The Graceland RN-to-MSN pathway, from BSN courses to NP practicums
Graceland University's RN-BSN-MSN pathway carries an RN through the online BSN courses and straight into an MSN nurse practitioner track, with automatic MSN acceptance and two fewer courses. The BSN stage has light practice experiences; the MSN stage brings your track's three practicums and 750 hours, arranged by you with Graceland's help, so preceptor planning should begin before the BSN is finished.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
How the pathway fits together
Graceland's RN-BSN page describes a combined online BSN-MSN for the FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP tracks. You finish the BSN courses, are accepted into the MSN automatically, and skip two courses along the way. If plans change, you can stop out with the BSN in hand.
The graduate catalog frames it as provisional MSN admission, pending completion of every BSN course with at least a 2.50 GPA. The graduate admissions page lists an associate degree or diploma in nursing plus an RN license as the starting point. Graceland does not name the two courses the pathway removes; Program Advising can show you on your completion plan.
The MSN itself is at least 45 graduate semester hours: a 14-hour core shared by every track, the specialty courses (25 hours for FNP, 28 for AGACNP or PMHNP) and electives. NURS5010 comes first and includes the pre-clinical HIPAA and standard precaution requirements.
Stage one: the BSN courses
The BSN stage is the online RN-BSN: 8-week courses, 28 semester hours of nursing at Graceland, and practice experiences in courses such as NURS4350 and the NURS4460 capstone. Those can sometimes happen where you already work, provided that organization supports the course objectives.
Graceland does not publish RN-BSN practice hours or say who arranges those experiences, so the course faculty and soncontracts@graceland.edu are your sources. The RN-BSN page covers this stage in full.
Stage two: your NP track's practicums
Once you are in the MSN, you follow the same practicum rules as any Graceland NP student. Anyone who matriculated from August 1, 2023 onward completes 750 practicum hours, split 225, 225 and 300, and only one practicum can be taken per trimester.
| Track | Practicums and hours | Setting rules | Focus session |
|---|---|---|---|
| FNP | NURS6740 Pediatrics 225, NURS6760 Adult 225, NURS6830 Family 300 (always last) | Primary care only for the first two; Family at least half primary care, up to 150 specialty hours | Virtual on Zoom with NURS5194 |
| AGACNP | NURS5450 Chronic Care 225, NURS5460 Acute Care 225, NURS5470 Final 300 | Hospital or specialist office; no minute clinics, urgent care or primary care offices; no patients under 13 | On the Independence campus with NURS5195 |
| PMHNP | NURS6841 I 225, NURS6842 II 225, NURS6843 FINAL 300 (fixed order) | Psychiatrist or certified PMHNP preceptors; up to 2 terms or 450 hours of telehealth | Virtual per the handbook with NURS5196 (its course description still says on campus) |
Plan on two or three clinic days a week (Graceland says 16 to 24 hours), with your hours wrapped up by the fourteenth week of the trimester, as faculty request. The track pages go deeper: FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP.
Who arranges the NP practicums
The Graduate Student Handbook describes practicum experiences arranged by the student with Graceland's assistance, completed in your home community. Graceland and its students collaborate on the search, its flowchart shows the Graduate Practicums Coordinator helping you locate a preceptor, and every preceptor and site still needs sign-off from a contract coordinator, the course's lead faculty, or both. Another route is Graceland's optional placement service.
The paperwork is the same for everyone: Appendix A from you for each term, site and address, Appendix B from each preceptor every term, an affiliation agreement with each site, current Castle Branch items, a listing in Typhon and an approval email before hours count. The clinical placement process shows the order.
A timeline that starts before the MSN
- During the BSN coursesSettle on a track, learn its setting rules, and start listing clinicians you know. The handbook encourages asking everyone you know when you search for a preceptor.
- Your first graduate termTake
NURS5010, open your Castle Branch account and finish the background check; Graceland wants it done before your first graduate term ends. - A year or more before the first practicumBy Graceland's own estimate, contracts with sites can run a year or longer, so begin approaching preceptors and sites now.
- The paperwork deadlineAppendix A, Appendix B and your Castle Branch packet share one due date per term; the deadlines page lists all three. The drug screen comes later, inside the four-to-six-week window ahead of your first practicum.
- Plan the second preceptorGraceland expects two different preceptors at minimum over your three practicums, and no single preceptor may cover all three.
The move from undergraduate to graduate study changes your compliance system: the RN-BSN handbooks point to ClinicalStudent, while NP practicums run on Castle Branch. Ask the contract coordinators when to open the Castle Branch account.
Licensure and the state you live in
Graceland's MSN licensure chart, dated June 2020, folds the RN-to-MSN in with the MSN. It says the MSN leads to licensure in 32 states, does not in Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee, and cannot be determined in 13 others. The School of Nursing also enrolls students only from states where it holds practicum approval, and it confirms your state when you ask.
Practicums also need a clean RN license, verified with the board, for your home state and for each approved state that hosts your hours. The state licensure disclosures page walks through the chart and the questions to ask.
Why RN-to-MSN students choose us
RN-to-MSN students have a long runway before the first practicum, and we help you use it. While you finish the BSN, your placement advisor maps preceptors and sites near home that fit your track's setting rules, so your first practicum is planned well before Graceland's deadline.
We gather the clinic's address, the person who signs contracts, and the preceptor's license and experience for Appendix A and Appendix B, plan the second preceptor from the start, and restart the search at once if a preceptor falls through. Tell us your track and target term with the form below.
Questions Graceland students ask
How is the RN-to-MSN different from finishing an RN-BSN and then applying?
The combined pathway gives you automatic acceptance into the MSN and removes two courses, according to Graceland's RN-BSN page. The graduate catalog treats it as provisional MSN admission, pending completion of all BSN courses with a 2.50 GPA. You can still stop out with the BSN.
Which two courses does the RN-to-MSN eliminate?
Graceland's public pages do not list them. The RN-BSN page says only that the combined option lets students eliminate two courses. Program Advising builds your completion plan and can show you exactly which courses drop out for your track and catalog year.
Do RN-to-MSN students complete fewer practicum hours?
No. Once you reach the MSN you complete the same three practicums as any student in your track, the same 750 hours that apply to everyone admitted since August 1, 2023, with one practicum per trimester and identical preceptor rules.
When should an RN-to-MSN student start looking for a preceptor?
Sooner than most expect. Graceland's graduate handbook allows for searches that begin twelve months or more ahead, and the mid-June, mid-October and mid-February paperwork dates fall months before each term opens. Starting during your final BSN courses gives you room to find two different preceptors.
Will I have to travel to campus on the RN-to-MSN?
Only on the AGACNP track. AGACNP students travel once to the Independence, Missouri campus for a focus session lasting two to three full days from 8 am to 5 pm, and arrange their own travel and lodging because the campus has no student housing. FNP and PMHNP focus sessions are held on Zoom.
Which licensure chart applies to RN-to-MSN students?
The MSN chart. Its footnote folds in the RN-to-MSN along with the certificates inside the MSN, and it is dated June 2020. Ask the School of Nursing about your state as well, since the chart and the approved-states answer are separate questions.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.
Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.
Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
- Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
- Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule
Start your placement plan
Track, city and practicum start is all we need to begin.