UTRGV's post-master's FNP certificate: three courses, 605 hours

Three courses, 15 credits

The catalog describes the certificate as three courses that belong only to the FNP specialty, the same three the MSN-FNP uses for its practice block. What it leaves out is the MSN's 30-credit core: instead, you arrive with health assessment, pharmacology and pathophysiology from your earlier program, as the admission rules below explain.

One catalog detail deserves a question early. The course pages list MSN core courses as prerequisites: NURS 6310 for the role course, and NURS 6311 together with NURS 6347 for FNP I. UTRGV does not say how those apply to a post-master's student, so raise it when you receive your gap analysis. The clinical hours guide compares the certificate's 605 hours with the MSN's figures.

Start terms and timing

The certificate is the only UTRGV graduate nursing program with two intakes a year. The graduate application deadlines table gives April 1 for a Summer I start and July 1 for a fall start, the fall date extended to July 31. UTRGV does not state how long the certificate takes, and it publishes no certificate plan of study.

The MSN's 2019 plan is the nearest guide: it places NURS 6347 in a summer, with FNP I and FNP II in the fall and spring that follow, a pattern that fits a Summer I start neatly. If you start in the fall, ask which course comes first, since that published sequence opens the specialty in summer.

Summer timing is tight. In 2027, Summer I runs June 7 to July 13, and Summer III, which the calendar treats as part of Summer I, runs June 7 to August 20. UTRGV does not say which session the role course uses, and its 45 hours with two preceptors have to fit inside it. The academic calendar guide lists every 2026-27 term.

License, clearance and Typhon

Every certificate student needs a Texas RN license, whatever state they live in. UTRGV does not say whether a multistate compact license issued by another state meets that line, so ask before you apply. Texas has been in the Nurse Licensure Compact since January 1, 2000, and the RN license guide explains how the compact works for UTRGV students.

The catalog lists a cleared criminal background check at admission and evidence of current immunizations. The FNP course syllabi add the clinical clearances: HIPAA training with its certificate uploaded to Brightspace before any clinical day, a signed confidentiality statement and student liability insurance, which NURS 6613 lists among its required forms. You also buy Typhon access, where your encounters and hours are logged and your preceptors' data sheets are filed.

How we help certificate students

The certificate runs its three clinical courses back to back, so the lead time on a new affiliation, 30 to 90 days in UTRGV's PMHNP guidelines, shapes everything. We work backward from your start term and have preceptors confirmed before each course begins.

• Two master's-prepared NPs at two different sites for the role course, each agreeing to take one student.
• A family practice preceptor for FNP I who can host you at 16 hours a week and, where possible, continue at 24 hours for FNP II.
• The facility name, the person who signs agreements for it and the preceptor's details, gathered for the Clinical Request Form so the affiliation starts at once.
• The preceptor agreement, course objectives, Mandatory Weekly Time Report and Typhon data sheets ready to sign.
• A backup search that starts the day a preceptor's plans change.

Your course coordinator and clinical faculty approve every site. We make that review quick by sending a complete, well-matched request early. Tell us your start term through the placement request form.