Licensing Dilemma

Hello Everyone!

I have a dilemma that I hope you can help me with. I will be a new grad this May. I will get my degree from a Hawaii school and I will be moving to California in June.

I called the California Board of Nursing (CBN) and they told me that they could not guarantee my degree and credits to be accepted by them to license me in California. I asked to know what credits I would need in order to be approved by the California board and they told me that they would have to see my transcripts. That would mean paying the $156.00 application fee.

I am VERY worried that all my hard work will be worthless because when I get to California they are going to tell me I need to take more classes. I will be crushed.

I thought that I could take my NCLEX in Hawaii and become a RN here in Hawaii and then transfer, but according to the CBN website I will still need to give them my transcripts. I feel like there is so much "red tape" to get through; it almost seems impossible to get a license.

Does anyone have any experience with transferring licenses to California either as a nurse already licensed or a new grad from another state?


I would love to hear your opinions about how I should go about getting my California license. Thanks!!!

Lpn2icu...Did you apply from another state?

What is the BON website?!

I would think if you applied for a license after you already had a hawaii license then it would be good. Thats what my mom did with her texas license