A Rivier University practicum in Minnesota
Minnesota reads green for every Rivier University graduate track on the State Guide. One point trips people up: Minnesota statute would let an RN licensed elsewhere train in a graduate course without a Minnesota license, yet Rivier's Handbook and Mayo Clinic's own site rules both look for one. Plan on holding a Minnesota RN license before your first clinical day.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
Minnesota at a glance on Rivier's guide
Here is how Rivier's January 2025 State Guide treats Minnesota, with the step each color leads to.
| Program | Status | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| FNP or PMHNP, MSN or certificate | Green | Apply, then secure a preceptor under the Practicum Placement Policy |
| Nursing Education or Leadership | Green | Apply, then plan the practicum with a nurse educator or nurse leader |
| DNP | Green | Apply; a faculty guide helps you name the external expert |
| RN-BSN | Green | Apply online |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Call the undergraduate program director |
The guide carries no AG-ACNP column, and it is an acceptance tool rather than a licensure ruling. The State Guide page walks through all three colors.
Two exemptions, and why Rivier looks past them
Minnesota law is generous to visiting students. The Board of Nursing approves only programs run inside the state, and its rule 6305.0300 lets a program approved back home count for the student exemption, provided the instructor supervising you in Minnesota carries a Minnesota RN license and current registration. Statute 148.271, subdivision 6, goes further: a nurse licensed somewhere else who comes to Minnesota to study toward an advanced degree may practice within that coursework without a Minnesota license.
Rivier's Handbook sets its own condition on top. Each graduate practicum needs an RN license valid in the state of the site, and Minnesota has never joined the Nurse Licensure Compact, so no out-of-state multistate license reaches it. In short, a Minnesota site calls for a Minnesota license.
The statutory exemption does not change Rivier's rule: get the Minnesota license before any hours there can count.
Mayo Clinic's conditions for visiting NP students
Mayo's page on NP clinical education lists four conditions: a signed agreement between Mayo and your school; your own Minnesota nursing license, clear and currently registered; a background study through the state's Department of Human Services; and school faculty licensed as nurses where the student trains. That goes well beyond what the statute demands.
Only the last item sits with Rivier rather than with you, so raise Mayo with the Clinical Practicum Coordinator before investing weeks there. HealthPartners, Essentia Health, Allina Health and M Health Fairview each keep separate terms for students; read them site by site.
Full practice, and where to look
On AANP's map Minnesota is full practice, with a threshold: independence comes after 2,080 hours logged alongside a collaborating physician or APRN. A Minnesota NP past that mark can precept on their own authority, which opens FNP and PMHNP searches to NP-run clinics as well as physician offices.
Rivier's criteria still govern: whoever precepts an FNP or PMHNP student needs two years of practice behind them, and FNP teaching happens in outpatient family care (FNP preceptor rules). The Twin Cities metro holds well over three million Minnesotans; greater Rochester, Duluth and St. Cloud are far smaller.
MERC funds the site, not the preceptor
Medical Education and Research Costs, known as MERC and run by the Minnesota Department of Health, helps training sites recover part of what accredited clinical teaching costs them, APRN teaching included. The money goes to sites, never to an individual preceptor. MERC's rules look for a Minnesota address on both sides, school and site alike, so your rotation as a Rivier student brings a site no MERC dollars.
Your license and the Nashua intensives
Your Minnesota license stops at the state line, and no APRN Compact law has passed in Minnesota either. Because a 2018 Rivier form asked FNP students on campus to be New Hampshire licensed, check today's expectation with the Program Director before you travel. As for the trips, FNP students make three, adding up to nine days; the psychiatric cohort gathers over three weekends; acute care students spend ten days in Nashua (campus intensives).
Why Minnesota students choose us
We check each Minnesota site's own conditions, such as an affiliation agreement, a Minnesota license or a DHS background study, before a preceptor is ever put in front of you. Every match meets Rivier's track rules, and the Preceptor Request Form package is finished ahead of Rivier's fall and spring deadlines. Tell us about your track.
Questions Rivier students ask
Doesn't Minnesota law let me train without a Minnesota license?
State law does excuse some visiting graduate students from Minnesota licensure while they practice within their coursework. Rivier's Handbook sets a firmer line, a license valid in the practicum state, so your Clinical Practicum Coordinator will expect to see a Minnesota license on file before any Minnesota hours count.
Could my Rivier practicum be at Mayo Clinic?
Mayo sets conditions for every visiting NP student: an agreement with the school, a clear Minnesota license, a state DHS background study, and school faculty licensed where the training happens. Find out from the Clinical Practicum Coordinator whether Rivier can meet them before you reach out to anyone at Mayo.
Is Minnesota part of the nurse compact?
It is not. Minnesota stands outside the Nurse Licensure Compact, which cuts both ways: licenses from other compact states give no privilege at Minnesota sites, and a Minnesota license gives none in other states. The APRN Compact has not been enacted there either.
What if I move to Minnesota during the program?
Moving after acceptance means a written heads-up to the Dean no later than 90 days out, and checking the new state for practicum barriers remains your job. Add a Minnesota license to that plan; the moving guide has the rest.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
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