The school where I went for my RN program required their students to purchase Castle Branch and use it to upload document that are required during the program such as background checks, Immunization records, drug panel screen tests results, etc.

Less than a week before the start of my last semester of nursing school began, I received an email from the my school telling me that there is still a requirement in Castle Branch that I have not completed and that I was at risk of having my last semester of nursing school delayed.

Reading this email gave me quite a scare. I was certain that I uploaded all the requirements to Castle Branch before the deadline. I logged on to my Castle Branch  account and found out that the status of the last document that I uploaded was still “Pending Review”.  During that time, It had already been about 14 days since I uploaded the required document. I have no clue as to why it was still ‘Pending Review” status for that long. I tried to call Castle Branch but by the time I read the email, it was already passed their hours of operation.  I was not able to speak with a Castle Branch representative to find out why the review of the documents that I uploaded was taking so long. There was the option of emailing Castle Branch but from what I was told by my classmates Castle Branch’s response time to emails is about 1 to 2 days even though Castle Branch’s website says they will respond within 2 business hours. I was beginning to become more anxious because I felt that time was running out.

Luckily, the Castle Branch logs the date and time of the uploads. I screen captured my Castle Branch dashboard showing the date and time of the document upload and emailed it to my school to show that I uploaded the required documents before the deadline. In the same email, I attached a copy of the document that was being asked of me and asked that my school not to delay my last semester of nursing school. 

I planned to go to the school the following morning to speak with them directly and bring with me a physical copy of the document that the school requires. Before going to bed, I checked Castle Branch again and was now showing that all requirements have been completed.  Even though it was after hours, I received another email from my school saying that all my uploads from Castle Branch had been approved so everything was fine. I am very thankful that I went to a school that cares very much about their students.

My advise…

Don’t procrastinate. Complete your requirements early and upload to Castle Branch as soon as possible. The time and speed of their review of the documents uploaded in Castle Branch is not consistent.

Check Castle Branch regularly to follow up on the status of your uploads. Contact your school or Castle Branch if the status of your documents is still not completed after a few days.

According to Castle Branch’s website they will respond to emails within 2 business hours. Take note which time zone you are in and what day you are sending your email. I am told by some whi have experience emailing Castle Branch that the response time is about 1 to 2 days.