Your Louisiana RN license and a year in the specialty: Southeastern's two gates before clinicals

The license wording, program by program

Every Southeastern graduate program names a license at admission, and all but two documents name Louisiana. The table leads with the 2026-27 catalog and adds Southeastern's program pages where they differ.

For the MSN and both certificates the answer is simple: a Louisiana RN license, held from admission through graduation. The DNP rows are where Southeastern's documents part ways, covered further down.

One year of RN practice in the specialty, before clinicals

Each Southeastern graduate catalog entry carries the same condition: before any clinical or practicum course begins, you need documented proof of a full year working as an RN somewhere that suits your specialty concentration. The gate sits on the clinical course rather than on admission, so a newer nurse can take the early theory courses while finishing that year.

Timing is the part to plan. In the MSN FNP plan the first clinical course, NURS 6820 Family Health I, arrives in the third semester. The MSN PMHNP sequence opens with NURS 6900, which carries 60 observation hours, before the 200-hour NURS 6910; ask whether your year must be complete before the observation course or only before NURS 6910. Our reading of the rule: have the year finished and documented by the time you register for your first clinical course.

Southeastern does not define on any public page which RN roles count as appropriate to FNP or PMHNP study. If your experience comes from a setting that does not line up neatly with your concentration, ask the graduate coordinator in writing before you register.

The Nurse Licensure Compact and what it leaves open

Louisiana belongs to the Nurse Licensure Compact for RN licenses, with implementation on July 1, 2019 according to NCSBN's compact map. Southeastern's RN to BSN page accepts either a Louisiana-issued license or one held under the compact. The graduate catalog entries ask for a Louisiana RN license and never mention the compact, and no public page says whether a multistate license issued by another compact state meets that wording. If that describes you, ask the graduate coordinator before you apply.

Some Louisiana hospitals give their own answer. The two Ochsner systems, on their graduate student pages, accept an active RN license for the state where the clinical happens or a compact license.

Advanced practice licenses sit outside that compact. Louisiana has not enacted the separate APRN Compact, which only Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have adopted and which needs seven states to take effect; NCSBN said in May 2026 that it is working with boards to redesign it. After certification, the Louisiana State Board of Nursing issues your NP license, as certification exams explains.

Moving mid-program carries its own risk. Southeastern's licensure disclosure page warns that relocating to another state can affect whether you stay in the program, meet licensure requirements or keep financial aid, and asks you to contact the program first. See state authorization.