kzimmermann

Hi StudentnurseNM, Can you tell me what shows up on your background, and what type of background check you did? School programs are actually fairly lenient on admissions: it's the BON that's the tough one. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post what shows up on the background check but I would need to know how many offenses show up, what the charge was and month/year it shows up as. If you want to see what the BON sees, there are passport photo places and your local sheriff's office that can run a LiveScan fingerprinting report for you for about $70. This report will help you know what you will have to address when it comes to applying for your license. Hope this helps! :)

I haven't even thought about that, but that's a great idea. However, then you get into the territory of Civil Rights and I'm kind of fuzzy on ACLU practices. If you have an interlock device and blow over a certain amount (I think it's 0.04), the car will not start. Makes you think that it would be wise to have that a requirement. Also, with the heavy blowing & inhaling, it sure helps your lung health! :) Non-sequitur: I used to have a Ford Escort way back when that had the automatic shoulder belt that went into position when you started the car. I remember getting a pretty good discount on my insurance too. I wonder why I haven't seen it since? Back on topic: I am moving soon for school and am going to the court next week to see what paperwork I can get. Even though the NCLEX is over a year away, I can't be prepared too soon. I think I'm going to make a small bound booklet. So, my question out there to those who've been through this is, "How did you present your documents to the BON? Any suggestions?". Any ideas are more than welcome, of course.

I never included this in my original post, but I wanted to highlight my situation here. I live in Napa. It's pretty interesting here, and all the old-time locals know every back road anywhere near a bar. There aren't as many as there used to be, as they've been substituted with fou-fou wine bars in the downtown area designed to attract tourists. The interesting thing about this area is you can drive "up valley" along the main highway during the weekend and see a Lexus weaving all over the road and they'll never get pulled over. However, a Yugo with 6 immigrant Latinos who actually do the work to help make the wines will get pulled over in a second. And it's really weird: Wine companies will have briefings where new products are tasted during work hours, and it's almost unheard of to do a luncheon in the industry _without_ bringing a bottle of wine, but if you get a DUI you're likely to be fired and one on your record will guarantee that you don't get a job with any of the major companies. I'm not saying it to excuse anything as far as my mistakes are concerned, but it's just an odd culture here. Oh -- and my (former) drug of choice? Red wine - any varietal.

The background checks in CA require fingerprinting and FBI checks. When you're arrested for DUI (and I'm sure for everything else as well), you're assigned an FBI file as well. As it's a federal agency, your arrests may not appear on national or even state searches, but all arrests will appear from the FBI records. My first DUI actually did not appear on any of my background checks, but these were not at the federal level. Net, if you got fingerprinted you're in the FBI's system; when you submit fingerprints, any bookings will appear.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the tips! This is totally helpful detail that I could use, and hopeful as well. :)

Another note for everyone... I've found an apartment close to campus (Adams Point neighborhood), just a little over a mile away. It's pretty good sized, so I'll be more than happy to host study groups, since I'm pretty sure I can cram a lot of my living room furniture in there. :) If anyone is still looking for places and needs any POV re neighborhoods and apartments, feel free to PM me!

Hi All, I would have written earlier but was out of town. Just a heads up re Immunizations: turns out the immunization forms that were sent to us were out of date. The only major changes are that everyone needs to get 2 (yes, 2) TB tests prior to admission, and they have to be one month apart. Make sure to contact Health Services to get an updated form for the immunizations you need. You can also get the updated form at: http://www.samuelmerritt.edu/files/student_health_record_forms.pdf

Well said, Tiger747. On a side note, I used to commute with a woman who's husband let the tires bald on their minivan (not that she couldn't have taken care of it, but you know what I mean), an accident was caused resulting in a fatality, and they were seriously sued as a result and penalized for "negligence". For me, there is a lot of penance I have done and continue to do with regards to my sins of the past and no amount of research, debate, arguing, etc. is going to change the mind of those who consider me a deficient person or one of poor moral character because I'm an alcoholic. Ain't nothin' I can do about it, and I don't own others' judgment. The point here of the thread, however, is to help each other through the process of trying to get our licenses and provide advice, understanding, suggestions, etc. -- not to feel that we have to prove that we're decent human beings. That gets us away from this thread's objective and results in a never-ending, no-win debate. For those of us technogeeks, I'll just say, "Don't pay toll to the troll."

Hey Sahar! I haven't even received my financial aid packet yet (I just left my financial advisor a message). I had played phone tag with her a few weeks ago and she said that SMU was just beginning to send the Summer students their packets. So I've just been working on getting my immunizations in before the 1st of June. Do you need any help with your Immunizations or your health screen? PM me with anything you need and I can probably help.

Hi jeff3852 and chris82, First off, thank you two so much for the support. Your kind words and suggestions mean a lot to me. Jeff3852, you're truly an inspiration to be an advocate for people in our situation. Last night's birthday meeting was especially emotional, and I was so happy to be a part of it. I choked back tears during my speech. I will definitely follow both of your suggestions: I'm going to document my attempt to get a declarative statement from the BON, and if all else fails, I can drive to the offices in Sacramento (it's only an hour away) and attempt to get some type of appointment. After I get out of class on the 25th, I'm going to devote time weekly to getting all my documentation together and amassing letters of recommendation. By the time I graduate 2 years from now I should have _something_ good. Chris82, I'm so happy to hear that you got in! It's truly a beacon of hope for me. Thank you both again, and any information I can find for those checking out this forum, you bet I'll post it.

Hi All, I was brought over to the accepted group and declined as well. I've got exams 3 weeks in a row before Finals week and my professors were not willing to budge on allowing me to take the finals early. Sooo...I'm sure someone has gotten a welcome call! :) Good luck, all!

I'm sad to say I found this thread that is close to my situation, since it means quite a few are in the same boat, but I'm glad to get some information. I've been sober for 3 years now (going to my Birthday meeting tomorrow) and have 2 misdemeanor convictions: One in 2004, and the other in 2008. No excuse for either, but after my mom died a rather gruesome death in Jan 2008, I spiraled into a deep depression and began drinking more. In early April 08 I drove home from a company party at my place of work and was arrested. I got sober, put myself into inpatient rehab a month later to help me stay sober, have been productive, volunteer and help others. The judge, having letters from my psychiatrist and grief counselor did not add as much as 1 hour of community service onto my charge. I changed my career after I got sober to nursing. It essentially is what I was "made for." I've been researching like crazy because I'm about to spend well over $100K (big loans) for graduate school and I'm hitting the same wall. When I've called the BON in the past or researched my issue, I've heard the same you have: "It _shouldn't_ affect your application", "Just stay out of trouble", "Make sure you have your documentation", etc. Now, I'm still not getting any concrete answers and this scares me since some of your convictions are much older than mine. I plan on applying to other state boards if I don't have any luck, since this is what I am committed to doing, but any other thoughts or suggestions? I agree that the policy does need to change, but in the meantime, any advice is appreciated.

Hi SkiBumNP -- Thanks so much for your thoughts and advice! :) Much appreciated

Hi SkiBumNP, Thank you so much for posting and offering information. I hope you don't mind, but I'm already going to hit you up: In my interview, the Assoc. Professor made sure I understood that the first semester --primarily due to the Pathophysiology & Pharmacology and Mental Health Nursing classes -- was particularly challenging. How was it for you? Do you have any advice on how to most efficiently tackle the course load? Anything we need to watch out for? Please do advise when you get a chance -- I'm wanting to make sure to get a good solid footing. Thank you!

And for those in the CM program reviewing this thread, the FB page still goes for us too, since our curriculum is the same for the first year. :)