Studying with ETSU from Montana
Montana draws a no and a not-yet from East Tennessee State University (ETSU) for its graduate nursing programs. ETSU's university-wide consumer tables record that the MSN and DNP fall short of Montana's licensure requirements, and the College of Nursing's own pages have yet to reach a finding. Montana's board asks no approval of graduate programs, so settle the ETSU answer first, before applying or before a move.
Living in Montana?
Tell us your town, your ETSU program and your next practicum. We plan for Montana's distances from the first call.
What ETSU says about Montana
| ETSU page | Program | Result for Montana |
|---|---|---|
| College of Nursing MSN page (September 2025) | BSN and MSN | Not yet determined |
| College of Nursing DNP page (April 2026) | ETSU DNP and joint DNP | Not yet determined |
| University consumer information (June 2025) | MSN and DNP | Does not meet |
| University consumer information (July 2024) | Joint DNP | Not determined |
| University consumer information (June 2025) | BSN | Meets |
The College has left Montana open for every program, while the university tables close it for the MSN and ETSU DNP and open it for the BSN; the joint DNP is undetermined on both. None of this is a board ruling, only ETSU's reading of its curriculum against Montana's licensure requirements. For the national picture, see ETSU's licensure disclosures.
Montana's board: no approval step for graduate programs
Montana treats prelicensure and graduate programs very differently. Under ARM 24.159.608, a prelicensure school based elsewhere must get the Montana Board of Nursing, or its executive director, to approve each placement, after sending a signed request with accreditation proof, a supervision plan, the facility agreement and assurance from Montana program directors that local students keep their places.
Graduate and RN to BSN programs skip that approval entirely, according to the board's own FAQ. What remains is a license check: because the student cares for Montana patients, the school confirms the student's license is active and valid in the state. ETSU faculty would need Montana licensure only when treating patients themselves, not when advising you and your preceptor from Tennessee.
ETSU's own approval still applies, since a placement outside Tennessee is reviewed case by case after admission; see clinicals outside Tennessee.
The board's light touch for graduate programs does not change ETSU's does-not-meet finding for the MSN and DNP. Treat them as two separate questions.
Preceptors and sites across a big, spread-out state
AANP rates Montana a full practice state, so an established Montana NP can supervise an ETSU NP practicum without a physician partner, and physicians remain an option on the Intent Form.
Montana's metros are small by national standards. Billings, the largest, has under 200,000 people, and Bozeman, Missoula and Helena are smaller still. Names students tend to know include Benefis Health System, Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Intermountain's St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings, and the merged Billings Clinic-Logan Health system. They show where Montana NP students look; none is described as taking ETSU students. Our research found no Montana preceptor incentive.
Weigh the drive, too: a preceptor two hours away makes for a long commute across a whole practicum.
Your license for Montana clinicals
Montana is a compact state, in the NLC from January 2018. Its RN licensing page tells nurses holding another compact state's multistate privilege that a separate Montana license is unnecessary. So a Tennessee multistate license covers your RN practice in Montana, which satisfies both of ETSU's license rules, the MSN's and the DNP's.
The APRN Compact is not in force in Montana, so an NP license there is a separate application after you graduate. Read ETSU's license requirements for the details.
Applying from Montana, or relocating there
Montanans thinking about ETSU owe the board a question before applying, a condition ETSU sets; ask whether ETSU's curriculum would support a Montana NP license. A student who relocates to Montana mid-program stays enrolled only with the board's consent, and reports the new address to both the College of Nursing and ETSU's records office; see moving during your program.
Why ETSU students in Montana choose us
In Montana the right preceptor may be one town over or one county over, and we search both. We start from your ETSU course and the population it needs, find an NP or physician within a workable drive, and assemble every credential, license expiry and patient-mix figure that ETSU's intent paperwork and its ProjectConcert onboarding entry require, with the contract raised to the College straight away.
Approval belongs to your ETSU clinical faculty, and the credential check to the College's student services office; our part is making the submission complete and ETSU-ready before it lands. Say hello through our form.
Questions ETSU students ask
Will an ETSU MSN count toward a Montana NP license?
ETSU's university-wide table, last revised in June 2025, answers no for the MSN, and the College's program page, revised September 2025, has Montana among its undetermined states. Neither is a board decision. Before you apply, ETSU wants you to raise it with the Montana Board of Nursing, and a written reply is worth keeping.
Does the Montana board have to approve ETSU before my clinicals?
Not according to its FAQ. The approval rule in ARM 24.159.608 targets out-of-state prelicensure schools, and the FAQ leaves graduate and RN to BSN programs outside it. ETSU must still make sure your license is valid in Montana, and ETSU's own case-by-case approval applies.
Would my ETSU clinical faculty need a Montana nursing license?
Only if they treat patients in Montana themselves. Faculty who consult with you and your preceptor from a distance are outside the board's license requirement, per its FAQ. That makes the usual ETSU arrangement, a local preceptor with ETSU faculty directing the course, workable under Montana's rules.
Is ETSU's RN to BSN an option from Montana?
The two ETSU offices differ: the university lists the BSN as meeting Montana's requirements, and the College has not decided. ETSU says RN to BSN students living outside Tennessee might be sent to a Tennessee institution or agency for clinical hours, so ask the College how NRSE 4026 would work for you.
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
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Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.