Questions ETSU nursing students ask us most
These are the broad questions East Tennessee State University (ETSU) nursing students bring to us before they start a placement. Each answer is short and points to the page with the full detail, so you can go straight to the part of ETSU's process that matters to you now.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your ETSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your ETSU course.
Who is this service for?
ETSU nursing students whose programs ask them to find a preceptor or a clinical site. That covers the MSN concentrations in Family Nurse Practitioner, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Administration and Nursing Education, the RN to MSN bridge, every ETSU DNP concentration, the ETSU-TTU joint DNP and the post-graduate certificates.
RN to BSN students come to us when the R.N. Practicum needs a site away from their own employer. Students in the prelicensure tracks, Traditional, Accelerated and LPN to BSN, receive clinicals the College arranges, so they usually reach us later, once graduate study is on the horizon.
Preceptors are welcome too. Clinicians who want to teach an ETSU student can read precepting an ETSU student and get in touch through the form.
How does a placement service fit with ETSU's process?
It fits in the space ETSU leaves to the student. ETSU Online's MSN, DNP and certificate FAQs describe a coordinator who can share contacts and the names of earlier preceptors, and they ask each student to take an active lead in finding both a preceptor and a site. We carry out that search with you.
Every decision stays with ETSU. Faculty in your course sign off on the preceptor, staff in the Office of Student Services check the preceptor's credentials, and the College arranges the agency contract. You submit the ProjectConcert entry yourself. What we add is a candidate who fits the course and a file that answers every question the reviewers ask. Our who does what page names each ETSU role in a clinical.
When should I start looking for a preceptor?
As soon as you know which practicum course comes next. ETSU names no cut-off date for proposing a preceptor and states no processing time for agency contracts, so an early start is the only reliable buffer. Ask the graduate clinical coordinator whether your program has an internal date.
Plans of study show when the first searches fall. The full-time FNP plan places a 120-hour practicum in the opening summer; PMHNP students take their first psychiatric practicum, NRSE 5405, in the spring of year one; Nursing Administration students reach their first practicum in semester three, a summer.
Summer is a full clinical semester at ETSU, which surprises students who expect a break. The College's nurse-led clinics also accept rotation requests only inside set windows: from the first of October for a spring rotation, the first of March for summer and the first of May for fall. A request sent before its window opens is not considered. More on the summer clinical semester.
Can one preceptor cover more than one course?
ETSU's published pages set no rule either way. What they do make clear is that each course is judged on its own: the Intent Form names one course, and faculty use the site's patient mix to decide whether it suits that course's population focus.
A family practice that sees many older adults might suit NRSE 5014, and the same practice might suit NRSE 5012 if it also sees plenty of young and middle adults. A pediatric course or a women's health course usually calls for a different site. Expect a separate Intent Form and ProjectConcert entry for each course, even with the same preceptor.
The form also lets a rotation include a second preceptor, which can help when one clinician cannot offer all the hours. Ask course faculty before you plan around repeat or shared preceptors.
What if something goes wrong mid-semester?
Preceptors sometimes step away for reasons nobody planned: a job change, a leave, a practice that closes. Let course faculty and the coordinator know right away, then get a replacement search moving the same day. Our students have a replacement search running as soon as they tell us; see preceptor dropped out.
The stakes are real because ETSU's graduate grading is strict. Under the 2026-27 catalog, a graduate nursing course needs a grade of B or higher, and a course that falls short can be retaken once. More than one Incomplete blocks progression, and an Incomplete not finished within a calendar year becomes an F. The grades and progression page sets out each rule.
Falling behind on hours is easier to fix early than late, so check your ProjectConcert log against your plan every few weeks.
What if I live outside Tennessee, or move?
ETSU's graduate programs are online, but a clinical placement in another state has to be cleared by the appropriate regulators, and ETSU weighs each one individually once a student is admitted. Out-of-state applicants should confirm with their home state's nursing board before they apply.
Moving during the program has its own rule. Relocating out of Tennessee mid-program is allowed only where the new state's nursing board permits it, and the College and the records office both need to hear about the new address. Your RN license must also be unencumbered in whatever state hosts your clinicals.
ETSU's two licensure disclosures disagree for several states, Hawaii and Maryland most sharply. The moving during your program page covers the steps in order.
Where do the facts on this site come from?
From ETSU itself: the 2026-27 catalogs, College of Nursing pages, ETSU Online FAQs, plans of study and ProjectConcert guides, plus Tennessee rules and health systems' own pages where a page needs them. Each page lists its sources at the foot.
Some of ETSU's documents are older. The hour figures come from plans of study dated 2020 to 2023, and ETSU's preceptor handbook and placement guidelines now return "page not found". Where ETSU publishes two figures that disagree, we show both. Your plan of study, your syllabus, your course faculty and the graduate clinical coordinator always have the final word. If you spot a page that no longer matches ETSU's current documents, tell us through the form and we will check it against the source.
Questions ETSU students ask
Can ETSU students use a placement service?
ETSU's pages put the student in charge of the preceptor search, offer the coordinator's contacts as support, and set no rule on how candidates are found. Whoever finds the preceptor, the same review follows: faculty judge fit, Student Services checks credentials, and a contract must exist before the first clinical day.
Do you help with ETSU-TTU joint DNP placements?
Yes. The joint DNP frames placement as a job it shares with you: students know their own area, and ETSU and Tennessee Tech hold many existing agreements with sites and preceptors. Ask the program first which agreements sit near you, then bring us the courses still without a preceptor.
Can you find a site for my DNP project?
Yes. The residencies, NRSE 6801 to NRSE 6804, can center on a project at a practice site, and an older ETSU DNP project guide says you need an agreement from the site before faculty approve a site-based project. We look for organizations whose leaders want the project done and can host your hours.
Which ETSU systems will I use during clinicals?
ProjectConcert holds your clinical requirements, placement entries, schedule, hour log, patient journal and evaluations. Courses run in D2L, registration and grades sit in GoldLink, due to give way to MyETSU in October 2027, and your @etsu.edu email is the official channel. The student systems page maps each one.
Can I talk to someone before I send the form?
Yes. Use the chat button on any page to ask a quick question, or send the form with only your program, city and start term. Your placement advisor replies with what the search for your course would involve and what to prepare in the meantime.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against ETSU's own catalog, College of Nursing pages, plans of study and ProjectConcert guides. Your plan of study, your syllabus, your course faculty and the graduate clinical coordinator have the final word.
ETSU asks you to lead the preceptor search. We make it the fastest part of your program.
Tell us your ETSU concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course's patient population and prepare everything your Preceptor Intent Form and ProjectConcert entry need.
- Preceptors matched to the course: young and middle adults for
NRSE 5012, older adults forNRSE 5014, women forNRSE 5022, children forNRSE 5024, psychiatric care forNRSE 5405 - Credentials, license numbers, certification dates and the site's patient mix ready for faculty approval
- In your own community, in Northeast Tennessee or wherever ETSU approves your clinicals
Start your placement plan
Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.