What NKU requires before your first NP clinical

NKU's FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP program pages share an eight-course core. Four of those courses form the advanced practice foundation that every NP clinical builds on.

The other four core courses, MSN 600, MSN 602, DNP 816 and MSN 601, cover theory, research, health data and policy. In NKU's sequence for Fall 2024 and later FNP admits they come first, which places the advanced practice four in sessions five through eight.

The current program and certificate pages list MSN 609 Advanced Pathophysiology Across the Lifespan. NKU's 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 graduate catalogs list BIO 669 Human Pathophysiology in that slot, and the Fall 2024 course sequences schedule BIO 669 as well. In the 2024-25 catalog, MSN 610 requires BIO 669, and MSN 611 requires both BIO 669 and MSN 610.

Archived copies show the FNP program page making the switch during 2025. NKU's 2026-27 catalog is gated behind a human check, so whether the newest catalog matches the program pages is still unconfirmed. If your plan of study says BIO 669, take that course.

The grade rule differs between the two. MSN students need a B or better in nursing courses, while the catalogs set a C or better for BIO 669 and PSY 550.

MSN 611 includes the APEA predictor exam. Students who do not pass it take MSN 680 APRN 3P Remediation, a 3-credit course, and cannot move on to specialty courses until it is complete. NKU bills the APEA 3P testing package as a course fee on MSN 609.

One extra 7-week course shifts every later session by one, first clinical included. If a preceptor is already holding a start date for you, tell them the moment your plan changes.

After the core, each track has specialty courses that must come before, or alongside, its first clinical. The 2024-25 catalog lists them as follows.

NKU's Fall 2024 FNP sequence pairs MSN 650L with MSN 621, earlier than the catalog entry suggests, so follow the sequence your advisor gives you. Each track's full order is laid out in its own guide: FNP clinicals, AGACNP clinicals and PMHNP clinicals.

Certificate applicants may be asked for syllabi from their earlier master's program to show that their health assessment, pharmacology, pathophysiology and role courses were taught "over the lifespan." Where a course is not equivalent, you take NKU's version before moving on.

The NP-to-PMHNP certificate works differently. Built for practicing nurse practitioners, it begins with five PMHNP courses, MSN 671 to MSN 675, before its clinicals. The certificates guide compares all four options.

NKU's catalog tells students to take "no more than two didactic classes or one didactic and one clinical" in a 7-week session, and the 2025-26 version adds that two clinicals at once are not allowed. Clinicals run one after another, one per session, so there is no doubling up to finish sooner. The 7-week sessions guide lists the term names and dates.

Clinical courses are easy to spot on a schedule because NKU adds an L after the number, as in MSN 650L. Advising pairs that tip with a pointer to the clinical information posted in your concentration's Canvas shell.

The months you spend in MSN 609 through MSN 612 are the best time to secure your first preceptor. NKU highly recommends submitting preceptor information 90 days before a clinical starts, and for most NP students that date falls while specialty courses are still underway.

We start the search while you are in core, confirm the preceptor fits your track's rules, and have the paperwork ready for your first Medatrax self-placement request well ahead of NKU's 30-day minimum. The how it works page shows each step we take.