Between Shifts: Notes for NP students who also working full time

May is when NP school starts feeling real.

What we keep hearing on calls with NP students this month:

Different cities, different specialties, same wall.

You're not behind. You're not bad at this. Finding a preceptor is genuinely that hard.

The Number

• 18,314 healthcare professionals applied
• Only 2,435 made it through

Most students don't realize how much screening happens behind the scenes:

• Schools have strict credentialing requirements
• Clinical sites have to meet program standards
• "Interested in precepting" and "approved to precept" are not the same thing

So the next time someone asks why finding a preceptor is so hard, send them this number.

Practical Tip of the Month

Three questions to ask your preceptor on day one

The first day sets the tone for the whole rotation. Most students wing it. These three questions take 90 seconds and make everything after easier:

Write down the answers. Refer to them every week.

You Are Here

Spotlight: a current student.

Charli · PMHNP student · Detroit, MI · Full-time RN

"I withdrew from my classes. I was delayed six months because I couldn't find a preceptor."

Q: What was the search like before NPHub?

I reached out to everyone I could in the Detroit area and outside. People weren't accepting students, wouldn't follow through, or wouldn't be there anymore. Even when I had time after withdrawing, going in person didn't help.

Q: How long did you try on your own?

More than six months. Less than a year.

Q: What changed once you used NPHub?

I could focus on school and work instead of driving to five different places asking if anyone could precept.

From the Field

A federal rule change that affects how you pay for NP school

On May 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education finalized a rule on federal loan limits for graduate students and excluded NP programs from the "professional degree" definition.

What you can do:

• Read the full AANP statement
• AANP's Advocacy Center is the easiest place to contact your reps if you want to weigh in
• If you're mid-program, talk to your financial aid office about what this changes for your loan trajectory

This isn't going to resolve quickly. But it's worth knowing now, not when you're applying to refinance.

The NPHub Team This Month

6 years of Valeria

You probably haven't emailed her. That's kind of the point.

Valeria runs Operations, meaning when your paperwork moves through the system on time, when your rotation request gets to the right specialist, when the dashboard your Preceptor Matching Specialist uses to find your preceptor actually works at 9pm on a Sunday — that's her.

• 6 years of building the systems behind every NPHub placement
• Thousands of students placed through processes she designed, refined, and held together
• One person quietly making sure the rest of us can do our jobs

If you've ever had a rotation come through faster than you expected, or paperwork that didn't get stuck, there's a decent chance Valeria's fingerprints are on it.

Thanks, Val. Six years of keeping the lights on.

In Their Own Words

Two things other NP students said this month. We're sharing them with permission — and without much commentary, because they don't need it.

If either of those landed somewhere familiar, you're in good company.

That's all for this month.

One question before you go:

We read every single response. We're building next month's issue around what we hear most.

See you in June.

— Your Dedicated NPHub Team