APU's online DNP: planning the residency behind the degree

Who the DNP is for

APU's DNP prepares nurses for direct roles such as NP, CNS, CRNA and nurse-midwife, and for indirect roles in health systems leadership. It is the post-master's route into the doctorate; BSN-prepared nurses use the separate BSN to DNP pathway, which adds NP clinical courses.

Delivery is fully online with low residency. Even so, APU requires a current California RN license at entry, and DNP students must keep working clinically while enrolled. Graduation takes a 3.0 GPA, the full residency hours and a scholarly project you defend.

Fall applications are due July 21 and spring applications November 15. APU's DNP page still advertises a May 4 summer start, though the 2027 summer term opens May 3, so confirm dates with admissions before you plan around them.

The course sequence and where the residency sits

APU publishes the DNP core in order: GNRS 716 in the first semester, GNRS 712 and GNRS 718 in the second, and GNRS 780 in the third. Full-time students carry 6 to 7 core units a semester. Fall and spring run 16 weeks; DNP summer courses run 8 or 12 weeks.

GNRS 732, the DNP Clinical Residency, requires only admission to the program, so residency hours can start in your first term. It carries 0 units and repeats each term until your hours are complete. APU's DNP page sets a 3-unit DNP course at 135 hours a semester, which gives you a yardstick for how much a residency term can hold alongside coursework.

Older course numbers, GNRS 733A to GNRS 733C and GNRS 734A to GNRS 734C, still appear in the course list but are not part of current DNP requirements. If an older plan or a classmate mentions them, ask your advisor how they map to GNRS 732.

Counting to 1,000 hours

APU requires 1,000 hours of clinical and leadership residency, matching the AACN minimum. Graduates of an accredited APRN program (NP, CNS, CRNA or CNM) may transfer up to 500 clinical hours, and graduates of non-APRN master's programs may transfer up to 500 direct clinical hours. Applicants submit a letter from their APRN program stating the hours they completed.

The hours letter is the document to chase first. Until APU has it, you cannot know how many residency hours you owe or how many terms of GNRS 732 to plan. Our residency hours guide covers logging and transfer in more depth.

What residency hours look like

APU's catalog splits the residency into two kinds of time. Clinical hours fall within an advanced practice specialty. Leadership hours build organizational leadership and carry the scholarly project, which runs through the residency from start to finish.

So your sites should serve the project. An NP improving diabetes follow-up might split hours between a primary care practice and that clinic's quality team; a nurse leader studying readmissions might work alongside a hospital's care-transitions staff. APU's faculty decide what fits; these examples only show how project and site connect.

Every setting needs APU approval and, under APU's rule for clinical sites, an affiliation agreement. APU's graduate guidelines remove hours logged at a site that was not approved, so approval has to land before the first residency hour, not after.

Who arranges the residency site

No public DNP document says who finds the residency site. APU's shared onboarding instructions send DNP students to the DNP Clinical Residency Coordinator, a role the DNP Program Director also holds, or to their program manager. The current DNP Program Guidelines sit behind the APU login.

In most of APU's other graduate programs, students propose a site and preceptor, and the program vets and approves them. Expect something similar, and confirm it with the coordinator in your first term, well before the residency clock matters.

Compliance applies to an online doctorate too. CastleBranch has a package code just for DNP students, and you keep the account current for as long as you are enrolled; our CastleBranch and Complio guide covers the setup and review times.

Licensure, location and accreditation

Because the DNP is online, applicants sometimes assume location does not matter. APU still requires a California RN license at entry, and its professional licensure disclosures do not list the DNP. APU is also not accepting distance applicants who live in 14 states and Washington, DC, and it notes that list changes often.

If you live outside California or might move, check the current list and our state authorization page before applying, and plan residency sites where your license and APU's approvals line up.

CCNE has accredited APU's DNP since November 2013, and the current term runs to December 31, 2028, with the next on-site review in spring 2028. Keep those dates handy in case a residency site asks about accreditation.

Why DNP students choose us

As a DNP student you likely bring a strong network and very little spare time. We turn your project idea into a short list of residency sites and preceptors who can support both the clinical and the leadership side, then prepare what APU needs to review them: credentials and licenses, the organization's official name and signing authority, and the right administrative contact.

We find out whether each site has an APU affiliation agreement on file and flag new-agreement lead time before you commit. Whether your hours letter leaves you 500 hours or the full 1,000, we pace the terms so the residency keeps step with GNRS 716 through GNRS 780 instead of piling up at the end.

If a site changes leadership or a preceptor leaves mid-project, we find a replacement that keeps the project intact. The program approves every site; we deliver a complete file that fits its rules. Tell us about your project through our contact page.

Questions APU students ask