How to Find a Preceptor Near Me
When you search for “preceptor near me,” you’re looking for someone who teaches in your specialty, has openings on your rotation dates and practices close enough to reach on clinical days. A nearby preceptor means less time on the road and more time for patients, coursework and work. They often know the local patient population and the clinics around you, and by the end of a rotation they can become a reference or a lead on your first NP job.
This guide explains how to find local clinical rotations and what to do when there’s no match nearby. We’ll also share figures from Clinical Match Me’s own placement data: how students set their search area, how far they’re willing to travel and where they live.
TL;DR
- Start with your program’s rules and your clinical coordinator, then ask people you know, contact practices nearby and submit a placement request.
- In Clinical Match Me’s placement data from November 2025 to October 2026, 56% of requests used a distance from the student’s zip code and 44% used a list of states.
- Students who searched by distance set a median of 50 miles, and 59% were willing to travel 50 miles or more.
- 38% of state searches included a state other than the student’s home state.
- The South is home to the largest share of students on Clinical Match Me, at 45%.
How do I find a preceptor near me?
Start with your program and the people you already know, then widen the search. Here’s an order to follow:
- Check your program’s rules. Your handbook lists which settings count, how many hours each course needs and who can serve as your preceptor. Your school approves your preceptor and site before you start, so read the rules before you contact anyone.
- Ask your clinical coordinator. Find out whether your program keeps a list of sites and preceptors that have taken its students before, and which of them are close to you.
- Reach out to people you know. If you work as a nurse, talk to the NPs and physicians on your team, and check whether your program allows a rotation at your own workplace. Classmates who’ve finished a rotation and alumni from your program can also introduce you to preceptors nearby.
- Search online. Search for “preceptors near me” along with your specialty and city, and check the websites of nearby health systems for a student placement page.
- Contact practices directly. Call or email the office manager or the lead provider. Name your specialty, your dates, the hours you need and your school, and attach your CV. Write each message for that practice, and follow up once after about a week if you haven’t heard back.
- Plan for more than one rotation. The median placement request on Clinical Match Me from November 2025 to October 2026 asked for 160 hours. The 2022 national standards for NP education set a minimum of 750 direct patient care hours for each NP track, so you’ll likely look for a nearby preceptor more than once.
- Submit a placement request. Along with your own outreach, submit a request for your next NP clinical placement so preceptors who match your specialty and dates can send you offers.
How far do students travel for clinicals?
In Clinical Match Me’s placement data from November 2025 to October 2026, students who searched by distance set a median of 50 miles from their zip code, and 59% were willing to travel 50 miles or more.
When you make a placement request with us, choose the states you’re willing to travel to, or enter your zip code and how far you’re willing to travel. In our data, 56% of placement requests used a distance and 44% used states.
When students chose states, the median number they listed was 1. Of those state searches, 38% included at least one state other than the student’s home state, including the 7% that left the home state off the list entirely.
How search habits differ by NP track
In our data, FNP and AGPCNP students searched by distance more often than PMHNP and AGACNP students did. For each track, here’s the share of requests that used a distance, the share of distance searches set at 50 miles or more, and the share of state searches that included a state besides the student’s home state:
- FNP: 64% by distance, 58% at 50 miles or more, 36% beyond the home state
- PMHNP: 45% by distance, 64% at 50 miles or more, 43% beyond the home state
- AGACNP: 42% by distance, 72% at 50 miles or more, 44% beyond the home state
- AGPCNP: 65% by distance, 53% at 50 miles or more, 31% beyond the home state
If you’re an FNP or PMHNP student, read our guides to finding FNP preceptors near you and finding a PMHNP preceptor near you for the figures on your track.
Where do students on Clinical Match Me live?
By region, the South is home to the largest share of students who made placement requests on Clinical Match Me from November 2025 to October 2026, at 45%. The West has 22%, the Midwest 17% and the Northeast 16%. We group states into the four regions the U.S. Census Bureau uses.
Our students come from all 50 states. This chart shows the states where the largest shares of them live.
Does the specialty mix differ by region?
The mix is similar in every region. In our data, primary care and psychiatric and mental health are the two most requested specialty groups in each one:
- Northeast: primary care 26%, psychiatric and mental health 29%
- Midwest: primary care 28%, psychiatric and mental health 28%
- South: primary care 28%, psychiatric and mental health 26%
- West: primary care 29%, psychiatric and mental health 29%
In the states where the most Clinical Match Me students live, family medicine and primary care is usually the single most requested specialty. For the full specialty mix by track and over time, read our guide to NP clinical rotations by specialty.
What if there’s no preceptor near me?
Widen your search. Raise the distance you’re willing to travel, add a state, or ask your program whether it accepts a remote rotation.
- Raise your distance. A wider radius includes more practices, and as the figures above show, many students set 50 miles or more.
- Add another state. Before you request a rotation in another state, ask your school whether it approves sites there and whether you’ll need an RN license that’s valid in that state. If you live in a compact state and hold a multistate license under the Nurse Licensure Compact, you can practice as a nurse in the other compact states without another license.
- Ask about a remote rotation. Under the 2022 national standards, care you provide to patients by telehealth can count toward your direct patient care hours. In Clinical Match Me’s data, 24% of PMHNP requests were for a remote rotation. Your program decides whether it accepts a remote site, so check first.
- Request early. Psych, acute care and women’s health rotations can be harder to fill, so try to request them as early as possible.
If you request a rotation with us, our AI preceptor outreach contacts qualified providers near you, even when there are no matching preceptors in our network.
Preceptor near me: questions students ask
How much do preceptors cost?
Most preceptors on Clinical Match Me charge a flat rate of $1,995 for rotations up to 140 hours, or $2,195 for rotations up to 250 hours. That price includes our fee and the preceptor’s honorarium (their compensation for teaching you), and payment plans are available. Our NP preceptor cost page explains how pricing works.
Is there a free way to find a preceptor near me?
Yes. Reaching out to your school, your workplace, your classmates and nearby practices is free, and so is a placement request on Clinical Match Me. Free to join and no credit card required. Pay nothing until you accept an offer.
Why is it so hard to find a preceptor?
Precepting takes time out of a busy clinic day, often without pay, which is why many providers don’t take students. You also need a preceptor who fits your specialty, your rotation dates and your school’s requirements, within a distance you can travel.
Does a preceptor get paid?
Preceptors on Clinical Match Me do. The offer price is all-inclusive: it includes our fee and the preceptor’s honorarium. You’ll never pay a separate fee to the preceptor.
How long does it take to find a preceptor near me?
It depends on your specialty, your dates and how far you’re willing to travel. Although many students are placed within days, try to submit your placement requests as early as possible. The sooner you do, the sooner we can place you.
Can I do a clinical rotation in another state?
It depends on your school and your nursing license, so ask your school before you request a rotation in another state. Many students search beyond their home state: in Clinical Match Me’s data, 38% of state searches included another state.
Find a preceptor near you with Clinical Match Me
Clinical Match Me is a preceptor placement service for NP and PA students. Our founder is a nurse practitioner who struggled to find a preceptor as a student, and since 2014 we’ve helped more than 10,000 students find preceptors.
Instead of searching for a “preceptor near me” one practice at a time, let our NP preceptor matching platform send qualified preceptors to you. Submit a placement request with your specialty and rotation dates. Choose the states you’re willing to travel to, or enter your zip code and how far you’re willing to travel. We’ll match you with preceptors in those areas. Preceptors who match your profile will send you offers. Then compare offers, choose the best preceptor for your schedule and learning goals, and start your rotation.
Free to join and no credit card required. Pay nothing until you accept an offer, and once you do, you’re protected by our Money Back Guarantee. If your school rejects your preceptor for any reason, or your preceptor cancels, choose either a full refund or a new preceptor.
Sign up free and submit your first placement request today.
About this data
The Clinical Match Me figures in this article come from anonymized placement requests that students, most of them NP students, made on Clinical Match Me from November 2025 to October 2026. Every figure is a share or a median. The home-location figures count each student once, by the home state on their account, and the regions follow the U.S. Census Bureau’s four regions. The other figures are shares or medians of placement requests.
The figures describe students who used Clinical Match Me rather than all NP students nationally. Our students come from all 50 states. We update the figures every month, and this version is from November 2026.
You’re welcome to reuse these figures under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license. Just credit Clinical Match Me as the source and link to this page.
For every figure in one place, plus the full dataset as a download, visit our NP clinical placement data page.
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