fail the Graduate Weekend check-off?
The 2021-22 handbook allowed a second attempt at the check-off; failing it again meant failing NRS 830. Under Policy AA-2, a graduate course graded below B- must be repeated, and a course can be repeated only once. The same policy dismisses a student with a C, D, F or NP in two courses.
Do post-graduate certificate students attend the Graduate Weekend?
The NP certificate options do. They take NRS 830 like MSN students, and the certificate page describes "minimal on-campus visits" for the NP tracks. The Nurse Educator and Nursing Healthcare Administration certificates have no published campus requirement, and neither does the DNP Post-Graduate Option.
Are the 2027-28 Graduate Weekend dates final?
They are published in Clarkson's next-academic-year catalog calendar: Sept. 18-19, 2027, Feb. 5-6, 2028 and Jun. 3-4, 2028. Calendars can change, so recheck the catalog and The Nest before you book travel, especially if you are planning more than a term ahead.
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
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