norynne328

Took me 4.5 weeks start to finish back in December. After two weeks, I called the NJ BON twice a week and NICELY introduced myself and said I was checking on the status of my application. I think after the fourth call they just wanted to get rid of me, so I got license number online like 30 minutes after my fourth call. Again, NICELY* is the key word. I worked in retail previously and yelling or being snarky will get you nowhere. Good luck! :) (edit - not saying/assuming you were being snarky! Just a general note)

I'm in the same position, from the PA/NJ area. BSN and another bachelors. It's really discouraging. And extremely stressful with loan payments kicking in - yet no job in the field/degree the loans were taken out for. I'm trying to "keep the faith" but it's really quite hopeless. Good luck to you and all other new grads! Maybe we'll find something soon And ditto to this that someone said above me "I got a couple of rejections saying I don't have enough experience despite the job positing saying new grads are welcome to apply. "

@Brown-Hughes RN - thanks for your response. I've applied to a few SSU and PCU at einstein, but will look again and apply some more.

@Brown-Hughes Do you have any idea what they're looking for? I've applied with a bsn to several positions at Einstein, including the positions titled NEW GRADS WELCOME. No luck.

@snm568 - I applied for reciprocity in November/December. The part that took me the longest was waiting for my fingerprint card in the mail, then the fingerprinting place near me was booked for 1.5 weeks. From the time I submitted all my materials, I got my nj license in a little under 3 weeks. Persistence and friendliness is key! I called about twice a week nicely asking about the status of my application. Think they just got tired of me calling haha.

I was in the same boat. I SWORE I had failed it. I felt so sick and cried my entire 45 minute drive home down the highway. Then I got home, cried some more, and went to sleep. But the next day I checked my state licensing verification site and I passed! Best of luck to you :)

Hey kgg6, My local metropolitan area VA just had postings the week of Christmas for New-to-Practice (new grads) nurses for Med-surg and Behavioral health. No experience needed. The job postings for the two programs were posted and the application closed one week later. I do believe you need to be finished your BSN and having passed NCLEX to apply. I applied and my application went to the general US jobs and once they saw I met the qualifications, my application was referred over to my local VA. So right now my status is "referred". I know the VA hiring process can be lengthy so im just checking my status once a week or so and continuing my job hunt. Outside of specific new grad postings like this, the other VA postings I've seen have required experience.

Nothing wrong with that email at all. My school also had strict dress code and if you showed up out of uniform/not in line with uniform policy you got sent home, had to pay a $200 fee, and had to make up that clinical day. Not that hard to just wear the proper attire

Thanks for sharing your experience NLNM - I just graduated September and passed NCLEX early October. Like you said, everything I've come across the past several months requires experience. I'm just getting nervous with the lack of income and certainty

Any new grads having luck in Philly?

@kelseykelsey4 Yes, the posting was only up for like 2 or 3 days the weekend before labor day weekend

Like someone above said - ask questions! And show initiative. Don't stand around waiting to get "invited" by the nurse, respiratory therapist, etc. to observe a procedure . No harm in asking "Is it okay if I come observe?". The worst they can say is no! But by asking I learned a lot and had anesthesiologists walking me through the epidural process and open heart surgery, respiratory therapists teaching me about tracheostomies, nurses showing me some crazy wounds and how to debride them, etc... We had several people in clinical who always complained that they "never got to see anything". Just ask politely and without being obnoxious! Good luck with clinicals!

I took my test 10/1 and 24 hours later my name and license were on the state website. Turn around time varies state to state, this was in PA

Hey everyone, I've been following the forums for the past two years now but have only posted a few times. This community was really helpful for me during nursing school and preparing for my NCLEX. I just wanted to share my experience in hopes it might help someone, like the stories of others helped me. I took my NCLEX for the first time yesterday (10/1/14) and ended at 75 questions. I SWORE I failed it. Over half of my exam was SATA - and I have always been horrible at SATA. I spent the rest of the day being nervous and trying to distract myself and checking the state licensing board every few hours. I checked this morning (10/2/14) when I woke up - still nothing and I told myself to simmer down and just wait until tomorrow to pay for Quick Results. Of course 1 hour later, I checked again anyway and I saw NULL AND VOID next to my Temporary Practice Permit, then looked up and saw REGISTERED NURSE next to my name. I can't tell you enough how many times I did not think I would make it to this point! I did an accelerated 15 month program that sucked my blood and soul away. It was difficult, but I made it through. I studied a lot throughout the program - I wish I was a person who could learn something once in class and not think about it again until taking the exam. My grades were okay (B's mainly), nothing stellar and I even had a C and C+ thrown in there. At the end of our program, we had a 4 day Kaplan in-person class that was included in our tuition. It was super boring and I spent most of the time on Pinterest or gchatting with friends. I think it was a waste of our time. BUT the Kaplan study plan is what I followed to study for my NCLEX. I used the 30-day plan and followed it pretty much to a T, until the week leading up to my NCLEX. I completed all of the Kaplan QBank questions (over 1000 questions) and all 7 of the QTrainers. Our Kaplan lady had told us to aim for over 65% on all the QBanks - Most of my QBanks were in the mid-to-high 50s, with a few 40s, 60s, and 70s thrown in. I read on Allnurses not to get discouraged if you weren't hitting high marks on the Qbanks - instead to focus on understanding the rationales and that is exactly what I did. I had a notebook and after each QBank I went through and wrote down information from the rationales. The study plan schedules certain days for you to go back and review the notes you took. Plus I would bring this notebook everywhere - dentist, train, out to lunch - to review it whenever I had free time. I had purchased the Saunders book but did not use it much. I also rented Lippincott's Alternate Format book but that didn't help me much because the questions were just too hard for me. Oh - I also found the 35-page study guide floating around here to be helpful - especially with the Airborne v Droplet v Contact precautions because I could not remember that for the life of me! So that's my summarized story. I wish the best of luck to anyone who is getting ready to take their NCLEX and I believe that you can do it!

Congratulations and thank you for this post! I feel like we're very similar in terms of nursing school grades and test taking so your post relaxed me a bit. I'm going to email you too