Nursing Graduate from Philippines wanted to take NCLEX in CA

Irah0526 · Sep 17, 2013

HI.. You need to apply first to CA BON... you need to contact your school for the copy of your clinical cases and clinical rotations. NO Need to apply for CES And TOEFL

steppybay · Sep 18, 2013

First and foremost, did you strongly believe that ALL your clinical and theory courses were done in the same EXACT semester, not months before or after, not a year or two later, if you think those were done concurrently, then you have a chance to get your ATT in CA, if not, then, you'll be joining the other several thousands of us PH grads and nurses that will be denied the NCLEX-RN in CA.

Find out if any of your batchmates that graduated in the same exact year and took the EXACT same courses with you (and didn't mess around with their schedules to meet the concurrent sessions) AND importantly, applied into CA AFTER the strict concurrency enforcement rules set by the CA BRN decades ago. They must have applied AFTER the Nov. 2011 date and received their ATT and passed the NCLEX-RN. If they got their ATT, then you probably may also be okay for approval.

Please do the much further reading and investigation issues and concerns in this forum tab and click on to every thread with the mention of "CA" and you'll see where CA has been closing the nursing door. The one probable exceptions are those that graduated in 2004 and prior.

Getting your RN license in any other of the 49 states is NO guarantee of endorsing that license for a CA one, as the CA BRN will ALWAYS require (as do many of the other states) a complete review and examination of your school's transcripts as if you applying as a first-timer for the examination.

In fact, it's actually a guarantee that the CA BRN will not approve the endorsement, if the transcripts are deemed not in compliance with the requirements or found lacking some courses or found with insufficient clinical hours. Any missing form of documentation usually spells a rejection of the application and most likely, will be abandoned. There's a 3 year period limit to comply with the documentation AND clearing up any of the requirements they want you to do.

CA once known as the easiest, fastest and cheapest state for any PH applicants has done a complete 180 degree turn-around and now known as the complete opposite.

itsleonicalm · Sep 19, 2013

HI.. You need to apply first to CA BON... you need to contact your school for the copy of your clinical cases and clinical rotations. NO Need to apply for CES And TOEFL

So it's just some states require CES and TOEFL and CA is not one of them, correct? Thanks for your input!

itsleonicalm · Sep 19, 2013

First and foremost, did you strongly believe that ALL your clinical and theory courses were done in the same EXACT semester, not months before or after, not a year or two later, if you think those were done concurrently, then you have a chance to get your ATT in CA, if not, then, you'll be joining the other several thousands of us PH grads and nurses that will be denied the NCLEX-RN in CA.
Find out if any of your batchmates that graduated in the same exact year and took the EXACT same courses with you (and didn't mess around with their schedules to meet the concurrent sessions) AND importantly, applied into CA AFTER the strict concurrency enforcement rules set by the CA BRN decades ago. They must have applied AFTER the Nov. 2011 date and received their ATT and passed the NCLEX-RN. If they got their ATT, then you probably may also be okay for approval.
Please do the much further reading and investigation issues and concerns in this forum tab and click on to every thread with the mention of "CA" and you'll see where CA has been closing the nursing door. The one probable exceptions are those that graduated in 2004 and prior.
Getting your RN license in any other of the 49 states is NO guarantee of endorsing that license for a CA one, as the CA BRN will ALWAYS require (as do many of the other states) a complete review and examination of your school's transcripts as if you applying as a first-timer for the examination.
In fact, it's actually a guarantee that the CA BRN will not approve the endorsement, if the transcripts are deemed not in compliance with the requirements or found lacking some courses or found with insufficient clinical hours. Any missing form of documentation usually spells a rejection of the application and most likely, will be abandoned. There's a 3 year period limit to comply with the documentation AND clearing up any of the requirements they want you to do.
CA once known as the easiest, fastest and cheapest state for any PH applicants has done a complete 180 degree turn-around and now known as the complete opposite.

Hi! I'm just confused...what do you mean by "same EXACT semester"? If it is literally in one semester of the year, that is very impossible to complete that. Theory courses can't be taken in one semester alone, much more the clinical scrubs if that's what you are referring to. Please correct if I understood your statement wrong. But I started doing my clinical rotations/scrubs (minor,major, handle, assist and circulating deliveries) since I was in 3rd year (2nd semester I believe) and finished it until 4th year.

I had friends who took NCLEX in CA with no issues but that was before CA BON changed policies and requirements.

Thank you for sharing ideas, much appreciated and looking forward to hearing more from you!

steppybay · Sep 19, 2013

Hi! I'm just confused...what do you mean by "same EXACT semester"? If it is literally in one semester of the year, that is very impossible to complete that. Theory courses can't be taken in one semester alone, much more the clinical scrubs if that's what you are referring to. Please correct if I understood your statement wrong. But I started doing my clinical rotations/scrubs (minor,major, handle, assist and circulating deliveries) since I was in 3rd year (2nd semester I believe) and finished it until 4th year.
I had friends who took NCLEX in CA with no issues but that was before CA BON changed policies and requirements.
Thank you for sharing ideas, much appreciated and looking forward to hearing more from you!

Yep, based on your comment, you're not going to comply with the concurrency rules, the application will get denied. Your situation is very much the same that's caused 99% of the PH applicants to start looking elsewhere after the rejection letter. As an example, all your courses in the 3rd year should have been done and completed in the 3rd year, just how the CA schools do. Of course, the problem in the Phils is that they don't care about the CA rules and regulations, only what's good for the Phils.

You can take the LVN exam in CA, then try to enroll in a LVN-RN program, but it's not that easy to get into such a program with hundreds to a thousand plus of not only local CA students but add in other PH grads trying the same. There are some CA schools (read the other threads) but expect an answer in 2-3-4 years if you're going to be moved to the top of the long wait list.

You can try to enroll in a CA school that will allow you to take up the deficiencies, so far, I think only one person's friend got in somewhere, but hasn't confirmed that fact.

There's a lot of good reads on all the above mentions, none of them are very encouraging, sorry to say.

itsleonicalm · Sep 19, 2013

Yep, based on your comment, you're not going to comply with the concurrency rules, the application will get denied. Your situation is very much the same that's caused 99% of the PH applicants to start looking elsewhere after the rejection letter. As an example, all your courses in the 3rd year should have been done and completed in the 3rd year, just how the CA schools do. Of course, the problem in the Phils is that they don't care about the CA rules and regulations, only what's good for the Phils.
You can take the LVN exam in CA, then try to enroll in a LVN-RN program, but it's not that easy to get into such a program with hundreds to a thousand plus of not only local CA students but add in other PH grads trying the same. There are some CA schools (read the other threads) but expect an answer in 2-3-4 years if you're going to be moved to the top of the long wait list.
You can try to enroll in a CA school that will allow you to take up the deficiencies, so far, I think only one person's friend got in somewhere, but hasn't confirmed that fact.
There's a lot of good reads on all the above mentions, none of them are very encouraging, sorry to say.

I just read topics related to my questions and your statement is clearer to me. I have heard and read about all thes but I am just in a state of denial until now that they will deny my application. Lol. But yes, it is a very sad fact. My question now is...how much of a guarantee to be approved if you take courses here in CA?

steppybay · Sep 20, 2013

I just read topics related to my questions and your statement is clearer to me. I have heard and read about all thes but I am just in a state of denial until now that they will deny my application. Lol. But yes, it is a very sad fact. My question now is...how much of a guarantee to be approved if you take courses here in CA?

There's nothing wrong with still applying with the CA BRN, just know what the most likely results will be and that the application fees are not refundable even if denied.

As long as the courses are CA BRN approved and they meet what was deficient, but that means the school's nursing dept. needs to review your declined letter to know what action to take.

avi8tor69 · Sep 20, 2013

I just read topics related to my questions and your statement is clearer to me. I have heard and read about all thes but I am just in a state of denial until now that they will deny my application. Lol. But yes, it is a very sad fact. My question now is...how much of a guarantee to be approved if you take courses here in CA?

If you take the courses here in CA you should be good to go. The only and major problem is, no accredited nursing school will let you take a few classes here and there. You have to apply to their program but before you do that you have to meet the stiff prerequisites. My friend's cousin graduated in the Philippines recently (2012) and ran into the same issues. Needless to say, she decided, after a heartbreaking realization that her nursing degree from the Philippines was worthless, and will redo the whole thing over. She is taking Anatomy and Physiology ( I think) right now and will apply to the ADN program in our local community college (no waiting period - admission criteria based on GPA) once she is done. Nursing counselor said if she get good grades and high TEAS V score, she has a good chance to get into their program.

steppybay · Sep 20, 2013

There have been a few recent postings from denied PH applicants who were able to have their CA BRN letter and other information requested by the school's nursing reviewer to be looked into.

They were told they would give them an answer within a certain time period.

The school's replies were usually they would be able to accommodate them at the present time if there was a spot open to enroll and to understand there's no guarantee of acceptance. As it turns out, the applicant was told to either have to enroll into a new nursing program so basically starting over or told there wasn't a spot open.

I suspect that in the latter case, it was a result of another foreign student got in or most likely that the one open spot was given to one of the school's own current nursing student. The priority is to fill in those spots first by a current nursing student needing to retake the same courses so that they do not fall behind in class.

But most importantly is the number of actual acceptance available to any international student or grad is that there's mostly just 1-2 jobs when there's several hundreds if not more are asking the same, "how do I apply and get in"

avi8tor69 · Sep 21, 2013

My friend's cousin is aware of the advance placement option. However, she was told offrecord to the school that she will be applying to prioritizes former students who did previously passed for.their advance placement slots. Those slots are more like 1 to 3 with a lot of applicants. She has a better shot starting out from the beginning. BTW students go in as a cohort. If a student flunks a class, that student will be out of the program.