UNCW's DNP project courses, NSGL 696 to NSGL 698
Every UNCW DNP concentration now builds its project across three project courses of 3 credits each (NSGL 696, NSGL 697, NSGL 698), with 120 immersion hours expected in each. You choose a project site with your project faculty, get it approved in the first week of NSGL 696, and finish with a comprehensive exam on the project, both written and oral. Earlier cohorts took NSG 699 twice instead.
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Tell us your UNCW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UNCW course.
Three courses, one project
The DNP Student Handbook 2025-2026 describes each project course as 3 credits, with 120 immersion hours expected to be accumulated in each. UNCW counts one credit hour as four hours of activity a week, and these are immersion hours: project work rather than patient care, with no assigned preceptor. The catalog puts an "Instructor approval" note on NSGL 697 and NSGL 698, so registering for the second and third courses takes faculty approval.
| Course | Title | Credits | Immersion hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
NSGL 696 | DNP Project I | 3 | About 120 | DNP Project Site Approval form due in week one |
NSGL 697 | DNP Project II | 3 | About 120 | Instructor approval |
NSGL 698 | DNP Project III | 3 | About 120 | Instructor approval |
Who takes them, and when
The three courses appear in all five DNP concentrations: FNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP on the BSN-DNP side, and Post APRN and Nurse Executive Leadership for master's-prepared nurses. The PMHNP Post-Doctoral Certificate has no project, since its students already hold a DNP.
UNCW runs the sequence summer, fall, spring. For Post APRN and NEL, NSGL 696 comes early: the third semester, the summer of year one, on the full-time plan, or the sixth semester, the summer of year two, part time. In the NP plans the project overlaps the practica, and the full-time FNP plan puts DNP Project III in the final spring beside NSGL 653, the 240-hour capstone.
One labeling quirk: UNCW's FNP and AGPCNP web plans call the later courses NSG 697 and NSG 698, and the NEL plan uses NSG 697L and 698L, while the catalog uses NSGL for all three.
Choosing and approving a project site
- Choose the project and setting with your project facultyUNCW's project process starts with you selecting a topic and a site under your project faculty's guidance. Your current workplace can qualify, and BSN-DNP projects must align with the advanced practice role you are preparing for.
- Submit the site in the first week of NSGL 696Week one of the first project course is when the DNP Student Handbook wants the DNP Project Site Approval form. UNCW's clinical hours handbook also lists a DNP Project Intent form, plus a Letter of Support from the site.
- Get the site champion's signatureCourse faculty review the submission, then the organization's site champion signs off through DocuSign. At that point you are cleared to begin, with the Letter of Support due toward the end of the course.
- Add an agreement if the organization asks for oneIf you are not employed somewhere suited to your project, UNCW will execute an affiliation agreement with the agency and liaison you identify when the agency requests one. Post APRN and NEL students working at their own employer also file a Letter of Agreement signed by UNCW and the employer.
The older handbook's process map ties this paperwork to a Canvas course numbered 681, a holdover from the previous curriculum, so follow the course your cohort is actually enrolled in.
Where project settings come from
Most Post APRN and NEL students, UNCW's clinical handbook says, complete their immersion hours at their own place of employment as an APRN or health systems leader. For both concentrations the catalog ties the project to the state in which the student holds a license, so the setting is not held to North Carolina the way NP clinical hours are. The Post APRN guide covers that concentration's hours in full.
BSN-DNP students have more to weigh. The project has to fit the advanced practice role, so it belongs in a setting that matches it: primary care or community health for an FNP, adult and older-adult care for an AGPCNP, mental health for a PMHNP. Your workplace or a practicum site you already know can be a natural fit, since the working relationships are in place. UNCW does not say whether its North Carolina rule for NP clinical hours also covers BSN-DNP project sites, so confirm with project faculty before you plan one elsewhere.
The finish line: a written and oral examination
Every DNP concentration lists the same exit requirement in the catalog: "Complete and pass a written and oral comprehensive examination of the DNP Project." The DNP Student Handbook adds that the project poster is presented at the end of the program as part of DNP Presentation Day. UNCW does not publish the exam format, its timing or whether Presentation Day is held in person, so your project faculty and your cohort's handbook are the places to check.
The project hours also feed UNCW's 1,000-hour DNP total. For Post APRN and NEL, the DNP Student Handbook counts up to 500 hours from the master's program and a minimum of 500 DNP immersion hours, while the older clinical hours handbook's table expects 430 immersion hours for Post APRN. The 1,000-hour guide sets the figures side by side.
The previous project sequence
Before the 2025-26 catalog, BSN-DNP students took NSGL 681, a 3-credit course titled Residency in Advanced Nursing Practice that carried about 120 immersion hours, and a single project course, NSG 699 DNP Project, taken twice for 6 project credits. The Fall 2025 clinical hours handbook still refers to the 681 and 699 courses, while the DNP Student Handbook 2025-2026, the plans of study and the catalog use NSGL 696–NSGL 698.
Both older courses remain in the 2026-27 course list, which fits cohorts still completing them. The logic is the same either way: a setting approved by project faculty, immersion hours logged in Typhon as you earn them, and the comprehensive examination at the end. The curriculum transition guide explains who is on which sequence.
How we help while the project runs
For NP students the project courses land in the same terms as the practica, and the full-time FNP plan stacks DNP Project III on top of the 240-hour NSGL 653 in the final spring. That is exactly when your preceptor search should already be finished. We take the clinical side off your desk: matching you with North Carolina preceptors for each practicum, preparing the details UNCW's Graduate Clinical Coordinator reviews, and staying on call if a preceptor drops, so your attention stays on the project.
Post APRN and NEL students who want support lining up a practice setting can describe the project in the form below, and the placement desk will talk through what the organization is likely to ask for. See how it works.
Questions UNCW students ask
Can my UNCW DNP project be done at my workplace?
Yes. The DNP Student Handbook allows a project site at the place where you already work. BSN-DNP students need a project that aligns with their advanced practice role, and the site still needs approval from project faculty and a signature from its site champion. If your employer asks for a formal agreement, UNCW executes it at the agency's request.
Do I need a preceptor for the DNP project?
There is no assigned preceptor. UNCW defines immersion hours as work that is not patient-focused and done without an assigned preceptor. Your project faculty guide the work, and the organization's site champion signs the paperwork that clears you to begin.
When is the DNP Project Site Approval form due?
The DNP Student Handbook 2025-2026 puts it in week one of NSGL 696. Have the site identified before the course opens so the form, the site champion's signature and any agreement the organization requests can move quickly. Post APRN and NEL students reach NSGL 696 in their first summer on the full-time plan.
Can Post APRN students complete the DNP project outside North Carolina?
Yes. The catalog links the Post APRN project to wherever the student holds an RN license and APRN approval, rather than to North Carolina, and uses similar wording for Nurse Executive Leadership. NP clinical hours in the BSN-DNP concentrations are a separate matter and stay in North Carolina.
Is the DNP project the same for Post APRN and FNP students?
The course numbers are the same, NSGL 696 to NSGL 698, and so is the closing written and oral examination. The context differs: an FNP student's project must fit the advanced practice role and runs alongside four practica, while Post APRN students usually carry out the project where they already practice.
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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