FIU's 2026-27 academic calendar, read for clinical rotations

Three terms, three practicums

FIU's year has a Fall semester (August to December), a Spring semester (January to May) and a Summer semester (May to August), and the graduate nursing plans of study are laid out in that order. On the 5-2026 MSN plan, the first practicum falls in the second Fall, the second in the following Spring and the third in the Summer after that, with NGR 6743 in the Summer of year one.

Start terms narrow the picture further. The MSN NP tracks take new students only in Fall, from a November 1 to February 1 application window, and the MSN FAQ rules out a semester off except through a Leave of Absence granted case by case. The post-BSN to DNP admits in Fall (November 1 to February 1) and Spring (March 1 to August 1), which is why its plans place the first NP practicum in semester 4 or semester 6.

Because every practicum is tied to a named term, a site that is not ready by that term's start pushes the whole sequence back.

Which session does a practicum use?

In Fall and Spring, the sixteen-week main session runs alongside two roughly seven-week sessions, A and B. Summer pairs a twelve-week Session C with six-week Sessions A and B. Nowhere do FIU's nursing documents tie the NP practicums to one of them, so the dates in your course syllabus are the ones that count.

The difference is large enough to matter when you talk to a preceptor. A practicum in the Fall main session would start on August 24, while one placed in Fall Session B would not begin until October 19. Confirm the session with your course faculty before you promise a preceptor a start date or a number of weeks.

The Summer term deserves extra care. Even the full Session C is shorter than a Fall or Spring main session, and the final practicum of the primary care plans falls in it; the final pediatric practicum page shows how that plays out.

Starting the contract clock for each term

No rotation can begin at a site until FIU's contract with it is signed, and FIU's documents give different lead times: up to 6 weeks on the 2022 Preceptor Request Form, at least 8 weeks' notice in the 2022 manual text, and 6-8 weeks in the current handbook. The table counts back 8 weeks, the longest of those figures, from the first day of each term.

These are arithmetic, not FIU deadlines, and they cover the contract alone. FIU sets up rotations the semester before each clinical course, so the search itself should start well ahead of these dates; planning the semester before maps it month by month.

How we plan placements around FIU's calendar

We plan every search from the term your practicum starts. For each FIU student we count back from that first day, leave room for a new contract if the practice needs one, and set the preceptor search to finish with room to spare, so the Preceptor Request Form reaches your faculty complete and early.

We build schedules that respect FIU's rules on breaks, holidays and make-up days, and we stay on call through the term if a preceptor's availability changes. Every site and preceptor still goes to FIU's Office of Clinical Education and your faculty for approval, and what we prepare for that review is complete, current and shaped to FIU's calendar and rules. Tell us your next practicum term through the form below.