Maryland: EKU's pre-admission placement condition and your clinicals
EKU accepts Maryland residents into all of its online nursing programs, subject to a condition that appears on no other state's entry: unpaid or low-paying placements of any kind must be approved before admission. For a Maryland applicant, that moves clinical planning into the application stage, well before NSC 800 begins.
Applying to EKU from Maryland?
Share your program, your county and your specialty. Your placement advisor maps Maryland preceptor options you can raise with EKU while you apply.
EKU's Maryland entry
| Program | EKU status for Maryland | Licensure table result |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | Yes, with conditions | Meets Requirements |
| MSN PMHNP | Yes, with conditions | Meets Requirements |
| Post-MSN FNP and PMHNP certificates | Yes, with conditions (shared MSN table) | Meets Requirements |
| Post-master's DNP | Yes, with conditions | No DNP table published |
| RN to BSN | Yes, with conditions | Meets Requirements |
Maryland shows up on both of EKU's SARA lists, the unrestricted one and the one with special restrictions, and the note under the second carries the condition. Because it speaks of placements of any kind, it reaches every program in the table.
Reading the pre-admission condition
The note is a single sentence. It does not define placement, say who at EKU approves, or set out a Maryland procedure. Clinical courses are the obvious placements in a nursing program, so treat the condition as reaching your NP clinicals and raise your Maryland plans with EKU during the application.
Put three questions to EKU's online advisors: what they need from you before admission, whether they expect a named site or a general plan, and what happens if the site changes later. Keep the answers in writing. The condition leaves the Kentucky rule intact: EKU still secures your preceptors, and your input still counts (the rule explained).
NP practice and Maryland's preceptor tax credit
On AANP's map Maryland is full practice. Its one early-career requirement is an attestation: a newly certified NP declares 18 months of being mentored by a certified NP or a physician. Under the Kentucky definition EKU works with, your preceptor can be an APRN, a physician or a physician assistant.
Maryland also backs precepting with an income tax credit, the Nurse Practitioner Preceptorship Tax Credit in Tax-General § 10-739. The preceptor, an NP or a physician, must take NP students through three or more community-based rotations, each lasting at least 90 hours, in a part of the state the Maryland Department of Health has flagged for health workforce shortages.
The credit is figured per rotation, capped for each preceptor every year and capped statewide too, and the statute is set to expire June 30, 2030. It also requires the student's program to be recognized by the Maryland Board of Nursing, so a preceptor weighing the credit should put the EKU question to the Department of Health.
Sites, licenses and Maryland's own rules
We found nothing in the Maryland Board of Nursing's materials that makes a school from another state clear its clinical placements with the Board first. On the higher-education side, SARA participants are exempt from the rule under which the Maryland Higher Education Commission registers other states' online programs. The Nurse Practice Act also names, among those who need no license, a graduate student in an accredited APRN program practicing advanced practice nursing as part of that program.
Maryland's compact membership dates from January 19, 2018, and its nursing regulations let anyone holding a multistate privilege practice there under Maryland law. EKU still wants every RN license you hold unencumbered (license guide). Looking ahead, the Maryland Board of Nursing reviews every NP program before certifying its graduates, and the school files the Program Approval Form, so ask EKU where its programs stand if you will practice in Maryland.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson holds about 2.9 million people and the Maryland portion of the Washington region roughly 2.5 million, with Hagerstown and Lexington Park much smaller. MedStar Health, Luminis Health, the University of Maryland Medical System, LifeBridge Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine give a sense of the state's large systems, and each handles students through its own process.
Why Maryland applicants come to us early
Maryland is the state where your clinical plan matters before EKU admits you, and that is where our early start pays off. Your placement advisor maps realistic preceptor options in your specialty, near home and on your schedule, so the plan you raise with EKU is concrete. After admission we find and prepare the preceptor, organize the details for EKU's clinical contract and preceptor information form, and stay on call through your internship. Tell us about your plans.
Questions EKU students ask
Does EKU's Maryland condition apply to the RN to BSN?
Yes. The note covers placements of any kind, and EKU marks the RN to BSN, like every other program, as open with conditions for Maryland. Its single clinical course, NSC 442C, includes a capstone project that EKU says RN to BSN students may complete where they already work. Raise that plan before admission too; see the RN to BSN guide.
What if I move to Maryland after EKU admits me?
Talk to your advisor before the move. EKU's page cautions that a move after you apply or are admitted can end in removal from the program, and the Maryland condition is framed around approval before admission, so EKU has to decide how it applies to you. Hold off on committing to a Maryland site until EKU answers.
Could a Pennsylvania or Delaware resident use a Maryland clinical site?
Each of those states issues multistate licenses under the compact, and Maryland honors them. EKU publishes nothing on training across a state line from where you live, and the Maryland condition may still reach a Maryland site, so ask your faculty first. The Pennsylvania and Delaware guides cover those states.
Does the placement condition mean I arrange my own preceptor in Maryland?
No. Under Kentucky's rule, securing preceptors for NP students is EKU's responsibility, and the Maryland condition adds an approval EKU needs before admission; it does not hand the search to you. Your input still matters, and proposing a preceptor you would like to learn from is what the student input guide covers.
Related pages
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 800andNSC 876, psychiatric care forNSC 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
Start your placement plan
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