The Student Nurse Externship is a continuous eight-week summer program in which nursing students work with highly skilled nurse preceptors gaining experience with multidisciplinary teams, in diverse specialty care areas in an atmosphere of learning and support.
Start date: May 27, 2025
End date: July 19, 2025
Who qualifies?
Nursing students enrolled in an ACEN or CCNE accredited program who’ve completed their junior year of a baccalaureate program qualify.
What are the program requirements?
- Students must be enrolled in an ACEN or CCNE accredited baccalaureate program
- Students must have a GPA of 3.2 or greater
- Students will be asked to complete a HireVue electronic interview.
- Students will write a 250-word essay describing how the externship experience will influence their transition from a student nurse to a professional nurse
- Transcripts or advising report must be provided
What’s the program like?
Externs are paired with an experienced RN preceptor for 32-36 hours per week on an inpatient unit. Participants will follow their paired preceptor’s schedule.
Externs earn a competitive hourly wage while increasing the skills and knowledge needed to transition to practice while enhancing your undergraduate education with hands-on learning.
Weekly schedules will be designed to allow externs to have diversified experiences, including hands-on patient care, professional development sessions, discussions and observational experiences.
What makes this program unique?
The Nursing Extern Program is centered on the unique needs of the student nurse and is based at one of the top-ranked academic medical centers in the country. As an academic medical center, the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center is accustomed to working with learners and will help you apply the skills that you’ve learned in your nursing program.
Externs will be placed at one of these Ohio State hospitals:
- University Hospital
- James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
- East Hospital
- Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital
- Brain and Spine Hospital
In addition, the program offers the opportunity for student nurses to earn while they learn.
Student nurse externs can experience a variety of practice settings.
Application information
Applications for the Nursing Externship Program will be accepted starting on November 18. Your complete application, school transcripts or advising report, and essay must be received by March 31, 2025. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply early as there are a limited number of positions available. Applicants will be notified of externship acceptance by the end of April.
You can email questions to Jacqueline.Min@osumc.edu.
Listen to the Here in Nursing podcast
Hear from program leadership and three nurses who completed the extern program. Listeners will learn about the program, its benefits and outcomes, as well as hear first-hand experiences of recent graduates.