Augusta University BSN clinicals: faculty-led hours in Augusta and Athens, and what comes after
Augusta University's BSN is a 2+2 program taught on the Augusta and Athens campuses, and its clinicals are faculty-led: 765 hours of lab, simulation and clinical time across four upper-division semesters. The accelerated BSN has closed, and a new online RN to BSN is set to admit its first students in Fall 2027. If a DNP is somewhere in your future, a few choices made now make graduate clinicals easier.
Thinking ahead to graduate clinicals?
Tell us your campus, your graduation term and the program you have in mind. Your placement advisor replies with a planning outline.
How the BSN is put together
The BSN follows a 2+2 model. You complete your freshman and sophomore years, about 60 credits, at an accredited college of your choice, then spend your junior and senior years in the College of Nursing after admission. The catalog counts 121 credits in all, but it disagrees with itself on the upper-division share: the overview says 64 credit hours, while the requirements list and the schema say 60.
The program is taught on the Augusta and Athens campuses and admits students twice a year. For Spring 2027 the application deadline was September 11, 2026; the Fall 2027 application opens August 7 with a March 15 deadline. The BSN page describes four semesters of pre-nursing core followed by four semesters of upper-level nursing courses.
The Georgia Board of Nursing approves the BSN. The BSN FAQ also explains that admission depends on available resources, clinical placements and faculty among them. Plan your application with both campuses in mind, since the BSN runs in Augusta and in Athens.
765 hours of lab, simulation and clinical time
The BSN schema prints a program total of 765 lab, simulation and clinical hours, converting credits to contact hours at two to one for lab and three to one for clinical. It prints totals by semester but not a split for each course, so the table below shows the courses and the semester figures exactly as printed. The schema's labels assume a fall start.
| Semester | Courses | Lab, simulation and clinical hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (fall) | NURS 3801 Health Assessment Across the Lifespan; NURS 3802 Introduction to Nursing Practice | 180 |
| 2 (spring) | NURS 3805 Adult Health Nursing I; NURS 4802 Maternal/Child Nursing | 180 |
| 3 (fall) | NURS 4800 Mental Health Nursing; NURS 4801 Adult Health Nursing II; NURS 3806 Geriatric Nursing | 180 |
| 4 (spring) | NURS 4805 Community and Public Health Nursing; NURS 4806 Transition to Professional Nursing Practice | 225 |
| Total | Nine courses with lab or clinical time | 765 |
The schema's file name says it was revised in August 2026, though the approvals printed on it date from 2016. NURS 4806, the final transition course, is graded satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and every upper-division course needs a C or better. The clinical hours planner sets the BSN beside Augusta University's graduate programs.
Faculty-led clinicals around both campuses
BSN clinicals are faculty-led. Augusta University's BSN FAQ describes faculty placing students in clinical settings, and it ties the vaccine deadline to that placement: usually October, but earlier for some sites. The catalog describes clinical experience that reaches past acute care hospitals into community and home care, ambulatory care and primary care.
Because the BSN is a Board-approved prelicensure program, Georgia's preceptor rule governs any BSN course that uses a preceptor. The designated faculty member and the RN in charge of care at the setting pick the preceptor together, and that preceptor holds a current RN license and takes no more than two students at once.
Expect some travel. Policy CON14 makes transportation to clinical agencies, and any overnight lodging, the student's cost, and it warns that agencies may require a COVID-19 vaccine the College does not, so an unvaccinated student may have to travel to more distant agencies. Our guides to Augusta and the CSRA and Athens and northeast Georgia describe the health systems around each campus.
Compliance for BSN students
The BSN compliance cycle repeats every year, and most of it has to be current before a clinical day can start. College of Nursing policies set out these recurring items, with some sites adding their own on top.
- A background check and drug screen before you begin, then again in May of each year (CON12).
- HESI testing resources, which BSN and CNL students buy (CON14).
- In-person American Heart Association BLS; Red Cross and other non-AHA courses do not count (CON16).
- Immunization records filed with Student Health, plus TB screening before you start and a yearly influenza vaccine (CON16).
- An annual HIPAA training certificate, professional liability insurance and personal health insurance (CON16).
- No work shifts in the eight hours before a clinical (CON20).
The compliance requirements guide covers the deadlines and where Augusta University's sources give different dates.
The accelerated BSN has closed; the RN to BSN is new
The catalog lists the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing among discontinued programs; it had been offered on the Athens campus and no longer admits students. For people who already hold a bachelor's in another field, the MSN Clinical Nurse Leader is the prelicensure route Augusta University offers today.
The RN to BSN is a new online option through AU Online for registered nurses with a valid, unrestricted Georgia RN license. It runs one year, or two semesters, full time, with part-time options, and totals 120 credits. AU Online already promotes it with no set class times, while the catalog says students will be accepted beginning in Fall 2027.
Two courses carry clinical time. NURS 4498, Community Health Nursing Clinical, is one credit and 45 clinical hours in fall, built from clinical and service-learning activities. NURS 4598, Leadership and Management Clinical, is two credits in spring, and its hours are not stated. AU Online also describes a capstone project with clinical hours in your areas of interest, including settings outside acute care. Augusta University does not publish how those capstone sites are arranged, so ask AU Online when you enroll.
Preparing now for graduate clinicals
If a DNP is part of your plan, choices you make as a BSN student and a new nurse shape how smoothly your graduate clinicals go. Augusta University's graduate pages point to several of them.
- License: the DNP concentrations require a current, unencumbered Georgia or multistate RN license before enrollment.
- Experience: the NP tracks recommend a year of professional nursing experience before clinical courses begin; nurse anesthesia asks for a year of full-time critical care within the past three years.
- Location: NP students must live in Georgia or South Carolina, so where you settle after graduation matters.
- Setting: your first nursing job can build toward the specialty you want, such as hospital care before acute care or anesthesia study, or clinic work before family practice.
- Records: keep immunizations, titers, BLS and screening results organized, since DNP students repeat checks for several clinical agencies.
- Timing: DNP applications open in August for the following fall, and on the full-time plan the first NP clinical course arrives in the spring of the second year.
When you reach those courses, our placement desk finds a well-matched preceptor near home who meets Augusta University's rules, however the program handles placement at that stage. See how it works, and use the placement request form whenever you want to talk it through.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Do Augusta University BSN students arrange their own clinical sites?
No. The BSN FAQ describes faculty placing BSN students in clinical settings, and the program's clinicals are faculty-led from the first semester to NURS 4806. What you manage is your own compliance, transportation and schedule, including immunizations finished before the deadline tied to your placement.
When do BSN students learn where their clinicals will be?
Augusta University does not publish a placement calendar for the BSN. The BSN FAQ says the vaccine deadline is typically in October but can come earlier depending on where students are placed, so the practical step is to finish immunizations and titers as soon as you are admitted.
Can I apply to Augusta University's online RN to BSN now?
The catalog says the first students will be accepted in Fall 2027, although AU Online already promotes the program. It is designed for nurses with a valid, unrestricted Georgia RN license and runs a year full time, with part-time study available. Check AU Online for the current application window before planning around a start date.
What happens if I fail a BSN clinical?
College of Nursing grading makes final clinical grades pass or fail. One unsatisfactory rating on the final clinical evaluation fails the clinical, and failing the clinical part of a course fails the whole course, whatever your classroom grade. The catalog also requires a C or better in every upper-division course to progress.
Is Augusta University's BSN accredited?
Yes. CCNE first accredited Augusta University's baccalaureate nursing program on October 28, 2006, acted most recently on March 13, 2024, and set the current term to run through December 31, 2034. The Georgia Board of Nursing separately approves the BSN as a prelicensure program.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Augusta University's own catalog, program plans, DNP handbook and program pages, and Georgia and South Carolina rules. Your course faculty and the College of Nursing have the final word.
Whatever your program arranges, we find the preceptor who fits.
Tell us your Augusta University track, where in Georgia or South Carolina you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and Augusta University's rules, and hand you everything your faculty and the site need, well before the semester.
- Adult, pediatric and older-adult preceptors for
NURS 8312toNURS 8318, acute care forNURS 8332toNURS 8338 - Pediatric primary care for the PNP courses and psychiatric preceptors for
NURS 8342toNURS 8348 - Across Georgia and South Carolina, from the CSRA to Savannah, Atlanta and Columbia
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.