I haven't posted much but I'm currently in the process of applying for the new graduate nursing boards for the Air Force. I graduate with my bachelors of nursing in May!! I thought it would be nice to connect and see if anyone else is applying for the new graduate board selection. My recruiter told me they meet and make decisions in July. If I get it, I'll be heading to COT in October!
Currently, the recruiter has me picking out bases that I would like to be selected at for NTP. I'm also awaiting a medical exam date. If anyone has any input on great places to start out my nursing career, let me know!
I have no idea, since FQ slots are specific to the nurse positions. They take a range of nurses, but you have to choose a specialty like ER, OR, clinical, peds, etc
Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatric Critical Care.
Thanks. I'm an ICU nurse with 4 years experience, will have my BSN in May. I spoke with a healthcare recruiter in the USAF last year, and he told me to follow up with him after I had my BSN. I have heard many people say the USAF was letting a lot of their ICU jobs go to civilians, but I was not sure if that was true or not. A navy recruiter told me that last FY in the navy there was only 2 slots for ICU nurses. I was wondering if the same was true for the USAF.
There are not a ton of positions available right now from military downsizing. I don't have an exact number, but there are older threads that could give you an estimate from what they had previously. Also, since you'll have your BSN in May, did your recruiter tell you to apply FQ? I know the Air Force requires a BSN (which you will have soon!) but I don't know if you get working credit as an RN if you didn't have a BSN. I'd assume you get some credit since you're an RN, but they don't give work credit for CNAs or techs...I'm not sure if you'd get credit without a BSN. Obviously it looks good on a resume, but I'd double check with the recruiter that it does count for you. (I swear I'm not trying to sound rude or like a jerk here, I'm only asking and discussing this because I myself don't know!!).
Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatric Critical Care.
Thanks for the information. I did know about applying FQ, but only from reading the threads on this site. I believe they give 1/2 credit for civilian RN experience. I hope we can all help each other be more informed.
Inquisitive Nurse, yes they give you half your experience towards your rank. So if you have 6 years RN experience, you get 3 years towards your rank and could come in as O-2 or O-3. But that is only for RN experience, they won't take CNA/Tech experience, has to be RN.
It differs by branch. Some branches (like the Air Force) will give you 50% credit for your ADN/RN experience. Others will only give you 50% credit for your BSN/RN experience (Navy). 6 years of RN experience would give you O-2 with one year before you're eligible for O-3. All time is credited on a Full-time basis; you don't get credit for part-time RN experience.
camo-angel, you are right! just found out from my recruiter the numbers released, and it's now 29 Medsurg slots. She's still expecting 150+ applicants. And Board meet July 14th, and released the dates hopefully in August.
I think we may get around 150-200, hopefully. Last year there were over 300 applicants, and I remember my recruiter had 12 packets he sent himself. This year there's only about 5 or 6 packets (I only know because I counted how many people did CN interviews and he sent the times with our last 4 social). So maybe we'll get lucky and not nearly as many applicants will apply!! I certainly hope so, this is my second try and I'm ready to serve!!
TinkyT
15 Posts
Oh man. Hopefully second time around is the charm!! my recruiter is probably saying that to keep my hopes up. Haha jk.
I wonder what information other applicants have recieved.