Plan your Loyola University New Orleans practicum three months out

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

Loyola's FNP guide sets one timing rule: begin no later than three months ahead of the practicum, since the process can use up that whole window. Work backward from your practicum term's opening day, and a Spring 2027 practicum puts the three-month mark in mid-October 2026.

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3months of lead time Loyola's FNP guide asks for before a practicum

6months ahead for a Nurse-Midwifery rotation request outside Louisiana

Numbered steps. A month-by-month plan, working backward: 1 Five to six months out; 2 Four months out; 3 Three months out; 4 Two months out; 5 One month out. — A month-by-month plan, working backward: 1 Five to six months out; 2 Four months out; 3 Three months out; 4 Two months out; 5 One month out.

The one timing rule Loyola publishes

The 2025 FNP Orientation and Practicum Guide asks students to allow a minimum of three months ahead of the practicum and cautions that the process may need all of it. Beyond that, Loyola publishes no calendar cutoff for placement requests, which makes three months the figure to plan around. The rule sits in the FNP guide, and the Exxat steps behind it are the same ones other graduate placement requests go through.

Treat three months as the floor, not a comfortable cushion. The DNP practicum requirements letter makes the same point for project students: begin early and keep more than one possible preceptor in reserve. A facility that insists on contract language of its own can push the timeline far beyond three months.

Why a placement takes three months

Several reviews run one after another, and any of them can hold your placement. None of them starts until you bring a named preceptor and site forward.

Compliance: the Exxat APPROVE team reviews each item in Required Documents, and a student who is not current is not registered and gets a compliance hold.
Agreement: a site with no agreement on file needs its authorized signer to execute the Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement; affiliation agreements covers how long reviews run.
Wishlist: your request, carrying the preceptor's CV, license copy and signed Preceptor Agreement, moves through Exxat until the whole request reads Placement Approved.
Approvals: a setting outside outpatient primary care, an FPCM IV specialty site or a workplace practicum adds a signature or a director's decision.

The bulletin gives the timeline its teeth: hours logged while any signature is still missing from the affiliation agreement are forfeited, and the course may have to be taken again.

Count-back dates for the 2026-27 terms

Here is the three-month rule applied to Loyola's 2026-27 academic calendars. Loyola does not say which calendar, full semester or online 8-week session, governs its graduate nursing courses, so take the start date from your syllabus or plan of study and count back from there.

Three months back from each start date on the Registrar's 2026-27 calendars
Term or session	First day	Three months earlier
Fall 2026, second online 8-week session	October 19, 2026	Mid-July 2026, already past
Spring 2027, full semester and first 8-week session	January 19, 2027	Mid-October 2026
Spring 2027, second online 8-week session	March 22, 2027	Late December 2026
Summer 2027, 14-week and first 7-week sessions	May 17, 2027	Mid-February 2027
Summer 2027, 10-week session	June 1, 2027	Early March 2027

The Summer count-back sits right beside the Mardi Gras holiday, February 8 to 12, 2027, so build that week into your plan. For a Fall practicum, count back from the first day of classes on the Registrar's calendar; Fall 2026 began August 17, which put its mark in mid-May.

A month-by-month plan, working backward

Loyola fixes only the three months; the stages below are a working plan to meet it, not Loyola deadlines. Begin a full term before the practicum if your schedule allows.

Five to six months outConfirm the practicum term and course in your plan of study, buy the two Exxat subscriptions and get every Required Documents item uploaded and current. Start working Explore Clinical Locations and contacting sites, keeping more than one option alive.
Four months outSettle on a preceptor who meets Loyola's rules, plus a backup. Ask whether the site already holds a Loyola agreement; if it wants its own contract, treat that as a long track and move the backup forward alongside it.
Three months outSubmit the Wishlist with the site's details, its authorized legal signer and your preceptor's information, then add the CV, license and signed Preceptor Agreement. File the Employed at Clinical Site Attestation or a specialty-hours request now if either applies.
Two months outWatch each part of the request in Exxat and answer the Clinical Practicum Coordinator's questions the same day. Finish any onboarding items the site lists, such as HIPAA training.
One month outConfirm the whole request reads Placement Approved, clear anything on the LORA Holds tab, and check that yearly items like the flu shot, TB screening and BLS will not lapse during the term.
Week oneAgree on a weekly schedule with your preceptor that covers the course's hours, and log every hour in Exxat from day one.

Longer tracks: site contracts, other states and midwifery

Some plans need more than three months. A site that insists on its own agreement, or marks up Loyola's standard form, can need several months to clear, which is why the FNP guide tells students to keep a backup site in play.

A site in another state adds a layer: your RN license has to be active in each state where you log practicum hours, and certain states tack on extra compliance items. The clinicals outside Louisiana page covers those extras.

Nurse-Midwifery students face the longest clock Loyola publishes. The program assigns their sites, but a student who wants a rotation outside Louisiana must get a CNM or approved clinician to sign a letter agreeing to precept, and that letter reaches the Program Director six months or more before the course starts.

Already inside the three months

Start now and run two tracks at once: a site that already holds an active Loyola agreement, which the practicum letter says is processed quickly, and your preferred site in parallel. Tell your course faculty early if the dates look tight; the faculty of record signs the Early Start/Extension form when a start or end date has to move.

This is where Loyola students lean on us most. We search in person in your area, bring preceptors who already meet Loyola's rules, prepare every Wishlist field and upload, and check agreement status on day one so no week is spent on a dead end. When the term is close, the fast-placement page shows how we compress the work.

Individual items can show approved while the request as a whole is still pending. Only Placement Approved clears you to start hours.

Questions Loyola students ask

When should I start looking for a Spring 2027 preceptor at Loyola?

Spring 2027 classes begin January 19, 2027, so the three-month mark falls in mid-October 2026. Because the process can use the full three months, begin sooner if you can and keep a second site in play. If your preferred site will want its own agreement, open that conversation now.

Is Loyola's three-month lead time a strict deadline?

It is the minimum lead time the FNP guide gives, and the only one Loyola publishes. The strict part is the rule behind it: no hours count until the whole request shows Placement Approved and every signature is on the affiliation agreement, so a late start becomes late hours.

Does the three-month rule apply to DNP project practicums?

The three-month figure comes from the FNP guide. The DNP practicum requirements letter asks project students to start early and line up more than one preceptor option, and project placements also run through the Exxat Wishlist with their own agreement, so the same planning window is a sensible target.

What if my placement is not approved by the first day of the term?

You wait to start hours until it is. If the delay threatens your ability to finish, talk with your faculty of record about a modified start or end date, and ask the Clinical Practicum Coordinator which piece of the request is still open so you can chase it.

How long does Loyola take to review an affiliation agreement?

Sites already under an active Loyola agreement move quickly. A site that signs the Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement as written avoids back-and-forth, while agreements the site has rewritten or drafted itself can run for months, long enough to miss a term.

ProcessClinical placement processHow a Loyola New Orleans NP or DNP practicum gets approved: Exxat subscriptions, compliance, the site search, agreements, the Wishlist and Placement Approved.ContractsAffiliation agreementsThe Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement for 2026-27: its three-year term, site-written contracts, months-long reviews and why early hours are forfeited.Calendar2026-27 academic calendarLoyola New Orleans 2026-27 dates for nursing practicums: Fall and Spring semesters, 8-week online sessions, Mardi Gras week, summer sessions and key deadlines.Urgent helpNeed a preceptor fastLoyola New Orleans practicum starting soon with no preceptor? Where the time goes, which sites clear quickest, and what Exxat needs so your hours can begin.ExxatExxat Wishlist requestFiling a Loyola New Orleans placement request with the Exxat Wishlist: every field, the preceptor uploads, the signer, and what Placement Approved really means.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Loyola's own bulletin, program pages, practicum guides, forms and licensure disclosures. Your plan of study, your practicum guide, your program director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.

Loyola asks you to select your own preceptor and site. We make that the easy part.

Tell us your Loyola program, where you live and which term your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check whether the site already has a Loyola affiliation agreement, and prepare everything your Exxat Wishlist needs.

Preceptors matched to the course: outpatient primary care for NURS G823, pediatrics and obstetrics for NURS G829, acute care for NURS G902, psychiatric care for NURS G856
Preceptor CV, license and Nursys PDF, the Preceptor Agreement and the site's signer details ready for the Wishlist
In your own community, in Louisiana or any state where Loyola approves your practicum

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