The UL Lafayette graduate clinical path, from admission to final evaluation
Every UL Lafayette MSN, PMHNP certificate and DNP practicum follows one arc: admission, a permitted location, a preceptor who clears Louisiana's rules and the consortium's, a complete file, faculty sign-off, weekly faculty contact, logged hours and a final evaluation. We cover the search, the match and the paperwork for every stage of it, and we have your file ready before the term opens.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UL Lafayette program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UL Lafayette course.
What UL Lafayette publishes, and where we fit
UL Lafayette's public pages, its 2026-27 catalog and the ICMSN student handbook spell out what a graduate clinical must satisfy: the state it happens in, the hours it carries, the preceptor who supervises it and the people who sign off. The certificate's catalog entry, for instance, pairs each clinical course with an approved advanced practice preceptor under graduate faculty guidance. Louisiana's Board of Nursing rules sit underneath all of it.
Those sources set a firm standard for the preceptor and the site, yet none of them lays out, step by step, how a graduate placement comes together. Your graduate coordinator is the person to ask how that works for your course. Whichever way UL Lafayette handles your placement, our desk brings you a preceptor and a site that satisfy its rules.
Course faculty approve each preceptor after the graduate coordinator's review. Our job is to hand them a file that is already complete and already fits.
The path in seven steps
- Admission and start termThe MSN concentrations and the PMHNP certificate begin in January or August, with applications due Oct. 30 for spring and June 30 for fall. The post-MSN DNP takes one Fall cohort a year, applications due May 1, and opens with the on-campus DNP Orientation Intensive.
- A permitted locationMSN and certificate clinicals stay inside Louisiana on a Louisiana RN license; the DNP adds a home-state option. Our Louisiana-only clinicals guide quotes the rule and the one page that words it narrowly.
- A preceptor who clears two rulebooksLAC 46:XLVII.3543 and the ICMSN minimums both apply, from the Louisiana license and APRN certification to a year in practice and a two-student cap. See who can precept.
- A finished fileContract, preceptor CV, signed letter of agreement and your own health, OSHA and HIPAA records all sit in the graduate nursing office before any clinical day. The paperwork guide takes them one at a time.
- Faculty sign-offThe graduate coordinator reviews the preceptor, then course faculty approve. The approved schedule is posted in the clinical tracking system UL Lafayette requires of its students.
- Weekly contact and logged hoursA faculty member talks with you and with your preceptor every week at minimum, and you keep your schedule and hours current in the tracking system.
- Final evaluation and gradeFaculty grade your performance, drawing on the preceptor's input. A final evaluation rated unsatisfactory by either of them turns the course grade into an F.
How the path differs by program
Three of those figures conflict across UL Lafayette's own pages. Treat the 2026-27 catalog as the first word and course faculty as the last; the NP hours guide takes each number in turn. Per-course clock hours for NURS 582 to NURS 584 and NURS 591 to NURS 593 are not published, so ask course faculty how a given practicum's share is set.
| Program | First precepted course | Published clinical hours | Where hours happen |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | NURS 582, semester 3 of 5 | 750 in the 2026-27 catalog; 600 on a web requirements page and in earlier catalogs | Louisiana |
| MSN Psychiatric/Mental Health NP | NURS 591, semester 4 of 6 | 750 in the catalog and on the online program page; 600 on the web requirements page | Louisiana |
| MSN Nursing Education | NURS 544, semester 3 of 4 | 240 in the catalog (60 plus 180); 300 on the web | Louisiana |
| PMHNP Post-Master's Certificate | NURS 591, semester II of IV, after NURS 590 and its 60 observational hours | 510 direct care | Louisiana, with a Louisiana APRN license |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice | NURS 821, semester 4 of 6 | 420 residency hours; 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours in total, MSN hours included | Louisiana or the student's home state |
Before the first clinical day
Two clocks run before a practicum starts. One belongs to the agency contract: a first-time agreement can stretch from weeks into months, per the consortium handbook, and Louisiana's Board expects its clinical facility survey at least four weeks before a new agency first hosts students. The other belongs to approval, since the graduate coordinator's review needs the preceptor's CV and credentials before course faculty can sign.
UL Lafayette publishes neither clock as a deadline, so work backward from the opening day of the term that holds your first precepted course. Fall 2026 opens Aug. 24 and Spring 2027 on Jan. 13, and an ICMSN course taught at a partner school may run on that school's dates. Our first clinical course page places that course in each plan of study.
The handbook's order is fixed: the complete file first, then the first clinical day. Plan every date backward from that.
While the practicum runs
Under Louisiana's rule, nurse faculty stay responsible for guiding graduate learning experiences and evaluating students, with preceptors contributing input. Faculty need not stand in the clinic during a preceptorship, but someone from the faculty stays reachable for your preceptor and checks in weekly. Louisiana caps precepted APRN experiences at one faculty member per nine students.
Most of your time must be spent with an APRN licensed and certified in your population focus, and other clinicians can round out the rest. The handbook expects your approved schedule posted and kept current in the tracking system, and every message to faculty or your preceptor sent from your university email. Planning hours at your own job? Workplace clinical time must stay separate from job duties and unpaid; our workplace clinicals page covers the details.
The final evaluation and your grade
The consortium links the clinical grade directly to the final evaluation, and in the MSN a D or F in any course halts progression in the graduate nursing program. That makes the last weeks of a practicum as important as the first.
MSN students need at least a B in each course. Anything lower is repeated, only one repeat is allowed, and a C never counts toward the plan of study. The PMHNP certificate holds every course to the same B floor. The DNP carries a conflict: its catalog program page uses a repeat-once rule, while the Graduate School's DNP section ends eligibility at a second C, so ask the DNP Coordinator which governs your plan. Grades and progression lays both out.
Why UL Lafayette students choose us for this path
We are built around UL Lafayette's own process. Each search starts from your course, your term and your parish, and every candidate is checked against Louisiana's Board rule and the ICMSN minimums before their name reaches you.
What you get
- A preceptor and site in Louisiana, or for a DNP residency in your home state if you prefer, matched to your population focus
- The preceptor's current CV, Louisiana license and certification details gathered and checked
- Site details ready for the agency contract early enough to absorb a new contract's lead time
- A letter of agreement ready for signatures and your health, OSHA and HIPAA items lined up
- A placement advisor on call all semester, and a fresh search if a preceptor steps away
UL Lafayette's faculty have the final say, and we make their review quick by sending everything in order on the first pass. See how it works, then share your program and first clinical term in the form below.
Questions UL Lafayette students ask
Who arranges a UL Lafayette graduate clinical placement?
UL Lafayette's current public pages and its 2026-27 catalog set the standards for preceptors and sites without describing how graduate placements are arranged. Your graduate coordinator can tell you what applies to your course and term. Either way, we find a preceptor and site that fit UL Lafayette's rules and prepare the file its faculty review.
How early should I start on my first UL Lafayette practicum?
UL Lafayette posts no graduate placement deadline, so count back from the start of the term that holds your first precepted course. A new agency contract can take weeks to months, and the Board's facility survey is due four weeks before a new agency is used. A full semester of lead time leaves room for both.
Do MSN or certificate students have to come to campus?
No on-campus requirement appears on UL Lafayette's pages for the MSN concentrations or the PMHNP certificate, and the certificate's didactic courses are fully online. The DNP differs: it opens with the on-campus DNP Orientation Intensive and closes with an on-campus presentation of the Synthesis Project.
Can one preceptor cover every hour of my practicum?
Louisiana requires that the majority of your clinical time be with an APRN licensed and certified in your population focus, and it lets other clinicians add experience. How a course divides hours across preceptors and settings is something to settle with your course faculty before you build a whole semester around one site.
What does the graduate coordinator do in the clinical process?
Under the ICMSN handbook, the graduate coordinator reviews each preceptor before course faculty give approval. UL Lafayette names a Graduate Nursing Program Coordinator as the contact for its MSN programs, and the graduate nursing office sits in V.L. Wharton Hall, Room 307. The DNP has its own DNP Coordinator, who plans each student's program.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against UL Lafayette's 2026-27 catalog, its online program and state authorization pages, the ICMSN student handbook and Louisiana's nursing rules. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
- UL Lafayette 2026-27 catalog: MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration
- UL Lafayette 2026-27 catalog: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, PMC
- UL Lafayette 2026-27 catalog: Doctor of Nursing Practice requirements
- ICMSN Student Handbook (rev. 10/06/2025)
- Louisiana Administrative Code, LAC 46:XLVII.3543, Preceptorship Learning Experiences
Whether UL Lafayette helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your UL Lafayette program, the practicum coming up and the Louisiana town you train near. We look for preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather the license, CV and agency details that must be on file before your first clinical day.
- Preceptors who meet Louisiana's rules: an active Louisiana license, most hours with an APRN in your population focus
- The preceptor's CV, the agency details and your letter of agreement items gathered early
- Across Acadiana and the rest of Louisiana, plus DNP residencies in your home state
Start your placement plan
Your program, your town and your next clinical semester is all we need to begin.