Gonzaga's Spokane immersions, and how to plan around them
Gonzaga's online NP programs bring you to the Spokane campus for short immersions: six for FNP students and five for PMHNP students, each tied to a course and built around hands-on assessment and OSCEs. The first trip usually comes about halfway through, after which you visit once or twice a term, and every trip has to fit around a preceptor's schedule back home.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Gonzaga program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Gonzaga course.
How many immersions each program has
Every campus immersion is attached to a course, so your progression plan decides when you travel. The counts below come from Gonzaga's 2026 program pages, FAQs and catalog.
| Program | Immersions | Length | Attached to |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | 6 | Two of 2 days, four of 3 days | NURS 600 (two), then NURS 651P, NURS 652P, NURS 653P, NURS 654P |
| MSN PMHNP | 5 | 2 days each | NURS 600 (two), then NURS 652M, NURS 653M, NURS 654M |
| Second MSN | FNP 6, PMHNP 5 | FNP two days or more; PMHNP two days | The same health assessment and specialty courses |
| Post-Master's DNP | 2, online | 2 to 3 days (catalog) | NURS 700 in the first semester |
| Post-Baccalaureate DNP (current students) | FNP 8, PMHNP 7 | Set by course | About one a semester, semesters 5 to 12 |
The catalog describes the NP immersions as two to three days long. Current Nursing Leadership students have a single 2-day immersion with NURS 634A.
When immersions begin
Gonzaga's MSN FAQ says immersions do not usually start until about halfway through the program, and then run one or two a semester. For most NP students the first trip is the pair of 2-day sessions with NURS 600 Advanced Health Assessment, taken in year two after pathophysiology and pharmacology. The health assessment page covers that course and its 60-hour practicum.
After that, each specialty didactic course brings its own immersion, which means one campus trip in each term you carry a specialty practicum. Gonzaga has no cohort model and plans can slow down, so your immersion terms follow your own progression plan rather than a fixed class calendar. The first clinical course guide shows where that first trip tends to fall in each program.
What happens on campus
The heart of each immersion is the OSCE, an objective structured clinical examination. Gonzaga describes culminating OSCEs in which you complete a targeted history and physical with a scripted model patient, reach a differential and most likely diagnosis, and set out a plan of care, guided by practicing faculty. Gonzaga's FAQ singles OSCEs out as central to student success.
NURS 600, the course behind the first two immersions, also includes about 13 hours of supervised lab. If an OSCE has to be repeated, course faculty remediate and grade the repeat, so a difficult first attempt is a step to work through rather than the end of the course.
Gonzaga's Tilford building was expanded in 2019 with two simulation suites with control rooms, six new exam rooms and three psychiatric-mental health exam rooms, built for structured skills development, clinical learning and evaluation. Gonzaga does not say which rooms each immersion uses, so follow the instructions your course sends before each trip.
The extra Spokane day for six states
Where you live changes the trip. Students in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana have their clinical faculty site visit at their own clinical site. Students in the other six admission states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming) instead add an on-campus day in Spokane alongside one immersion in each practicum course, and the faculty packet places it the day before or the day after the immersion.
For those six states, that can mean one more night in Spokane in every practicum term, so book flights and lodging with the extra day in mind from the start. The faculty site visits guide explains how the visit is run and graded, and the ten-state rule page covers why Gonzaga's NP students live in these states at all.
Planning travel around your practicum
Immersion days come out of the same weeks you owe a preceptor hours, and Gonzaga asks you to work to the preceptor's calendar. Travel to Spokane is the student's own cost. A little planning keeps both commitments intact.
- Get the dates earlyAs soon as your term's immersion dates are posted, put them beside the practicum weeks in your progression plan.
- Tell your preceptor at schedulingWhen you confirm the rotation schedule, about two weeks before it starts, name the immersion days so your hours plan works around them.
- Add the site-visit day if it appliesIf you live beyond the four-state visit region, build in the extra Spokane day next to the immersion.
- Protect the hour countPlan to make up missed clinic days inside the term, since hours cannot move into breaks or past the course end date without a faculty-approved extension.
- Budget for the tripPlan travel and lodging for every immersion alongside tuition and fees, including the extra night where it applies.
Post-Master's DNP immersions are online
The Post-Master's DNP asks for no campus visits. Gonzaga's DNP FAQ says so directly, and the 2026-27 catalog describes required virtual immersions in the first semester with NURS 700: one an orientation, the other on DNP project and practicum planning. The DNP web page lists two online immersions, and project defenses can happen in person or by video. For DNP students the planning question is time rather than travel: block the virtual immersion days in your work calendar as firmly as you would a campus trip.
Older catalog text still mentions two on-campus immersions tied to NURS 705 and NURS 760, from the previous curriculum. If you meet that wording, the current catalog and your faculty advisor settle which applies to your plan. The Post-Master's DNP page covers the rest of the program.
Why Gonzaga students choose us around immersion terms
Immersion terms are the ones where a practicum schedule is tightest. We run your preceptor search with the campus calendar in view: we confirm the preceptor can absorb the days you will spend in Spokane, including the added visit day that applies beyond Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana, and we draft the proposed schedule so it fits the term.
Your site request goes in with every piece in place: credential records for the preceptor, the site's agreement contact, a term schedule with the Spokane days marked, and a note on course fit. Faculty decide on approval; our part is making sure their review can start the day the request lands, so your travel booking is the only thing left on your list. Use the form below to start.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
How long are Gonzaga nursing immersions?
Two to three days, per the catalog. FNP students have two 2-day immersions with NURS 600 and four 3-day immersions with the specialty courses, while PMHNP immersions all run two days. Anyone living beyond Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana tacks one extra campus day onto an immersion every practicum term so faculty can complete the site visit.
Does the Gonzaga Post-Master's DNP require travel to Spokane?
No campus visits are required. The DNP uses online immersions, which the 2026-27 catalog places in the first semester with NURS 700, and project defenses can be held by video. Some older catalog text still mentions on-campus immersions from the earlier curriculum, so confirm with your advisor if you come across it.
What is an OSCE at a Gonzaga immersion?
An objective structured clinical examination. You work through a focused history and physical on a scripted model patient, arrive at a differential and most likely diagnosis, and lay out a plan of care while practicing faculty observe. OSCEs anchor Gonzaga's immersions, and course faculty remediate and grade any repeat attempt.
Do Second MSN students attend immersions?
Yes. The Second MSN follows the MSN pattern: six immersions for FNP students and five for PMHNP students, starting with the two tied to NURS 600. Second MSN plans are individualized and skip the MSN core, so the first trip may come earlier in the program than it does for MSN students.
Who pays for immersion travel?
Students do. Gonzaga's FAQs place transportation to clinical sites on students, and travel to Spokane for immersions is also the student's cost. Budget for flights or driving and lodging for each trip, and add the extra site-visit day if you live outside Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Gonzaga's catalog, FAQs, preceptor packets and Department of Nursing pages. Your course, the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Gonzaga's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
Gonzaga asks you to find local preceptors first. Let us run that search.
Tell us your Gonzaga program, your practicum course and where you live and can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, certification and site details your Practicum Site Placement Request needs, early in the semester before.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care across the lifespan for
NURS 661PtoNURS 664P, psychiatric care forNURS 661MtoNURS 663M, an agency liaison for the DNP - Credentials, license, board certification and site contact ready for your site request
- In Spokane, across Washington or wherever in the ten western states you are licensed
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.