Rivier BSN and Accelerated BSN: clinicals Rivier assigns
Rivier University places its BSN and Accelerated BSN students in clinicals itself: the Nursing Student Handbook says students may be assigned to clinical agencies within a 60-mile radius of the University. In both programs there is no preceptor for you to find. The search becomes yours later, if you return to Rivier for an MSN, and that is the point where we come in.
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.
Who arranges BSN and ABSN clinicals: Rivier does
Clinical placement works differently for Rivier's pre-licensure students than for its graduate students. Under the Handbook's Undergraduate Clinical Assignments policy (p. 14), Rivier assigns BSN, ABSN and ASN students to clinical agencies, and the 2025-26 catalog says the same. You receive an assignment rather than searching for a site.
The 2026 undergraduate program sheet describes what that looks like week to week: a clinical course may mean one or two clinical days, or a single 12-hour day, at a site generally within 60 miles of campus. The Handbook adds that clinicals are scheduled Monday through Sunday and that students must be flexible, and that clinical credit ratios vary from program to program.
Rivier's department page calls faculty-supervised clinicals in greater Boston and central New England the hallmark of its nursing programs. In the BSN and ABSN, those clinicals come to you through Rivier's assignment, course by course.
BSN and Accelerated BSN side by side
The two programs share the nursing sequence and the clinical assignment policy. They differ in who they serve and how fast they run.
| BSN | Accelerated BSN | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it serves | Four-year day students | Students with a bachelor's degree in another field |
| Format | On campus | On campus, with some online courses |
| Credits | 120 | 62 nursing credits plus up to 21 prerequisite credits (83 in the catalog) |
| Length | Four years | As little as 16 months; must be finished within three years |
| Clinicals | Assigned by Rivier | Assigned by Rivier |
The ABSN runs in 7- and 14-week courses with six intakes a year (September, October, January, March, May and July); the next start listed is October 28, 2026. Its science prerequisites need a grade of at least B-. Since the ABSN fits the full clinical sequence into as little as 16 months, plan work and family commitments around the Handbook's Monday-through-Sunday clinical scheduling before your first clinical course.
The clinical courses and Rivier's credit splits
Both programs move through the same seven clinical courses. The 2025-26 catalog lists each course's total credits and splits them between theory and clinical. It gives credits, not clock hours, so your syllabus and course faculty set the actual schedule.
| Course | Total credits | Theory / clinical |
|---|---|---|
NURS 101 Nursing Fundamentals | 8 | 5 / 3 |
NURS 102 Care of the Adult I | 9 | 5 / 4 |
NURS 202 Care of the Childbearing Family | 3 | Printed as 2 / 2 |
NURS 205 Care of the Child | 3 | 2 / 1 |
NURS 350 Community and Mental Health Nursing | 9 | 5 / 4 |
NURS 430 Care of the Acutely Ill Adult | 8 | 5 / 3 |
NURS 458 Nursing Capstone | 7 | 3 / 4 |
NURS 101 requires BIOL 105 and BIOL 106. The catalog prints two theory and two clinical credits for NURS 202 while listing it as a 3-credit course, so check that course's split on your Program of Studies.
Rivier's clinical partners
Rivier names its pre-licensure clinical partners on its own program pages. The ABSN page lists Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Elliot Health Systems/Elliot Hospital, Lowell General Hospital, Catholic Medical Center, Home Health & Hospice Care, Lowell Community Health Center, Nashua Public Health Department, Saint Joseph Healthcare and Southern NH Health System.
The list runs from Boston teaching hospitals to home health and hospice care and Nashua's own public health department. Which agency you attend for a given course is Rivier's assignment, within the 60-mile radius. Read the list as Rivier's own description of where its pre-licensure clinicals happen, not as a menu to choose from.
This list belongs to Rivier's pre-licensure programs. Rivier's graduate pages carry no partner list, and graduate students identify their own preceptors under a separate policy.
Before your first clinical day
Pre-licensure students meet the same clinical requirements as everyone else, with a few undergraduate twists. Every item must be on record in CastleBranch (myCB) before any clinical course, and undergraduates who are late face fines and clinical make-up fees on top of being kept out of clinical or dropped from the course. The CastleBranch guide lists the items.
Onboarding adds three pieces: the online Centralized Clinical Placement orientation every August, a printed Clinical Assignment Ticket for each clinical experience, and any ID card an agency issues; see the CCP and ticket guide.
One Handbook rule deserves attention early. An agency can refuse a student over a background check result or a vaccine exemption, and Rivier then has no obligation to find another site. The agency refusal guide walks through that situation.
Living or moving outside New Hampshire
The pre-licensure ASN/BSN column of Rivier's State Guide is green only for Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. California is red. Every other listed state is yellow, and a footnote tells would-be students living beyond New England to phone the undergraduate program director.
If you move during the program, the undergraduate section of the Handbook (p. 38) asks for written notice at least 90 days ahead, with a move to Massachusetts exempt. Before you sign a lease, ask the undergraduate program director how the move affects your assigned clinicals.
If you expect to stay with Rivier for an NP track after licensure, look at the graduate columns too. They read very differently: eight states are red for the FNP and PMHNP, and three are yellow.
After the BSN: NCLEX, accreditation and graduate study
The Handbook says undergraduate graduation requirements match New Hampshire State Board of Nursing requirements and that graduates are prepared for the NCLEX-RN. ACEN accredits Rivier's BSN, and its latest decision on the program was Continuing Accreditation; the accreditation guide covers what ACEN and NECHE each review.
If a Rivier MSN is in your future, the entry bar is clear. To apply, you need an active, unencumbered RN license, a resume documenting at least two years as an RN, and undergraduate statistics; the MSN FNP is 45 credits for BSN-prepared nurses. The FNP, PMHNP and AG-ACNP each start in September, January or May, and Rivier lets applicants complete up to four listed graduate courses, worth 12 credits, before they matriculate. The clinical rules change completely at that point.
Where we help Rivier BSN graduates
We are straightforward about it: your BSN and ABSN clinicals are assigned by Rivier, so you have no placement to arrange. Our work starts when you come back for the MSN FNP, PMHNP or AG-ACNP. There, Rivier's Practicum Placement Policy says identifying a qualified preceptor is the student's responsibility, and the Handbook suggests starting as early as a year before the practicum.
Two things help you get ready now. Rivier's graduate policy welcomes students' own suggestions of clinicians they know from work, so keep a note of the nurse practitioners and physicians you work beside in your RN years. And when you are about a year from NURS 511, NURS 521 or NURS 638P, contact us. We track down preceptors close to home who fit your track's Rivier requirements and have the Preceptor Request Form paperwork ready before August 1 or December 1.
Questions Rivier students ask
Do Rivier BSN students have to find their own clinical placements?
No. Rivier assigns clinical placements for its pre-licensure students. The Nursing Student Handbook's undergraduate policy lets Rivier assign students to clinical agencies as far as 60 miles from campus, and the same policy covers the Accelerated BSN and the ASN. Finding a preceptor becomes the student's job only in Rivier's graduate programs.
How far will I travel for Rivier BSN clinicals?
Rivier's Handbook allows assignments anywhere inside a 60-mile circle around the Nashua campus, and the 2026 undergraduate program sheet says sites are generally within 60 miles. A clinical course may mean one or two clinical days a week or one 12-hour day, and clinicals can fall on any day from Monday through Sunday.
Which hospitals does Rivier use for BSN and ABSN clinicals?
Rivier's ABSN page lists its clinical partners, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Elliot Hospital, Lowell General Hospital, Catholic Medical Center, Saint Joseph Healthcare, Southern NH Health System, Lowell Community Health Center and the Nashua Public Health Department. Rivier decides which agency each student attends for each course.
How long is Rivier's Accelerated BSN?
Rivier says the Accelerated BSN can take as little as 16 months and must be finished within three years. It combines 62 nursing credits with up to 21 prerequisite credits, uses 7- and 14-week courses, and starts six times a year, in September, October, January, March, May and July. The next start listed is October 28, 2026.
What if a clinical agency refuses to take me?
The Handbook says an agency may turn a student away over a background check or a vaccine exemption. When that happens, Rivier has no obligation to find a replacement site, and the Handbook adds that finishing the program cannot be assured. Keep your CastleBranch records clean and current, and talk to your course faculty at once if a problem appears.
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
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.