Your Spring Arbor clinicals, with a preceptor lined up in time.
Spring Arbor asks its online students to choose their own preceptor in their home state, and its faculty approve every one. The paperwork is due weeks before the course starts. We add the leads: a preceptor and site that fit your track, with the forms ready early.
Start your placement plan
Tell us your Spring Arbor track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what an SAU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.
01What SAU does, and what's left to you
Spring Arbor's online FAQ puts it plainly: you choose your own preceptor in your home state. SAU's faculty then approve the preceptor and the site for every rotation, and the clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification paperwork has to be in well before the course begins. SAU helps along the way, through the program director's list of volunteer providers, a Student Success Coach and, on the FNP and PMHNP pages since 2026, a clinical partner network.
That leaves the search itself with you, one seven-week course at a time, and it is the part we take on. We are the placement service built around SAU's process: we find preceptors and sites that fit your track and your state, screen them against SAU's preceptor rules, have the paperwork ready before the four-week mark, and stay on call if a preceptor drops, all alongside SAU's own help.
From your first lead to your first clinical day
In SAU's order, so faculty have what they need before the four-week mark.
Your SAU track, your state, and the semester your clinical course starts.
A certified NP, physician or PA and a site near you that fit your track.
Clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification forms go in early; SAU faculty approve.
You log your hours, and we stay on call if a preceptor drops out mid-semester.
Pick your Spring Arbor track
Your clinical courses and hours, who can precept you, where, and when to start looking. From SAU's program pages and the 2023-24 Graduate Catalog.
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Near you, in your home state: family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, urgent care
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Adult and older-adult primary care near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- Psychiatric preceptors approved by SAU faculty; plan on several placements
- Where
- Psychiatric and mental health settings near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- Preceptors working within pediatric NP scope, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Pediatric primary care near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, or a master's-prepared nurse in a specialty field
- Where
- A direct-care setting for NUR 780B; an education setting for the internship
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- A certified NP, physician or PA, or a master's-prepared nurse in a specialty field
- Where
- A direct-care setting near you
- Start looking
- Start in your first months of the program; forms go in at least four weeks before the clinical course
- Who precepts
- Preceptors in your new population focus, approved by SAU faculty
- Where
- Near you, in your home state
- Start looking
- Forms at least four weeks before any clinical course
- Who precepts
- Set with your DNP faculty; NUR 880 is a faculty-led immersion
- Where
- Your practice setting and project site
- Start looking
- Only if you bring fewer than 500 practicum hours from your earlier degree
- Who precepts
- No external preceptor
- Where
- Clinical learning is built into the courses
- Start looking
- Plan ahead for the MSN, where you will need a preceptor
The SAU pieces you'll deal with
Each one named the way Spring Arbor names it, with what SAU publishes and what it leaves to your program.
Your program, your preceptor
Every Spring Arbor nursing program with clinical hours, and who can precept it.
When the plan breaks
Straight answers for the weeks when a clinical course is at risk.
Before you start
Does Spring Arbor find my preceptor for me?
Not for online students, as SAU describes it today. The FAQ says you choose your own preceptor in your home state, and faculty approve it. The FNP and PMHNP pages add that SAU works with you to secure placements and offers a clinical partner network, but no page promises a placement. Plan to bring your own leads.
Who can precept a Spring Arbor NP student?
SAU's catalog names a certified nurse practitioner, a physician or a physician assistant, local to you and approved by program faculty. For NUR 780B, the Nurse Educator and MSN/MBA practicum, a master's-prepared nurse in a specialty field can also qualify.
How early should I start looking?
SAU's own advice is to start in the first few months of the program, well before clinicals. The 2023-24 catalog asks for the clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification forms at least four weeks before a clinical course, so the preceptor has to say yes before that.
Can I do Spring Arbor clinicals in any state?
Not all. SAU's nursing programs are not authorized in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana or New York, and Washington is approved for Washington residents only. You also need an unrestricted RN license in the state where you do your clinical hours.
How do you work with SAU's faculty?
Side by side. We are an independent placement service: we search for preceptors and sites and prepare what SAU reviews, and SAU's faculty give the final approval on every one. Your program's rules shape every search we run.
More preceptor leads, sooner, for your SAU clinicals.
Tell us your Spring Arbor track, where you live and when your clinical course starts. We look for a preceptor and site that fit SAU's rules for your track and help you get the paperwork in on time.
- Matched to your track: FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP, PNP, Nurse Educator or DNP
- Clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification forms ready early
- In your home state, near where you live
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what an SAU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.