UTA's MSN in Nursing Education, from first course to practicum

The program at a glance

According to UTA's MSN and post-master's handbook, Nursing Education is available solely in the accelerated online format. The catalog page repeats a generic line about online and classroom-based options, but the handbook is specific, and Nursing Education does not appear among the campus-based programs it lists.

UTA's side-by-side comparison of formats describes the online MSN as coursework that is 100 percent online, with no on-campus class attendance, one intensive course at a time and several start dates a year. The Education MSN totals 34 credits and can be finished in as few as 21 to 25 months.

For 2026-27, the online MSN calendar offers eight program starts between August 2026 and June 2027, the first on August 17, 2026, with each application deadline falling 24 to 31 days before its start (our count). Every date and deadline is listed on the online clinical schedule.

When the hours land in your plan

The catalog makes NURS 5362 the last course: to enroll you must have completed every other course in the program and hold a 3.0 GPA. The two 45-hour courses therefore come earlier, each compressed into 5 weeks, which works out to about 9 hours a week (our arithmetic).

That shapes planning in two ways. First, you need somewhere to apply assessment, evaluation and simulation work well before the practicum, not only at the end. Second, UTA does not say whether those 45-hour blocks count inside the practicum's 135 or on top of it, so the time you arrange could total 135 hours or as many as 225 (our arithmetic). Ask your course faculty which reading applies before you offer anyone a schedule.

UTA's public pages also do not say where the 45-hour blocks take place or whether someone has to supervise them. Your syllabus in Canvas is the place to check as each of those courses opens.

Clearance, license and where you live

Education students are named outright in UTA's clearance policy, the Graduate Nursing Clinical Clearance Requirements, which gives you 60 days from admission to become compliant, at your own expense. It covers vaccines and TB screening, a criminal background check, a urine drug screen, CPR and a FERPA release, and an agency hosting you may add requirements. The detail is on clinical clearance.

Your nursing license has to be valid in every state where you do clinical work. If you teach under a preceptor outside your home state, that means holding a compact license that covers it or getting that state's license yourself.

Ten states are missing from UTA's map for this MSN: Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The rest, and DC, are listed, and UTA's state-authorization page notes that the program does not lead to licensure. Email NursingSOA@uta.edu before a move, a travel assignment or a preceptor search in another state.

Where our help fits

UTA calls clinical placement in this program a collaborative process: you are asked to locate a preceptor who fits the program's requirements, and the Graduate Nursing Department assists if you run into difficulty. The search is narrower than on clinical tracks, where many kinds of licensed clinicians can precept.

The practical help we offer is lead time and reach. Well before your practicum opens, a placement advisor can approach hospital educators, clinical instructors and school of nursing faculty near you, check each one against UTA's published rule, and help you assemble the CV and license details UTA's reviewers look at. If a preceptor withdraws partway through, we help search for someone to take over. UTA alone decides on each preceptor and site, and we promise neither approval nor dates. Tell the placement desk your start date or use the form below.