Questions GW nursing students ask before working with us
These are the broad questions about our service, answered briefly, each with a link to the page that covers the topic in full. Questions about a specific GW rule, such as request dates, Complio or clinical hours, have their own guides elsewhere on this site, and the table below names the GW source that settles each one.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your GW program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your GW course.
The service in brief
We are a preceptor placement service built for George Washington University School of Nursing students. We find a preceptor and clinical site that fit your GW course, in person where you live, and we assemble the paperwork GW's review turns on, from the preceptor's credentials to the name of whoever signs contracts for the practice.
After the match we stay on call. We answer GW's questions through program director review and the affiliation agreement, keep your preceptor informed, and start a replacement search if a preceptor steps away. Our how it works page walks through every step.
Who we work with
Our core is GW's online graduate students who carry clinical or practicum hours and are asked to bring GW a site and preceptor.
- Nurse practitioner students at master's or post-BSN doctoral level in any of GW's four NP specialties: family, adult-gero primary care, adult-gero acute care and psychiatric mental health
- Post-master's certificate students in AGPCNP, AGACNP and PMHNP, who often begin clinicals in their first semester
- Nurse-Midwifery students heading into the two immersion courses,
NURS 6321andNURS 6322 - Nursing Leadership and Management students, including the MSN/MPH, who need two practicum preceptors for
NURS 6258andNURS 6259 - Post-MSN DNP students planning practice hours around the DNP project
- Nurse practitioners, physicians and midwives interested in teaching a GW student
GW's pre-licensure students in Ashburn, in the Accelerated or Veterans BSN or the Direct-Entry MSN, have clinicals arranged by GW's program staff, so a search is rarely needed there, though we are glad to answer their questions.
What to have ready when you reach out
Five details let your placement advisor start right away: your GW program, the next clinical course by number, the term, where you live, and how many hours remain. It also helps to list your RN licenses by state, since GW wants one wherever you train, and to name any office you have already called.
If you are unsure of your course number, your plan of study lists it, and your advisor can work from the plan itself. The contact page has a form with a message box for everything else.
How GW's approval fits with our work
Once your Site Prospector submission is in, GW's review runs in a fixed sequence that opens with the program director and closes with a clearance notice from the Clinical Placement Team, after the agreement, your compliance record and site onboarding are settled. The final word on every site and preceptor belongs to GW's program director, regardless of who located them.
Our job sits before and around that review. We choose preceptors whose credentials and settings fit your course, prepare the documents GW asks for, and respond to questions from GW or the site while the agreement moves. A package that is ready for review on arrival is the surest way to keep a placement moving.
Where GW settles its own rules
GW's published sources sometimes disagree on dates and hour counts. When they do, these are the places that decide for your record.
| Your question | Where GW answers it |
|---|---|
| Request dates for your term | CORE's Document Library, where GW posts current Site Prospector deadlines |
| Whether a site or preceptor fits | Your program director, who reviews every submission |
| Clearance status and agreements | The Clinical Placement Team, at sonclinical@gwu.edu |
| Hours and settings for a course | Your course materials and your Clinical Experience Faculty |
| Complio items and review | Complio itself, and GW's pre-clinical requirements checklist |
| Acute Care placement arrangements | The AGACNP program director |
Questions GW students ask
Who runs this service?
We are an independent placement team focused on GW Nursing students and the clinicians who precept them. You work with one placement advisor from intake to your last logged hour, and every GW fact on this site traces to GW's own pages, the Bulletin or GW-hosted documents. The about page explains who we are and how we work.
How quickly can you find a preceptor?
It depends on the course, the specialty, your city and how close the term is. Primary care searches in a busy metro area often move fastest, while psychiatric, acute care and midwifery searches take more calls. Starting early widens your options, and if the term is already close, the urgent placement page explains how we work against the clock.
Which GW programs do you place?
All of GW's graduate options that carry precepted hours, whether you are in an NP track at master's or doctoral level, a post-master's NP certificate, midwifery, the leadership MSN or the post-MSN DNP. The programs hub lists each one with its clinical hours and the courses that need a preceptor.
Will GW accept a preceptor you find?
Every site and preceptor faces the same program director review at GW, no matter who found them. We match credentials and settings to your course before anything is submitted, so the review starts from a strong, complete package. The placement process page shows every stage from submission to clearance.
What happens to the details I send you?
Your details are used to plan and arrange your placement: your advisor shares with a prospective preceptor or site only what they need to consider you as a student. The privacy policy explains in full what we collect, how we use it and how to have it removed.
How much does a placement cost?
Every quote is individual. Your program and course, the hours needed, the specialty, your location, how close the term is and the number of rotations all shape it. GW's own costs, such as Complio, are separate and paid to GW's vendors. The cost page explains each factor.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against GW's Bulletin and GW Nursing's own program and clinical pages. Your course, CORE and GW's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
GW asks you to find your own site and preceptor. Hand that search to us.
Tell us your GW program, where you live and which clinical course is next. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, bio and site details GW's review asks for, so your Site Prospector goes in complete.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice for
NURS 6230toNURS 6232, older-adult primary care for AGPCNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP - License, bio or CV and the site's agreement signatory ready for your CORE submission
- Close to home, in DC, Maryland, Virginia or wherever you live and hold your RN license
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical term is all we need to begin.