JSU's traditional BSN and its clinical courses
JSU's traditional BSN is a campus program based at the South Complex in Jacksonville, with clinical courses in every upper-division semester and a senior practicum, NU 428, taught by course faculty together with a clinical preceptor. This page sets out that clinical path. When you move on to an MSN or JSU's nurse practitioner tracks, Jax State Preceptor is the placement service built for that next step.
Planning graduate study after your BSN?
Tell us the JSU program you are aiming for. We map the practicums and residencies ahead of you.
A campus program with clinicals from the first nursing semester
The BSN has two halves: 62 hours of core courses, then 67 hours of upper-division nursing, for 120 to 129 hours in all. The upper division is the clinical part. It covers five nursing semesters plus a 2-credit summer course, from Junior Fall to Senior Summer on the catalog grid, and the BSN handbook gives you seven semesters to finish it.
Unlike JSU's online programs, the BSN is taught on campus. The School of Nursing works out of the JSU South Complex on Pelham Road South, the former Jacksonville hospital building, and simulation happens next door in the South Complex Annex, home to JSU's High Fidelity Simulation Center and its low-fidelity labs. CCNE accredits the baccalaureate program through June 30, 2034; the accreditation page has the details.
Clinical sites change from course to course. JSU names Anniston, Gadsden, Jacksonville, Huntsville, Georgia and Birmingham among them, and students arrange their own transportation to each one.
The upper-division sequence
| Semester | Courses |
|---|---|
| 1st: Junior Fall | NU 305 A Bridge to Success (0); NU 306 Pharmacology (4); NU 309 Health Assessment (4); NU 311 Foundations of Nursing Practice (6), clinical |
| 2nd: Junior Spring | NU 322 Health Deviations and Clinical Interventions (4); NU 325 Adult Health in Secondary and Community Settings (5), clinical; NU 326 Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (4), clinical |
| Summer | NU 400 Research and Outcomes Management (2) |
| 3rd: Senior Fall | NU 403 Nursing Care of Children and Families (5), clinical; NU 404 Childbearing Families (5), clinical; NU 422 Foundations of Nursing Leadership (2) |
| 4th: Senior Spring | NU 424 Adult Health in Secondary, Tertiary, and Community Settings (5), clinical; NU 426 Community Health Across the Lifespan (5), clinical; NU 433 Advanced Health Deviations and Clinical Interventions (3) |
| 5th: Senior Summer | NU 302 Preparation for NCLEX Success (3); NU 428 Practicum (6), preceptor-supervised; NU 455 Transition to Professional Nursing (4) |
One credit split differs by source. JSU's Program Information page shows NU 326 at 5 credits and NU 322 at 3, while the 2026-27 catalog and the August 2026 BSN handbook show 4 and 4. The Junior Spring total is 13 either way, and the catalog governs.
What each clinical course covers
NU 311, Foundations of Nursing Practice, is your first clinical course, in the opening upper-division semester. Junior Spring moves on to adult health in secondary and community settings (NU 325) and psychiatric mental health nursing (NU 326).
Senior Fall turns to children and families (NU 403) and childbearing families (NU 404). Senior Spring comes back to adult health, now across secondary, tertiary and community settings (NU 424), paired with community health across the lifespan (NU 426). The catalog marks these seven courses as requiring lab and clinical work.
JSU does not publish clinical hours for individual BSN courses, so your course faculty and syllabi are the place to find them. One rule runs through every clinical: before you give medications, including during the preceptorship, the BSN handbook requires a 90% medication-calculation score.
NU 428, the senior preceptor practicum
NU 428 Practicum is a 6-credit course in the final, Senior Summer semester, taken beside NCLEX preparation (NU 302) and Transition to Professional Nursing (NU 455). The catalog describes its supervision as shared between course faculty and a clinical preceptor, a practicing nurse you work alongside.
For RN programs, the Alabama Board of Nursing's rules define a preceptor as a licensed nurse whose licensure fits the scope of practice, with at least one year of experience, employed in a clinical setting. JSU's current public pages do not print the NU 428 hour total or its own preceptor criteria, so confirm both with your course faculty and the BSN handbook.
Because NU 428 shares the final semester with NCLEX preparation and the transition course, it is the last clinical course of the program and the one where the skills from the four clinical semesters before it are put to work together.
Clinical performance counts toward JSU's BSN dismissal rules, and NU 428 is no exception. Treat each preceptor shift as graded work.
Progression rules in the clinical years
Every nursing course in the BSN needs at least a C, which the handbook's scale places at 70 to 79. When you fail a course, you retake it in the following semester if the schedule allows. Four patterns lead to dismissal: two failures of one course, failures in two different courses, one course failure combined with unsatisfactory clinical work, or unsatisfactory clinical work in two courses.
Dropping does not erase a clinical failure. A student who fails clinically and withdraws before the penalty date is still charged with a course failure, and anyone who drops or fails is required to join JSU's RISE program. Your nursing practice must also meet faculty standards for you to stay in clinical courses. Graduate programs use different rules, set out on the grades and progression page.
Getting into the upper division
Upper-division admission opens twice a year: fall, with a June 1 deadline, and spring, with an October 1 deadline. JSU states that late applications are not accepted. The minimums are an ACT of 18 or SAT of 960 taken within five years, a core GPA of at least 2.75 with no core grade below C, plus a background check and drug screen.
Two routes change the path. Working LPNs with an active, unencumbered license receive credit for NU 306, NU 309 and NU 311 when they are assessed into the upper division. The Deans' Scholars Program for Early Acceptance secures an upper-division seat in advance for freshmen who enter with a 3.5 high school GPA and a 24 ACT and keep a 3.4 GPA.
After the BSN: where Jax State Preceptor comes in
Most of the preceptor searching in a JSU nursing career comes after the BSN. The BSN-DNP's two nurse practitioner tracks, FNP and AGACNP, run four NP practicums and three DNP residencies, and the MSN in Population Health has two 254-hour practicums. Both admit RNs with a BSN, and the NP tracks limit applicants to Alabama and its four neighbors: Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Whatever help JSU offers with those later placements, our placement desk finds a preceptor and site that satisfy its rules, near where you live, with your clearance items in order before any site sees your name. Your BSN rotations around Anniston, Gadsden, Birmingham and Huntsville are a good time to note the nurse practitioners you meet. Once graduate admission comes through, share your plan of study with us on the contact page.
Questions JSU students ask
Is JSU's traditional BSN offered online?
No. The traditional BSN is taught on campus at the South Complex in Jacksonville, with clinical courses at sites across the region. Registered nurses who want an online route to the BSN use STEP, JSU's RN-BSN program; the STEP RN-BSN page covers its NU 456 clinical course.
Do I need a car for JSU BSN clinicals?
Plan on it. JSU says students provide their own transportation to clinical sites, and those sites vary by course. Its list runs from Jacksonville and Anniston to Gadsden, Birmingham, Huntsville and locations in Georgia, so expect regular driving across the region during the upper division.
How many clinical hours are in JSU's BSN?
JSU does not publish clinical hours for BSN courses; the catalog lists credits instead. Seven upper-division courses carry lab and clinical work, and NU 428 adds the senior preceptorship. For an hour count, ask your course faculty or check the syllabus and the current BSN handbook.
When does the NU 428 practicum happen?
On the catalog grid NU 428 falls in the fifth upper-division semester, Senior Summer, alongside NU 302 and NU 455. JSU's nursing plans are built on full semesters, and the 2027 full summer term starts May 6 and ends with finals on July 29. The academic calendar page lists the other dates.
Can I go from JSU's BSN straight into the nurse practitioner tracks?
Admission to the BSN-DNP calls for an RN license, a science GPA of 2.5, and a 3.0 GPA measured over your BSN program or your last 60 hours. Only residents of five states are considered. JSU's published requirements list no work-experience minimum; confirm that with the School of Nursing before you apply.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against JSU's 2026-27 catalog, nursing handbooks, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether JSU helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your JSU program, your next practicum or residency and the town you train near. We find preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather what JSU's faculty need to clear them, early enough for the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan, adult-gerontology acute care, DNP residencies
- License, certification and site details ready for JSU's clearance, with your CastleBranch and malpractice items in order
- Across Alabama and in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee
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