Magen1021

I was just offered an interview at OU. Interviewing in early October, keeping my fingers crossed as I do love their program! I'll keep you posted! :)

Wait listed

Also interviewing on Saturday, getting pretty nervous! Good luck to everyone! :)

Aiesram, I was originally pre-nursing at my university when I did not get accepted to the nursing program. For a few reasons, I decided not to apply again and changed my major to dietetics with the plan to apply to accelerated second degree programs when I graduated. The pre-reqs were the same so I didn't lose any credits and the nutritional knowledge was great to have. My senior year of college, I applied to a few accelerated BSN programs and started immediately after graduation. I got my BSN in 12 months. It may have taken me another year and a whole new degree (aka a few more dollars) but I did it and it was a great route to go. Not only do I have my BS in nursing but I also have my BS in dietetics. If you can, apply again and in the mean time amp up your resume (volunteer, get certified as a nurse assistant; whatever you can do). If applying isn't an option right now, finish your degree and go for your BSN again in a couple of years. You won't regret it

Some of the "who would you see first" are very similar to Kaplan and others are fairly easy to pick out the stable patients and eliminate them. Overall, Kaplan did an amazing job preparing me for the NCLEX and you're probably going to walk out of the exam thinking you over prepared (better over than under though, right) lol

JohannaR: I wanted to post my Kaplan scores because I had checked all nurses prior to my NCLEX to see what other people had scored and passed and all I could find was a couple people who said they scored in the 70s which really freaked me out. I kept looking for proof that my scores were among the norm and apparently they aren't so I was positive that I would fail. When I started the test this morning, I knew by the 10th question that I was on the right track. I believes Kaplan scores in the 50s are more than enough to get you to RN status. 6 of my best friends in my program took NCLEX with Kaplan scores in mostly 50s and a couple 60s and passed in 75 questions. You can do it, I really believ Kaplan has done a fabulous job with their practice questions and if you do those you'll be more than ok! Having confidence and being confident in what you know is half the battle. So walk into that test knowing you're going to kill it and before you know it, you'll be an RN!

Diagnostic: 52% Readiness: 57% QT1: 60% QT2: 46% QT3: 59% QT4: 50% QT5: 52% QT6: 54% QT7: 57% Qbank average (I did every question): 60% Took my exam this morning, 75 questions and got the "good" pop up. I thought the NCLEX was actually easier than Kaplan. I had 8 SATA questions and they were a lot easier and more straight forward than the Kaplan SATAs. I also had 2 drag and drop re-order questions, those were also fairly easy. I had 1 med-calc, and the rest were priority questions with quite a few infection control Overall, I think Kaplan did an EXCELLENT job at preparing me (maybe even over prepared) and If I had to do it again, I would choose Kaplan every time! Be confident in what you know!

Took my NCLEX this morning, oh boy what a relief!!!!!! Came home and did the trick and got the "good" pop-up...really hoping that thing is accurate! I had 75 questions and so glad not a question more! Good luck to the rest of you, you're going to rock it!

Beautiful prayer! Thank you so much for reminding me to bring Jesus with me in a couple of weeks! AMEN!

I think the registration process varies with each state BON. I'm in Michigan and I just graduated in August. I'll just let you know how I went about scheduling my exam. First step started in June of this year (2 months prior to graduating). I filed my application with the state, payed the RN fee, and got my fingerprints. Mailed all that information to the board of nursing. Within a week, I received a letter from the Michigan BON stating that they received my information and gave me a number to check my application status online. Once I knew the state had my information, I went ahead and payed for the exam via pearsonvue website. This was probably about mid-July (hefty $200 out of pocket at this point) lol. Here in MI, your school of nursing needs to send out a graduation certificate to the board once your degree is finalized to prove that you've graduated. Not sure if this works the same way in other states. So per my school of nursing, my degree was finalized on August 19. So for now I was just waiting for my university to send the proper paperwork to the board and then wait to get my ATT email stating I am eligible to register for the exam. I got the ATT email from pearson on September 15, so almost a month after my degree had been finalized. And now I am scheduled to test on October 13 (2 short weeks away) :\ So I would recommend applying for licensure with your state BON at least 4-6 weeks before graduating. The BONs can take a while processing your material and if they have everything done on your end by the time you graduate than once they receive your receipt of graduation the whole process moves quick. We got an email from our advisor that the school had confirmation of our paperwork being at the BON on the morning of September 8. So it took the BON and Pearson about a week to make me eligible to test. Some of my classmates who had not submitted their paperwork early enough had to wait a little longer but not by much. If you're graduating in December, I would assume you'll be able to test February-ish. January might be too soon, the the holiday and all slowing things down but I could be wrong Good luck with your last semester! (I should probably get back to studying)

Taking mine 2 weeks from today. FREAKING OUT! I need to get off of allnurses and get back to studying ahhhhhhhhhhh GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE! We can do this. RN status is just around the corner (Is it weird that I'm excited to change my username to "Magen1021 RN"?) lol

Jessnic - most nurses do not get to choose their own schedules, especially right out of school with no seniority. There is some flexibility but a lot of it depends on the job setting and staffing levels/demand You're usually hired for a specific shift (whether it be days, afternoons, nights, or rotating). You will not necessarily have the luxury of telling your manager you only want to work M-W from 0700-1900 or something

I am a new BSN grad applying for basically every job out there lol A particular health system in my area consistently asks the question "Without committing to an amount, what is the minimum salary amount you would accept for this position?" I don't really see why this question is relevant because, in all honesty, I just want a job! But, the question is there and I'm curious to know what is a reasonable amount to list as a new RN-BSN nurse. I obviously don't want to list anything too high, but I also don't want to risk looking too desperate by putting something ridiculously low Any advice is greatly appreciated! :)

I graduated from an accelerated BSN program last month. I think there is a bit of a generalization out there about accelerated programs but I don't think it is having a severe impact on the hiring process. At this point, I'm still about a month away from taking my NCLEX so job prospects are pretty slim since I'm not registered but I have talked to several nurse recruiters. They have all advised me to be prepared for the "why did you choose nursing as your second career?" question. I think you will have no problem landing interviews as a new graduate nurse, whether you get hired or not will all depend on how you present yourself in the interview. Be polite and appreciative of the interviewers time, and emphasize the strengths you do have if you feel the interviewer thinks you are incompetent because you're an accelerated graduate. I have applied for plenty of jobs and received a number of calls telling me to "keep in touch" until I pass my boards. So ya, I haven't been hired, but I'm positive it has nothing to do with the program I attended and more so to do with the fact that I am not registered yet. GOOD LUCK!

As a brand new nurse, I can agree with the above posters that nursing school is NOTHING like the nursing profession. Don't second guess yourself because of the countless projects, care plans, presentations, etc. because that is all just a part of getting a degree, no matter what field you're going into. Nursing school isn't suppose to be all fun and games, there is a reason we nursing students count down to graduation. Having started orientation as an RN, I felt completely unprepared and like nursing school did not teach me anything. This is normal, you will get to your first job wondering what you were doing for the last 18 months. School will give you the nursing theory that will help you apply it to nursing practice as you begin your career. There is just no way to master your nursing skills in school, it is all about on the job learning! The best of luck to you and DON'T GIVE UP! Nursing is AMAZING :)