Please help.. need information on RN licensing.

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Hi everyone. I am currently going to school online with the University of Phoenix in pursuit of an Associates in Psychology because they do not offer a LPN or LVN program. I currently live in California, because my husband is a Marine and is stationed here. We came from Georgia, and when I transferred out here I was majoring in Biology. After two semesters of not being able to get into a single biology class due to over-impacted schools, I decided to pursue nursing. Originally I wanted to be a vet, but it just proved to be too difficult to pursue that at the moment. I am also enlisted in the National Guard as a Combat Medic, so I have medical experience and by California law I qualify for a CNA license. I am currently trying to get my phlebotomy license so that I can be employed in a civilian medical setting. The problem I am having is where I will go after I get my Associates completed, which should be May of 2011. I chose psychology because my academic advisor assured me that I could apply to take the RN exam with an Associates in Psychology, and I have been told the same by other, but I just can not find anywhere that officially says it. I am worried that at the end of my program I will not be able to get an RN license, because to continue to my Bachelor's I need to have either an LPN or and RN license because those are the programs offered by the University of Phoenix. I tried to look for outside LPN programs that I might qualify for advanced placement, but all that I find is that they are a year or longer. I do not have that amount of time. Someone suggested I could complete my Bachelor's in Health Administration, but I really have my heart set on becoming an RN. I like working with people and my hands. I like to help. But right now, I need help from people who know this field better than myself and can guide me on the right path. Please help. Thank you.

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Let me see if I'm understanding your situation correctly. You're working towards your Associates in Psychology, and your adviser said you can take the NCLEX afterwards? He or she is hugely mistaken. In order to be eligible for the NCLEX and get licensed as a registered nurse, you must complete coursework in a nursing school that is registered with the California Board of Registered Nursing. As a medic in the military, you are eligible to challenge the LVN exam, however there are other conditions that also must be met in order to do so. If your overall goal is to be a registered nurse, then you will have to go to nursing school, whether it's an ADN program, LVN-RN Bridge, or BSN-RN.....

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Whoever told you that you can take the RN licensing exam with an associate's degree in psychology was blowing smoke at you. In order to take the NCLEX-RN, or NCLEX-PN, for that matter, you must graduate from an approved nursing program.

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Hi! Are you in Southern California? How about working towards getting your pre-requisites done before getting into an ADN program? If you're in LA, the Los Angeles Community Colleges will start registration for Spring 2011 around November 20th and on; you could try to get some pre-reqs done for ADN if you haven't already done so.

I currently only have the option of taking pre-reqs because I don't know where I'll end up in a year (husband is going to graduate from grad school and where-ever he ends up is where I'll be going to nursing school).

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Thank you everyone. I am very glad that you all posted replies. I had a sick feeling in my stomach that I would graduate with my Associates and not be able to continue on as I had planned. I have already started looking into a community college (I live in Hemet, which is right outside of Riverside, so LA is definitely too far lol) to try to get my pre-reqs, so that may be what I have to do. I am trying to schedule a meeting with my academic advisor from Phoenix to ask her more questions, because it was my enrollment counselor who told me I could get my RN with the Associates in Psychology. I'll be sure and let her know that he was absolutely wrong. I will post what she says. Thank ya'll again. :)

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One more thing.. I looked through some other forums on here and found where someone was asking if they could challenge the LVN exam as a MA. She was asking because her husband was a a corpsman and they considered them MAs. Now I know that I am able to get my MA without any problem because of my experience as an Army medic, but skills are beyond that. So I scrolled through her replies and it turns out that a military corpsman (didn't not specify what branch) challenged the LVN exam and was able to take it. I cna continue my education with Phoenix with a LVN license because they have a LVN to RN bridge program, and that would be fine with me. My end goal is Nurse Anesthetist, so my main concern right now if being able to get my Bachelor's. My question now becomes, how do I challenge the LVN exam? Do I apply to take it and just send it my DD214 (the form that lists my medical training)? Or is there something specific I need to do? I am reasearching the California Board's website, but sometimes they can be vague. I would like to hear from someone who has experince in this, if that is at all possible. Thank ya'll very much.

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Go to the BVNPT website and download the application for licensure and read and follow all the information pertaining to submitting as a medical corpsman.

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