Refresher programs: My licence has lapsed, ugh, retesting sounds challenging, advice?

Lisa, you are SO SO right! And your words should be tatooed on every student nurse at her pinning ceremony!
If I think about what I'm planning to do, I want to run screaming lol so I just smile and tell myself it will all be just fine What's driving me now is my desire to serve. I've done the selfish thing for the last several years. I stayed at home and was the Mom with cocoa and cookies when they got off the school bus. I made mad money at the beach bartending and working for a Chef for the Hotel DuPont.But at the end of the day, I hadn't really helped anyone.
Oh, one reg client at the restaurant had Alzheimer's. I would help his wife get him to stand and put his coat on him
You know what I mean though, at the end of the day, it has to be about something other than you.
That's what will keep me from running screaming off of this path that I have to admit I created for myself.
NEVER let your license lapse! NEVER.

One step at a time is exactly right We'll do this, and once we've both passed the exam and we're full and true RN's in practice, we will know even better the meaning of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone!" Good luck and we can keep each other and the board posted in our process. We can serve as good examples to others

Deb, my situation is a bit similar without all the locations.
I was originally licensed in PA but moved to DE. My license was in good standing, I just didn't renew.
DE won't allow me to become licensed unless I reactivate in PA. The Refresher Course isn't good enough since it's more than 5 years that I have been in active practice and the license expired. The Reactivation is a bit more entailed than the Refresher is.
I found one Reactivation course in PA and a few months ago got an email telling me that one other college is trying to form a course too. The problem is, they have to have enough people to make the class even worth their effort. Even if I wanted to take the Reactivation Course at either college in PA, I'd have to stay up there because of the schedule. And being a single Mom, I can't afford to miss six or eight weeks of work and stay in PA. And the Board of Nursing in DE may not accept the Reactivation per se, and may want me to retake a Refresher here in DE even after I take and pass a Reactivation in PA!
I thought I had found a solution at the University of Delaware who offers a course. Turned out it's only a Refresher and the state of PA won't accept it because the U of D hadn't included a standardized version of NCLEX for refresher.
Neither state is making it easy, but they make the rules, so I gotta do what they want.
The cost of all the Refresher and Reactivation courses, plus lodging, plus losing income is what made me take a look at just doing the whole thing over again.
If I can challenge the CNA exam and pass, I can then apply to a two or three year program with a bridge to BSN. I have my BA in Psych and Spanish and would love to eventually have my BSN.
All of this at the age of 49...... Hey, you're never too old to learn

Do you think you can revert to the CT license and take it from there or the original state that you were licensed in?

Hit the jackpot just now in my internet wanderings

Nurse.com has list all states refresher courses http://www.nurse.com/education/refresher.htm


Moving thread to Nursing Career advice forum to help others in same situation.

It will all depend on how long your license is expired.

What I was told by the Delaware State Board of Nursing was that since the expiration had taken place and I was out of practice for more than 5 years, I would have to return to PA and actually REACTIVATE. That would place the license back in active status, once I passed the exam.
Then DE would probably want a REFRESHER to make sure that the learning requirements met their standards.

I was very unaware of the difference between a Refresher Course and a Reactivation Course.

Once your license has lapsed, you are more likely to be looking at Reactivation than Refresher.

Karen,
Could you also post a list of current Reactivation Courses? I have some data but my list is far from complete. In fact, Montogomery Area Community College in PA emailed me to tell me that they may have a course starting this year if the demand is sufficient. If not, I have only one other active listing for it in Eastern PA....
It's much easier to locate the Refreshers, but the Reactivation list is difficult.