Tennessee License by Examination

[einalynn]

Okay, has anyone received their degree from another state and applied for their initial license in Tennessee? I am graduating from Washington State University in May and will be moving to Tennessee (Tri-Cities) immediately as my husband is already there. I have all the application materials and the Tennessee Board of Nursing wants the application sent with the final transcripts from the school. I talked with my school today and my transcripts will not be available until early July but they are willing to sign the application confirming I have been awarded the degree (but they say they never send the materials together, they will have to go separate). I will be calling TBofN tomorrow but I was curious if anyone had any experience with this issue. Thanks! Oh, I already have a job at Holston Valley Medical Center in the ICU and I am so excited!

[simboka]

That's kind of where I'm at. I'm graduating in early May from University of Illinois and going to Tennessee. I'm lost about a few things and my instructors don't know; like where I can or need to test (IL or TN) and if it'd be better to go for IL license then apply for a TN after that, or try to go for a TN right off. I've got a job lined up that requires me to start June 23, so time's a big factor. So if anybody has insight, I'd like to hear it.

[Beijos]

I'm in the same boat as well. I go to OSU and we graduate June 8th. From what I have heard from all that I have gathered from the different places I applied, they seem to all say that you should apply to get licensed in TN because transferring would take even longer. I'm not really sure how because of the whole transcript issue, though. The way I am going about it is, I am applying for my initial license in TN but I probably will sit for my NCLEX in Ohio considering Knoxville only has one testing facility and the next closest is 85 miles away. (I put on my NCLEX application that the board it is going to is TN though). I am scheduled to start on June 30th, which I know that there is no way that I will have my license by then. According to that hospital, though, I am allowed to be paid an RN rate and just work as a graduate nurse until I receive my license. So, we'll see how that goes. Considering you posted this over a month ago, I'd love to hear what you ended up doing.

[einalynn]

Thanks for your responses and stories. I knew I was not in a unique situation. I did call TN Board of Nursing and they said that they will hold onto my application until my transcript comes in (they have a special basket for incomplete applications). They said it would not be a problem. I ended up getting everything ready to send and it is there now! Hope it works out well for everyone else as well.