The GW clinical placement process, from first call to first shift
A GW graduate clinical placement follows a fixed order. You find a site and a preceptor, you file a Site Prospector submission in CORE, and GW works through five review stages before the Clinical Placement Team clears you. No hour counts until the term after clearance opens, so this page maps the whole route and points to the guide that owns each stage.
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 route in six steps
Every graduate rotation at GW Nursing follows the same road, and each stage depends on the one before it, so an early gap surfaces later as a late start. Here is the sequence, with the guide that covers each stage.
- Lay the groundwork the term beforeThe gateway is
NURS 6222, GW's advanced health assessment course, which every clinical course requires and which GW's plans of study schedule one semester ahead of clinicals. Your CORE account opens before that course starts; CORE ELMS explains what you will find inside. - Identify a site and a preceptorFor most graduate programs this search is yours, backed by GW's list of previously used sites and its mentoring. The own-preceptor rule spells out what that means for your program.
- File a Site Prospector submission in COREOnce a preceptor agrees, you record the pairing in CORE and attach their license plus a bio or CV. Separate preceptors, sites, rotations and terms each need a separate entry, as the Site Prospector guide explains.
- Wait out GW's five review stagesProgram Director Review, Affiliation Agreement, Placement Confirmation, Student Compliance and Site Onboarding run in that order on GW's side. The table further down breaks each one out.
- Receive your clearance notificationThe Clinical Placement Team clears you when the agreement, the preceptor's paperwork, your Complio record and any site or state extras are all complete.
- Begin hours when the term beginsYour first shift can come no sooner than opening day of the term after you are cleared, and each hour you log in CORE has to sit inside that semester's dates.
Groundwork before the search
GW hands you its tools before it asks you to use them. An invitation to a clinical webinar arrives during NURS 6220, CORE access is switched on before NURS 6222 begins, and the on-campus CLASI schedule includes a session on using CORE. Treat that stretch as the real start of your placement.
GW's Clinical Rotations page asks you to carry two things into any conversation with a possible preceptor: your resume and a copy of GW's clinical requirements. It also asks you to keep regular contact with the clinic and your preceptor right up to day one, because a rotation that goes quiet for months is easy for a busy office to forget.
Post-master's certificate students run on a shorter clock. GW notes that most of them begin clinicals straight away, in semester one, so the search starts at acceptance and CORE access comes by request to the Clinical Placement Team.
Who finds the preceptor
In most GW graduate tracks with precepted clinical hours, whether master's, doctoral or certificate, GW expects the student to locate the site and preceptor and bring them forward. The Acute Care tracks are the exception: their clinicals stay in DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia, with the program director closely involved. Accelerated BSN, Veterans BSN and Direct-Entry MSN students in Ashburn are placed by GW.
Whoever does the finding, GW Nursing faculty must approve the preceptor, and GW's 2021 clinical placement guide sets credential basics (NP, MD, DO or CNM, two years in advanced practice, an unencumbered license) that some courses add to.
GW's help at this stage is information and coaching: a roster of places earlier GW students trained in your state, the site database inside CORE, and mentoring on how to approach a clinician. GW's five-step placement model shows where each kind of help sits.
The five review stages
GW's 2026 CORE workshop sets out the review that begins once your Site Prospector submission is in. The stages run in a fixed order, and a request that stalls at one stage waits there until the gap is closed.
| Stage | What GW checks | What keeps it moving |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Program Director Review | Whether the site and preceptor fit the course objectives and GW's preceptor rules; if not, faculty contact you about alternatives | A preceptor whose credentials and setting match the course |
| 2. Affiliation Agreement | Whether a completed contract with GW Nursing covers the site, or a new one has to be negotiated | The right signatory and agreement contact in your submission |
| 3. Placement Confirmation | That the site confirms your rotation for this term | A site and preceptor you have kept in touch with |
| 4. Student Compliance | Your Complio record: background check, drug screen, immunizations, BLS, insurance, RN license and GW's HIPAA and OSHA modules | Items uploaded and current for the whole term |
| 5. Site Onboarding | Any requirements the site or state adds on top of GW's own | Quick replies to the site's onboarding requests |
The agreement stage is usually the slow one when a site is new to GW, and the affiliation agreement guide explains why. The compliance stage is the one fully in your hands, so finish Complio early rather than letting it become the last open item.
Clearance and your first shift
GW's 2026 CORE workshop schedules clearance notifications for the week before classes. The notification is the green light, and the term that follows it is the earliest your hours can begin. Every logged hour must also fall inside the semester's dates, so a preceptor's offer to start early during a break does not help.
GW treats that line seriously. Going to a site before you are cleared can be grounds for dismissal under GW's guidance, and hours logged without the right license or during a lapse in clearance do not count. The clearance guide covers the four items GW checks before it clears you.
In GW's 2021 clinical placement guide, permission to start comes only from the Clinical Placement Team. A preceptor or faculty member saying "come on in" does not clear you.
When a stage stalls
Preceptors decline, program directors ask for a better fit, and new agreements drag. GW's model answers all three the same way: ongoing intervention and support, then back to identifying a site. In practice that means another preceptor, another CORE entry and another trip through every review stage.
Timing decides how painful that loop becomes. GW's website puts request deadlines about four months before each term, and students who miss them face a delayed clinical start. GW's 2021 clinical placement guide goes further: halfway through a term with no site, you sit down with your faculty and program director to judge whether the course can still be finished. The deadline guide sets out every published date.
If a site cancels, the same guide says the Clinical Placement Team contacts you; if you drop a site, you tell both the team and the site. Any new preceptor must be verified before you work with them.
Why GW students start with us
The identify stage is where most of a GW student's time disappears, and it is the stage our service is built around. Our placement desk hunts for an in-person clinical home near you that suits the exact GW course on your schedule, and keeps working until a qualified clinician commits.
Then we assemble the file GW's review runs on: a copy of the clinician's license, a current bio or CV, the site's signatory and agreement contact, the evaluation email, and a clear match between the setting and your course. Your Site Prospector submission goes into CORE complete, which gives the program director and the Clinical Placement Team what they need on the first read.
Approval belongs to GW's program director and clearance to the Clinical Placement Team; everything upstream of those decisions is where we make the difference. If a preceptor drops later, we are already on the replacement. The how it works page shows our steps, and the form below starts yours.
Questions GW students ask
How long does GW's placement process take from search to clearance?
GW publishes no single figure. Its website puts request deadlines about four months before each term, its 2021 clinical placement guide suggested submitting four to six months ahead, and a new affiliation agreement can take weeks to months. Add the search itself, since GW cautions that plenty of sites fill their schedules over a year ahead, and a year of lead time is a sensible plan.
Can I log hours with my preceptor while my request is still in review?
No. Hours count only once the term after your clearance is underway, and only inside the semester's dates. Starting early while the program director, agreement or compliance stage is still open puts both the hours and your standing in the program at risk, so wait for clearance before your first shift.
Who at GW actually approves my preceptor?
Your program director reviews each site and preceptor first, weighing the preceptor's qualifications, the setting and the needs of the course. Once the rotation is running, your Clinical Experience Faculty member for that term keeps an eye on whether the site and preceptor still fit. The Clinical Placement Team handles the contract, your compliance review and the final clearance.
Does the process change for Acute Care or BSN students?
Yes. Acute Care NP students train only in the DC region (the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia), with heavy program director involvement in site choice, though GW's pages word that role in different ways. Pre-licensure students in Ashburn, from the accelerated and veterans BSN options to the new direct-entry master's, are placed by GW program staff and skip the search entirely.
What should I have ready before I call my first preceptor?
GW's Clinical Rotations page names two items: your resume and GW's clinical requirements, so the clinician can see what the course asks of them. It also helps to know your course number, the hours due and the expected setting, since a precise request is easier for a busy clinician to accept.
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
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