Rivier's online RN-BSN: seven-week courses and no practicum on the sheet
Rivier University's RN-BSN is 100% online, built from seven-week courses with six starts a year, and awards 60 of its 120 credits for an active RN license. The 2026 program sheet lists no clinical or practicum course, so this program asks you to find no preceptor. That question arrives later, if you continue into a Rivier MSN, and that is where our work for RN-BSN students begins.
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.
The program in brief
The RN-BSN is part of Rivier Online, one of the three undergraduate settings the 2025-26 catalog describes alongside Undergraduate Day and Professional Studies. Everything runs online in seven-week courses, with six starts a year; the next start the program page lists is October 28, 2026.
The program totals 120 credits, and Rivier awards 60 of them for an active RN license. The nursing major on the 2026 sheet is NURS 302, NURS 310, NURS 320, NURS 330, NURS 379, NURS 404, NURS 409 and NURS 410, with no clinical hours stated for any of them.
New Hampshire's Board of Nursing treats post-licensure programs such as the RN-BSN differently from RN and LPN programs: its education page lists them among programs the Board does not regulate or oversee. Your RN license, not the RN-BSN, is what the Board governs.
No practicum on the 2026 sheet: what that means for you
Here is the plain answer: Rivier's 2026 RN-BSN sheet lists no clinical or practicum course, and Rivier's pages give no placement statement for this program. There is no preceptor to recruit, no Preceptor Request Form to file and no site contract to wait on.
Rivier's CastleBranch requirements are tied to clinical and practicum courses; the Handbook says everything must be on record before any such course begins. With none on the RN-BSN sheet, ask your advisor or Success Coach whether any item applies to your plan, rather than assuming either way. If your Program of Studies ever shows a course with a clinical component, that document is the one that counts.
The practical upshot is time. RN-BSN students can put their energy into coursework and their nursing work, and use the program to get ready for what comes after it.
The RN-BSN has no practicum, but Rivier's NP, Nursing Education and Leadership MSN tracks do, and there the Handbook makes identifying a qualified preceptor your responsibility.
The seven-week terms in 2026-27
Rivier's academic calendar splits each semester into two seven-week terms, which is where the RN-BSN's six starts come from. Each term has its own add/drop and withdrawal dates, so the deadlines arrive twice as often as they would in a 14-week course.
| Term | Begins | Add/drop ends | Last day to withdraw (W) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026, Term 1 | September 8, 2026 | September 14 | October 5 |
| Fall 2026, Term 2 | October 28, 2026 | November 3 | November 24 |
| Spring 2027, Term 1 | January 18, 2027 | January 25 | February 15 |
| Spring 2027, Term 2 | March 19, 2027 | March 25 | April 15 |
| Summer 2027, Term 1 | May 10, 2027 | May 14 | June 11 |
| Summer 2027, Term 2 | July 2, 2027 | July 8 | August 5 |
Online classes meet on Juneteenth even though Rivier's offices close. Rivier holds three graduation dates a year: September 2, January 2, and the spring ceremony, set for May 16 in 2027. The academic calendar guide covers the 14-week graduate dates.
Studying online at Rivier
Rivier Online students get a Success Coach, who registers you after your first courses and is the first person to contact when life gets in the way. The 2023 Rivier Online Student Handbook adds three habits Rivier expects: sign in three or more times each week, reach instructors through Canvas using your Rivier student address, and speak with your coach before taking two terms in a row off. After a course is under way, dropping or withdrawing an online student is the Success Coach's call alone.
Registration, bills and transcripts sit in Colleague Self-Service, and course work sits in Canvas. The student systems guide explains what each Rivier system does. Rivier's renovated Nursing Simulation and Clinical Education Center in Nashua also lists the RN-BSN among the programs it serves, according to Rivier's 2022 announcement of the center.
State Guide: open almost everywhere
The RN-BSN has the widest reach of any Rivier nursing program on the State Guide. Its column is green in 43 of the 44 listed states; California, red for every Rivier program, is the only exception. Alaska, Delaware, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia do not appear on the chart, so students there should confirm with Rivier admissions before applying.
Keep that reach in perspective if graduate study is your next step, because the MSN columns are far narrower. Eight states are closed to the FNP and PMHNP, and three more (Colorado, South Dakota and New York) carry limits. A state that works for your RN-BSN may not work for the NP track you want next, and the MSN also expects an RN license valid wherever your practicum site is.
After the RN-BSN: where the preceptor search begins
Each MSN track in the table below includes a practicum, and under the Handbook's Practicum Placement Policy each student identifies a qualified preceptor. To get in, you bring an active, unencumbered RN license, a resume with two years of RN practice on it, and an undergraduate statistics course. The 2026 graduate sheets also allow as many as four named courses, 12 credits in all, ahead of matriculation.
| Next program | Credits on the BSN path | Practicum courses | Preceptor |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | 45 | NURS 511, NURS 513, NURS 515 | You identify an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice |
| MSN Psychiatric-Mental Health NP | 43 | NURS 521, NURS 523, NURS 525 | You identify a psychiatrist or PMH-certified nurse |
| MSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP | 48 | NURS 638P, NURS 639P, NURS 640P | You identify a hospitalist, then critical care preceptors |
| MSN Nursing Education | 32 | NURS 559P | You identify an RN with a master's in a nurse educator role |
| MSN Leadership in Health Systems Management | 36 | NURS 571P on the 2026 sheet; NURS 562 and NURS 564 in the 2025-26 catalog | You identify an RN with a master's in a nurse leadership role |
Nurses who hold a non-nursing master's degree have another route: the DNP Systems Leadership Bridge, which runs 61 to 69 credits and earns 1,000 supervised hours within the program. See the FNP program guide for how that track's three practicums are structured.
How we help RN-BSN students, honestly
The RN-BSN itself needs no placement help, and we will tell you so. What we offer RN-BSN students is a head start on the MSN practicum, the part of Rivier's graduate programs that its own Handbook flags as hard. It warns that NP clinical sites are scarce and advises starting the search as early as a year ahead of the practicum.
While you finish the RN-BSN, keep a running list of the nurse practitioners, physicians and nurse leaders around you, since Rivier's Handbook invites MSN students to put forward clinicians they already know through work. Then, about a year before your first practicum course, bring us your track, your town and your target semester. Our search covers your own area for preceptors who fit that course's Rivier requirements; we assemble the CV, license and credentials your Preceptor Request Form calls for, and we plan backward from Rivier's August 1 and December 1 deadlines.
Questions Rivier students ask
Does Rivier's RN-BSN have clinical hours?
Rivier's 2026 RN-BSN program sheet lists no clinical or practicum course and states no clinical hours for its nursing courses, and Rivier's pages give no placement statement for the program. There is no preceptor to find. If your own Program of Studies ever shows a course with a clinical component, follow that document and ask your advisor.
How many credits does Rivier give for an RN license?
Rivier's RN-BSN awards 60 of its 120 credits for an active RN license. The remaining credits come from the online nursing major, NURS 302 through NURS 410 on the 2026 sheet, and the other courses on your Program of Studies, all taught in seven-week terms with six starts a year.
Can I take Rivier's online RN-BSN from another state?
In most cases, yes. Rivier's State Guide marks the RN-BSN green in every listed state except California, which is red for all Rivier programs. Alaska, Delaware, Montana, Nebraska and West Virginia are not on the chart, so students there should ask Rivier admissions before applying.
When should an RN-BSN student start thinking about NP preceptors?
About a year before the first NP practicum course. Rivier's Handbook tells graduate students they can begin looking a full year ahead, recommends having the placement in hand four months before the term, and treats August 1 and December 1 as absolute cutoffs. Listing the clinicians you already know professionally during the RN-BSN gives you a head start.
Is Rivier's RN-BSN regulated by the New Hampshire Board of Nursing?
The state licensing office, OPLC, lists post-licensure programs such as the RN-BSN among those its Board of Nursing does not regulate or oversee. The Board licenses you as a nurse; your RN-BSN is an academic program at Rivier, which NECHE accredits as a university.
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.