Moving during Drexel clinicals: the state, the license and the new preceptor

Drexel can't enroll online students everywhere, and the list depends on your program. Its state regulations page names the states whose residents it can't currently admit:

That list speaks to admission. Drexel's compliance office goes further: some states' rules may block clinicals, or enrollment itself, for a student of an out-of-state school, and a move can put your clinical requirements in doubt. If your destination is on the list, or you're unsure, write to Drexel's state authorization mailbox, sara@drexel.edu, before you commit. A move abroad ends eligibility too, since CNHP's online nursing programs are open only to U.S. residents. Drexel state authorization has the full picture.

A few destinations come with their own rules.

• New York. NP students may live in New York and stay enrolled, but clinical or practicum hours can't be completed in the state. You'd train across a state line, with a license that covers it. See New York clinicals.
• Washington. Drexel's approval from Washington's Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission names the MSN NP tracks. Certificates, FNP with Emergency Specialization and the DNP aren't on that list, so those students should ask Drexel first.
• AGPCNP certificate. Its 640 hours go in your state of residency or Pennsylvania, so a move changes where you're allowed to train.
• Maryland. Drexel lists Maryland residents as admitted without restriction to its NP, DNP and RN-to-BSN programs.

Drexel's pages give two versions of the license rule, and a move lands you right in the gap between them. The compliance certifications page lets NP students use either an active Pennsylvania RN license or an active multistate license held in the state they primarily live in, adding a separate license only for clinical states that sit outside the Nurse Licensure Compact. The program pages say Pennsylvania licensure is required before clinicals.

Because the multistate option is tied to where you primarily live, moving changes which license Drexel looks at. Drexel leaves it to you to confirm, with the nursing board of every state that has licensed you, whether your rotations call for a multistate or a single-state license, and it checks licenses through CastleBranch. Pediatric students should know Drexel highly recommends Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware licenses. Run your situation past Clinical Compliance too; the Pennsylvania license page lays out both versions side by side.

A move within driving distance may change nothing at all. Drexel already tells NP students that reaching a site can mean travel, so a preceptor still within reach of your new address can stay on. A longer move usually means starting over.

Anywhere new, the site needs an affiliation agreement of its own with Drexel, and the clinician has to clear Drexel's preceptor bar: nurse practitioner, nurse midwife or physician in an approved field, properly licensed where they work, currently board certified and in practice for a year or longer. Begin the search in the new area before you leave, so the contract and any site onboarding can run while you pack. Drexel preceptor requirements covers each rule.

The cleanest time to move is between clinical courses, after your preceptor has validated every hour in E*Value and completed your final evaluation. Moving mid-quarter means a preceptor change, and possibly a new site, in the middle of a ten-week course; preceptor dropped out walks through that situation.

Tell Drexel early: your academic advisor and track director for the course plan, Clinical Compliance for licenses and CastleBranch, and the state authorization mailbox if the destination appears on any list. If the move falls around Summer 2027, remember that term runs only seven weeks and the switch to semesters follows in the fall.

Relocation rewards a head start, and we give you one. Tell us where you're moving, when, your track and your next clinical course, and a placement advisor starts looking in the new area before you arrive, screening every preceptor against Drexel's rules and every site against Drexel's state limits, including New York and the excluded states.

By the time you unpack, the new preceptor's CV, license and board certificate are in hand, along with the name of the person who signs agreements at the new site. Drexel has the final say on the placement, and the file it gets from us has every item it expects. If a preceptor in your new area drops later, we're ready to step in again.