Finding a UCCS preceptor yourself, through your network, or with placement help
UCCS students reach a preceptor by one of three routes: a cold search on their own, a search through people they already know, or a placement service that runs the search for them. All three end in the same UCCS review. What differs is who does the outreach, how much of UCCS's rulebook you apply yourself, and how much time you have left to absorb a no.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
Three routes, one UCCS review
Whichever route you take, the finish line is identical. A qualified preceptor says yes, that semester's Clinical Site Sheet goes to the college, the college vets the site and prepares its contract and the preceptor's letter, and counted hours begin only after UCCS confirms you are good to go.
UCCS makes the search the student's job, and its practicum handbooks offer starting points: classmates a few rotations ahead, local advanced practice groups, nursing faculty in your state, community and faith-based clinics and corrections health services, with mental health clinics and inpatient psychiatric hospitals added for PMHNP students. The real question is which route gets you a yes that passes review, in time. UCCS's exact wording is unpacked on finding your own preceptor.
Route one: a search on your own
A solo search means building a list of clinics within driving range, calling each one, getting past the front desk to the right clinician, and explaining UCCS's process to people who may never have hosted a UCCS student. Before you ask anyone, you also vet them yourself: is the role one UCCS accepts, is the license issued in your state, have they practiced for two years, and for an NP, are certification and full prescriptive authority in place?
It works best with a flexible schedule, a long runway before the course and a primary care rotation in a well-served area. It gets harder when the semester is close, when you live far from a city, or when the course needs a narrow setting such as pediatrics, geriatrics or a child and adolescent psychiatric caseload. The preceptor requirements page has the FNP and AGNP credential rules in full.
Route two: your professional network
People you already know are often the quickest path to a yes, and UCCS's admission essay expects you to have thought about them. The catch is that UCCS's relationship rules remove some of your closest contacts. Family members, whether by blood or by marriage, are off the list, as are close friends and any workplace that employs you or a relative.
Your employer can still play a part, provided the rotation sits at another location, floor or unit and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator agrees to it. Former coworkers who have moved to other practices, clinicians from earlier jobs and faculty contacts tend to be the strongest leads. Run each one past the workplace and family rules before you ask, so a generous offer becomes a site sheet UCCS can process.
Route three: a placement service
A placement service takes over the outreach and the screening. A good one works from UCCS's handbook for your track, searches in person near your home, and delivers everything the Clinical Site Sheet asks about the clinician and the clinic, including who signs contracts there, with an exact hour count.
This route suits students who are short on time, have already heard several no's, live where preceptors are thin, need a narrow setting, or want every remaining rotation planned at once. You still submit the site sheet, and UCCS still makes the final call on every site and preceptor. What changes is that your file arrives complete and already matches the rules. Choosing a placement service lists what to look for.
The three routes side by side
Here is how the routes compare on the tasks that decide whether a placement is ready before the semester starts.
| Task | On your own | Your network | Placement service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finding candidates | You build and call the list | You start from people you know | The service searches your area |
| Checking UCCS's rules | You apply the handbook yourself | You check the relationship and workplace limits | Screened before you hear a name |
| Site sheet details | You collect them | You collect them | Handed to you, exact hours included |
| If a preceptor leaves | You restart the search | You go back to your contacts | A replacement search begins |
| Best fit | Long lead time, well-served area | Strong contacts outside your workplace and family | Tight timing, rural areas, narrow settings, whole-program plans |
Questions that settle the choice
Answer these honestly and the right route usually becomes obvious.
- How many weeks remain before the course, knowing a new agreement can spend 6 to 8 weeks or longer in legal review?
- Does the rotation need a narrow setting, such as pediatrics, geriatrics or a psychiatric population course?
- How many clinics within your driving range actually fit your track?
- Have you already been turned down more than once for this course?
- Do your strongest contacts pass UCCS's family and workplace rules?
- How many rotations are still ahead, and would one plan covering all of them ease the pressure?
If most answers point to time pressure or a thin local pool, getting help early is usually the stronger choice. If you are stuck right now, start with can't find a preceptor.
Why UCCS students choose us
We specialize in UCCS's clinical process. Our searches begin from your track's handbook, stay in person and close to home, and end with details that fit the Clinical Site Sheet on the first try. Routes also combine well: you can work your own network for one rotation and hand us the harder ones, such as Synthesis or a population course that needs a specific caseload.
However you mix them, we build around what you already have. See how it works for our steps, or tell us about your course with the form below.
Questions UCCS students ask
Should I ask my employer to host my UCCS rotation?
It can work, within limits. UCCS accepts your employer as a site only at a different location, floor or unit from where you work, and only once the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator approves it. A clinic your employer runs in another building may qualify once approved. Your own unit, or one where a family member works, is off the table.
How early should I pick a route?
Early enough to switch if the first route stalls. UCCS's handbooks put the ideal search start at three to six months out from the course, and they ask for the site sheet ahead of the semester before the practicum when possible. Choosing at the start of that window leaves time for a second attempt.
Can I bring my own contact and still get help from you?
Yes. Tell us who you have already approached and we will aim the search at the gaps, check your contact against UCCS's rules if you would like, and prepare the site sheet details either way. Bringing one preceptor of your own and handing us the harder rotations is a sensible mix.
What if a preceptor I found myself backs out?
Treat it as urgent. Send a written account of why the preceptor could not finish to your Option Coordinator, the Academic Services Professional and the practicum coordinator; together they can allow extra new agreements that term. Then get a replacement moving. We can take the search over from there.
Does a placement service change what UCCS requires?
No. The requirements are identical on every route: an eligible preceptor, a processed Clinical Site Sheet, a contract signed by both sides and a signed letter from the preceptor before any hours count. A service changes who does the searching and the preparation, never the standard UCCS applies to the result.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 6900, acute and chronic care forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 6803 - Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
- In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical semester is all we need to begin.