Hi everyone,

I graduated with my ADN in late July. Our DON told us that if we did not continue to do practice questions (100 a day) she would withhold our information from the BON & we wouldn't be able to take the NCLEX.

I have been having some "personal issues" (don't we all LOL) that have prevented me from doing them every day. However, I have done a LOT of them.... she has not sent in anything to the BON & claims that the fees have been paid (when I logged in it says I still owe $$...does that get paid when they send my packets in or something?)

Now, she just told me if I "keep it up", she will send in the packets, & it typically takes 2-8 weeks for confirmation. I start my new nursing job on October 7th, putting me in a pickle.

I am studying, I HAVE BEEN studying (just using alternate forms), & need to take the NCLEX.

Is this legal? Can they withhold that stuff? As far as I know, I am the only person in my graduating class that this is happening to. Everyone else has received confirmation emails.

I am extremely upset & feel deceived, as she never indicated that she hadn't sent my packet in until today (everyone else had their packets sent out weeks ago!).

I need help....

I would call your BON and tell them what is happening. Once you've graduated your school holds no authority over you. They're just worried about their pass rate, and want to force you to do questions so you have a better chance of passing.

I just spoke with a lady at the BON & she informed me that she has not received anything from the school (payment, fingerprints, etc). I said "I wasn't aware that my school could withhold that" & she said nothing....I should have pressed the issue but that's me being passive.

I am so angry right now, I don't know what to do.

Wow....... that seems like they are overstepping their boundaries a bit.

I'd be spitting nails about now.

How about you go to the BoN, get copies of the required paperwork, get the fingerprint card and take it to the State Police or whoever they approve for it, write them a check, and put a stop on the check you gave the school? Go to the registrar and do what the BoN says to do in terms of getting your transcript sent to them (probably a few bucks). You have graduated, right? So your transcript is official from the school and doesn't belong to the nursing department.

Not every school does this rigamarole with their students, and the BoN doesn't require them to get involved in it. Grads from out of state have to apply to take NCLEX there and their schools don't intervene. Apply as if you were one of them. Good luck!

Hi everyone,

I graduated with my ADN in late July. Our DON told us that if we did not continue to do practice questions (100 a day) she would withhold our information from the BON & we wouldn't be able to take the NCLEX.

I have been having some "personal issues" (don't we all LOL) that have prevented me from doing them every day. However, I have done a LOT of them.... she has not sent in anything to the BON & claims that the fees have been paid (when I logged in it says I still owe $$...does that get paid when they send my packets in or something?)

Now, she just told me if I "keep it up", she will send in the packets, & it typically takes 2-8 weeks for confirmation. I start my new nursing job on October 7th, putting me in a pickle.

I am studying, I HAVE BEEN studying (just using alternate forms), & need to take the NCLEX.

Is this legal? Can they withhold that stuff? As far as I know, I am the only person in my graduating class that this is happening to. Everyone else has received confirmation emails.

I am extremely upset & feel deceived, as she never indicated that she hadn't sent my packet in until today (everyone else had their packets sent out weeks ago!).

I need help....

Sorry, WHAT? This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. You finished the program. When I graduated from nursing school, they sent our stuff the next day. Didn't hear from them again until a few months later when they sent an email asking us if we passed NCLEX.

My wife, who is Director of Student Counseling at my college, said that you need to talk to your Academic Dean!

Thanks everyone for the advice. She FINALLY sent my stuff in and the lady at the BON rushed it through for me so I got my ATT quicker.

Now I get to drive an hour to take the boards because there were no times available at my local testing center. Now I'm cutting it close to my job start date..... All I know is when I've been established at my job for awhile, I plan on drafting a letter to this "school".

But that's a post for another time

Thanks again everyone!

I would also contact your state's board of education. If it were me I would also give serious thought about writing my state representative as well.

That's an excellent idea. Do you think I should wait a little while? Just to be sure that there won't be any repercussions...?

I don't think the school can do anything since you've already graduated and they've sent your information off. At the very least I would write a letter to the BoN and the state's Board of Education just for the sake of documenting the incident. It's up to you whether or not you want to speak with your congressman over the issue.

If you would like to take the test first, I don't think it would hurt anything. For whatever it's worth, I think this is unacceptable behavior on the school's part.

Thank you so much. I think I'll make sure I pass boards first and then take action. I don't want this happening to someone else.....

Thanks again for the advice :)

And I agree: completely unacceptable!!!!!

And never forget the power of the Fourth Estate. Call your local newspaper/TV station and speak to the health reporter or the education reporter. This is a patient/customer protection issue.