The three-month lead time, mapped to Keiser's terms

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Keiser Preceptor placement team

Keiser tells FNP students to begin planning each clinical course about three months before it starts. On the 8-week graduate calendar, that puts the start of your search roughly a term and a half ahead of the practicum. This page turns the rule into dates and a working plan for the twelve weeks.

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3months before a course start, when Keiser's FNP page says to begin planning

8weeks in each graduate term on Keiser's 2026-27 calendar

Numbered steps. A working plan for the twelve weeks: 1 Weeks 1 to 3: search and ask; 2 Weeks 3 to 5: lock in the preceptor and the site; 3 Weeks 4 to 6: send the form; 4 Weeks 5 to 10: approvals and signatures; 5 Weeks 10 to 12: clearance and the plan. — A working plan for the twelve weeks: 1 Weeks 1 to 3: search and ask; 2 Weeks 3 to 5: lock in the preceptor and the site; 3 Weeks 4 to 6: send the form; 4 Weeks 5 to 10: approvals and signatures; 5 Weeks 10 to 12: clearance and the plan.

The rule in Keiser's words

Keiser's FNP program page sets the rule in capital letters, telling students to "begin to plan for your clinical courses approximately THREE MONTHS in ADVANCE of the course start date." Keiser's older Graduate Nursing Programs Clinical Manual comes at it from the other side, asking for preceptor and site contact information "a minimum of three months in advance of the expected clinical start date."

The two lines are not quite the same. The program page treats three months as the moment to start planning; the older manual treats it as the moment Keiser should already have your preceptor's and site's details. Plan to the stricter reading: have a confirmed name by the three-month mark, which means opening the search earlier. Course faculty or the Clinical Coordinator can tell you which date your term actually works to.

What has to fit inside three months

Three months sounds generous until you list what must happen inside it. Every item below comes before your first clinical hour, and several depend on people who are not on your schedule.

A clinician who meets Keiser's preceptor rules agrees to take you
The practice or health system agrees to host you and names who signs for it
Your Preceptor/Mentor Information Form, with the CV or resume and license details, is submitted
The Program Director approves the preceptor
Keiser and the agency sign an affiliation agreement, unless a current one is already in place
Clearance items and any site-specific onboarding are finished
Course faculty receive your plan for clinical course completion, with dates and clinical days

Give the agreement the earliest start of anything on the list, because it needs signatures from two organizations, the agency and Keiser. The affiliation agreement guide explains who signs.

Term start dates and a planning point for each

Keiser's graduate year runs on three 16-week semesters, each split into two 8-week terms that start on a Monday. The table counts back about three months from each published start. The start dates come from Keiser's 2026-27 Graduate Catalog; the planning points are our arithmetic, not Keiser deadlines.

Keiser graduate term starts and a planning point about three months earlier
Term starts	Plan from about	Term running at that point
Oct 26, 2026	Jul 26, 2026	Term that began Jul 6, 2026
Jan 11, 2027	Oct 11, 2026	Term that began Aug 31, 2026
Mar 8, 2027	Dec 8, 2026	Term that began Oct 26, 2026
May 10, 2027	Feb 10, 2027	Term that began Jan 11, 2027
Jul 5, 2027	Apr 5, 2027	Term that began Mar 8, 2027
Aug 30, 2027	May 30, 2027	Term that began May 10, 2027
Oct 25, 2027	Jul 25, 2027	Term that began Jul 5, 2027

Read the right-hand column as a warning: the planning point for any practicum lands in the middle of an earlier term, while you are busy with other coursework. The graduate calendar guide covers the calendar in full.

A working plan for the twelve weeks

The plan below is a pattern, not a Keiser rule. It assumes you begin right at the three-month point; any earlier start simply adds cushion.

Weeks 1 to 3: search and askList practices near home that see the patients your practicum needs, screen clinicians against Keiser's rules, and send specific requests naming the course, the term and the weekly hours.
Weeks 3 to 5: lock in the preceptor and the siteGet the preceptor's commitment in writing, identify the site's agreement contact, and ask the Clinical Coordinator whether the site already holds a current agreement with Keiser.
Weeks 4 to 6: send the formSubmit the Preceptor/Mentor Information Form with the CV or resume and credential details. The form guide covers what goes in.
Weeks 5 to 10: approvals and signaturesThe Program Director reviews the preceptor, the site is approved, and the agreement moves between the two signers. Check in politely and keep copies of everything.
Weeks 10 to 12: clearance and the planFinish any onboarding the site requires and send course faculty your plan for clinical course completion, with start and end dates and clinical days.

Five practicums, overlapping clocks

The FNP sequence runs through five practicums, NUR602A, NUR603A, NUR604A, NUR605A and NUR691A, each filling one 8-week term. Keiser's FNP page wants final grades posted for each theory and clinical pair before you enroll in the next, and it puts the five practicums at 40 weeks when taken back to back.

So the clock for the next practicum starts while you are still logging hours in the current one. If your adult-care preceptor does not see children, the NUR604A search should already be moving during NUR603A. The FNP practicum courses guide shows the order and hours.

Inside the window already, or planning far ahead

Starting inside three months is harder, not impossible. Every step gets compressed, and Keiser's approvals and signatures still have to land before day one. Tell course faculty early, work the search and the paperwork in parallel, and read the guide for a term that starts soon.

Starting earlier than three months has almost no downside. Your first practicum cannot open until NUR671 and the courses before it are finished, so you can see months in advance roughly which term it will land in. The first clinical course guide shows how to work that out.

How we fit the three-month window

Keiser students come to us to turn the three-month window into a finished file. Your placement advisor runs the search for an in-person preceptor near home, pins down clinic days that suit the 8-week term, and assembles the paperwork Keiser's reviewers expect, with the goal of having everything in hand about three months before the course.

With several practicums ahead, we open the next search while the current one is still running, so the pediatric or women's health practicum is not a scramble. Keiser's faculty make the approvals; we make sure what reaches them is complete and on time.

Questions Keiser students ask

Is three months a Keiser deadline or a suggestion?

The FNP program page frames it as planning advice and says "approximately." The older clinical manual is firmer, asking for preceptor and site contact details at least three months before clinicals start. Neither names a cutoff date for a specific term, so treat three months as the latest comfortable point and confirm any hard deadline with course faculty or the Clinical Coordinator.

Does the three-month rule apply to every practicum or only the first?

Keiser's wording covers clinical courses in general, so plan each one the same way. Each FNP practicum is a separate 8-week course with its own dates and its own approved arrangement, and a preceptor who suits the adult practicums may not suit the pediatric or women's health one. Expect the lead time to repeat for all five.

My practicum starts in six weeks and I have no preceptor. What now?

Tell course faculty now rather than later, then run the search and the paperwork side by side. Sites that already hold a current agreement with Keiser can move faster, so ask the Clinical Coordinator which nearby sites have one. Keiser's approvals still come before the first hour, so a very late start can push a practicum into a later term.

Does Keiser publish a deadline for the Preceptor/Mentor Information Form?

No public Keiser document gives a form deadline beyond the three-month guidance. The form is kept on the Keiser University Academic Portal, where course faculty may post dates for a particular term, so check there and with your course faculty before you build a plan around a date.

Do Keiser's documents agree on the 2027 term dates?

Not entirely. The 2026-27 Graduate Catalog lists 2027 as 8-week terms starting Jan 11, Mar 8, May 10, Jul 5, Aug 30 and Oct 25. The 2027 section of Keiser's separate 2026-2030 graduate calendar PDF shows 4-week terms instead. The catalog governs, but confirm with course faculty before you plan a practicum around a 2027 date.

CalendarGraduate calendar and term datesKeiser's graduate calendar: three 16-week semesters split into 8-week Terms A and C, every 2026 and 2027 start date, and how practicums fit.Pacing8-week practicum pacingHow Keiser nursing students fit 60, 120 or 180 practicum hours into one 8-week term: weekly targets, spreading the hours and 2026-27 term start dates.NUR602AFirst clinical courseWhen Keiser FNP students can start NUR602A, the six courses that come first, the grades and clearances it needs, and when to begin the preceptor search.FNPClinical placement processHow a Keiser FNP practicum goes from a preceptor's yes to your first logged hour: the form, the approvals, the affiliation agreement, clearance and Typhon.Placement helpNeed a preceptor fastYour Keiser practicum term starts soon and no preceptor is confirmed. What must happen before hour one, what can run in parallel, and how a rush search works.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Keiser's catalogs, graduate nursing manuals, licensure disclosures and program pages. Your course, the Clinical Coordinator and the 2026-27 Graduate Catalog have the final word.

Keiser asks you to find your own preceptor. Let us run that search.

Tell us your Keiser program, your next practicum and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and site details your Preceptor/Mentor Information Form needs, about three months ahead.

Preceptors matched to the course: adult and older-adult primary care for NUR602A and NUR603A, pediatrics for NUR604A, women's health for NUR605A
CV, license, certification and site contact ready for Keiser's review and the affiliation agreement
Across Florida, from Miami to Jacksonville, and in the other states where you are licensed

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