UNCW's BSN Prelicensure: 675 clinical hours the school assigns
In UNCW's on-campus BSN Prelicensure option, the School of Nursing assigns your clinical sites, so your job is to be cleared, on time and ready. Four nursing semesters add up to 675 clinical and lab hours, and the last one closes with the NSG 434 capstone preceptorship alongside an experienced RN. Here is how the hours are spread, where they happen, how they are graded, and how to prepare for the capstone and for graduate school later.
Plan ahead with a placement advisor
Tell us your cohort and whether you are preparing for the capstone or a future NP program.
The program in brief: cohorts, credits and admission
The Prelicensure option is UNCW's traditional, on-campus route to the BSN, taught in Wilmington with simulation labs on campus and clinical rotations at agencies off campus. It admits two cohorts a year: the fall cohort's application deadline is December 15 and the spring cohort's is July 1.
You spend roughly four semesters on prerequisites, then four nursing semesters on a plan UNCW labels the Four-Semester Plan of Study (Beginning Fall 2023). The nursing core is 54 credits. For the whole degree, the 2026-27 catalog sets the university minimum at 124 hours while the web plan of study says 120; the dated catalog is the safer figure to plan around.
Admission asks for a 2.7 total GPA, the TEAS, a cleared criminal background check, and the physical and emotional health to take part in and complete the program. The background check is not a one-time hurdle: the clinical handbook repeats it "prior to the third and final semester".
675 clinical hours, semester by semester
Clinical and lab hours climb from 135 in your first nursing semester to 180 in each of the next three. Each figure works out to 45 clock hours per clinical or lab credit, a pattern derived from UNCW's plan rather than stated in it.
| Nursing semester | Clinical and lab courses | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (plan semester 5) | NSG 300 health assessment lab; NSG 302 foundational care of adults, the first clinical course | 135 |
| 2 (plan semester 6) | NSG 311 lab and simulation; NSG 313 women's health; NSG 314 care of children | 180 |
| 3 (plan semester 7) | NSG 422 mental health; NSG 426 acute and complex care of adults | 180 |
| 4 (plan semester 8) | NSG 430 population and public health; NSG 434 capstone | 180 |
| Total | Seven clinical courses and two lab courses | 675 |
Course descriptions hint at the range of settings. NSG 302 uses a variety of clinical settings, NSG 314 reaches into homes, schools, the community and acute care, and NSG 422 places students in various agencies.
Where clinicals happen: sites UNCW assigns
UNCW's Prelicensure & ABSN Clinical Handbook says clinical assignments are made in several off-campus clinical agencies, so you are placed rather than searching. The handbook calls UNCW a regional university with affiliations in six surrounding counties and warns that sites may sit outside New Hanover County. The Prelicensure FAQ names four: New Hanover, Onslow, Brunswick and Pender. Either way, plan on travel across the wider Cape Fear area.
Getting to and from every agency is your responsibility, and in community-based rotations you may ride in an agency nurse preceptor's vehicle to visit clients. The Prelicensure Student Handbook expects you to handle shifts of up to 12 hours, including days, evenings, nights and weekends.
Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington is one of the hospitals where UNCW BSN students rotate, according to UNCW's own news coverage. Novant has also funded scholarships for UNCW students and more experienced nurse preceptors for pre-licensure nursing students.
Getting cleared: Certiphi, myClinicalExchange and hospital orientation
Clearance for BSN students runs through Certiphi. Items are due before June 1 if you are admitted for August and by November 1 if you are admitted for January. Some clinical partners also require a myClinicalExchange (myCE) account, which you create and pay for yourself; Novant, for one, takes rotation requests through myClinicalExchange.
NHRMC adds an online orientation certificate, due by July 1 for fall entry and December 1 for spring entry. CPR must be American Heart Association BLS, and a fully online BLS course or a Red Cross card does not count. Drug screens and background checks repeat at set points in the program, and the flu vaccine is due by October 1.
Liability insurance is covered in student fees. The clinical compliance guide walks through each item and its timing.
How clinicals are graded, and the one-repeat rule
Clinical and laboratory work is graded pass or fail. Fail the clinical side and you fail the entire course, even with passing theory grades. You also need 100% on the medication calculation competency within three attempts.
Every nursing course needs at least a C, and progression and graduation need a cumulative GPA of 2.70. If you fail a nursing course, you may repeat it once; failing the repeat, or failing a second nursing course, ends in dismissal. Re-enrolling after a failure depends on course and clinical placement availability, so a repeat can mean waiting for a seat.
The grades and progression guide compares these rules with UNCW's graduate programs, where the grade bar and the repeat limits differ.
A strong exam average cannot rescue a failed clinical. In UNCW's BSN, the clinical component decides the course.
The NSG 434 capstone preceptorship
Your final semester's anchor is NSG 434 Capstone: Prioritization and Application of Nursing Care. The catalog pairs classroom activities with "a one-to-one preceptorship with an experienced registered nurse", during which you refine psychomotor skills and deliver care that shows sound clinical judgment and professional values.
The catalog and both student handbooks list the course at 5 credits (2 lecture, 3 clinical). The web plan of study shows it as 3 hours, though that semester's total only adds up with 5. Your capstone preceptor is an RN at an agency within UNCW's clinical assignments, and UNCW's published materials describe no student search, so ask your course faculty how pairings are made for your cohort.
The capstone is the closest a UNCW BSN comes to a real RN assignment: one nurse, one student, full shifts and prioritization under pressure. Students who arrive with clear goals and a complete clearance file get more out of it.
Why UNCW BSN students work with us
Your BSN clinicals come to you, but the rest of a nursing career does not always work that way. We help in two places.
Capstone preparation. Before NSG 434, your placement advisor walks you through what a one-to-one RN preceptorship asks of you, helps you keep your Certiphi, myClinicalExchange and orientation items in one clean checklist, and helps you shape the goals and introduction you bring to your preceptor on day one.
Graduate school. UNCW's nurse practitioner DNP concentrations put the preceptor search on the student, every clinical hour happens in North Carolina, and 600 hours of RN work experience must come first. If the DNP FNP or another NP track is your next step, we are the most thorough way to line up North Carolina preceptors early and keep them. Start with how it works.
Questions UNCW students ask
Do UNCW BSN students have to find their own clinical placements?
No. For both the Prelicensure and ABSN options, UNCW makes the clinical assignments at off-campus agencies. What falls to you is transportation, a complete Certiphi file, any myClinicalExchange account a partner requires, and hospital orientation modules such as NHRMC's. Finding your own preceptor becomes your task later, in UNCW's nurse practitioner programs.
Does a UNCW BSN meet licensure requirements outside North Carolina?
UNCW's professional licensure disclosure covers the Prelicensure and ABSN options together. It lists them as meeting requirements in every state and territory except California, which is marked Does Not Meet with an asterisk pointing to additional requirements. The state authorization guide explains the disclosure and who to ask about California.
When should a UNCW BSN student start planning for NP clinicals?
Earlier than most expect. UNCW's DNP handbook suggests starting a preceptor search 6 to 12 months before the placement deadline, and the DNP FAQ urges future students to start fostering professional ties with primary care NPs, PAs and physicians before they even enroll. The months you spend earning 600 RN hours are a good time to start.
What is the difference between UNCW's Prelicensure BSN and the ABSN?
Both lead to the same BSN and share the nursing courses, clinical hours and capstone. The Prelicensure option admits fall and spring cohorts after prerequisites, while the ABSN compresses the same work into four back-to-back semesters from summer for second-degree students.
Is there a time limit to finish UNCW's BSN?
Yes. Nursing courses must be completed within a consecutive six-calendar-year period, and science and math prerequisites must fall within the 10 years before you apply. A failed course and a wait for a clinical seat both eat into those six years, so protect your progression from the first nursing semester.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against UNCW's catalog, handbooks and School of Nursing pages. Your course, your cohort's handbook and UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UNCW asks you to find your own North Carolina preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UNCW program, your practicum course and where in North Carolina you can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and agency details UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews, well before the deadline.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care, pediatrics and women's health for
NSGL 650toNSGL 653, adult and older-adult care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - Preceptor CV with dates and site, license number and agency details ready for your submission
- In Wilmington, the Cape Fear region or wherever in North Carolina your clinicals can happen
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.