Kent State post-master's certificates: the practicums, certificate by certificate
Kent State lists nine post-master's nursing certificates, and each one runs through the practicum courses of the matching MSN concentration. A gap analysis of your earlier transcripts and syllabi decides which other courses you still need, so two students in the same certificate can reach their first practicum at different times. The practicums themselves are the same ones MSN students take.
Plan your certificate practicums
Tell us the certificate, your state and when your first practicum term begins.
Nine certificates built on MSN concentration courses
A Kent State post-master's certificate is for nurses who already hold a master's in nursing or a DNP and want a new population focus or role. Each certificate borrows the concentration courses of the matching MSN, practicums included, and Kent State offers them as space and faculty allow.
Admission asks for a master's in nursing or a DNP from an accredited program, a 3.000 graduate GPA, an RN license for the state where your practicum hours will take place, transcripts, a CV, an essay, three references, and syllabi for transfer review. Priority deadlines fall on March 1 for fall and summer entry and October 1 for spring. Once enrolled, you keep both your certificate GPA and your overall GPA at 3.000 or higher.
Pediatric Primary Care NP remains on the list but is closed to newcomers; the handbook traces that pause back to Fall 2024. Kent State's separate Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner certificate is closed to new applicants too.
Practicum courses and hours by certificate
| Certificate | Credits | Delivery | Practicum courses | Practicum hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Gerontology Acute Care NP | 31 | Mostly online, Kent Campus | NURS 61092, NURS 61392, NURS 62392, NURS 63392 | 600 by course sum |
| Adult Gerontology Primary Care NP | 29 | Mostly online, Kent Campus | NURS 61292, NURS 61892, NURS 62292, NURS 63692 | 525 by course sum |
| Family NP | 34 | Mostly online, Kent Campus | NURS 61292, NURS 61692, NURS 61892, NURS 62292, NURS 63292 | 600 to 675 by course sum |
| Psychiatric Mental Health NP | 34 | Fully online | NURS 61592, NURS 62592, NURS 63592, NURS 64592 | At least 150 in each of the first three; the fourth prints no figure |
| Women's Health NP | 30 | Fully online | NURS 66192, NURS 66292, NURS 66392, NURS 66492 | 600 on Kent State's certificate page |
| Adult Gerontology CNS | 28 | Fully online | NURS 61192, NURS 62192, NURS 63192 | 450 to 600 in the catalog; 525 on the web page |
| Nurse Educator | 18 | Fully online | NURS 67092, NURS 60592 | 300 |
| Nursing Administration and Health Systems Leadership | 24 | Fully online | NURS 64292, NURS 64302 seminar, NURS 64392 | 300 |
| Pediatric Primary Care NP (closed) | 20 | In person, Kent Campus | NURS 61792, NURS 62792, NURS 63792, NURS 63992, NURS 64792 | 600 by course sum |
The FNP certificate shows NURS 61692, the pediatrics practicum, as a variable course of one or two credits, which means 75 or 150 pediatric hours for certificate students, while the MSN version carries 2 credits. That is why the FNP row spans 600 to 675. Figures marked by course sum are our addition of Kent State's per-course hours, and the clinical hours overview sets every program side by side.
The gap analysis and the recency rule
Every admitted certificate student receives a gap analysis comparing prior transcripts and syllabi with the certificate plan. It decides which courses remain on your list, and that in turn sets the term of your first practicum. Send complete syllabi with your application, since a course the reviewers cannot match is a course you may be asked to take again.
Two rules shape the outcome. First, the three advanced practice foundations (NURS 60015 health assessment, NURS 60045 pathophysiology, NURS 60441 pharmacology) can be waived or transferred when you earned them with a B or better. Second, if you have not practiced as an APRN during the two years before applying, your graduate pathophysiology, pharmacology and health assessment must be no older than five years at your first certificate term.
A practicing APRN adding a population, such as an FNP moving into psychiatric care, may be able to carry those foundations forward and start the new practicums sooner. A nurse educator or leader whose master's never included them, or included them long ago, should expect to take them first.
The five-year clock runs to your first certificate term, not your application date. A course that is four and a half years old when you apply can be past the limit by the time you start.
When your first certificate practicum starts
Two certificates print roadmaps. The Adult Gerontology Acute Care NP certificate spends its first fall on the four foundation courses, clinical diagnostics (NURS 60506) among them, then places one acute care practicum in each of the next four terms, summer included, from NURS 61092 through NURS 63392. That calls for a hospital-based preceptor every term from the first spring onward.
The Women's Health NP roadmap prints spring ahead of fall in each year, which clashes with the prerequisites. Read alongside those prerequisites, the first WHNP practicum comes after a fall spent on the foundations. The other certificates publish no roadmap, and your gap analysis fills in the rest.
For every certificate, the mandatory first-practicum orientation arrives four to six months ahead, and the coordinator for your concentration lends a hand with the opening placement in the preceding term. Registration waits until every Clinical Compliance Policy item is cleared. The first practicum orientation page lays out a month-by-month plan.
Licensure disclosures and approved states
Kent State's licensure disclosure table rates certificates separately from the MSN. For the NP certificates, five jurisdictions fall in the DOES NOT MEET column (Arkansas, California, New Hampshire, New York, American Samoa), and the AGCNS certificate adds Michigan and Pennsylvania. The MSN NP concentrations fall short only in California, New York and American Samoa, so read the certificate row, not the MSN row, for your state.
Enrollment is a separate test. The approved-states page lists states by program rather than by certificate: PMHNP and AGCNS in 14 states, WHNP in 17, Nurse Educator in 21 and NAHSL in 20. The hybrid AGACNP, AGPCNP and FNP do not appear on it, so ask the Office of Student Services whether your state works before you apply.
The licensure disclosures and approved states pages carry the complete lists.
Searching for preceptors as an experienced nurse
Certificate students usually know their local health systems well, which can help and hinder. You may have colleagues who precept, but Kent State's rotation pages ask for a preceptor who has spent a year or more in the population and role you are preparing for, and practicum faculty with your concentration coordinator approve the final choice.
Check the concentration rules before you ask a colleague. PMHNP practicums may not take place at your own workplace, and the first one needs a mental health provider experienced in psychotherapy. AGPCNP students cap any single specialty at 40 hours. The AGACNP's final practicum covers two or three unfamiliar specialties for 50 hours or more apiece. The preceptor requirements page lists every rule.
Time limits apply as well. Master's degrees and certificates must be finished within six calendar years of the admission term, and a student returning from a stop-out repeats any practicum, with its co-requisite lecture, taken three or more years earlier. The time limits page explains both.
Why certificate students choose us
Certificate plans can move quickly once the gap analysis is done, and from that point the preceptor search sets the pace. We look for preceptors in the population you are adding, close to where you live, and plan the whole practicum sequence at once. That matters most for back-to-back terms such as the AGACNP certificate's four in a row.
Your placement advisor gathers the preceptor credentials, license and site details that practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator check, points out agencies that will need a College of Nursing affiliation agreement, and finds a replacement if a preceptor leaves mid-term. Because you already know your region's health systems, we also check which of your own contacts meet the concentration rules before you spend a favor on the ask. Tell us which certificate you hold or plan to start using the form below.
Questions Kent State students ask
How long does a Kent State post-master's certificate take?
It depends on the certificate and your gap analysis. The AGACNP certificate roadmap runs five terms: one fall of foundation courses, then four practicum terms in a row including summer. Certificates range from 18 credits (Nurse Educator) to 34 (FNP and PMHNP), and Kent State sets six calendar years from admission as the outer limit.
Can I transfer Advanced Health Assessment into a Kent State certificate?
Yes, when the conditions line up. NURS 60015, NURS 60045 and NURS 60441 can be waived or transferred if you earned them with a B or better. If you have not practiced as an APRN in the two years before applying, those courses must also be no more than five years old at your first certificate term. The gap analysis makes the call.
Is Kent State's pediatric nurse practitioner certificate open?
No. The 2026-2027 catalog lists the Pediatric Primary Care NP certificate as closed to applications, and the graduate handbook places the suspension in Fall 2024. Continuing students still complete its five practicums, NURS 61792 through NURS 64792, which come to 600 hours by course sum.
Do certificate students log practicum hours in Typhon?
Yes. The MSN handbook applies Typhon to MSN and certificate students alike. The NP certificates use one database, and the CNS, Nurse Educator and NAHSL certificates use a second. Each practicum day's time and case logs are due within 15 days, and the one-time fee is paid when you first log in.
Does a Kent State NP certificate lead to licensure in my state?
Check the certificate row of Kent State's Programs Leading to Licensure table. It marks the NP certificates as not meeting requirements in Arkansas, California, New Hampshire, New York and American Samoa, and adds Michigan and Pennsylvania for the AGCNS certificate. The remaining listed jurisdictions are marked as meeting them.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Kent State's own catalog, handbooks and program pages. Your MSN or DNP handbook, your syllabus, your practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator have the final word.
Kent State says the preceptor search is yours. We make it the fastest part of your practicum.
Tell us your Kent State concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything your practicum faculty and coordinator review before they approve.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for
NURS 61292, acute care forNURS 61092, psychiatric care forNURS 61592, women's health forNURS 66192 - Credentials, license and site details ready for your practicum faculty and coordinator
- In your own community, in Ohio or wherever you live and hold your RN license
Start your placement plan
Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.