How is MO???

Personally, I love it in Missouri! I am a senior-year nursing student so I can't tell you for certain how it is to be a nurse in Missouri, but just from clinicals in St. Louis area hospitals I would say that there are fabulous hospitals in that area with fabulous nurses in practice. The Ozarks are very beautiful! A definite upside to coming to Missouri is the ability to be close to a major city and still have rural areas around you. I live about 30 minutes south of St. Louis in a rural area but am still able to commute to St. Louis in minimal time with minimal traffic. It's great! The only negative thing I can say is that winters in Missouri are pretty dreadful, especially since we haven't been getting a lot of snowfall in the past few years. But I don't mind that too much because I love having the four seasons. I have lived in Southern California and I will take good ol' Missouri over Cali any day! Just my ...

I have lived and gone to school in Missouri my entire life. My husband and I lived in East Tennessee for about 2 years but I had to come back! I live just outside of St. Louis right now, and will be attending RN school in August. We have some of the top hospitals in the country right here in St. Louis.

The thing that I like best about being in the midwest is the chance to experience all four seasons. We also are able to travel all over the country because we are so centrally located. The cost of living is also much more manageable! Home prices are much more reasonable than California! Realize that when you look into jobs, that the salaries will probably seem lower than what you are used to there, but your cost of living is also going to be much lower.

Good luck with your decision! The only thing that I can recommend is to contact some hospitals and set up some appointments to come and talk to them. You never really know until you start looking. The other thing I would recommend is to stay a few days on your way through to see your family in Pennslyvania.

Some of the hospitals in the St. Louis area include:

Missouri Baptist Hospital

St. John's Mercy Hospital

SSM St. Joseph Hospital

Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital

Barnes-Jewish Hospital

St. Louis Children's Hospital

St. Luke's Hospital

The Springfield area of Missouri is also very nice. I went to college in Bolivar, Missouri, and that area is very rural and friendly. The Ozarks are beautiful and offer lots to do recreationally. Branson and Table Rock Lake are all within easy driving distance of Springfield. Cost of living is slightly less down there compared to St. Louis. Sometimes some of the smaller hospitals can pay more because they have more trouble getting nurses.

I know of one hospital system in Springfield called Cox Health Systems. If you google it I'm sure you could find quite a bit of information on it.

Good luck with your search and your decision!

Personally, I love it in Missouri! I am a senior-year nursing student so I can't tell you for certain how it is to be a nurse in Missouri, but just from clinicals in St. Louis area hospitals I would say that there are fabulous hospitals in that area with fabulous nurses in practice. The Ozarks are very beautiful! A definite upside to coming to Missouri is the ability to be close to a major city and still have rural areas around you. I live about 30 minutes south of St. Louis in a rural area but am still able to commute to St. Louis in minimal time with minimal traffic. It's great! The only negative thing I can say is that winters in Missouri are pretty dreadful, especially since we haven't been getting a lot of snowfall in the past few years. But I don't mind that too much because I love having the four seasons. I have lived in Southern California and I will take good ol' Missouri over Cali any day! Just my ...

Did you ever work in one of the California hospitals? My husband and I moved here from So.Cal 1/06. I miss nothing about that place.

In most of the So. Cal. hospitals nurses, and patients are treated badly. It's all about $$$.

I'm glad to here the hospitals are better here, I have not worked as a nurse for 11 months. Mabe I'll give it a try here in Missouri.

Did you ever work in one of the California hospitals? My husband and I moved here from So.Cal 1/06. I miss nothing about that place.

In most of the So. Cal. hospitals nurses, and patients are treated badly. It's all about $$$.

I'm glad to here the hospitals are better here, I have not worked as a nurse for 11 months. Mabe I'll give it a try here in Missouri.

I am actually doing a summer externship at UCLA right now. The hospital is wonderful but I commute from Ventura County and the fastest part of my commute is going out of the driveway! I worked at Barnes-Jewish as a tech for my last few semesters of nursing school and I really liked it there.

I'm a born and raised southern California girl....moved to St. Louis 13 years ago so my husband could complete his schooling as a chiropractor. Uprooted 3 kids ages 13, 9, & 5. I don't start my RN program until August, so can't speak to the employment aspects. But as for quality of life v. California:

Minuses:

*Too far away from the family and I sometimes feel like we cheated our kids and family members from a closer relationship. Lost my grandfather, mom, and father-in-law during this time and that was kind of rough.

*Muggy, hot, humid, sticky, sauna-like, "juicy" Missouri summers. I HATE HUMIDITY which was why I never could have lived at the beach!!

*Muddy rivers & lakes in many areas. Not counting Lake of the Ozarks or Branson which are the only two big lakes I have seen.

*People talk weird (kidding). They don't know what a freeway is; they say Missour-ah instead of Missouri and sun-dah instead of sundae.

Pluses:

*It is gorgeous here.

*The people are much friendlier than CA.

*I don't feel like I live in a rat race.

*The smog levels are low to non-existent compared to CA.

*My morning commute downtown from West County (which is 25 minutes on a weekend) is about 45 - 60 minutes on average; less during the summer when school's are out. A "traffic jam" here has me moving at anywhere from 25 - 35 mph; a traffic jam in CA means you can settle in and watch The Titanic on your portable DVD player and possibly also have time for the outtakes AND previews!!

*Winters are gorgeous; fall is gorgeous; in the spring you see that trees actually grow leaves!! All different colored buds that turn in to beautiful shady trees that turn even more beautiful colors in the fall!!

*Perennials.

*Great weekend trips -- Chicago, Nashville, Kansas City, Little Rock and probably a ton more I can't think of. Great historical towns.

*We have the Cardinals baseball and Rams football (and L.A. doesn't!).

Yeah, it's not a bad place here in Missouri....regardless of what all the teens who look at you and say, "You moved HERE from California?!?!?!" I recommend it.

Best wishes!

I am from KC, MO and it is a nice area also. There are some rural areas nearby. I was in KC over the weekend and was in a gorgeous home which was in the high 180's and it was gorgeous! Good luck.

Sorry, I couldn't resist responding to this....we've only visited KC a couple of times, but I LOVED that town!! It was an interesting contrast to St. Louis as it felt more cosmoliton for some reason -- like the difference between L.A. and San Francisco maybe?? I wouldn't rule it out either....lots of rural areas nearby that always sound pretty cool!!

While I'm on a roll:

Minuses:

*Cicada bugs (HUGE) that don't stay in the trees and they buzz all over your deck scaring the crap out of you if you step on one (particularly in your bare feet--GROSS)

*Buying a house with aluminum windows because coming from CA you don't realize that 3" worth of ice will accumulate on them during the winter -- INSIDE of your house.

*Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, & rabbits. They eat your plants and the small critters can ruin a foundation/driveway by burrowing under it.

Pluses:

*Lightening bugs during the summer. It's like being in the Pirates of the Carribean ride every night! It's magical to catch one in your hands and observe them up close!

*Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, & rabbits who are so darned cute in your yard while they're driving you nuts.

*Redbirds (Cardinals), Blue Jays, owls, and other wildlife that you would never see in most developed areas in CA.

*The education system (if you choose carefully). My kids got a 1000% better education than they had been getting in CA, and we were supposed to have been in a great school district while there. My daughter, the junior high honors student, struggled mightily after transferring to the high school here. My son, who was the kindergartner, just got 32/36 on his ACT.

*The history. Being from CA originally, there was so much to learn beyond Father Junipero Serra and the missions. This place was established LONG before that and is fascinating to learn about!

Don't get me wrong....there are many things I miss about CA, but I don't know if someone offered me a small mansion in Orange County if I'd trade. I feel safe, saner, and enriched for having moved here to St. Louis. Now, if only I could talk my whole family in to relocating!!

I could never live in Cal. ever again. What are the working conditions like for nurses in St. Louis. California, to me was awful. When I was in the navy, I saw the world. California was the worst place I ever lived.

While I'm on a roll:

Minuses:

*Cicada bugs (HUGE) that don't stay in the trees and they buzz all over your deck scaring the crap out of you if you step on one (particularly in your bare feet--GROSS)

*Buying a house with aluminum windows because coming from CA you don't realize that 3" worth of ice will accumulate on them during the winter -- INSIDE of your house.

*Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, & rabbits. They eat your plants and the small critters can ruin a foundation/driveway by burrowing under it.

Pluses:

*Lightening bugs during the summer. It's like being in the Pirates of the Carribean ride every night! It's magical to catch one in your hands and observe them up close!

*Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, & rabbits who are so darned cute in your yard while they're driving you nuts.

*Redbirds (Cardinals), Blue Jays, owls, and other wildlife that you would never see in most developed areas in CA.

*The education system (if you choose carefully). My kids got a 1000% better education than they had been getting in CA, and we were supposed to have been in a great school district while there. My daughter, the junior high honors student, struggled mightily after transferring to the high school here. My son, who was the kindergartner, just got 32/36 on his ACT.

*The history. Being from CA originally, there was so much to learn beyond Father Junipero Serra and the missions. This place was established LONG before that and is fascinating to learn about!

Don't get me wrong....there are many things I miss about CA, but I don't know if someone offered me a small mansion in Orange County if I'd trade. I feel safe, saner, and enriched for having moved here to St. Louis. Now, if only I could talk my whole family in to relocating!!

I could not have said it better myself! I'm so glad to see other people who like being in MO because as soon as you say "I'm from Missouri" to a Californian you get the proverbial comment "Oh, you mean Misery?"