Arrival in US -- what to expect, what to do

[suzanne4]

Now that many of you that were affected by the retrogression have now received green cards and will be arriving in the US soon, I think that we should now have a thread focusing on that. As well as for all of the others from different countries.

Where to go to purchase initial items that will be needed. What to expect the first weeks of being a new resident in the US, etc. Many of us have are special places to find things.

[suzanne4, RN]

Hi, Everyone! I have a question re- college enrolment for my youngest child. At 15 yrs. old, she has just graduated in high school last week. Since we are still awaiting approval of our petition, we have decided to enroll her in college here. We are looking into courses that can be of use to her or can be credited in America. Since she loves dogs and cats, she wants to take Vet. Medicine or anything that has to do with these animals. I have searched in the Internet and there are 2 courses that she can choose from-- Vet. Technician or Vet. Assistant. To be accepted for Vet. tech., she has to be 18 yrs old or older. Besides that there are pre-requisite subjects that are needed. As for Vet. Assistant, I haven't come up with any pre-requisite from the net. Anyway, since there are very few schools here that has Vet. med. courses, and since this is a very expensive course that we cannot afford, we were planning to enroll her in Nursing for now. She doesn't mind taking up nursing temporarily. Do you think this is wise, since there may be subjects in Nursing that she probably will need later, like Anatomy and Physiology, more English and Math courses, etc.? Do you think these subjects will be credited in the US?

Any advice will be highly appreciated.

She can go ahead and get general courses done, and those credits should transfer, but the US has strict rules on age, etc. She would be much further ahead to just work on general classes, such as more English and even get her Humanites requirements completed. Their will be issues with transferring many of the other hours to a US school. Most of the sciences will not be accepted in many cases. But more English, especially where it involves public speaking and writing will be quite beneficial to her. And she can use those with any programs. I definitely would not enroll her in nursing at this time, those credits will definitely not transfer, and she would need to repeat them later on. This happens when even trying to transfer to another program in the same city. Each school is quite specific in their requirements here.

[linRN2]

She can go ahead and get general courses done, and those credits should transfer, but the US has strict rules on age, etc. She would be much further ahead to just work on general classes, such as more English and even get her Humanites requirements completed. Their will be issues with transferring many of the other hours to a US school. Most of the sciences will not be accepted in many cases. But more English, especially where it involves public speaking and writing will be quite beneficial to her. And she can use those with any programs. I definitely would not enroll her in nursing at this time, those credits will definitely not transfer, and she would need to repeat them later on. This happens when even trying to transfer to another program in the same city. Each school is quite specific in their requirements here.

Thank you so much, Suzanne. Your reply has opened more options for us as regards schooling for my child. I will discuss this with my daughter.

[nicole1230]

Hello everyone! I'm new here in this forum. I find it very helpful to me. I just want to know the cost of living in South Carolina.I'll be working in Hartsville SC soon. How about the people and the place? Is it worth living there? Thanks.