What Degree?????

Nursing Students ADN/BSN

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i have been jumping thru hoops since january to get my rn license here, thank the cannolis i am still current in california so i can take travel assignments there!!!! i move all the way across the country, buy a home here, endure downtown living, sleepless nights and snow only to be told by the tenn brn that they want a copy of my diploma???? what diploma? i took the boards as soon as my preceptorship was done and have been working non stop for 10 years. every time i call the board here i get good ole shirley telling me my paperwork is stuck in some kooky quagmire of bureacracy and confusion. ultimately this will end with a benjamin changing hands in a parking lot somewhere. has anyone else had problems getting their license here ? whom did you have to sleep with ? any chance i could get by with just a little dinner, maybe a little dancing? i wanna work!!!!

It's goofy. I never had a board of nursing super say "we regret to inform you...." What am I gonna do, forget the last 10 years of my life and find a new job? I don't take it well when someone tells me "NO" . And isn't the RN shortage here as well? I guess they must of heard about me pulling my "Norma Rae" in California. I worked really hard to get patient ratios and standards of care implemented there. Here, I just want to work a couple of shifts a week. I am gathering all my college transcripts in a last ditch effort.

Wish me luck, and a good nites sleep. Living downtown for now has been truly eye opening! As I write this there is a biker gang whooping it up outside my apartment as Printers Alley closes down, varoom varoom!!!!

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This is just great. We desparately need all the practicing nurses we can get, and you are given worse than the third degree. Did the TN BON offer to help you find a way to get what you need to be licensed in TN? I bet not. I hope things work out for you.

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I think the worse part is that SURELY they would have known when she submitted this application to TN that it was a common problem with folks coming to TN via CA.

I think that it is a crying shame that they took her money, and through no fault of her own, denied her a license when she took the same NCLEX as every other RN.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.

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Hi Haunted. I responded to your post under another thread. As I indicated under that post, I wondered if the board tried to be helpful. Obviously they weren't. Nashville is really a good place if you could get past certain types of mentalities. I hope you don't give up on us. I think gathering your transcripts is a good idea.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I'm a little confused ... Are you saying that you never technically graduated from your original program and therefore don't actually have a diploma? ... or ... Are you saying that the California BON is holding up your paperwork?

If California is not sending them the right paperwork to verify your current license, you can't Tennessee for that.

Could you please explain? I'm curious. I've transferred states 10 times and have never had a big problem ... but none of those involved California and/or Tennessee.

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OK, here's where I'm at... I just spoke with the grad specialist at my former college and she was NO HELP in regards to helping me resolve this issue. It appears upon review of my transcripts from all college course work that I have the credits needed in nursing for a BSN but will need to complete the following in order to get my ASN, which I need on my way to my BSN, which I never wanted in the first place :

Humanities

Cultural

Math

Psych 100

Computer Science 100

Now I am not going to sit in some classroom for the next 2 years of my life to take these classes, work and do all the other activities in my world, although I do respect those that commit to it. I never desired a degree and no patient I ever took care of asked me what kind of degree I had.

I just need an ASN degree so I can get back to work. I'm being treated like a criminal here, the grad specialist berated ME for not completing the class prior to starting the nursing program. I explained to her that I was on the wait list and taking classes part time while a slot opened up, which one did and I jumped on it. I finished the program (and was an honor roll student to boot) took my NCLEX, passed and was working as an RN within 2 weeks.

My husband suggested that I contact online universities and I am asking you all for your advice and any experience you may have had with that. I need help. I'm astonished. I'm very upset. I'm glad I have this forum...

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I think the worse part is that SURELY they would have known when she submitted this application to TN that it was a common problem with folks coming to TN via CA.

I think that it is a crying shame that they took her money, and through no fault of her own, denied her a license when she took the same NCLEX as every other RN.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.

THANK YOU! That seems to just about sum it up.

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If TN accepts Excelsior, they are probably your best bet as far as online options. Provided your nursing courses are no more than five years old, you may be able to get credit for them. Otherwise you will have to navigate the Excelsior program like everyone else. Cost involved. But anything will have a cost. I highly suggest that you look into this and make your decision before the end of September, because Excelsior is changing it's curriculum on October 1, 2007. There will be a second clinical experience. As it stands now one clinical experience (at about $1750 a try), proves to be too much for many. They are also adding another written test and there are other proposed changes.

With your good grades, however, you might be able to find a nursing program that will accept you for the purpose of graduation. You have a far better chance of this happening than most people with less than excellent GPAs. Good luck on getting your problem fixed. (I'm in the same boat, but haven't taken the NCLEX in CA yet. It is so discouraging.)

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If TN accepts Excelsior, they are probably your best bet as far as online options. Provided your nursing courses are no more than five years old, you may be able to get credit for them. Otherwise you will have to navigate the Excelsior program like everyone else. Cost involved. But anything will have a cost. I highly suggest that you look into this and make your decision before the end of September, because Excelsior is changing it's curriculum on October 1, 2007. There will be a second clinical experience. As it stands now one clinical experience (at about $1750 a try), proves to be too much for many. They are also adding another written test and there are other proposed changes.

With your good grades, however, you might be able to find a nursing program that will accept you for the purpose of graduation. You have a far better chance of this happening than most people with less than excellent GPAs. Good luck on getting your problem fixed. (I'm in the same boat, but haven't taken the NCLEX in CA yet. It is so discouraging.)

But I already have my RN license in California. I don't understand why I would have to take additional nursing course work in order to get an associates degree. I'm getting really frustrated.

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I hear your frustration. I went back to my original nursing school once and talked to a counselor who told me a bunch of NO NO NO, and said I needed an appointment with the Dean. At that time, even if I were in the position to be able to do so, (which I wasn't), I did not want to reenter to finish. So now I am having trouble with my application to test. They can't seem to read the box that I checked saying Non grad. I don't know why they print the box Non grad on the form if it is not an option. And I am well aware that if I get to test as a non grad that I will have the same problems as you, if I decide to leave the state. At least you got your RN and can work in CA if you ever come back. Right now I'm stuck! And I totally agree that your RN license derived from passing a national test, should be good in any of the 50 states. What hogwash they put us through!

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But I already have my RN license in California. I don't understand why I would have to take additional nursing course work in order to get an associates degree. I'm getting really frustrated.
Of course it's frustrating! The reason not every state accepts every other state's licenses, is because not every state's basic requirements are the same as those of other states.

You got your RN without completing the academic requirements of your program in California. Seems to me you were done a disservice when California let that happen. (Different from attending graduation.)

I'm going to post about distance learning and other options, too..... ;)

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Humanities

Cultural

Math

Psych 100

Computer Science 100

This looks like one semester of full time at a community college. There are some schools which will provide these classes in a "distance learning" format. I graduated from Excelsior College--their courses are accepted everywhere BUT CHECK JUST IN CASE. I would NOT suggest that you apply to their RN program, not that you could not do it, but you will take all your nursing courses over again. It's just that way when you transfer (in effect) from one nursing school to another.

I just need an ASN degree so I can get back to work.
VERIFY in writing if possible, even if that means writing to them and waiting to get a written response, that you can complete those classes you have listed, at any accredited school, and transfer them back and that you can then graduate. It would really suck if you did that work too and the rules were changed on you, or someone told you something that wasn't quite right.

I just googled "web-based courses" and got over 29 million hits. The first page were all schools. Be prepared to pay a little more if you are out of state, or there may be extra fees involved for doing web-based instead of face to face, or the program might want you to come to campus once or twice for exams and such.

You might also see what exams you can "CLEP" out of. I did that with algebra... for something like $36 with two or three days notice, and I walked out of there with my passing grade slip. So that might be at least a partial option for you.

Good luck!

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