Simulation and face-to-face seminars in WilmU's FNP
Wilmington University's MSN-FNP curriculum page folds planned simulation into the program's clinical hours, and the program overview adds two in-person seminars each year for students in the practicum phase. That same overview gives the format as Online only, and WilmU does not publish where the seminars meet or how many simulation hours count. Here is what is settled, what conflicts, and what to ask before you book travel or promise a preceptor your time.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your WilmU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your WilmU course.
What WilmU says about simulation
Two WilmU sources agree that simulation belongs inside the FNP clinical hours. The curriculum page lists planned simulation experiences as part of those hours, and the catalog's nurse practitioner entry counts planned simulation toward the minimum. The 750-hour guide covers how that minimum has grown over the years.
Several details are left out. WilmU does not publish how many of the 750 hours are simulation, which of the four practicums include it, whether it happens online or in person, or where. No NP simulation lab is named on WilmU's public pages, although the advanced health assessment course taken before the practicums uses a clinical laboratory; its own guide covers that course.
The word planned points to experiences the program schedules rather than ones you set up at your clinical site. Your course faculty can tell you when simulation falls in each practicum and how you will take part.
Direct care hours and simulation: read both lines
The catalog entries for the four practicums describe their hours as direct care: GRN 7121 states that 175 direct care clinical hours are required, and GRN 7124 sets 225. Added together, those direct care figures already reach 750. The curriculum page, meanwhile, says the 750 includes planned simulation.
Both statements can be true only if simulation is counted in a way the public pages do not describe, for example inside a course's direct care total. That matters for your preceptor. If simulation reduces the hours you spend in clinic, your preceptor can plan for fewer; if it is layered on top, the full 175 or 225 still has to happen at the site.
Ask your course faculty at the start of each practicum how simulation hours are logged against that course's total and whether they change the hours you owe your site.
Until course faculty tell you otherwise, plan preceptor time for the full 175 or 225 hours in each practicum.
The two face-to-face seminars a year
WilmU's MSN-FNP overview describes a hybrid rhythm: live online classes and, twice a year, a seminar in person for anyone in the practicum phase. Yet the format and location line on that very page reads Online only. Both statements come from one official page, so neither can be dismissed; the NP Program Chair can explain how the seminars apply to your cohort.
Where the seminars take place is not published. WilmU's Delaware locations today are New Castle, the main campus, Brandywine in Wilmington and Dover, as our locations page explains. Earlier catalogs placed FNP enrollment at the Wilson Graduate Center, Georgetown and Brandywine in 2021-22 and at Dover and northern Delaware campuses in 2024-25, but none of that tells you where a current seminar meets.
The catalog's attendance policy draws a helpful line. For an online course, logging in and participating as the instructor directs counts as attendance; a hybrid course adds a requirement to be present for its in-class sessions. If your practicum course treats the seminar as an in-class session, missing it is an attendance problem, not a scheduling preference.
Planning your practicum around the seminars
- Ask for the dates earlyRequest each seminar's date and location from course faculty as soon as your practicum term is set.
- Tell your preceptorSeminar days are days away from clinic. Give your preceptor the dates when you agree on a schedule, not the week before.
- Budget the travelIf you live far from Delaware, a seminar can mean flights and a hotel. The placement costs page covers the other expenses that come with clinical courses.
- Ask whether seminar time countsWilmU does not say whether seminar hours count toward a practicum's clinical total, so confirm before you plan around them.
- Keep a buffer around each seminarLeave slack in your weekly hour plan on either side of a seminar, so a travel delay or a moved date does not leave you behind on clinical hours near the end of the course.
PMHNP and DNP students: what is different
The seminar and simulation lines appear on WilmU's MSN-FNP pages. The PMHNP Graduate Certificate pages list 750 hours across the PMHNP practicums without mentioning simulation or seminars, so check with the PMHNP program's Assistant Chair whether either applies to you.
Doctoral students follow a different model. According to the DNP curriculum page, coursework is entirely online, no residency brings you to campus, every course schedules two optional live sessions, and you may deliver the finished project in person or remotely. An application packet with no date on it describes something else, a twice-yearly weekend-intensive hybrid cohort based at Brandywine, and the DNP Program Chair can say which model yours follows.
Nurse Anesthesiology, the DNP WilmU runs jointly with ChristianaCare, stands apart: WilmU describes online coursework plus in-person classes, skills labs and simulation, with students using a simulation center through ChristianaCare.
Questions for the NP Program Chair
- Do the two face-to-face seminars apply to my cohort, and where are they held?
- How many hours of planned simulation are in each practicum?
- Is simulation counted inside the 175 or 225 direct care hours, or on top of them?
- Does seminar attendance count toward clinical hours?
- Does any practicum course carry an associated fee tied to simulation or seminars?
- What happens to my practicum if I cannot attend a seminar?
Some FNP courses carry an associated fee, according to WilmU, but the courses are not named, which is why the fee question belongs on this list. Raising all of these early in the practicum term leaves time to adjust travel plans and your preceptor's calendar before the first seminar arrives.
How we build preceptor schedules around these dates
With WilmU faculty involved in your placement or with a search already in motion on your side, we find family practice preceptors whose schedules leave room for the program's own commitments. Seminar dates and planned simulation go into the plan before the first clinic day, so your preceptor knows from the start which weeks you will be away and how many hours the site needs to cover.
Every preceptor we bring you is measured against Delaware's standard for APRN program preceptors, and their license, credentials and contact details come bundled for faculty to review. Faculty hold the decision on each preceptor and site, and our bundle is assembled so nothing has to be sent back for more. Tell us your practicum term through the contact form.
Questions WilmU students ask
Is WilmU's MSN-FNP fully online?
The format line on WilmU's MSN-FNP overview says Online only, while the same page describes live online classes plus a pair of in-person seminars each year once you reach the practicum phase. Both statements are official, so ask the NP Program Chair how the seminars apply to your cohort before you plan around a fully remote program.
Where are WilmU's FNP face-to-face seminars held?
WilmU does not publish the location. Its Delaware locations are New Castle, Brandywine and Dover, and older catalogs tied FNP enrollment to other Delaware sites, but none of that confirms where a seminar meets today. Ask course faculty or the NP Program Chair for the date and place once your practicum term is set.
Do simulation hours count toward WilmU's 750 FNP clinical hours?
Yes. By the curriculum page's own description, planned simulation is part of the clinical hours, and the catalog counts it toward the minimum. WilmU does not say how many hours are simulation or which practicums include it, so ask course faculty how simulation is logged in each course.
Do WilmU DNP students need to travel to campus?
Not according to the DNP curriculum page, which sets no residency and offers two optional live sessions per course, with the final project presented online or on campus. The undated application packet describes a hybrid weekend-intensive cohort at Brandywine instead, so confirm your cohort's format with the DNP Program Chair.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Wilmington University's own program and curriculum pages, the 2026-27 graduate catalog, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences policies and the State Licensures by Program page. Your NP Program Chair, your course faculty and the College have the final word.
A WilmU practicum coming up? Your preceptor search starts here.
Tell us your WilmU program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. Whether WilmU's faculty help with your placement or you are starting the search yourself, we find preceptors who fit the course, check the health system's own intake steps, and organize the preceptor's license and credentials well before the first day.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan for
GRN 7121toGRN 7124, psychiatric mental health forGRN 7221toGRN 7224, doctorally prepared for the DNP - Clinicians who meet Delaware's rule for APRN program preceptors: an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus
- Close to home, in a state where you hold an RN license, with each system's onboarding mapped out early
Start your placement plan
Program, city and semester is all we need to begin.