Drexel post-master's NP certificates: clinical hours and preceptors by track

Drexel offers post-master's certificates in AGACNP, AGPCNP, FNP, PMHNP, WHNP, pediatric primary care, pediatric acute care, the pediatric primary and acute dual option, Emergency/Trauma NP, and FNP with Emergency Specialization. All are online and part-time, with on-campus intensives. The clinical courses and intensives match the MSN for the same population, and the certificate pages repeat the MSN message: they give you the freedom to choose and arrange your own clinical site and preceptor, and the department offers resources to help.

Before the first clinical course you need master's-level advanced pathophysiology or physiology, advanced pharmacology and advanced physical assessment. Drexel says these must be transferred in or taken at Drexel first. AGACNP certificate students must also complete Drexel's own acute care pharmacology course ahead of their first rotation.

The 2026–27 quarter catalog gives each certificate's credits and clinical hours. The 2027–28 catalog supplies the new four-digit course numbers but no hours yet.

Six dual-track courses at 160 hours apiece make 960, short of the 1,000 printed in the catalog, and the track drops out of the 2027–28 catalog altogether, so ask whether it is still open before you plan around it. The clinical hours page sets out per-course hours for each track.

Board-certified NPs adding a specialty can have a Gap Analysis, which compares earlier NP education with the new track and may cut courses and hours. The 2027–28 catalog says it isn't mandatory for acceptance and is performed at the time of application. For the AGACNP certificate, a practicing NP's clinical courses may be capped at 500 hours, depending on the analysis, while master's graduates who aren't NPs, or aren't practicing, complete the full 800. The Gap Analysis page explains the process.

• AGPCNP: all 640 hours have to happen either in the state where you live or in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania must issue you an RN license on top of your home license.
• AGACNP: two years of current bedside acute care experience, with critical care preferred.
• PNP primary care: a year of experience is required before the clinical portion begins.
• PNP acute care and PMHNP: a year of pediatric acute care or of psychiatric nursing, respectively.
• PNP dual: one to two recent years in a clinically relevant area.
• Emergency/Trauma NP: its own eligibility questions, covered on the Emergency NP certificate page.

Every certificate with a listed start admits next in Fall 2027; the PNP dual certificate shows none. Applications close July 1, 2027, and classes begin August 23. You will take the semester courses in the table above. Drexel's semester calendar has fall and spring terms of 14 weeks plus a finals week, and a summer made up of one 12-week term or 6-week part terms.

Most semester certificates are 34.0 credits: four foundation courses, NURS 6000 through NURS 6003, followed by four clinical courses. The Emergency/Trauma NP certificate is 29.0 and FNP with Emergency Specialization is 49.0. The semester catalog publishes no clinical hours, with one exception: the AGPCNP certificate's admissions text still states 640. Ask your advisor what each course expects of you and your preceptor before anyone books dates. The semester conversion page follows the wider change.

Certificate students start with real advantages: they already practice, know clinicians and understand how a clinic runs. The catch is population. An FNP adding psychiatric care needs psychiatric preceptors, an adult NP adding pediatrics needs a pediatric practice, and those circles rarely overlap with the one built in a first specialty.

Working hours matter too. Practicing NPs fit clinical days around their own patient schedules, and Drexel's AGACNP pages describe two eight-hour clinical days a week, about 16 hours, as typical for that track. Drexel is silent on whether you can train at your own workplace or under a colleague you report to, so ask your track director early if that is your plan.

Location adds limits. The 11-state admission exclusion applies to every certificate, rotations can't take place in New York, and Washington's nursing commission has approved only Drexel's MSN tracks by name, so ask Drexel before planning certificate hours in Washington. The state authorization page covers the details.

A second specialty calls for a search built around the new population, not the one you already know, and that is where we do our best work. We start from your certificate's clinical sequence and search in person near you for board-certified NPs, CNMs and physicians who see the right patients, have a year or more in practice and hold the licenses Drexel checks. For AGPCNP certificate students, the search stays inside your home state or Pennsylvania from the first call.

Each confirmed preceptor comes with a ready file: CV, license, board certification, the site's contact for Drexel's affiliation agreement and the site's onboarding steps. Approval of the preceptor, site and agreement rests with Drexel, and we make certain the certificate paperwork Drexel sees is finished and rule-ready from the start. When a preceptor pulls out partway through a course, we are on call to replace them in the same population. The form here starts the conversation, and how it works shows each step.