Clarkson College semester calendar for clinical planning, 2026-27 and 2027-28
Clarkson College runs two 15-week semesters and a 12-week summer term, with shorter sessions nested inside them. In 2026-27, fall runs Aug. 20 to Dec. 9, 2026, spring Jan. 7 to Apr. 28, 2027 and summer May 13 to Aug. 4, 2027. Each NP clinical course occupies one of those terms, and under Clarkson's newest published deadlines the preceptor paperwork for it is due roughly ten weeks before the term opens.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Clarkson program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
How Clarkson's academic year is built
Clarkson's academic-year policy sets two 15-week semesters and one 12-week summer term. Inside fall and spring sit two accelerated sessions of 7.5 weeks each; summer offers 6-week sessions, and the calendar also lists 7.5-week summer sessions. The calendar mentions separate "RIZE" sessions of 8 and 14 weeks without defining them, so ask your advisor if one appears on your schedule.
New students attend orientation the day before each semester begins. Canvas courses open on the first day of the term and disappear six weeks after it ends, so download any evaluations or clinical paperwork you want to keep before then.
Clarkson's public pages do not say which session length the NP clinical courses use. Our weekly-hour estimates on this site assume a clinical course runs the full term; confirm your own course dates in MyCC when you register.
2026-27 at a glance
| Fall 2026 | Spring 2027 | Summer 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Wed., Aug. 19 | Wed., Jan. 6 | Wed., May 12 |
| Term begins | Thu., Aug. 20 | Thu., Jan. 7 | Thu., May 13 |
| Census day | Mon., Aug. 31 | Tue., Jan. 19 | Mon., May 24 |
Graduate Weekend (NRS 830) | Sept. 19-20 | Feb. 6-7 | Jun. 5-6 |
| Break | Fall Break, Oct. 12-16 | Spring Break, Mar. 1-5 | None listed |
| Second 7.5-week session | Begins Oct. 19 | First session ends Feb. 26; second start not listed | Not applicable |
| Term ends | Wed., Dec. 9 | Wed., Apr. 28 | Wed., Aug. 4 |
Degrees are conferred on each term's last day, and the ceremony for 2026-27 graduates is Aug. 7, 2027. During Fall Break and Spring Break there are no classes but the college stays open. The Graduate Weekend page covers the campus visit in each term.
2027-28, published a year ahead
Clarkson has already posted the next year's main dates in its next-academic-year calendar, which makes it possible to map a whole five-course clinical sequence before you register for the first one. A student planning to finish in summer 2028, for example, can already see the Aug. 2 end date and the Aug. 5 ceremony.
| Term | Begins | Graduate Weekend | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2027 | Aug. 19, 2027 | Sept. 18-19, 2027 | Dec. 8, 2027 |
| Spring 2028 | Jan. 6, 2028 | Feb. 5-6, 2028 | Apr. 26, 2028 |
| Summer 2028 | May 11, 2028 | Jun. 3-4, 2028 | Aug. 2, 2028 |
Commencement for 2027-28 graduates is Aug. 5, 2028, and Fall 2028 opens Aug. 17, 2028. Census days, breaks and session splits for 2027-28 are on the catalog page and in The Nest, where Clarkson keeps all calendar and campus events.
Census day and the compliance calendar
Census day falls about a week and a half into each term: Aug. 31, 2026, Jan. 19, 2027 and May 24, 2027. It matters to clinical students for a practical reason. Clarkson's Qualified First/Verified instructions say ordering opens after census day, and the initial health and safety deadlines follow: Spring Jan. 30, Summer May 30 and Fall Sept. 30.
Those deadlines land inside the term, but clinical access does not wait for them. Policy SW-7 says students out of compliance "will not be allowed to attend clinical," and Canvas may block some courses too. Keep your record current well before a clinical term rather than aiming at the deadline; the health and safety guide lists what the tracker asks for.
The first week of classes carries its own rule for clinical students. Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook said the site and preceptor agreement had to be complete by the end of that first week, or you could be required to withdraw. For Fall 2026, the first week ended about Aug. 26.
Working back from the first day of a term
Each clinical term has a paperwork deadline months before it opens. The dates below pair each 2026-27 and early 2027-28 term with the agreement deadlines in Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook and November 2023 clinical sheets, which are the newest public versions.
| Term | Agreement due | Term begins | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2027 | Nov. 1, 2026 | Jan. 7, 2027 | About 9.5 weeks |
| Summer 2027 | Mar. 1, 2027 | May 13, 2027 | About 10 weeks |
| Fall 2027 | Jun. 1, 2027 | Aug. 19, 2027 | About 11 weeks |
| Spring 2028 | Nov. 1, 2027 | Jan. 6, 2028 | About 9 weeks |
The preceptor search has to finish before that due date, and some health systems close their request windows earlier still. The clinical deadlines page sets those windows beside Clarkson's, and your Graduate Nursing advisor confirms the current dates.
When new students start, and why that helps
Graduate nursing admission is rolling, with application due dates of Aug. 10, 2026 for Fall 2026, Jan. 4, 2027 for Spring 2027 and May 3, 2027 for Summer 2027. Nurse anesthesia is the exception, with a single Dec. 1, 2026 deadline for a spring start.
New NP students do not begin with a clinical: NRS 830 lists earlier courses as prerequisites. That gives you at least a term of coursework before the first preceptor has to be approved. Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook told students to start interviewing preceptors on entering the program, and the calendar shows why. A student who starts in Fall 2026 and takes NRS 830 in Summer 2027 would face a Mar. 1, 2027 agreement deadline, only about six months after orientation.
Why students plan their terms with us
We map your whole clinical sequence onto Clarkson's calendar at the start: which course lands in which term, which term is the 12-week summer, and when each agreement falls due. Then we search for each preceptor in order, check them against Clarkson's rules, and gather the agreement details so every form is ready ahead of its deadline.
If a site will need a new affiliation agreement, you hear about it early enough to matter. Where a heavy course would land in the short summer term, we look for a preceptor with the schedule to carry it, or flag the issue so you can raise the order with your advisor. And if a preceptor withdraws mid-term, we get back to searching at once so the rest of the calendar holds. Tell us your first clinical term in the form below.
Questions Clarkson students ask
When does Clarkson's Spring 2027 semester start and end?
Spring 2027 begins Thursday, Jan. 7, 2027, after new-student orientation on Jan. 6, and ends Wednesday, Apr. 28, 2027. Census day is Jan. 19, the Graduate Weekend is Feb. 6-7, and Spring Break runs Mar. 1-5, when classes stop but the college stays open.
How long is Clarkson's summer term?
Twelve weeks, against 15 in fall and spring. In 2027 it runs May 13 to Aug. 4. The same clinical hours have to fit into fewer weeks, so a 160-hour course works out to about 13 hours a week in summer against about 11 in a full semester, by our arithmetic. The pacing guide has every course.
When is Clarkson College commencement?
The catalog calendars set commencement for Aug. 7, 2027 for 2026-27 graduates and Aug. 5, 2028 for 2027-28 graduates, both Saturdays after the summer term ends. Degrees are conferred at the end of each term, so a student finishing in December or April has a conferral date before the ceremony.
Do clinical hours continue during Clarkson's fall or spring break?
The calendar says only that there are no classes and the college is open during Fall Break (Oct. 12-16, 2026) and Spring Break (Mar. 1-5, 2027). Clarkson's public sources say nothing about clinical hours that week, so ask your course faculty before you plan shifts, or a week off, around a break.
Where do I find Clarkson's official calendar?
The 2026-27 calendar is on the catalog's academic calendar page and the 2027-28 dates on its next-academic-year page. Clarkson also says all academic calendar and campus events can be found in The Nest, Clarkson's student hub; the student systems guide explains where it sits alongside MyCC and Canvas.
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
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