VNRN

Yay, I'm looking forward to meeting you. I live in OC but actually looking into moving to Loma Linda so I can get involved in the community and do clinicals there. I will be working part time or per diem while working. I was told that there are lots of readings and assignments and tests, so I don't think I should work full time (at least for the 2nd year of the program.)

To [COLOR=#003366]LAballeRNa: Oh that sounds great! Yes, the registration holds took me awhile to clear too, but now all I need is the financial clearance. Are you signing up for NRSG 516 and NRSG 517 this coming quarter? Well, I assume to since there are not many other choices for Winter quarter. It's good to hear a compliment from an alumni :-) (I know a few PT alums but not NPs/CNS). Best wishes to your study!

to Nightcrow BSN, LVN, RN: I replied to your private message but this forum does not allow me to do that since I am new and have not posted 15 times yet . So if you have an email address that you can provide me, I'd be happy to reply to that. Thanks! And good luck with the applying process!

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and hope to get to know many wonderful fellow nurses and NP students :) I got accepted to the MSN/FNP program at Loma Linda Univ in Calif, which starts in January 2015. I'm planning to do full-time, and am eager to connect with some classmates in the same cohort before school starts. Have you decided on your class schedules, and how are you preparing for the program? I've been a nurse for almost 4 years, and have been away from academic environment that long, too; I'm excited but also anxious. Do you know any FNP alum from LLU? I heard there are only 15-20 students for this cohort, so I'd love to connect, and maybe form study/discussion group later if needed. Thank you! Nice to meet you all!

As expected, I know my status would hinder my job search. But I guess the best I can do is being perseverant, right? I'm also applying for grad school for next year... so hopefully it'll be OK, but it'd be better to get some real hospital experience first. Thanks KatieMI for the students' law clinic info. I'll definitely have to check it out, since hiring an immigration attorney is quite expensive. I also thank the other posts for giving my realistic insights and advice. Back to the resume... Like I mentioned, I don't have much experience besides clinical rotations while in school. Should I elaborated on those experiences? Should I even bother mentioning my community service (most of which are related to healthcare, leadership and education)? Right now, I think my 2-page resume might resemble an academic CV, since I just graduated. I'm not sure how to make it shorter and look more like a career resume... I appreciate any suggestions. On previous post, I'm advised not to write a too general and cliché objective (such as: To secure a responsible and challenging position as Graduate Nurse,...), which means I have to tailor my objective and cover letter. But of all of the hospitals I'm applying so far, they have online application, and I can only upload 1 file (including basic info, resume, cover letter, transcripts, references...) to apply to various positions. Then how can I customized each resume+ cover letter to each position? Should I just find out a nurse recruiter from each hospital to call that person or send my files to him/her directly? There are so many nursing job search sites out there. Which one is reliable and effective, do you know?

Thanks everyone for your kindness and helpfulness. As for the resume, I know I'm in a little trouble. Since I was an international student, I wasn't able to work off-campus while in school, so the only clinical experiences I had were pretty much from the clinical portion of the curriculum. I didn't work as CNA or nurse tech. So is it OK that I add other experiences such as my abundant community services (some of them are related to healthcare) and leadership experiences? They probably say something about my personality and ability, right? As for the immigration status, I do understand that it's hard to get a job with a F-1 visa and OPT. However, I'm at a transitional stage where I'll be able to apply for a green card next year (by marriage; that's also why I moved to Calif), so hopefully job will be a bit easier to find then. But right now I still have OPT and F-1, and I'm afraid that the OPT will finish before I can get the green card. So I'm just thinking about ways to keep my status active and legal until I obtain the green card. But I'm not sure what to do yet... since the job market is not so good in Calif. So when applying and interviewing, should I let the employers know my immigration status? Again, thanks so much :)

I'm new to this forum, so, nice to get to know you all. I just graduated with a BSN in Wisconsin in June (from a small nursing college, not a state univ.), moved to SoCal, passed the CA board in August, got BLS and ACLS certificates, and still looking for jobs. It's a bit frustrating when Calif doesn't have lots of opportunities for inexperienced new grad, especially out-of-state grads. Even when I search jobs directly from a hospital's website, I often stumble upon job agency sites and I don't know how reliable they are. And there are just so many hospitals, I'm a bit disoriented. So do you have any tips on searching for jobs, writing cover letter, and preparing for interviews? Is Med/surg in hospital a good place to start? How do research whether a hospital has good rating? How do you organize your searches? What is the average salary for new grad in Socal? Any advice is appreciated. And also, if any of you is international student (on OPT program with F-1 visa, though educated in US) like me, have you encountered any difficulty while seeking for and obtaining employment? Are there any extra paperwork/process that you had o go through? Can you share with me your experience? Thanks so much!