Bloomfield College pre-nursing student

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This past week was by far the worst week of my life. I was arrested and charged for harassment and extortion to someone that I thought was a friend of mine but completely turned on me out of no where and it got heated. I have to go through court issues now and I have an attorney saying to apply for PTI since it's my first offense and I can get the charges dismissed after 1-3 years of being on probation, I have to pay him back etc, then I have to wait 6 months until I can get my record expunged. I have one year until I was supposed to apply for the nursing program at Bloomfield college, I made a huge mistake dealing with this person not knowing this person would try to ruin my life. What are my chances of getting into the program with this being pending? And having an arrest on my record. I've read a couple articles and some people say even with an expungement you can still be withheld your license or may not even be admitted to the NCLEX when the time comes, Nursing is my dream and I don't want something like this to disqualify me from ever becoming a nurse and getting a job. I'm not a drug addict or a murderer I just made a mistake and it went too far. Opinions and advice please.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

First of all, when it comes to how to plead, whether to apply for PTI, etc., I defer to your lawyer as I'm not one nor can AN.com give legal advice.

The thing about expungment is that while it may help with getting into schools and with your job hunt, expunged charges still need to be reported to the state BON. There is no way around that. It is still worth pursuing though--check with your attorney.

Having a criminal history of any sort doesn't automatically mean that you won't get licensed, provided your conviciton isn't one of their automatic disqualifiers. BONs review each applicant on a case-by-case basis, and just because Nurse X with a similar record got denied doesn't mean you automatically will. You can always call/e-mail the BON for guidance...however, the BON will not give a definite answer on licensing you until you actually apply for the license.

So if you want to be a nurse, you'll have to take the risk of going through nursing school first.

As far as whether this matter being pending will hurt your chances at Bloomfield...the only ones who can answer that question is Bloomfield. Ask them.

Best of luck.

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Okay I'm going to ask them. I just don't want this stupid mistake to ruin my chances of ever being a nurse I really want this. Thanks for your advice I appreciate it!

First of all, when it comes to how to plead, whether to apply for PTI, etc., I defer to your lawyer as I'm not one nor can AN.com give legal advice.

The thing about expungment is that while it may help with getting into schools and with your job hunt, expunged charges still need to be reported to the state BON. There is no way around that. It is still worth pursuing though--check with your attorney.

Having a criminal history of any sort doesn't automatically mean that you won't get licensed, provided your conviciton isn't one of their automatic disqualifiers. BONs review each applicant on a case-by-case basis, and just because Nurse X with a similar record doesn't mean you automatically will. You can always call/e-mail the BON for guidance...however, the BON will not give a definite answer on licensing you until you actually apply for the license.

So if you want to be a nurse, you'll have to take the risk of going through nursing school first.

As far as whether this matter being pending will hurt your chances at Bloomfield...the only ones who can answer that question is Bloomfield. Ask them.

Best of luck.

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I'm a pre nursing student at Bloomfield college I got into some legal issues and I'm supposed to apply to the program in March. I know your supposed to have a background check done for the hospitals but I was told the school doesn't start clinicals until towards the end of the program. By then I would be cleared of this being on my record as a pending charge since I applied for the PTI program to have the charges dismissed by the completion of the program.

Anyone with any advice??

The charge was theft by extortion and harassment.

Please help!!

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Hi Tom,

Currently, I am in the nursing program at Bloomfield College. I'd like to tell you that clinicals start officially in the hospitals or nursing homes during the 2nd semester of the first year. Labs start usually the first semester. There will continually be clinicals implemented throughout the program but background checks start before the nursing program starts. That means whatever is on your record till that time will be up for consideration. So I guess you'll be cleared by the summer of next year?

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