UNCW DNP Family Nurse Practitioner: the clinical side of the program
UNCW's BSN-DNP Family Nurse Practitioner concentration is 74 credits, taught online with required trips to Wilmington, and built around four practica that you staff with your own North Carolina preceptors. Across the degree you log 1,000 hours, as the 2026-27 catalog counts them. This guide lays out the courses, the timing and the preceptor mix, then shows where our North Carolina search and submission prep come in.
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Tell us your practicum course and semester, and your placement advisor starts the search.
The FNP concentration in brief
The FNP track is one of three nurse practitioner concentrations inside UNCW's Doctor of Nursing Practice, entered directly from the BSN. Classes mix self-paced and scheduled online work, and the School of Nursing expects you in Wilmington for the new student orientation and for the intensives. UNCW has not posted intensive dates yet; the orientation and intensives guide tracks what is known.
Four didactic family courses carry the specialty content: NSG 612 adult health, NSG 613 infant, child and adolescent health, NSG 614 women's health and NSG 615 complex problems across the lifespan, at 4 credits each. Around them sit the shared doctoral core and the DNP project sequence (NSGL 696 to NSGL 698).
| Item | What UNCW publishes |
|---|---|
| Credits | 74, including 9 credits of DNP project work (23 courses) |
| Delivery | Online, asynchronous and synchronous, plus a mandatory on-campus orientation and designated on-campus intensives |
| Hours | 1,000: 750 direct patient care and 250 non-patient care (catalog exit requirement) |
| Practicum courses | NSGL 650, NSGL 651 and NSGL 652 at 180 hours each; NSGL 653 at 240 |
| Length | Full-time plan 8 semesters; part-time plan 14 semesters; six-year completion limit |
| Start | Fall only. The Fall 2027 application opened 09/01/2026 and closes 02/01/2027 |
| License | Unrestricted North Carolina or compact RN license, to complete clinical hours in North Carolina |
| Experience | 600 hours of RN work experience before any clinical course |
| Certification | Graduates are eligible for the ANCC or AANP FNP exam |
Four practica, and the 750 versus 780 question
Every practicum is a semester spent with North Carolina preceptors. The catalog course pages give 180 patient contact hours to each of the first three courses and 240 to the capstone, NSGL 653, for a sum of 780. The catalog's exit requirement and UNCW's FNP preceptor page both say 750 direct care hours. Plan on 780, because each course needs its own hours signed off before the last day of classes, and let your syllabus settle the difference.
| Course | Hours | Population focus added | Full-time plan | Part-time plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NSGL 650 | 180 | Foundational primary care across the lifespan | Spring, year 2 (semester 5) | Spring, year 3 (semester 8) |
NSGL 651 | 180 | Pediatric and adolescent patients | Summer, year 2 | Summer, year 3 |
NSGL 652 | 180 | Women's health and more complex care | Fall, year 3 | Fall, year 4 |
NSGL 653 | 240 | Capstone: autonomous, multi-system care; close out every encounter minimum | Spring, year 3 | Spring, year 5 |
The other 250 hours are non-patient immersion hours rather than preceptor time, and the 1,000-hour breakdown shows how UNCW counts them. For course objectives and the kind of site each practicum suits, see the FNP practicum course guide.
When the first practicum starts, and when to start looking
Full-time students reach NSGL 650 in semester 5, the spring of their second year. On the part-time plan it arrives in semester 8, the spring of year 3, and there is no practicum the following spring before the capstone. By our count, a full-time student who starts in Fall 2027 begins clinicals in spring 2029.
Before any clinical course, UNCW requires 600 hours of work experience as a registered nurse. Admitted new graduates can build those hours during the first year of coursework, but they have to be complete before NSGL 650 begins.
UNCW's own process map puts the start of your search half a year to a year before the course. After that, the handbook's written rule wants your placement details 8 weeks or more before the term, yet its flowchart shows the intent form going in no later than 90 days before the course. Aim for the earlier of the two; the submission deadline guide explains both dates and what happens when an agreement is still pending.
Who can precept you, and the mix you need
FNP preceptors must practice in North Carolina and bring a year or more of provider experience, preferably in the clinic that would host you. Nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives qualify with their RN license, a current NC Approval to Practice and national board certification; physicians and physician assistants qualify with an unrestricted North Carolina license and board certification. The Fall 2025 clinical handbook adds that at least one of your preceptors across the program must be an NP.
Over the four courses you need primary care, pediatric and women's health experience, so most FNP students train with more than one preceptor. UNCW allows up to 4 preceptors in one course, lets you go back to an earlier preceptor with the Graduate Clinical Coordinator's approval, and excludes family members and friends. The preceptor requirements page has the full checklist by credential.
Every FNP clinical hour happens in North Carolina with a North Carolina preceptor, even if you live across the state line. The North Carolina rule covers the license side and the practical side.
Encounter minimums decide where you train
Hours alone do not finish the program. UNCW sets minimum encounter counts in 15 categories for FNP students, and a student who logs every hour but falls short in one category is not eligible to graduate. Observation visits are excluded from the counts, and the minimums apply to both the old and new course sequences.
Categories that usually need a dedicated site
- Pediatrics: 20 episodic and 20 well visits in each of three age bands, from 2 weeks old to 19 years
- Women's health: 20 antepartum visits and 20 gynecologic visits, 10 of them with a speculum or bimanual exam
- 10 newborn exams and 10 men's health visits
- 40 mental health visits
- Adults and older adults: 100 adult chronic, 70 geriatric chronic, and 50 each of adult and geriatric episodic or wellness visits
Telehealth visits top out at 50 for your entire program, and they only count when you join them from the clinic rather than from home. The FNP encounter guide has the full table and a plan for reaching each count before the capstone.
Old or new sequence: check before you call a preceptor
Students admitted under the 2025-26 catalog or later take NSGL 650 to NSGL 653. If you entered before that, you may be finishing the older sequence, NSGL 620, NSGL 621 and NSGL 622, which pairs three 180-hour practica with a residency course and a 500 plus 500 split between direct and non-patient hours. UNCW's FNP preceptor page tells preceptors that the student will explain which curriculum applies, so have your course numbers ready before the first conversation.
The course number appears on your placement packet and in Typhon, and it tells a preceptor how many hours and which patients to expect that semester. The curriculum transition guide sets the two sequences side by side.
Why UNCW FNP students choose us
We are built around this concentration's clinical side. Your placement advisor searches North Carolina for preceptors who fit the exact course ahead of you: a family practice with steady pediatric volume for NSGL 651, a site with prenatal and gynecologic visits for NSGL 652, and a busy primary care home for the 240 hours of NSGL 653. We search near where you live and as far as you are willing to drive, from the Cape Fear region to the Triangle, the Triad and Charlotte.
Once a preceptor says yes, we assemble everything UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator checks: a CV that shows dates and names the site, the preceptor's license number, the address for evaluation links, the agency's full name, street address and county, and who signs agreements. Your packet goes in whole and early, and when a preceptor steps away mid-program, the replacement search starts at once. UNCW makes the final call on every site; our job is to hand them a file that fits their rules on the first read. Use the form below to tell us your semester.
Questions UNCW students ask
Is the UNCW DNP FNP program fully online?
Mostly. Classes run online, with a blend of self-paced and scheduled sessions, but you must travel to Wilmington for the new DNP student orientation and for intensive sessions during the program. Your clinical hours are in person too, at North Carolina sites with your preceptors, so budget travel for both. The number and dates of the intensives are not yet public.
How long does the UNCW FNP DNP take?
The full-time plan of study runs eight semesters, from the fall of year one to the spring of year three, summers included. The part-time plan runs 14 semesters and ends in the spring of year five. The DNP Student Handbook sets a six-year limit to finish, which leaves room if a placement or a repeated course slows you down.
Can I complete UNCW FNP clinical hours in another state?
No. The 2025-26 DNP Student Handbook says NP students complete clinical and practicum hours in North Carolina only, and FNP preceptors must practice in the state. You can live elsewhere if you hold a multistate compact RN license, but every practicum day takes place at a North Carolina site. UNCW's FAQ even suggests thinking about friends or family you could stay with near a clinical site.
Which certification exam can UNCW FNP graduates take?
UNCW says FNP graduates are eligible for the family nurse practitioner certification exam from either the ANCC or the AANP. In North Carolina, national certification is one piece of a first Approval to Practice, alongside a graduate NP degree, an active RN license and a collaborative practice agreement with a supervising physician.
What does UNCW require to apply to the FNP DNP?
A BSN, a 3.0 GPA (2.75 is considered case by case) and a current RN license without restrictions, issued by North Carolina or a compact state. Before your first practicum you also need 600 hours of RN work experience. UNCW admits DNP students once a year for fall, and the Fall 2027 application runs from 09/01/2026 to 02/01/2027.
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
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