NEW YORK - Misdemeanor to Licensure Success Story

[CrispyApple24]

Hello all,

For the past two years I have been on this site many, many, many, many times looking for helpful and similar stories. Because of this website, I was able to transition smoothly from a pre-nursing school student to a licensed nurse within the same timeframe as my cohort. I hope this post can help all the New Yorkers (known to be a busy and slow-moving state) and anyone else who may need it.

BACKGROUND STORY: When I was undergrad, I stole some stuff from Walmart without paying with some friends. I was 21 years old - this was in 2016. Got arrested, fingerprinted, assigned a court date. That was the worst decision of my life. The best decision I ever made was to hire a lawyer. Since NY doesn't expunge records, the next best thing would be to have it sealed. This is considered an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACD). Basically the judge sees that its your first time, doesn't think you're dangerous, and will dismiss and seal the case in 6 months after you do community service, pay the fines etc. THIS IS YOUR BEST CHOICE! You will not run into any problems in nursing school or clinicals if your case is sealed. I had clinicals at a VA hospital where they fingerprint and run an extensive background check and nothing came up. Your ONLY job during nursing school from first semester to third semester is to let the professors and clinical instructors know you. Even better if you're doing some volunteering/have a job on the side. I was really starting to get worried during my last semester of nursing school because now licensing is the problem. My lawyer was experienced so after I received my ACD, he told me to go retrieve all my documentation from the courts (certificate of disposition, all the records indicating what you were charged with, etc.)

Fast forward to February 2019 (last semester of nursing school) I confided in and asked my clinical preceptor and nursing professor for character reference letters. They completely understand and sympathize. Since I was also working at a medical office I asked two of the Doctors to write for me as well. I also started working on my letter of explanation about the incident. So I have letter of explanation, all court documents relating to the conviction, my 4 character reference letters, and my resume ready. Come time to fill out the NYS Office of Profession application for becoming a Registered Nurse, I selected [YES] for the conviction question. Honesty is the best policy. IF NYBON finds out you do have a record without you disclosing it, your licensure may be delayed up to 6 months or even denied. I sent in my application with all my information on April 18th, 2019. I graduated in May and come June, I get an e-mail stating they never received my documents for my disclosure. Although my review was delayed two months, I was still ahead of the game at this point. I immediately sent them the information again and CONFIRMED that they received it this time. *MAKE SURE TO CALL THEM AFTER YOU SUBMIT THE APPLICATION*. NYBON will allow you to test before they even review your application so getting your ATT doesn't mean you are going to get licensed.

So now my application was "actually" received on June 4th. I scheduled my NCLEX for July 23rd. Took it and passed. Called the Office of Professions after I passed and they said the board JUST started reviewing my case. *GET STARTED EARLY- NYS gets backed up by at least 2 months* After review they would send it back to the Office of Professions for licensing, this process should take approximately 2 weeks. Obviously I was calling every other day. By August 2nd, my license # was posted. Most of my cohort have not even taken the NCLEX yet. I will be starting my full time job at the hospital of my dreams in one month. (Because I confided in one of my clinical preceptors, we got even closer and she eventually offered me a job KNOWING my conviction before our clinical was over).

I am so grateful to all of you who continue to seek help and offer help on this website. I hope this success story gives you all hope! EVERYBODY has made mistakes. The board of nursing understands that and as long as you are prepared and show your remorse, your process won't be delayed. Best of luck to everyone!!!!!