No preceptor and the course is close: what to do this week
Start four things this week: tell your course faculty where you stand, check each health system's request window, widen your search across Georgia or South Carolina, and look hard at community health centers. Then send us your track and course number so a placement advisor searches alongside you.
Course close and no preceptor?
Send your track, course number, term and home ZIP code.
Count the weeks you actually have
Put the dates in front of you first. Spring 2027 classes begin January 13 and end April 30, and the summer terms open May 10 or May 17 and run only 10 or 11 weeks. In the full-time plans, spring carries Practice I for second-year students and NURS 9192 for third-year students, so two cohorts look for preceptors in the same months.
Then work backward from the hours. A 240-hour course over a 15-week term comes to 16 hours a week by our arithmetic, and every week lost at the start pushes that figure up. The academic calendar guide lists every term date, and summer clinical terms shows how the shorter summer changes the weekly load.
Talk to your course faculty this week
Your course faculty run the clinical course and make the site visits, so they should hear about a gap early rather than at the first class. Augusta University does not publish NP placement deadlines, forms or approval steps, which makes faculty the reliable source for what your course expects and by when.
Bring these to the conversation
- Your track, the course number and its term
- Your home area and how far you can drive on clinic days
- Every practice you have contacted, with the date and the answer
- Leads still pending, and any employer rules that limit your days
- Your questions: what the course needs from a preceptor, which documents faculty want, and how early
The who does what guide explains which College of Nursing roles touch a clinical course, including two coordinator titles whose duties Augusta University does not describe publicly.
Check health system request windows now
Hospital systems run on their own calendars, and a missed window can shut a system for a whole term. Each date below was read on the system's own student page in September 2026; confirm it before you rely on it.
| System | Spring rotations | Summer rotations | Rule worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellstar, including Wellstar MCG Health | Apply by Nov. 15, decision by Dec. 15 | Apply by March 30 | Open to students with a preceptor or asking for help to locate one; no contact before decision dates |
| Northside Hospital | Submit 60 days ahead for January starts (suggested) | Submitted and compliant 30 days before start | Preceptor secured first; one student per preceptor; NP to NP |
| Piedmont, including Piedmont Augusta | Window Aug. 1 to 31 (archived page) | Window Feb. 1 to 28 | Requests entered by the school in ACEMAPP; compliant 10 days before start |
| Atrium Health Floyd (Rome) | Apply July 1 to Oct. 1 | Apply Nov. 1 to Feb. 1 | Its active agreement list includes Augusta University for PA and NP students; no calls to providers |
| Archbold (Thomasville) | By Nov. 15 of the prior year | By March 15 | Fully compliant in ACEMAPP two weeks before start |
| Charlie Norwood VA (Augusta) | Resident onboarding page: part one 90 to 120 days ahead | Same | Its spinal cord injury center page names Augusta University's College of Nursing among affiliated training programs |
Where a window has closed for your term, move on to sites still open rather than waiting. And where a page says the preceptor must be secured first, the request helps only once a willing NP has agreed.
The most expensive mistake this week is calling providers at a system that asks students not to. Atrium Health, Atrium Health Floyd and AnMed all say so on their own pages. Use each system's stated route instead, and spend your calls on independent practices and health centers.
Widen the map without leaving Georgia or South Carolina
The residence rule keeps the search inside two states, but inside them there is more room than a first list usually covers. From downtown Augusta, by approximate driving estimates, North Augusta is about 4 miles away, Aiken about 20, Thomson about 35, Greenwood about 60 and Athens about 100. A student in Columbia has the whole Midlands; one in Savannah has the Georgia coast and the Lowcountry across the river.
Crossing the Savannah River is simplest with a multistate license, since both states belong to the Nurse Licensure Compact; with a single-state license, settle the second state first, as the license guide explains. Longer drives mean longer clinic days, and your instructor travels to the site too, so choose a radius you can sustain for a full term.
The region guides map health systems and health centers county by county; begin with Augusta and the CSRA or the Midlands.
Give community health centers a second look
Federally qualified health centers see patients of every age, often in towns without a hospital, which suits the primary care courses: FNP Practice I to III and the PNP courses. HRSA's health center site file, as we tallied it in September 2026, shows Georgia's Central Savannah River Area with 44 active health center service sites and South Carolina's Midlands region, which takes in Aiken and Edgefield counties, with 56.
In and around the city of Augusta, Christ Community Health Services Augusta runs four sites in the city, and Community Health Care Systems reaches Sandersville, Sparta, Warrenton and Wrens. Across the river, Rural Health Services and Low Country Health Care System both list sites in Aiken. Ask for the medical director or lead NP, and explain your course's patient focus, its hours and that faculty will visit.
For PMHNP students, Georgia's community service boards belong on the list, since HRSA links a large share of Georgia's low-income mental health shortage designations to them. Four of the CSRA's health center sites are school-based, which is worth asking about for a pediatric course.
Hand the search to us
Send your track, course number, term and home ZIP code through the request form. Your placement advisor searches practices, health centers and system clinics inside your radius, tests each lead against the course and the state's licensing rules, and brings you options with the details your faculty will want to see.
Keep working your own contacts meanwhile; if one says yes, we vet that lead as well. Close to a term, speed matters, but fit still decides the grade: under CON31 you need a pass on every clinical objective, so a preceptor whose patients miss the course is no rescue.
Questions Augusta University students ask
Can I start an Augusta University clinical course without a preceptor in place?
No published Augusta University rule covers this, so ask your course faculty directly and early. The course's clinical hours still have to be met, and the plans of study assume a 15-week semester, so each week without a preceptor raises the weekly load later. The sooner faculty know, the more options remain open to you.
Can I do clinicals in Tennessee, Florida or North Carolina instead?
Plan on Georgia or South Carolina. NP and certificate students must reside in one of the two, because faculty visit the student, the preceptor and the clinical site, and the certificate page sets clinical experiences in those states as well. An archived certificate page from 2017 also named Tennessee, but current pages no longer do.
Should I apply to several health systems at once?
Where each system's rules allow it, yes, but keep careful records. Archbold's page asks that unneeded requests be withdrawn so other schools can use the spaces, and Wellstar's page asks students to hold off contacting it until decisions are posted. List every request with its deadline and status, and close the ones you no longer need as soon as a placement is confirmed.
Does a community health center fit the FNP pediatric course?
It can, if the center sees enough infants, children and adolescents for NURS 8315. Many health centers serve every age group, and some run school-based sites. Ask the center about its pediatric volume and the days a family NP sees children, then confirm the fit with your course faculty before you commit.
An NP at a hospital system said yes. Am I set?
Not yet. Inside a portal-based system, a preceptor's yes only opens the process; the school agreement, the system's own review and its deadline decide whether you rotate. Check the system's student page before you count on the placement. The clinical agreements guide covers school agreements and lead times in more depth.
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.