Bradley's post-master's AG NP certificates: 32 credits and 750 clinical hours
Bradley University offers two post-master's adult-gerontology certificates, acute care (AGACNP) and primary care (AGPCNP), each 32 credits in the 2026-27 catalog with 750 clinical hours and one on-site skills bootcamp. Because the three core courses can often be waived, the practicums arrive quickly, and your first preceptor deadline can fall during your opening semester. We find the preceptors for either certificate and gather every packet detail in time.
Plan your certificate practicums
Tell us which certificate, your city and your start term.
Two certificates, one structure
Both certificates are for registered nurses who already hold a master's in nursing. They share the course skeleton and the hour count and differ in setting, practicum courses and certification. The acute care certificate names only the ANCC exam; the primary care certificate names ANCC or AANP.
| AGACNP certificate | AGPCNP certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Credits | 32 | 32 |
| Clinical hours | 750 in acute care settings | 750 in primary care or outpatient settings |
| Practicum courses | NUR 655, NUR 656, NUR 657, NUR 658 | NUR 655, NUR 666, NUR 667, NUR 668 |
| On-site requirement | One skills bootcamp before NUR 658 | One skills bootcamp before NUR 668 |
| Admission | Accredited MSN, RN license, 3.0 nursing GPA | Accredited MSN and RN license (no GPA line printed) |
| Online page | 32 credits, 5 semesters, 1.7 years, 600 hours | 32 credits, 5 semesters, 1.7 years, 600 hours |
For the prior master's, the catalog names CNEA, ACEN or CCNE accreditation, and the online pages name NLNAC, ACEN or CCNE. If your degree came through a different accreditor, raise it with admissions before you apply.
Waived core courses mean an early first practicum
Three core courses open each certificate: advanced pathophysiology (BIO 526), advanced health assessment (NUR 600) and advanced pharmacology (NUR 651). Any of them can be waived if your transcript shows it passed at B level or higher in the last five years. The remaining work is NUR 655, the three management practicums and NUR 690, which comes to 23 credits, most of them in clinical courses.
That compresses your timeline. NUR 655 lists no prerequisite at all, and Bradley's current rule wants each preceptor packet in by the halfway point of the term that precedes the practicum. For a certificate student whose first practicum comes in the second semester, that deadline lands in the middle of the very first term, the same point at which your Viewpoint Screening clearance is due. Bradley's 2017 preceptor webinar described exactly this squeeze for FNP certificate students, who began clinicals in their second semester.
Certificate students can need a confirmed preceptor before they have finished their first term. Start the search when you accept your offer.
Catalog hours versus the online pages
The certificates changed with the 2026-27 catalog. The AG certificate was 33 credits with 600 hours in the 2024-25 catalog and 32 credits with 600 hours in 2025-26. The current catalog keeps 32 credits but raises the clinical total to 750 by giving NUR 655 50 practicum hours and the final practicum 300, and it adds the required bootcamp.
On onlinedegrees.bradley.edu, both AG program pages continue to list the certificates at 600 hours with no campus residency. Your catalog year settles which version you follow, so ask your academic advisor and plan preceptor time for 750 until you hear back. Save a copy of your program of study from MyOnline so the hour target you were admitted under is on record. The 750-hour change page walks through the whole revision.
Acute care or primary care: what the search looks like
The certificate you choose decides where every preceptor must work. Acute care hours happen in hospital settings such as the trauma units, sub-acute units, emergency rooms and intensive care units Bradley's online page names, which usually brings a hospital's own student process and agreement into the timeline. Primary care hours happen in outpatient clinics seeing adolescents, adults and older adults, where you compete with Bradley's FNP students for the same offices.
Both tracks start with the shared NUR 655 Diagnostic Reasoning course and end with a 300-hour practicum behind the skills bootcamp. Course-level detail is on the MSN AGACNP page and the MSN AGPCNP page, and the bootcamp's open questions are tracked on the AG skills bootcamp page.
Clearance, license and state before you start
Certificate students clear the same gate as degree students. By the middle of your first semester, Viewpoint Screening has to hold your background check, drug screen results, immunization record, a physical dated within 12 months and health insurance proof, and any notice about a gap needs your answer within 24 hours. A clinical site can still decline a student, which can delay completion. Details are on the Viewpoint Screening page.
Two location rules follow you too: an RN license active in the state of each rotation, and rotations kept to the approved state you entered from or live in. Bradley's table gives both AG columns a yes in 46 states, with no answers for California, Maryland, New Hampshire and Tennessee; Oregon's acute care cell already read yes in a March 2025 copy of the table, while its primary care cell has since switched to yes.
Details that apply only to certificates
A few rules differ from the MSN and DNP. The graduate handbook requires no comprehensive assessment for certificate students, where MSN students sit the exit exam in NUR 690 and DNP students complete a project proposal. The state table does not list the certificate separately; its columns are organized by specialty, not by degree.
Completion time deserves a question as well. The nursing catalog allows the MSN five years and the DNP seven with nothing separate stated for certificates, while the university-wide graduate rules apply a five-year limit to every credential, so confirm yours with your advisor.
Everything else about clinicals is identical: the per-track clinical packet in MyOnline, the DocuSign preceptor packet, Bradley's approval of each preceptor and facility, hours logged in Typhon within seven days, and no hours before the semester begins.
How we help AG certificate students
Certificate students choose us because the timeline leaves no room for a slow search. Your placement advisor starts the day you share your start term, working on the first practicum and the rest of the sequence together.
- Acute care or primary care preceptors matched to your certificate, near home in your approved state
- A first-practicum preceptor lined up in time for a first-semester packet deadline
- Each preceptor's paperwork for the DocuSign packet, from license and CV to malpractice proof and practice address, collected early
- A
NUR 658orNUR 668preceptor confirmed for 300 hours, scheduled around the bootcamp - Standby options if a preceptor has to leave mid-course
Bradley's approval covers each preceptor and site; our work makes sure your side of it is ready. Start your certificate plan.
Questions Bradley students ask
Do post-master's AG certificate students attend the skills bootcamp?
Yes. Both certificate pages in the 2026-27 catalog carry the one on-site skills bootcamp, and the Nurse Practitioner Skills Bootcamp gates NUR 658 and NUR 668 alike. No AG dates or venue are public yet, so put the question to your advisor soon after you start.
Can I have BIO 526, NUR 600 or NUR 651 waived?
The catalog footnotes all three as waivable when your earlier grade was a B or better and the course falls inside a five-year window. Bradley makes that call, so confirm it with admissions or your advisor before you map your first term. A waiver shortens the certificate but moves your first practicum, and its preceptor deadline, closer to your start date.
Is there a comprehensive exam for Bradley's AG certificates?
No. The graduate handbook lists the comprehensive assessment for each program and records none for certificates. MSN students in the AG tracks pass an exit exam in NUR 690, and certificate students still take NUR 690, but the handbook attaches no comprehensive assessment to the certificate.
How soon after admission do certificate students need a preceptor?
It can be within weeks. Waive the core and your first practicum may land in semester two, with its preceptor packet due halfway through semester one. Begin the search as soon as you accept your offer, and see clinical deadlines for how the dates stack up.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Bradley's own catalog, online program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your clinical packet, course faculty and academic advisor have the final word.
- Bradley University catalog 2026-27: AGACNP post-master's certificate
- Bradley University catalog 2026-27: AGPCNP post-master's certificate
- Bradley University Online: post-master's nursing certificates
- Bradley University Department of Nursing: Graduate Student Handbook (rev. 5/8/2026)
- Bradley University: Graduate Clinical Requirements Policy
Bradley lets you choose your preceptors. We find the ones worth choosing.
Tell us your Bradley track, your city and your next practicum course. We line up preceptors who fit the NUR course and gather the license, CV and malpractice details the DocuSign packet asks for, well before the midterm of the semester before you start.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, acute care teams for AGACNP, mental health settings for PMHNP
- Preceptor license, CV, malpractice coverage and the site address ready for the packet
- Every practicum in your sequence planned together, close to home in your approved state
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next practicum is all we need to begin.