South Dakota and GW's online nurse practitioner programs
Living in South Dakota leaves every GW online track within reach except Acute Care, and GW's licensure disclosures file the state under meets requirements. Its Board does not vet schools from other states, so the questions specific to South Dakota are about licenses and about who is qualified to teach you.
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.
Reading GW's state list from South Dakota
No GW list of restricted states names South Dakota. The one program closed to South Dakotans is closed to everyone outside the DC region.
| Program | South Dakota residents? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FNP, AGPCNP or PMHNP (MSN or post-BSN DNP) | Accepted | 600 precepted clinical hours in South Dakota |
| Post-master's AGPCNP or PMHNP certificate | Accepted | Disclosure: meets South Dakota requirements |
| Nurse-Midwifery MSN | Accepted | 840 immersion hours; disclosure: meets |
| Nursing Leadership and Management MSN | Accepted | Two 150-hour practicums, master's-prepared preceptors |
| Post-MSN DNP (Nursing Practice) | Accepted | 1,000 hours, 500 of them carried from the MSN |
| AGACNP, any option | Not accepted | Applicants must live in DC, Maryland or Virginia |
Confirm your track with GW admissions; our state authorizations guide explains where GW's pages disagree.
A board that leaves the arrangement to GW and the site
Since its guidance was last revised in 2020, the South Dakota Board of Nursing has taken a simple position on schools from outside the state: it does not approve them. A clinic or agency that takes you does so by agreement with GW directly, and South Dakota keeps no roster for GW to be on.
The Board's one expectation of the school concerns faculty: someone at GW holding a South Dakota APRN license, or the privilege to practice, to oversee NP students, a point the distance-education rule (ARSD 20:48:07:49) repeats. That is GW's to arrange. Your part is GW's usual Site Prospector submission for each preceptor, site, rotation and term.
Who can teach you: the transition period and the match
AANP places South Dakota among full practice states, but a newly licensed NP there first spends 1,040 hours collaborating, under a written agreement, with a physician, a certified NP or a CNM. GW's 2021 clinical placement guide wants two years or more of advanced practice, so ask how long a candidate has been an NP.
South Dakota's preceptor rule for its home programs, ARSD 20:48:07:34, offers a sensible match test: a license at or beyond the student's target level, and an NP specialty that resembles the student's. For GW, that means a family NP for FNP courses, a psychiatric NP for PMHNP rotations, and in NURS 6248 the PMHNP or CNS that GW's 2021 guide calls for.
Where South Dakota NP students search
Sanford Health, Avera Health and Monument Health are the three names most searches run through. Around 315,000 people lived in the Sioux Falls metro in 2025; Rapid City came next at roughly 157,000, and the Aberdeen area had about 41,600. Elsewhere, the right preceptor may be a long drive away, and every site needs its own agreement with GW.
No state preceptor incentive turned up, so your pitch rests on GW's offer: Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library access, a guest-lecture invitation and a place among the more than 200 preceptors GW reports.
Licenses, the Minnesota corner of Sioux Falls and the APRN Compact
NCSBN dates South Dakota's compact implementation to January 19, 2018, and a multistate license held by a South Dakota resident reaches every member state. The exception is the edge of Sioux Falls: about 9,500 of that metro's residents live in Minnesota, a non-compact state, so a clinic there needs a Minnesota RN license before GW clears you. See the Minnesota guide and GW's license rule.
South Dakota enacted the APRN Compact on February 5, 2024, but it needs seven states and has five, so NP licenses are still issued state by state.
Why South Dakota GW students choose us
We search Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen and the towns between for NPs and physicians in your GW specialty, checking license level, role match and GW's two-year profile before anyone commits. Your placement advisor assembles the preceptor's license, bio or CV and the agency signer's details, so GW's review starts from a complete file. Near the Minnesota line, we match each preceptor's state to the license you hold. Tell us your track on the contact form.
Questions GW students ask
Must GW be approved in South Dakota before my first shift?
It doesn't need to be. South Dakota's Board leaves programs from other states unapproved by design and treats placement as an arrangement between the school and the clinic or preceptor. Its one expectation, South Dakota-licensed faculty oversight for APRN students, is GW's to arrange and confirm during clearance.
Will a GW NP degree qualify me for a South Dakota APRN license?
The Board looks for a graduate APRN program with 500 or more clinical hours in your role and population, plus graduate coursework in pharmacology, pathophysiology and health assessment. GW's NP tracks carry 600 precepted hours, and its disclosures say South Dakota's requirements are met. Your national certification and the Board's own review of the application follow.
My preceptor became an NP last year. Will GW accept them?
Probably not yet. GW's 2021 clinical placement guide asks for at least two years of advanced practice, whatever South Dakota's collaborative period says about the NP's independence. A physician in the same specialty, or a more senior NP in that practice, may be the better ask. Confirm the current rule with your course faculty.
I live in Rapid City. Can I train across the line in Wyoming?
Your South Dakota multistate license extends to Wyoming, another compact state. Wyoming adds a step for the school: GW must send its Board a written notice and hold a signed facility contract before your clinical begins, which the Clinical Placement Team handles. The Wyoming guide walks through that rule.
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.