Samford's on-campus intensives, program by program
Samford's online NP programs bring students to Birmingham a few times: two to three intensives for most FNP students and one or two for PMHNP students. The Samford pages that give a length say sessions run two to four days, and the plans of study tie campus visits to specific courses and terms. Several land in the same semester as a clinical course, so your preceptor needs to know early.
Plan clinicals around your intensives
Tell us your track and start term. We map the campus visits before we search for preceptors.
How many intensives each program requires
Samford's current program pages state the count. The wording differs slightly from page to page, and one older page still online disagrees with its replacement:
| Program | What Samford's page says |
|---|---|
| FNP, BSN to MSN and ADN to MSN | 2 to 3 required on-campus intensives |
| FNP post-graduate certificate | 2 to 3 required on-campus intensives |
| FNP, BSN to DNP | 2 to 3 on the current page; 3 required on-campus sessions on an older page that is still live |
| FNP, MSN to DNP | 2 or 3 required on-campus intensives |
| PMHNP, BSN to MSN and ADN to MSN | 1 or 2 required on-campus intensives |
| PMHNP, MSN to DNP | 1 to 2 required on-campus/telehealth intensives |
| PMHNP post-graduate certificate | 1 to 2 required on-campus intensives; the page introduction says on-campus/telehealth |
| Nurse Anesthesia DNP | Two online semesters, then on campus for face-to-face classes from January of the third semester |
The Emergency NP pages list one intensive although the ENP DNP plan marks two campus visits, and those tracks are not accepting applications. The closed DNP Nurse Leader track brought students to campus twice, for orientation and graduation.
Read "2 to 3" as a planning range, not a promise of two. Hold time and travel money for the higher number until your course confirms the schedule.
How long they last and where they happen
The older FNP BSN to DNP page and the Emergency NP pages say students must attend on-campus sessions in Birmingham, Alabama, and that sessions range from two to four days. An earlier PMHNP page, online from 2022 to 2024, described campus visits as generally two to three days and said students heard the dates at least three months ahead. That notice line is gone from the current pages, so treat it as history rather than a rule.
Graduate nursing sits in the College of Health Sciences on the east side of Samford's Homewood campus, in buildings that once served as the headquarters of Southern Progress Corporation. The college's Experiential Learning and Simulation Center, accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, counts the Nurse Practitioner program among its users.
For students driving in from across Alabama or a neighboring state, a two-to-four-day session plus travel usually means most of a work week. Students flying in from farther away should add a travel day at each end.
Where the campus visits fall in your plan of study
Samford's plans of study, dated December 2025, print "campus visit" beside certain courses. Those marks tell you which semesters to hold open:
- FNP BSN to DNP:
NURG 610Advanced Health Assessment in year 1 fall,NURG 600Common Diagnostics and Procedures in year 2 fall, andNURG 730NP Practicum in year 3 spring. - FNP MSN to DNP:
NURG 610in year 1 fall andNURG 723FNP Clinical: Adult in year 3 summer. - FNP post-graduate certificate:
NURG 533Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology in year 1 fall andNURG 707Family Primary Care II in year 1 summer. - PMHNP BSN to MSN:
NURG 610in year 1 fall. PMHNP ADN to MSN:NURG 610in year 2 fall. - FNP BSN to MSN and PMHNP MSN to DNP: the plans mark no campus visit, so watch your courses for dates.
Where a plan marks fewer visits than the program page's count, the page's range still applies, and your course Canvas site and program coordinator settle the difference. The clinical hours page lists every plan's clinical courses in order.
When an intensive lands in a clinical semester
Three plans put a campus visit in the same term as preceptor hours. The FNP MSN to DNP marks its visit on NURG 723 itself, the 150-hour adult clinical. The FNP certificate's summer visit shares the term with NURG 723 too. The FNP BSN to DNP's last visit falls in the spring of NURG 730, a 300-hour practicum.
In those terms, two to four days in Birmingham are days away from your preceptor's clinic. Summer is the tightest, because 150 hours already have to fit inside a shorter term. A few habits protect the hour count:
- Mention the intensive when you first agree the rotation, even before dates are posted.
- Front-load clinic days in the weeks before the trip.
- Keep a small buffer of clinic days in the final weeks for anything the trip displaces.
- Ask your RN employer for leave early, since the intensive and your clinic days may fall in the same month.
What Samford has not published
Samford posts no public calendar of NP intensive dates, and the 2026-27 College of Health Sciences graduate calendar lists term dates only. Dates reach enrolled students through their courses, so watch Canvas and your Samford e-mail, which the handbook expects you to answer within 48 hours. Our guide to Samford's online student tools covers both.
The PMHNP DNP and certificate pages mention telehealth next to on-campus intensives, but no page explains when a session runs remotely. Ask your program coordinator before assuming a virtual option. Travel support for intensives is not described either: Samford's published line that it does not arrange or reimburse travel sits in the section on clinical opportunities, and nothing public addresses campus trips. Graduate Student Services is the office to ask when a question spans more than one course.
Planning the trip
- Hold the semesterWhen your plan of study shows a campus visit, block leave requests at work for that term right away.
- Watch for datesCheck each course's Canvas page and your Bulldog e-mail from the first week of the term.
- Book travel once dates postBirmingham is a drive for students across Alabama and neighboring states and a flight for many others.
- Line up coverage at homeArrange childcare, pet care or shift swaps for the full session plus travel days.
- Request accommodations earlyIf you use accommodations, work through the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations well ahead, because the handbook says accommodations may not be applied retroactively.
Trips to campus sit alongside the weekly drives to clinic; our page on travel for clinicals covers those.
Building your clinical plan around the intensives
Your placement advisor maps your plan of study before the search starts, marks the terms with campus visits, and looks for preceptors whose clinic schedule can absorb a few days away. We raise the intensive with the preceptor up front, so it is part of the plan from the first conversation.
Reach out early in the program and we can place your first preceptor with the whole sequence of campus visits already in view. The same map shows which clinical terms carry no campus visit at all, which helps you plan leave from work a year ahead and gives the heavier clinical semesters room to breathe.
If a preceptor's schedule cannot flex around the trip, we keep looking before the term begins rather than after. Start with the form below.
Questions Samford students ask
Are Samford NP intensives mandatory?
Yes. Every current NP program page calls them required, whether the count is 2 to 3 for FNP students or 1 or 2 for PMHNP students. Missing one is a matter for your course faculty and program coordinator, not a scheduling preference, so raise any conflict as soon as the dates appear.
Do intensive days count toward my clinical hours?
Samford publishes nothing saying campus time counts toward the clinical hours in a plan of study, and those hours are tied to clinical courses with preceptors. Several visits attach to courses without clinical hours, such as NURG 610 Advanced Health Assessment. Plan your preceptor hours as if intensive days add nothing to the total.
When are the 2026-27 intensive dates?
Samford has not posted them publicly. The 2026-27 graduate calendar runs fall classes from August 24 to December 3, 2026, spring from January 11 to April 22, 2027, and the 12-week summer term from May 17 to August 5, 2027. Intensive dates come through your courses. See our academic calendar page.
Do nurse anesthesia students have intensives?
Not in the NP sense. Samford's nurse anesthesia DNP runs its first two semesters online, summer and fall, then brings students to campus in January of the third semester for face-to-face classes. Three semesters of in-person study follow before four semesters of clinical rotations, so it is a longer stay rather than a short visit.
Can I schedule clinical days during the intensive week?
Plan on not doing so. Where Samford gives a length, sessions run two to four days in Birmingham, and they are required, so build that week's clinical hours before or after the trip. Agree the make-up days with your preceptor when you first set up the rotation, not the week before you leave.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.
Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.
Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for
NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan forNURG 724, psychiatric care forNURG 788 - Preceptor, license and site details ready for your clinical rotation request
- In your own community, anywhere Samford accepts you and your RN license is valid
Start your placement plan
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