Should I even pursue NS? Are there any options?

[2BRN123]

I know I have a criminal record.

My Freshman year of college (2002) I was waiting tables for extra money. Near the end of the school year I had at one point 3 of my weekly paychecks that I had deposited into my bank account. I had been packing up my dorm room for days during finals and somehow misplaced my debit card. I needed groceries for finals week, so I wrote a check at the local grocery store. Everything was hunky dory, went home for the summer, came back to school the following year to find all sorts of summons and warrants in my rented student mailbox. The paychecks I had deposited from my employer BOUNCED, and in turn... the check I wrote to the grocery store... ALSO BOUNCED. My home was nearly 700 miles away from where I went to college, so all of this had been going on without my knowledge. Had I been a more responsible 17 year old I would have been checking my bank account balance to make sure everything was clearing, but I didn't think my paychecks would bounce...who could even conceive of that.

Anyway, Once I returned to school and found out what was going on, I turned myself into the police at which point it was arrested and fingerprinted.

Knowing all of that, I am in tears right now thinking that I want to pursue a career in nursing and try to make an effing difference in the world and I will likely be prohibited from doing so, over a $30 bounced check from 9 years ago. Now, I'm not going to ask you all what to do, because I know that the only option is for me to talk to the school I intend to apply to and the BON. I just don't know how to approach this.

Does anyone have experience with contacting the BON prior to even being accepted into a nursing program? I am going to request my clearances now, so that I may go to my prospective Nursing Schools and BON to try to get feedback on the situation. Do you all think this is a waste of time? The last thing I would want to do is to waste the time of admissions counselors and ESPECIALLY look bad to the BON before I'm even enrolled in a program. I just don't want pursuing this education to become a waste of money and moreso a source of embarassment for me.

I've registered for alot of very expensive prerequisites and committed to going back to school. I have been saving money for a long time and have quit my full time job to pursue nursing, I feel like I may be stunted before I can even begin.

[Karl Farmer]

They gave you bad checks, that you deposited, that lent you to withdrawing money that was not in the account? I can't see a BON ragardless of their nasty intentions making an issue of this, if the checks given to you were actually owed to you, since they commmited a fraud against you.

[carrie_c]

It depends on what state you are in. You can call the BON in your state and ask for advice. If you can get someone on the phone that is.