Drama...and resolution

Yay! I graduated!

....now what?

For those of you who don't know, I can't actually do anything with my BS until I take the national council licensure exam (NCLEX) to prove that I can practice safely. I love that a degree from an accredited university means so little.
So, the plan of action to accomplish that after graduation? Wait for BYU to post transcripts, then drive mine up to Salt Lake to the licensure office (it's faster than mailing it) so they will give me an approval to test number. There's the whole criminal background check and application, as well as paying the hundreds of dollars for the test, but I did that part months ago.

Last Thursday at about midnight I noticed with joy that transcripts were finally up. As I looked at my final semester scores, though, I was confused. I'm embarrassed to admit I texted a friend to ask what an 'E' meant, especially for a pass/fail class like skiing. (I knew pass would show up as P...but an E?) Well, as it turns out, BYU doesn't give F's, but E's for failing grades. I was wondering why my gpa looked so low.
I laughed to myself as I realized how bad that would be...since I did need that exercise credit....to not graduate from BYU because I'd failed a class like skiing.

Truthfully, I'm not that bad of a skiier, especially for a beginner. However, that class score is really just based upon attendance. So, starting early Friday, I was emailing and calling the secretary of that professor and talking with the Records office about getting my transcript. After communicating with the head of the exercise department, I learned that the change grade process involved the submission of the change grade sheet by the secretary, a signature from the department head, and then the actual change down in the Records office. The latter also let me know I should expect about a week for the change to appear.

With all the deadlines I met during my college degree, I wondered why it would require one week for a person to sign a paper and send it to another department. Don't we believe in fax machines!!?? I thought about hassling the department head more and offering to walk the paper over to the Records office myself, but refrained. I also found that, according to the person I talked to at Records, I was told 3 days or a week. That's how I decided who my favorite people were in that office.

Understandably, I was a little miffed that after waiting anxiously for the posting of my transcript, some little error (I understand they happen) would take so long to fix. But, realizing frustration wouldn't help, I just laughed about it. The next Wednesday when it was corrected, my sweet roomie Emily dropped it off in SLC for me, so I didn't have to worry about it as I went up to the cabin for the weekend.

Gratefully, the licensure office was slightly more efficient, and I found my approval to test in days. So I am now registered to take the NCLEX on June 3rd...just in time to get it over with before my birthday and before I start my RN job the next week.


Oh, did I forget to mention that?

I have a registered nursing job lined up!! It's true. I'm becoming a more legitimate adult everyday. I'll be working up on the same floor, in the medical and oncology unit. Unfortunately I'll start off working nights....probably for a while. I can sleep fine in the day; I just prefer the day shift for selfish social life reasons.
Oh well. I have a job!!

I'm very grateful for roommates and others as they prayed for me. It's interesting to see obstacles and such arise in life, and to see how things work out. They always do.

Now all I need to do is stay motivated in my studying and actually pass the NCLEX. :)