California License

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I graduate with my ASN in May. I want my first job to be in California but I am living and going to school in Tennessee. How should I go about getting my California license? Do I need to just fly to California and take the NCLEX there, or get licensed in Tennessee and then transfer my license to California?

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Specializes in NICU.

California can be very difficult for new grads to find jobs, especially out of state ASN graduates. NCLEX is a national exam, so going there to take the test will have no bearing on your ability to get a job in California. I would suggest getting a TN license and work there for 1-2 yrs before attempting to move to California. Getting an initial license in California will take longer (according to many members on this site) than getting your license in TN.

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I wouldn't recommend coming out here until you get experience and a BSN. The majority of the major hospitals out here only hire BSN or above.

Smaller cities or town hospitals might do ASN, but I'm not 100% sure on that one.

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From what some directors told me here in California, many out of state licenses will not work unless you are from New York. You would need to take a few other courses, from what I was told in a couple of orientations, since the standards here are high. I'm actually in an opposite situation from you, I plan on moving out of this state soon when I finish. It's overrun by socialists with skyrocketing taxes.

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23 minutes ago, Yokohama said:

From what some directors told me here in California, many out of state licenses will not work unless you are from New York. You would need to take a few other courses, from what I was told in a couple of orientations, since the standards here are high. I'm actually in an opposite situation from you, I plan on moving out of this state soon when I finish. It's overrun by socialists with skyrocketing taxes.

AMEN! I'll be following you in the exodus, in a few years (hopefully)

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If you really want to get a CA license, just apply for your first license to be for the state of CA. You DO NOT have to take the nclex-rn in CA as long as you indicated and applied for the initial CA license on the CA BRN website.

I went to school out of state and my first license and only one is for CA. It might be harder for you to get a job as a new grad since you only have an ADN. So it might be beneficial to stay at your current state and work for a year while also applying for a CA license.

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Hi everyone, a bit different of a question, but I am graduating in May with my BSN this year. I am from the west coast so I was planning on coming back to California to work. I ran into the issue that my university did not include microbiology with a lab in our curriculum, and it is necessary in order to gain my license in CA. I found an online course with a lab from an accredited nursing school, can anyone say that this course was approved by CA BON?

It's through University of New England Online

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/online-microbiology/laboratory-for-microbiology/

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On 1/31/2020 at 7:50 AM, munurseolivia said:

Hi everyone, a bit different of a question, but I am graduating in May with my BSN this year. I am from the west coast so I was planning on coming back to California to work. I ran into the issue that my university did not include microbiology with a lab in our curriculum, and it is necessary in order to gain my license in CA. I found an online course with a lab from an accredited nursing school, can anyone say that this course was approved by CA BON?

It's through University of New England Online

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/online-microbiology/laboratory-for-microbiology/

You will have to check w/ the BON directly. I can tell you that many of the state schools (CSU & UC) do not accept those online science core classes w/ the online do-it-yourself lab even to apply for entry into their schools. At least that's what I have seen. Now, the BON might be different since you're just trying to fulfill a requirement, but I"m not sure.

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On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2020 at 7:50 AM, munurseolivia said:

Hi everyone, a bit different of a question, but I am graduating in May with my BSN this year. I am from the west coast so I was planning on coming back to California to work. I ran into the issue that my university did not include microbiology with a lab in our curriculum, and it is necessary in order to gain my license in CA. I found an online course with a lab from an accredited nursing school, can anyone say that this course was approved by CA BON?

It's through University of New England Online

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/online-microbiology/laboratory-for-microbiology/

The CA BRN has a list of approved nursing schools listed on its website.

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I went to school in Texas and wanted to transfer to CA. My school didn't require the micro lab either so I had to retake the class and lab combo at a local community college one summer.

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