The end-of-Week-1 packet for Post NP clinical courses
Post University pulls a nurse practitioner student out of a clinical course term if the preceptor and compliance packet is still incomplete once Week 1 ends. The packet has eight parts, half of them depend on people outside Post, and the slowest can take weeks, so the working deadline falls long before the term's first Monday.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Post program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
The rule and the week it lands in
Post's 2025-26 catalog is direct: students are removed from a clinical course term if the listed requirements are not met "by the end of Week 1." The same section says students are not eligible to enroll in a clinical course until the required documentation is completed, and it makes the student responsible for getting the documents to the Clinical Coordinator in a timely manner. The check repeats in every preceptorship, from N 581 or N 561 through the final integration course.
Older catalogs defined the cutoff as the end of Week 1 "(Monday of Week 2)"; the current wording drops that note, so confirm the exact moment with the Clinical Coordinator. Week 1 is already crowded. In Post's 2025-26 calendar, American Sentinel College terms opened on a Monday, the last day to add fell on that Friday, the last day to drop without a W on that Sunday, and every student had to post in the course that week. The packet deadline arrives alongside all of it, so nothing on the list should still be in motion when the term begins. The 8-week terms page covers the calendar itself.
The packet, item by item
| Item | Who produces it | What it settles |
|---|---|---|
| Preceptor agreement letter | Your preceptor signs Post's form | The clinician has committed to your course |
| Affiliation agreement | ASC and the site, after your Tracker request | The organization is under contract with Post |
| CastleBranch compliance | You | Background check, drug screen, health and training records are current |
| NP Clinical Schedule | You, with your preceptor | Which days you will be on site across the eight weeks |
| Your RN license report | You | An active, unencumbered license in an approved state |
| Preceptor's license report, certification and CV | Your preceptor | The clinician meets Post's preceptor standard |
| Student contact form | You | Post's catalog names it; get the current version from the Clinical Coordinator |
| NP preceptor form (California students only) | You and your preceptor | California's extra requirement |
The preceptor documents are explained on the preceptor agreement letter page, the site contract on the affiliation agreement page, and the compliance items on the CastleBranch page. The 2024-25 catalog is when several of these items joined the list.
Four items you control, four that wait on others
Sort the list by who holds the pen and the planning becomes obvious. Your CastleBranch account, your RN license report, the student contact form and, in California, the extra preceptor form can all be finished by you, in days, at any point. Do them early and they disappear from the worry list.
The other four hang on people with their own priorities. The preceptor has to sign and send documents. The site has to review and sign a contract after Post's Academic Affairs staff make contact, which Post schedules within seven business days of your request. The schedule needs the preceptor's calendar. These four set your timeline, and all of them start from the same event: a qualified preceptor at a suitable site saying yes.
Week 1 is when the packet must be finished, not when you start building it. Every item that depends on someone else should be done before the term opens.
The NP Clinical Schedule and the contact form
These two items get the least attention and still count in full. The NP Clinical Schedule is your plan of clinical days for the term, agreed with your preceptor. Spread across eight weeks, a 135-hour preceptorship works out to about 17 hours a week and the 90-hour N 567 about 11 (our arithmetic from Post's hours), so the schedule has to show enough days to reach the total with room for a closure or a sick day. Post keeps the template in its NP Clinical Guidelines, a document it shares with enrolled students rather than the public, so request it from the Clinical Coordinator. The pacing guide shows how to lay out the weeks.
The student contact form is named in Post's catalog without a public description of its fields. Ask for the current version when you request the schedule template, fill it in during the term before, and keep a copy. A missing form removes you from the course as surely as a missing contract.
A backward plan from the term's first Monday
Because Post limits NP students to a single course each term, the term just before a preceptorship is usually its paired didactic course, such as N 580 before N 581. Packet work overlaps that course, so start earlier still. Post publishes no fixed submission lead time beyond the Week 1 rule and its note on state board notice, so the timings below are our planning suggestion, not Post dates. Count back from the real start on Post's academic calendar.
| Before the term starts | Aim to have done |
|---|---|
| About 16 weeks (two terms out) | Setting chosen for the course, clinical state confirmed, preceptors shortlisted and approached |
| About 12 weeks | Preceptor confirmed, letter signed, license report, certification and CV collected, Tracker request submitted |
| About 9 weeks | State board notice sent if your board asks for it; Post says some want up to 60 days |
| About 8 weeks (the didactic term opens) | CastleBranch dates checked for anything expiring; any hospital onboarding forms under way |
| About 4 weeks | Affiliation agreement signed or actively chased; NP Clinical Schedule drafted with the preceptor |
| The last 2 weeks | Fresh RN license report, contact form and California form done; full packet checked with the Clinical Coordinator |
| Week 1 | Packet complete; clinical days begin on schedule |
State notice rules are on the state board notification page.
What removal can cost
Removal from a clinical course term is more than a lost week. With a single course per term, the whole sequence shifts back with it. Post's 2024 schedule offered NP specialty courses in alternating months only (January, March, May and so on), so the next chance at a course could be two months off rather than one. A preceptor who kept days open for you may not hold them for another term.
Those months come out of a fixed allowance: 36 months to finish the FNP or AGPCNP and 42 for the PMHNP. Ask your Student Success Advisor how a removal is recorded compared with a drop, since the catalog does not spell that out. The delayed graduation page follows the knock-on effects.
How we get your packet finished before the term opens
Post Preceptor is built around this deadline. We start the preceptor-dependent half of the packet a term or more ahead, so the only things left in the last weeks are the items you control.
- A preceptor in the right setting, near home, in a state that works for your license and track.
- The signed letter and the preceptor's license report, certification and CV collected together.
- The site contact identified and ready, so the Tracker request goes in the week the site agrees.
- A draft NP Clinical Schedule built from the preceptor's real calendar.
- The next preceptorship's packet started while the current one runs.
Short on time now? Go to need a preceptor fast, or send your term date through the contact page.
Questions Post students ask
Is the Week 1 packet the same for every NP clinical course?
The list is the same, and it applies to each preceptorship in turn. Some pieces carry forward: CastleBranch stays open for the whole program, and a site's agreement may still be in force if you stay there. Others start fresh each time, such as the preceptor agreement letter, the schedule for the new term and current license reports.
What happens if one piece is still outstanding when Week 1 closes?
Post's catalog says the student is removed from the clinical course term. Tell the Clinical Coordinator as soon as you see an item at risk, not on the last day, and ask your Student Success Advisor how the add and drop dates interact with your situation. Early warning gives you the most choices.
Does the Week 1 list apply to DNP and non-NP MSN students?
The catalog writes the list for nurse practitioner clinical courses. DNP and non-NP MSN practice experiences have their own rules: a CastleBranch account, a preceptor employed at the site for precepted experiences, and an affiliation agreement for every DNP precepted experience. Ask the Practicum Coordinator which documents your course expects and when.
Where do I get the NP Clinical Schedule template?
From the Clinical Coordinator. The schedule's format belongs to Post's NP Clinical Guidelines, which are not published online. Ask for the template and the student contact form in the same message during the term before your preceptorship, then build the schedule with your preceptor's actual clinic days.
Why do California students have an extra form?
Post's catalog lists an NP preceptor form for California students only, on top of the standard packet. Post's current NP disclosure also covers California for just two tracks, the FNP and AGPCNP, leaving the PMHNP off. If you live in California, request the form with the rest of your templates and have your preceptor complete it when the letter is signed.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Post University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Post asks you to select your own preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Post track, your city and your next preceptorship course. We line up preceptors who fit the course, collect the license report, certification and CV the Clinical Coordinator reviews, and start the affiliation agreement early so your Week 1 packet is complete before the term opens.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental and behavioral health for PMHNP, doctoral nurse leaders for DNP hours
- Preceptor agreement letter, license report, certification and CV ready for Post's approval
- Every preceptorship planned together, close to home in a state where you hold your license and Post's disclosure says yes
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