Lessons · Nursing · the two applications, and who they go to
Two applications, to two organisations, and neither knows about the other
Becoming licensed takes two separate applications: one to the board of nursing in the state where you want the licence, and one to the company that delivers the examination. They are different organisations with different forms and different fees, and the examination cannot be scheduled until both have approved you.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a licensed nurse. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
This is the single commonest way a new graduate loses a month. She applied to her board, waited, heard nothing, and assumed the board would tell her when to book the exam. Nobody was waiting on the board; the board was waiting on the second application she did not know existed. The advice from the people who run the examination is to start both at the same time, several weeks before graduation, precisely because the two queues run in parallel and the slower one sets your date.
How to think about it
Open two tabs on the same afternoon and ask one question of each: what does the board need from me, and what does the examination registration need from me? Then track them as two separate things with two separate reference numbers, because a delay in either one holds up the same date. Boards publish their own requirements and change them, so the figure you plan around has to come from your board's own page rather than from here or from anybody who did this a few years ago.
Worked example
Application one: the state board of nursingThis is the application for the LICENCE. It is where transcripts, the background check and the state's own requirements land.
Application two: the examination registrationThis is the application to SIT the paper. Separate form, separate fee, separate account.
Both approvedOnly now can a test date exist. Either one outstanding means no date.
Started at the same time, weeks before you finishThe two queues run side by side, so the slower one is your real timetable.
Your turn
Say how many separate applications stand between finishing your programme and sitting the examination.
Becoming licensed takes separate applications
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Believing one application covers it, because it is one goal. The goal is one and the queues are two, and the one you have not started is the one deciding your date. Boards publish their own requirements and change them, so the figure you plan around has to come from your board's own page rather than from here or from anybody who did this a few years ago.