i've been an avid reader of AllNurses for a few years, and wanted to share my California RN success story with you all.
Born and raised in California, I went to the Philippines for nursing school due to financial constraints (wuhoo no student loans!), and graduated in 2012. Applied to take the NCLEx for California in June 2012, the whole process took 2-3 months, but eventually I was in the same boat as my fellow foreign grads - they told me there was a concurrency issue with my classroom and clinical hours for Med-Surg and OB (which honestly I thought was pure bullsnaps). But oh well! How to fix this? Re-take the classes.
I wanted to take the NCLEx right away so I did my research and found out Hawaii was a state where they processed applications quickly. I applied for licensure by examination for Hawaii, got my ATT, passed the NCLEx. I wanted to focus on earning money first back then, because I was young and naive and didn't know you could take out a student loan too pay for tuition. Hey, I'd been in the Philippines where the policy was pay (tuition) now, study after. I worked an office job at a biotech company in the Bay Area for two years when I finally decided I was financially stable enough to try and take the two classes. Went to thr board of registered nurses website snd e-mailed every approved nursing school on their list. Dominican, Evergreen San Jose, Samuel Merritt and Unitek replied to me, if I remember correctly. Every single one of thrm were waitlisted, full of other foreign grads who had decided to work on this problem way before I had.
I came across a thread here that mentioned there was a school in Texas that offered the courses. Perfect. I had a friend who lived in TX, and a relative as well. San Antonio, specifically. I started e-mailing schools in San Antonio (again, went through the Texas Board of Nursing for a list of approved nursing schools) to see if they would be able to accomodate me for two courses. By some miracle, I found a school. Without even thinking, I applied for reciprocity to transfer my Hawaii license to Texas, put in my two weeks at work, drove to the midwest, got my TX RN license, applied for a job, started working in the Medicine ICU at a too hospital in the city, took the classes while working full time, finished after two terms in Feb. 2015. Got my California license May 2015. Now just working until I get a solid two years of ICU experience before heading back to the golden state!
Lots of sacrifices, but everything was worth it, my friends. Just wanted to give y'all a little bit of hope in the midst of this dilemma :-)
off topic- i just got an email that i am eligible to take nclex. i graduated in the philippines (mindanao) batch 2006. took the nclex 2008 then failed. now that am here in cali, i decided to challenge nclex again. i was worried about the concurrency issues but i trusted my faith and my agency. now time to register at pearsov vue for att.
i can do all things thru Christ.
Congratulations!!! You're an inspiration to all of us. Can you please give us a timeline of your application from the moment you sent your application to receiving your eligibility letter??? Thanks.
Hi there, I am now waiting for Ca BON's reply regarding my application. But just in case they deny, would you please also message me regarding that school in Texas which offers the course that Ca Bon requires? Thank you
I graduated on 2011 and have my NY license but currently residing in California. Im trying to have my license endorsed to CA but i need take up OB/MS again as a requirement. So i'm looking for a school that offer those 2 courses. Could you please send me the school information you went to in TX?
I sent you an email about the schools. I also have a question: i also have a NY rn license and will be taking those two courses soon, do i need to take the nclex again after completing them or do i just do the license endorsement from NY?
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
I sent you an email about the schools. I also have a question: i also have a NY rn license and will be taking those two courses soon, do i need to take the nclex again after completing them or do i just do the license endorsement from NY?
CA will still require any requirements to be met even when endorsing
I, too, am a Philippine BSN graduate and had problems with applying for California RN license just like everybody else, but believe it or not, I am a Registered Nurse in Los Angeles, California and I don't even have a California RN license. How, you ask? I applied for a job at the job at the VA and got accepted. If you do not know yet, the federal government honors any RN license from any of the US states. So if you have a RN license in Texas, you can work for any VA hospitals across the United States. Of course you have to be a US citizen and the hiring process at the VA is a pain in the butt, but anything worth having is worth working and waiting for. So yeah, that's how I got around this California BON loophole
Oh my!!! I went to the Philippines too and graduated there. I got my FL license first and work here in SICU then also got my DC and VA lic so I can travel. I applied for CA lic and they asked for my OB and OR cases with signatures, I graduated 2010 and the school can't find my records. I hope I don't have to go for any classes. :"(
Were you able to get licensure in CA? i'm having the same issue with my application right now as my school told me they only handle clinical records for 2 years and after that they no longer keep the records. So chances are the CABON will reject my case.
mitchiefox
43 Posts
Congratulations!!! You're an inspiration to all of us. Can you please give us a timeline of your application from the moment you sent your application to receiving your eligibility letter??? Thanks.