The required intensive for Liberty's FNP and post-BSN PMHNP: virtual or Lynchburg?

Which Liberty tracks have a required intensive

Only two of Liberty's online nursing tracks list a required intensive on their current program pages. The rest either state none or offer optional ones.

The 2022-23 MSN handbook also says "There are no on-campus course requirements for the online MSN program." The rest of this page is about the two NP tracks that do have one.

Virtual or on campus: what each Liberty source says

Five Liberty sources describe the FNP intensive, and they don't agree. Here they are, current sources first.

• FNP program page (checked September 2026): "Our FNP program does have 1 required intensive that is offered virtually," with set login times. The post-BSN PMHNP page says "Online* with required virtual intensive."
• 2026-27 Graduate Catalog: footnotes the relevant NP courses only as "Course offered in a synchronous distant format," with no mention of campus.
• Liberty's In-Person Components page: lists DNP-FNP and DNP-PMHNP (Post-BSN) among programs with on-campus intensive requirements.
• 2024-25 FNP degree completion plan: "Required one week residential intensive for online students," tied to NURS 740 and NURS 741, which aren't in the current FNP plan.
• An older School of Nursing DNP admissions page, last modified in 2023: describes the post-BSN FNP as residential-only in Lynchburg, in conflict with every current page.

The program pages, updated in September 2026, say virtual, and the catalog doesn't mention campus. But Liberty hasn't reconciled its pages, and none of them names the course that carries the intensive. The answer for your cohort has to come from Liberty directly.

What a Liberty virtual intensive looks like

A virtual intensive isn't self-paced. Liberty's intensives page says virtual intensives have "set login times," and the FNP page describes live interaction with the professor and classmates during them.

The schedule varies by section. Liberty describes virtual intensives ranging from one day a week across a full semester to all day, every day, for one week. Those are very different commitments if you work full-time or are already in clinic, so find out which pattern your section follows as early as you can.

Much of the program around the intensive is synchronous as well. The 2026-27 FNP plan marks NURS 711, NURS 712, NURS 713, the FNP concentration courses and the DNP practicums NURS 840 to NURS 843 as offered in a synchronous distant format. Expect scheduled login times throughout the program, not just once.

If your intensive turns out to be in Lynchburg

Liberty's on-campus intensives are held at the Lynchburg, Virginia campus and have traditionally run for a week or a weekend. Students arrange their own travel, and Liberty offers hotel packages.

If your section is on campus, plan for the travel days as well as the intensive itself. That time comes out of work and, if the intensive overlaps a practicum term, out of clinic days you've agreed with a preceptor. Preceptors plan their schedules around the students they take, so tell yours as soon as you know the dates.

Don't book flights on the strength of a forum post or an outside program profile. Some non-Liberty descriptions still repeat the older residential wording. Confirm the format with Liberty, then book.

How to confirm your intensive format

Because Liberty's public pages conflict, the reliable answer is the one attached to your own registration. Work through these in order.

1. Check the Course Registration ToolLiberty's Course Registration Tool at course-registration.liberty.edu shows sub-term and intensive formats. Look at the section you're registered in, not the program page.
2. Read the course in CanvasOnce the course opens, the syllabus and announcements in Canvas give the login times or campus dates. Liberty asks students to review the syllabus in Week 0; the myLU and Canvas page explains where things sit.
3. Ask DNP advisingDNP advising at dnp@liberty.edu can tell you which course carries the intensive in your plan and how your section runs.
4. Tell the practicum team if it touches clinic timeIf the intensive overlaps a practicum term, the practicum team at APRN.DNPPracticum@liberty.edu should hear about it before your preceptor schedule is set.

Fitting the intensive around practicum

The intensive matters for practicum mainly because of timing. In the 2026-27 FNP plan, Gate 1 (NURS 731) falls in semester 6 and the first FNP practicum, NURS 771, in semester 7. For post-BSN PMHNP, Gate 1 is in semester 5 and PMHNP Practicum I in semester 6. Once you know when your intensive falls, compare it with those semesters, and with your Gate course deadlines, to see which weeks you can offer a preceptor.

Liberty's NP pages warn that "the assigned term may not always meet the student's initial preferences," and that scarce preceptors mean students may travel longer distances. A campus trip on top of a long clinical commute is manageable with notice and much harder without it.

FNP students can't use telehealth sites for hours, so every clinic day is in person. PMHNP students may use telehealth for up to 50% of practicum hours, which can ease a crowded week. See telehealth hours at Liberty.

Scheduling a practicum around the intensive

An intensive doesn't need a preceptor, but the terms around it do. If you're an FNP or post-BSN PMHNP student, we search for a preceptor and site near you whose schedule can work around the weeks you already owe Liberty, and prepare the preceptor's details for the Gate course. Liberty approves every site and preceptor, and the practicum team's own matching continues alongside ours.

For the wider picture of each track, see the FNP page or the PMHNP DNP page. When you use the form below or contact the placement desk, tell us your start term and your intensive dates if you have them. Knowing the blocked weeks up front lets us suggest sites whose start dates fit around them.