Placement and approval

The UTA clinical placement process, from clearance to day one

Updated September 23, 2026 · Reviewed by the UTA Preceptor placement team

At UTA you find your own preceptor and site, request the placement in Exxat, and wait for the Clinical Coordinator and/or course faculty to approve it. Around that sit clinical clearance, the Preceptor Agreement your preceptor signs, and an affiliation agreement between UTA and the agency. This page walks the whole path in the order UTA lays it out.

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Tell us your track and when your first clinical course opens. A placement advisor replies with where you stand on UTA's path.

60days to upload your clinical clearance documents to Exxat

30days before your first clinical course: the window for the drug test and background check

Numbered steps. The path, step by step: 1 Find a preceptor and site that fit the course.; 2 Submit a self-placement request in MyRequest.; 3 Wait for approval.; 4 Confirm the affiliation agreement.; 5 Clear the 30-day items.. — The path, step by step: 1 Find a preceptor and site that fit the course.; 2 Submit a self-placement request in MyRequest.; 3 Wait for approval.; 4 Confirm the affiliation agreement.; 5 Clear the 30-day items..

Who does what at UTA

Placement at UTA is self-directed: its NP program pages ask students to find a preceptor “aligned with their program requirements,” while the Department of Graduate Nursing steps in with placement help “when a student is experiencing difficulty.” What that help looks like is on our UTA placement assistance page.

UTA names roles, not an office. The Clinical Coordinator and your course faculty approve preceptors and sites, and the Clinical Coordinator receives your Preceptor Agreement. Each track has a Graduate Clinical Coordination Team mailbox; the CONHI directory lists them, from FNP@uta.edu to PsychNP@uta.edu. If a placement problem won't resolve, the MSN and PMC Student Handbook sends it to your Program Director, then the Associate Chair of Clinical Education.

Two groups follow a different path. DNP students don't use preceptors; they must have a project site recorded in the clinical management system by the end of NURS 6323. RN-to-BSN practice work happens at your job or in the community, and UTA says no specific preceptor has to be identified for it. The rest of this page is for MSN and post-master's certificate students.

Before you search: Exxat and clearance

UTA's Exxat page says students “are required to purchase Exxat upon entry” to the graduate program, and your first login asks you to buy it. Exxat, at steps.exxat.com, holds your compliance uploads, your self-placement requests and, later, your timesheets and logbooks.

Do these in your first weeks

Upload your clearance documents. Your compliance uploads are due within 60 days of starting your first graduate course, apart from the background check and drug screen, which run on their own clock, and each must stay current until you finish. See UTA clinical clearance for the full list.
Build your Exxat profile. Fill in your work history and languages and attach a resume or CV. Because UTA notes the profile can go to potential preceptors, it doubles as your introduction.
Open the Resources tile. It holds the compliance and self-placement guides, the preceptor guidelines and the placement policies UTA posts only inside Exxat.

Leave the background check and drug screen for later: UTA's online FNP page rules out doing either one sooner than 30 days ahead of your first clinical course.

The path, step by step

This sequence follows the list on UTA's online FNP page, with the Exxat mechanics taken from UTA's Exxat page.

Find a preceptor and site that fit the course.UTA keeps its recruiting guidelines and the forms to use in Exxat. The preceptor must hold an unencumbered, active provider license and have spent a year or more in the specialty role, and the setting has to suit what the course covers.
Submit a self-placement request in MyRequest.Log in at steps.exxat.com, open the Dashboard, then Clinical coursework. Each course has a Wishlist with a closing date, and UTA sets a minimum and maximum number of requests. Our Exxat MyRequest guide has the detail.
Wait for approval.UTA's Clinical Coordinator and/or your course faculty review the preceptor and site and decide. See how UTA approval works for what they check.
Confirm the affiliation agreement.Clinicals can't happen at an agency until UTA has an affiliation agreement with it, and some sites also ask for a written contract of their own with CONHI. More on UTA affiliation agreements.
Clear the 30-day items.Book the drug test and background check so both fall in the final 30 days before your first clinical course, and finish any orientation the site requires.
Get the Preceptor Agreement signed.Every preceptor signs one, due with the Clinical Coordinator no later than your first clinical day. Read about the Preceptor Agreement.
Start and log.Record timesheets and logbook entries in Exxat as you go. Only direct patient care counts toward the minimum clinical hours.

UTA's own list puts the drug test and background check first; the 30-day rule is why they sit near the end here.

Exxat or InPlace? UTA's pages disagree

UTA's own websites use two system names. UTA's Exxat page, the online FNP and pediatric NP pages and the online MSN Education page call Exxat the Graduate Nursing clinical management system. The uta.edu NP program pages, the MSN/PMC current-student page and the online AGACNP and AGPCNP pages still name InPlace.

The dates favor Exxat. The InPlace sentence on the graduate nursing page has been unchanged since at least May 2021, the earliest archived copy of UTA's Exxat page dates to October 2022, the Exxat guides UTA hosts are dated 2022–2023, and the January 2025 DNP Student Handbook tells DNP students to log hours in Exxat. UTA publishes no date for the switch; if a course document names InPlace, ask your Clinical Coordinator.

Earlier UTA syllabi (2016–2018) said clinical logs went into Typhon, and by 2018 some named InPlace instead. Advice naming either is probably out of date.

Where placements stall

Most delays trace back to rules UTA publishes.

Compliance lapses. Under the Graduate Nursing Clinical Clearance Requirements policy, noncompliance can lead to a registration hold, a clinical course delayed, a placement denied, or removal from the site.
A site that won't accept your exemption. If the agency will not take a student with a vaccine exemption, UTA denies the self-placement request and your course moves back a semester.
No affiliation agreement. The agency can't host you until one is in place, and UTA doesn't publish how long a new one takes.
The wrong state. The handbook lets you finish only in states where CONHI can operate, so a move, a travel contract or an out-of-state preceptor search each start with an email to NursingSOA@uta.edu.
A missing MyRequest. UTA gives three reasons: the course starts more than 12 months out, the request isn't built yet, or your degree plan has an issue. Write to MSNadvising@uta.edu about a degree-plan issue and to v4support@exxat.com about anything else.

A preceptor's yes is the start of the process, not a placement. Until UTA approves the preceptor and the site, what you have is a candidate.

What UTA does not publish, and where to check

Several parts of the process are visible only once you are enrolled. The text of the placement policies sits inside Exxat rather than on the public site; that covers the Graduate Student Clinical Placement Policy and Procedure as well as the Graduate Student Clinical Site and Preceptor Policy. So do each course's Wishlist close date and the lists of acceptable preceptor categories that UTA's online FAQ says exist for every clinical course.

The public handbooks are also dated. The MSN and PMC Student Handbook at UTA's current link is the Academic Year 2024-2025 edition, revised January 2025, and no newer edition has appeared there. When a rule matters, check the Exxat Resources tile first, then your course Canvas page, then your Clinical Coordinator or track mailbox. For how early each step should happen, see the UTA clinical placement timeline.

Why UTA students choose us for the search

We work inside the step UTA leaves to you: finding the preceptor and the site. We search for a preceptor whose license, specialty and setting fit your UTA course, ask the site early whether it already has an agreement with UTA, and help you gather the preceptor's CV, proof of license and site details for your request.

You submit the request in Exxat and UTA decides, with a file built to answer the reviewer's questions on the first pass. If a preceptor drops out mid-term, we start looking for the replacement straight away. How it works sets out our side in UTA's order, or use the form below with your track and the date your first clinical course opens.

FAQ

Questions UTA students ask

Does UTA find clinical placements for NP students?

Not by default. UTA expects you to locate your own preceptor and site; the department offers help when a student is having difficulty. The rules for that help are in Students Experiencing Difficulties with Clinical Placements, a policy UTA posts inside Exxat rather than publicly. If your search is stalling, tell your Clinical Coordinator early.

Can I do UTA clinical hours at the hospital or clinic where I work?

Yes, with limits. UTA's online FAQ permits clinical hours with your employer provided the site fits the course's clinical focus. Two things are excluded: hours in your own department, and having your current supervisor precept you. You also can't be paid by your employer or preceptor for clinical hours. The site still needs approval and an affiliation agreement like any other.

Is placement different in the campus-based and online programs?

The self-placement wording is the same for both. UTA's program comparison says clinicals in the accelerated online format “Will Depend on Your Own Clinical Arrangements,” while the campus-based format lists hands-on access to UTA's SMART Hospital and labs during clinicals. Either way, expect to find your own preceptor and site and to submit them through Exxat.

What if my preceptor is in another state?

Email NursingSOA@uta.edu before you start looking there. Only seven states are open for UTA's NP programs, post-master's NP certificates and DNP, and clinicals can happen only where CONHI can operate. You also need an RN license that is valid in the clinical state, which means a compact license or getting licensed there at your own expense.

Do MSN Nursing Education and Administration students follow the same process?

Largely. The online MSN Education page uses the same self-placement wording and names Exxat, and its preceptors must work in nursing education. Administration students log hours in healthcare facilities where senior nurse administrators work, and UTA's online RN-to-MSN page leans toward a non-employer site for NURS 5339. Neither track's page confirms the Preceptor Agreement form.

Keep going

RulesPreceptor requirementsWho can precept a UTA nursing student: UTA's license and one-year minimums, per-course preceptor categories, and what UTA leaves unclear on MD, DO and PA.SystemExxat at UTAHow UTA graduate nursing uses Exxat: logging in at steps.exxat.com, buying it on entry, what each tile holds, and why some UTA pages still say InPlace.PolicyUTA clinical policies in ExxatThe six UTA graduate clinical policies posted in Exxat, from the Practicum Acknowledgement to Clearance Requirements: what each governs and which are public.StatesOut-of-state clinicalsWhere UTA nursing students can do clinicals: the seven NP and DNP states, RN-to-BSN and MSN limits, NursingSOA@uta.edu, and licensure in the clinical state.EmployerClinicals at your employerCan you do UTA clinical hours where you work? Yes, with limits: not your department, not your supervisor, no pay, and an affiliation agreement still applies.DNPDNP project siteYour UTA DNP project site must be in the clinical management system by the end of NURS 6323 so UTA can contract with it. Then GNRC review and any site IRB.

Last checked 2026-09-23

We check these pages against UTA's own sources. UTA's current handbook and your course faculty have the final word.

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