EKU's 7-week terms, longer clinical courses and the 2026-27 dates

Q: Can I take an EKU clinical course over the summer?

EKU's archived 2022 FNP sample plans included a 3-credit NSC 800 enrollment across the 12-week summer term, so summer clinical time has been part of the sequence. Whether your current plan of study includes a summer clinical block depends on your start term. Check with your advisor, and if it does, line up preceptor days from late May through early August.

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the EKU Preceptor placement team

EKU runs its online nursing courses in two 7-week sessions each fall and spring and two 6-week sessions each summer. Clinical courses keep a longer clock: EKU's most recent available curriculum plans spread NSC 800 and the internships across a full 16-week semester. Fall 2026 classes begin August 24 and spring 2027 classes January 25, and the semester before your first clinical course is when your preceptor input should be ready.

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Plan your search around your EKU term

Tell us your program, your start term and the semester your first clinical course begins. Your placement advisor maps the weeks that matter.

7weeks in each of the two fall and two spring sessions

6weeks in each of the two summer sessions

16weeks per clinical course in EKU's archived 2022-23 plans

Numbered steps. When to raise your preceptor input: 1 Two semesters ahead: decide what you want; 2 The semester before NSC 800: put a complete option forward; 3 Before the clinical term: clear the paperwork; 4 A semester before the internship: confirm or change. — When to raise your preceptor input: 1 Two semesters ahead: decide what you want; 2 The semester before NSC 800: put a complete option forward; 3 Before the clinical term: clear the paperwork; 4 A semester before the internship: confirm or change.

How an EKU semester splits into sessions

EKU's official calendar builds each fall and spring semester from 16 weeks: two 7-week blocks, a one-week break and a week of finals. Summer is a 12-week term cut into two 6-week sessions, and a 5-week winter term sits between fall and spring. EKU's page for online students describes the same pattern for online courses.

The program pages say it too. The MSN FNP, MSN PMHNP and post-MSN FNP pages advertise 7-week terms for core courses, the DNP and post-MSN PMHNP pages call them accelerated 7-week terms, and the RN to BSN page describes a traditional path of one course every 7 weeks.

Part-of-term codes in the Colonel's Compass
Code	What it covers
1, 1E	Full Term: the whole 16-week fall or spring semester
7F, 7FE	The first seven weeks of fall or spring
7S, 7SE	The second seven weeks of fall or spring
6F, 6S	The two 6-week summer sessions

The Colonel's Compass sets registration, add/drop, withdrawal and refund dates separately for each part of term, so the code attached to your course section decides which deadlines apply to you.

Clinical courses span the whole semester

EKU's current program pages mention 7-week terms for core courses and give no length for clinical courses. The detail comes from the last sample curriculum plans EKU posted, from 2022 and 2023, which now survive only in web archives. In those plans NSC 800 Advanced Practice Role, the NSC 876 FNP Internship and the NSC 886 PMHNP Internship each ran 16 weeks, and so did NSC 874 FNP III, NSC 830 and NSC 832, so even some core courses sat outside the 7-week pattern.

The archived FNP plans divided the 8 credits of NSC 800 into three enrollments: 2 credits across 16 weeks with FNP I, then 3 credits in the 12-week summer term, then a final 3 credits across 16 weeks with FNP III. The 2023 PMHNP plans used 2, 2 and 4 credits alongside PMHNP I to III, then gave the 5-credit internship 16 weeks. An archived 2023 DNP flow plan paired 8 weeks of NSC 900 seminar with up to 16 weeks to finish DNP Experience hours, and allowed NSC 901 up to 12 weeks.

These plans predate the 2026-27 catalog, so confirm your own plan of study with your advisor. The lesson for planning still holds: your clinical days are likely to run across both 7-week sessions of a semester, next to two different didactic courses.

The end of a 7-week session is not your clinical deadline. Check the start and end dates of the clinical course itself in Canvas, then spread your preceptor days across that whole window.

EKU's 2026-27 calendar at a glance

EKU academic calendar, summer 2026 to summer 2027 (EKU marks these dates subject to change)
Term	Classes begin	First session ends	Second session begins	Term ends
Summer 2026	May 18, 2026	June 26	June 29	August 7, 2026
Fall 2026	August 24, 2026	October 9 (7F)	October 19 (7S)	December 12, 2026
Winter 2026-27	December 21, 2026	Single 5-week term	Single 5-week term	January 22, 2027
Spring 2027	January 25, 2027	March 12	March 22	May 15, 2027
Summer 2027	May 24, 2027	July 2	July 6	August 13, 2027

Fall finals run December 7 to 10, 2026, and spring finals May 10 to 13, 2027. In fall 2026 the 7F session's last add/drop day is August 27 and its withdrawal deadline September 28; for 7S the dates are October 22 and November 23. Spring 2027 withdrawal deadlines are March 1 for the first seven weeks and April 26 for the second.

One stale date circulates. Some search summaries still show fall classes starting August 18, which was the fall 2025 start. Fall 2026 begins August 24, and the Colonel's Compass is the place to check any date before you plan around it.

Start terms and application deadlines

EKU admits online NP students three times a year and DNP students four times. The table gives each program page's application deadline and the month classes begin.

Application deadline; first classes, by program
Program	Fall	Spring	Summer
MSN FNP and MSN PMHNP	July 1; August	November 1; January	March 15; May
Post-MSN FNP certificate	July 1; August	November 1; January	March 15; June
Post-MSN PMHNP certificate	March 15; August	March 15; January	March 15; June
DNP	Fall A: July 1; August. Fall B: August 15; October	November 1; January	March 15; May
RN to BSN	July 1; August	November 1; January	March 15; May

The post-MSN PMHNP certificate accepts applications from October through March 15 for every start. Program length depends on the start term: EKU's archived 2022 FNP and 2023 PMHNP sample plans meant 7 semesters for a spring start, 8 for a fall start and 9 for a summer start, and the archived certificate plans ran 4 to 6 semesters (FNP) and 6 (PMHNP). EKU publishes no current lengths, so read these as a rough guide.

When to raise your preceptor input

EKU publishes no deadline for putting a preceptor or site forward, so the calendar and the paperwork set the pace. Kentucky's rule makes EKU responsible for securing its NP students' preceptors and lets you have input; the Kentucky rule page has the text. Input counts most when it arrives with time left for EKU's review, the site's onboarding and any clinical agreement.

Two semesters ahead: decide what you wantSettle the town, the setting and the clinic days that suit your job, and note any workplace or clinician you already know. The input guide shows how to frame it.
The semester before NSC 800: put a complete option forwardEKU's archived 2021-22 MSN Student Handbook requires mastery of advanced health assessment in the term directly preceding NSC 800. Use that same semester to bring your clinical contract and preceptor information form up to date with a preceptor who fits the course.
Before the clinical term: clear the paperworkThe handbook asks for the preceptor information, the Clinical Waiver form, site documents and professional liability insurance bought through EKU each semester before clinical practice. The preceptor information form guide covers each item.
A semester before the internship: confirm or changePlanning a different site for NSC 876 or NSC 886 than the one you used for NSC 800? Flag it a full semester ahead so the new practice can be reviewed in time.

DNP students work the same way, filing a Request for DNP Experience Site Approval Form per clinical course, and the archived DNP handbook holds hours back until the semester has started and onboarding is finished. Large health systems add their own clocks: UK HealthCare's Office of Advanced Practice, for one, takes requests for spring clinical dates only between October 15 and November 15.

How your placement advisor works to EKU's calendar

We plan every EKU search backward from the day your clinical course begins. Give us your program, your start term and the semester of your first NSC 800 enrollment, and your placement advisor maps the dates that matter: when your input should reach EKU, when the site needs onboarding documents, and which clinic days fit beside two back-to-back 7-week courses.

Then we find preceptors in your own community who suit the course, primary care practices for FNP students and psychiatric-mental health practices for PMHNP students, and organize the preceptor's credentials and the site information EKU reviews. EKU secures and approves the placement. Our part is an option that is complete well before the term opens, with a replacement lined up if a preceptor steps away. Send your dates through the placement form.

Questions EKU students ask

Are EKU's online nursing classes 8 weeks long?

No. EKU's current program pages and its online students page describe 7-week sessions in fall and spring and 6-week sessions in summer. The 8-week figure comes from older material such as EKU's archived 2020 DNP handbook. Clinical courses are the exception to the short sessions: EKU's latest available plans ran them over a full semester.

Can I take an EKU clinical course over the summer?

EKU's archived 2022 FNP sample plans included a 3-credit NSC 800 enrollment across the 12-week summer term, so summer clinical time has been part of the sequence. Whether your current plan of study includes a summer clinical block depends on your start term. Check with your advisor, and if it does, line up preceptor days from late May through early August.

What happens if I withdraw from a 7-week EKU nursing course?

The graduate catalog gives shorter courses proportionally shorter withdrawal periods, and the Colonel's Compass lists each date by part of term. For MSN students the stakes are higher: EKU's archived 2021-22 MSN Student Handbook treats withdrawing from an MSN course as withdrawing from the program, with a readmission application required. Talk to your course leader before you act.

Does the EKU winter term include nursing courses?

EKU's calendar has a 5-week winter term, from December 21, 2026 to January 22, 2027. EKU's online nursing pages describe only the 7-week fall and spring sessions and the 6-week summer sessions, so ask your advisor before assuming that any nursing course, clinical or didactic, runs over winter.

When does EKU's DNP Fall B start?

Fall B classes begin in October, with an August 15 application deadline, which matches the timing of the fall semester's second 7-week session (7S starts October 19 in fall 2026). Fall A applicants apply by July 1 and begin in August. The hours you owe at EKU are set at admission; see the DNP hours guide.

ToolsEKU online student toolsmyEKU, Canvas, myMail, Degree Works, the Colonel's Compass, Big E Central, the IT ServiceDesk and EKU Libraries: what each does for an online EKU nurse.NSC 800NSC 800 Advanced Practice RoleEKU's NSC 800 Advanced Practice Role: 1 to 9 credits per enrollment, 8 in total, paired with FNP I-III or PMHNP I-III, plus the preceptor each stage needs.AssessmentHealth assessment before NSC 800EKU's archived MSN handbook asks FNP and PMHNP students to show advanced health assessment mastery the semester before NSC 800. What it means for your timing.Your inputYour input on preceptorsKentucky law lets EKU NP students have input on preceptors. Why students propose one, what makes a proposal strong, when to raise it and how we help.Online, 47 creditsMSN Family Nurse PractitionerEKU's online MSN FNP as a clinical plan: 47 credits, NSC 800 with FNP I to III, the NSC 876 internship, 750 patient care hours and when to plan your input.DNPDNP clinical hoursEKU's DNP requires 1,000 clinical hours beyond the BSN. How the hours owed at EKU are set at admission, the site approval form, the log and project courses.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against EKU's own catalog, program pages and handbooks, and Kentucky's regulations. The current MSN Student Handbook, your course and your faculty have the final word.

EKU secures your preceptor. Your input decides how well it fits your life.

Tell us your EKU program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors in your community who fit the course and prepare everything EKU reviews, so the option you put forward is ready to approve.

Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for NSC 800 and NSC 876, psychiatric care for NSC 886
Preceptor, license and site details organized for EKU's preceptor information form
In your own community, wherever EKU enrolls students and you hold your RN license

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