Search alone, lean on GW, or use a placement service?
Outside the Acute Care options, GW asks its graduate students to identify and secure their own site and preceptor, then backs them with a list of previously used sites, mentoring and its Clinical Placement Team. You can search on your own, work GW's list hard, or bring in a placement service. Each path spends a different mix of your time and your risk against GW's request dates.
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 clock every path runs against
Whichever route you choose, two GW timelines frame it. GW's request dates sit roughly four months before each term, and a student who misses them faces a delayed clinical start. On top of that, GW's compliance page cautions that many preceptors and sites book up greater than a year in advance.
Put together, a comfortable search for a fall rotation begins well over a year before the term, while you are still deep in didactic courses. That lead time is easy to underestimate until the first calls go out. The request deadlines guide has GW's exact dates, including the places its sources disagree, and the own-preceptor rule page explains what GW expects of you program by program.
Path one: searching on your own
GW's compliance page offers a practical starting list, and it is sound advice. Its suggestions, paraphrased:
- Talk with the providers where you already work
- Ask nurse practitioner and midwife friends, classmates and GW alumni
- Join a local NP or midwifery association and use its meetings
- Reach clinicians through LinkedIn
- Visit offices in person and ask to speak with the practice manager
- Ask your own healthcare providers whether they take students
The cost of this path is time. Each lead means a call, a follow-up, a conversation about GW's hours and paperwork, and often a polite no. Many GW students fit it into evenings around a nursing job. It works best for students with a deep local network, a common specialty such as family practice, and a term that is still more than a year away.
Path two: GW's site list and placement team
GW's Clinical Placement Team will send you, on request, a list of sites and preceptors that earlier GW students used in your state. CORE also holds a site database that GW's 2021 clinical placement guide describes as a resource guide only. Add GW's mentoring on how to approach a preceptor and the clinical webinar invitation that comes during NURS 6220, and you have real support.
The strength of a listed site is history: if GW already holds an affiliation agreement there, the agreement stage can move faster. The limit is availability. Students report that clinicians on the list may no longer take students, and classmates in your state can request the same list. Treat it as a strong set of leads, then work it early. The site database guide explains what the list is and how to use it.
A listed site is a lead, not a placement. It still needs a yes from the preceptor, a Site Prospector submission and program director review.
Path three: a placement service
A placement service takes over the search itself. The best ones for GW students start from your course number, contact practices whose setting fits it, and hand you a complete package for CORE: the preceptor's license and bio or CV, the site's signatory and agreement contact, the evaluation email and a course-fit note. They also stay on call if a preceptor withdraws.
This path costs money rather than your evenings, and it gives back the one resource you cannot make more of before a GW deadline: weeks. GW's program director still reviews the site and preceptor exactly as for any other submission, so a well-matched, fully documented package is what you are buying. Our how it works page shows how we do it for GW students.
The three paths side by side
| What it means | Searching alone | GW's list and team | Placement service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who makes the calls | You | You, starting from GW's leads | The service |
| Your time | Highest: every lead is yours to chase | High: fewer cold calls, same follow-up | Lowest: you review options and file in CORE |
| Main risk | Running past GW's request date with no yes | Listed clinicians already full or no longer teaching | Choosing a service that does not know GW's process |
| Preceptor paperwork | You gather it | You gather it | Prepared for you |
| If a preceptor drops | You restart alone | You restart with GW's support | The service restarts the search |
| Fits best when | Strong network, common specialty, term a year or more away | Your state has many past GW sites | Tight timeline, scarce specialty or a full-time job |
How to decide
Be honest about three things: how many months remain before your request date, how scarce your specialty is where you live, and how many hours a week you can spend on outreach. PMHNP, Acute Care and midwifery searches draw on smaller pools, and Acute Care students must also stay within DC, Maryland or Northern Virginia.
You can also mix paths: request GW's list, work it for a few weeks, and bring in a service for the courses the list cannot cover. If you are weighing services, the choosing a placement service guide sets out what the best ones do for GW students. When you are ready, send your program, course, term and city through the form below.
Questions GW students ask
Does GW find preceptors for NP students?
For most graduate tracks, no: GW's rule places identifying and securing the site and preceptor with the student, and GW offers support such as its list of previously used sites and mentoring. The Acute Care options are the exception, with the program director closely involved in placements inside DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.
Can I use GW's site list and a placement service together?
Yes, and it is often the strongest plan. Request GW's list of previously used sites for your state, contact the strongest leads yourself, and share with your placement service which practices you have already approached. That keeps anyone from calling the same office twice and puts both efforts to work at once.
Does a preceptor from a placement service go through the same GW review?
Yes. GW's review does not change with how a preceptor was found: program director review, the affiliation agreement, placement confirmation, your compliance check and site onboarding all apply. A good service prepares the preceptor's documents so that review starts complete.
What if a preceptor from GW's list says no?
It is common, and GW's placement model plans for it: when a preceptor is unwilling, unavailable or not approved, you receive ongoing support and return to identifying another site. Move quickly to your next lead, and keep a record of who you contacted so your next outreach, or your placement service, starts fresh.
How early should I start looking for a GW preceptor?
As early as your program allows. GW's own guidance says many preceptors and sites book more than a year ahead, and its request dates fall about four months before each term. Starting a year or more out leaves time for a no, a second try and a new affiliation agreement if the site needs one.
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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