Rivier's MSN FNP: you secure the preceptor, three semesters in a row

Who secures an FNP placement at Rivier

You do. Page 73 of the Handbook puts it in one line: "It is the student's responsibility to identify a qualified preceptor." Two pages later, the FNP section, whose heading also takes in the post-master's certificate, says FNP learners "are required to secure" their placements, which span primary care, pediatrics, women's health and long-term care.

Rivier's staff stand beside that search rather than taking it off your hands. Your course faculty and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator can point you toward willing clinicians and toward sites already inside Rivier's contract resources, but a first-choice office is never assured. Whether a site suits FNP learning is for graduate faculty to judge, and the Handbook's advice is to start hunting a full year out.

The Handbook explains why the lead time is so long: NP clinical seats are hard to come by, New Hampshire draws out-of-state learners looking for preceptors, and some programs run waiting lists. It also welcomes the names of clinicians you already work alongside.

Online or nine days on campus: two Rivier descriptions

Rivier describes FNP delivery in two ways, and the safer plan follows the one that asks more of you. The 2026 program sheet labels the FNP 100% online and organizes the year into six terms of seven weeks. Rivier's FNP web page instead describes a low-residency design: nine campus days spread over three intensives, with 14-week courses (only NSG517 runs seven).

The 2026-27 academic calendar agrees with the web page. Its FNP On-Campus Intensives run August 24 through September 4, 2026, and again January 4 through 15, 2027, finishing days before each semester begins. That campus time happens at Rivier's Nashua home, where Sylvia Trottier Hall holds NP training labs inside the simulation center.

A 2018 Rivier practicum form adds that FNP students need a New Hampshire RN license for on-campus activities, citing the NH Board of Nursing. Ask the Program Director which description governs your cohort, and hold both intensive windows open at work until you have an answer. The dates and what happens there are tracked on Rivier's campus intensives page.

Three practicums, three different clinic days

Each FNP practicum changes the patients you see, so one preceptor rarely suits all three. Who may precept stays constant across the sequence: a physician (MD or DO) or an FNP who has worked in outpatient family medicine for two years or longer. The complete standard, including the fallback settings Rivier allows, is on who can precept a Rivier FNP student.

1. NURS 511 FNP Practicum I and SeminarAdults and their families in primary care, taken once NURS 510 is done. Plan on a suggested load of four to six patients in an eight-hour day; an outpatient internal medicine office can substitute when no family practice is available. Course detail: NURS 511.
2. NURS 513 FNP Practicum II and SeminarChildbearing families, infants, children and adolescents, following NURS 512. The suggested load climbs to six to eight patients a day, and a pediatric, OB or women's health office is the approved fallback. Course detail: NURS 513.
3. NURS 515 FNP Practicum III and SeminarCommunity-based primary care and your step into the FNP role, after NURS 512 and NURS 513. By now the suggested load reaches eight to ten patients a day. Course detail: NURS 515.

Up to 120 hours may come from approved alternative settings such as urgent care. Simulation check-offs run beside the clinical hours, and NSG511 and NSG513 allow three attempts before the FNP track ends.

Where you live shapes the FNP search

Your clinic can be near home, as long as your RN license is valid in that state. Rivier's State Guide, updated January 2025, names eight states where Rivier is unable to accept FNP students and three where a call to the Program Director comes first, and its FNP column covers the certificate too. Look up your state on Rivier's State Guide before you commit to a start term.

Relocating after you are accepted? Put it in writing to the Dean no less than 90 days ahead. That notice lets the Dean flag known obstacles to clinicals and to APRN licensure, though the checking stays with you, and a new state brings a new RN license and a fresh preceptor search.