I posted this in another forum, which I now realize was the wrong forum for this question ... so I am reposting it here.
My wife (age 32) was born in the Philippines (where she spent most of her life), but is now a US citizen. We are currently living in Florida. She has a BS degree in Computer Science from a school in the Philippines, but now wants to be an RN.
Do to the many people that are trying to get into the BSN program at Florida Southwestern State College here in Fort Myers, Florida, my wife was told by the school that it might be very difficult for her to get accepted into the 4-year RN program since there are so few seats available.
So, my wife is thinking about going back to the Philippines and enter into the RN program at De La Salle University in Bacolod.
Once she graduates with a BSN from the Philippines, she wants to return to Florida and take her NCLEX-RN and obviously try to find a job as a nurse.
1. Is this scenario sound like a good approach to becoming an RN here in the US / Florida?
I ask this because my wife has talked to some other Filipinos that went to nursing school in the Philippines that are now nurses here in the US ... but things might have changed since these Filipinos became nurses here in the US.
My wife is originally from Bacolod. In fact when we got married in Bacolod, we had a house built in Ayala North Point. Sold it before I brought my wife to Florida ... I lived in the PI for 5 total years myself.
Anyway, my wife is also a graduate from AMA Computer College in Bacolod.
I will send you a PM ... My wife may want to talk to you on the phone in the future if that's ok.
Well, maybe this whole nurse deal is not worth the trouble.
Maybe I am just living in the past ... But, as you very well know, there was once a time that many Filipina nurses came to the US for jobs in hospitals. In fact, I would bet that the majority of all Asian nurses in the US are originally from the Philippines and went to nursing school in the Philippines.
Maybe the nursing schools in the Philippines are not as good as they used to be?
I'm really awkward in phone calls, but I'm good at emails or FB. AMA is right behind CSA-B.
Also, Steppybay has a lot of good information, she's a usual on the forums here, especially involving PH nurses coming to California or the States. As she said, it's a pain in the butt to get back to the US. As she said, proceed with caution, and also consider what a 4-5 year separation might do to your marriage, especially if she is unsupervised, and being sent money consistently by you, cause honestly, I've seen and heard some bad stories about relationships in my 5 years there about people in long distance relationships (Some of my school mates, and all). People cheating on their foreigner husbands and stuff, cause they're bored, and they have a car paid for by husband lol.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Yup ... Looking at my history, you can see that I was asking a similar question about nursing school when I first joined this forum back in 2010.
She put the whole idea on hold since then, but has made up her mind that she want's to pursue this nursing deal again.
You know, everyone here thinks that she is making a very bad decision to attend nursing school in the Philippines ... What I don't understand is that there are many many Filipina nurses working at hospitals here in Florida that graduated from nursing schools in the Philippines. Has something changed all that much since all these Filipino nurses started getting jobs in the US?
Again, I will say that I sat right there in the counselor's office at 2 colleges here in Florida and heard the same thing .... That is might be difficult for my wife to get accepted into a nursing program when there are such limited spots available, and there are lots of people trying to get one of those vacancies in the program.
The way they select these people for the nursing program here in Florida is by 3 things ...
1. The student's grade point average from there high school (previous college grades are not considered)
2. Grade point average for these prerequisite classes you have to take [before] you are even considered for the nursing program
3. Overall grade you get on some medical test they give everyone before they select the students that are going to attend the nursing school
So, you spend at least a year or more taking these prerequisite classes, and you may not even get selected for the nursing program once you complete them.
Again, it is a FACT that there are a lot of RNs here in the US that graduated from nursing schools in the Philippines .... Have things changed that much since all these Filipino nurses came to the US for jobs in nursing?
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[before] my wife actually goes to the Philippines and starts any nursing course, I am going to call the Florida Board of Nursing and tell them of her plan and state what school she plans on going to over there and see if there will be any problems with this idea.
Since it's the Florida Board of Nursing that will determine if my wife can set for the NCLEX-RN test, they certainly should be able to tell me if she is going to have a problem upon her return from the Philippines ... don't you think
You folks don't seem to give any encouragement to any of this ...
And if any of you are in fact nurses that currently have jobs in hospitals here in the US, I will bet that you know of quite a few of your fellow RNs that were trained in the Philippines ... am I right?
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I have another question for you .... Do you feel that Philippines trained nurses are sub-standard to US trained nursed?
A simple answer to your question...yes much has changed. When the economy dumped here in 2008...it has never recovered. Many unemployed flocked to nursing causing a glut in the market. The workforce is flooded with US graduated RN's...stricter requirements were enforced and enacted for IEN nurses making it much more difficult to gain licensure in the US.
They review each case individually and they will not give you a yes or no if you call them.
Her BEST option is a school in the US. Since she already has a bachelors degree have you looked into Accelerated BSN programs? Yes she will need prerequisites. She will need them for any program. Even going to school in the US will not guarantee her a job. The market is flooded with fresh new RN's.
We are not trying to discourage her however forewarned is forearmed.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
steppybay ....
Well, maybe this whole nurse deal is not worth the trouble.
Maybe I am just living in the past ... But, as you very well know, there was once a time that many Filipina nurses came to the US for jobs in hospitals. In fact, I would bet that the majority of all Asian nurses in the US are originally from the Philippines and went to nursing school in the Philippines.
Maybe the nursing schools in the Philippines are not as good as they used to be?
I guess ... The times, they are a changin'
You are living in the past. There is no nursing shortage right now. There are hundreds of applicants for each position in many areas of the country. Florida happens to be one of the hard hit areas where jobs for new nurses are hard to find.
I don't think the education is substandard...just different. I have worked with many IEN nurses who are brilliant. If you haven't been keeping up there has been a scandal mostly focused in California where it was found many nurses had falsified credentials which lead to an investigation of schooling in the Philippines....the rules and need changed.
Well, maybe this whole nurse deal is not worth the trouble.
Maybe I am just living in the past ... But, as you very well know, there was once a time that many Filipina nurses came to the US for jobs in hospitals. In fact, I would bet that the majority of all Asian nurses in the US are originally from the Philippines and went to nursing school in the Philippines.
Maybe the nursing schools in the Philippines are not as good as they used to be?
The real problem we have about going to school here in the US is .... You have to take all these prerequisite classes beforehand, and that don't guarantee that you will even be accepted into the nursing course once you complete them.
So TRUE and I hate when the Filipinas takes the advantage of so many men!!
Your reading way too much into all this. We have been together for 8 years already (married for 6), and never once has she been a Gold-Digger .... And no, I didn't meet her in a bar in Angeles City either. And I didn't meet her on the internet either.
And as far a long distance relationship, what makes you think that I am going to be living here in Florida for the whole time she is going to school in the PI ... We sold our house in Bacolod before leaving, but we have a very nice condo in Bacolod right now for us to live in. And I am a retired pilot, so I don't have a real need to stay here in the US the whole time she is gone.
Your reading way too much into all this. We have been together for 8 years already (married for 6), and never once has she been a Gold-Digger .... And no, I didn't meet her in a bar in Angeles City either. And I didn't meet her on the internet either.
And as far a long distance relationship, what makes you think that I am going to be living here in Florida for the whole time she is going to school in the PI ... We sold our house in Bacolod before leaving, but we have a very nice condo in Bacolod right now for us to live in. And I am a retired pilot, so I don't have a real need to stay here in the US the whole time she is gone.
Now that we have more information, this is much better and clearer to go on. Glad to hear you're not one of the thousands of guys who get heads over heel over there or anywhere else in the world.
Just take our advices with some grain of salt no matter what, but as long as you know what possibly lies ahead and go with your heart. Good luck!
Well, the more I read all these negatives here on the forum, the more I realize that this whole Philippines nursing school may be just a big waste of time and money.
And I had no idea that there was a big glut of nurses here in the US at this time.
And I had no idea that it may be difficult to get licensed here in the US after going to school in the Phils.
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My wife realizes that she basically wasted 4 years of her life getting her BS / Computer Science degree since she really don't want to work in the field now ... I would hate to see her waste another 3 years or so going to some nursing school in the Philippines and then not being able to get a nursing job when she was finished.
Well, the more I read all these negatives here on the forum, the more I realize that this whole Philippines nursing school may be just a big waste of time and money.
And I had no idea that there was a big glut of nurses here in the US at this time.
And I had no idea that it may be difficult to get licensed here in the US after going to school in the Phils.
_________________________________
My wife realizes that she basically wasted 4 years of her life getting her BS / Computer Science degree since she really don't want to work in the field now ... I would hate to see her waste another 3 years or so going to some nursing school in the Philippines and then not being able to get a nursing job when she was finished.
That's what we were trying to prevent as well. If she wants to be a US RN, we want her to have the best chance of passing the NCLEX and getting a job here. That's why I (and probably the rest) was saying to NOT go back to the PI to get her BSN there... at least not for initial licensure.
Since she has a CS degree, she'll have to take the prerequisites and then she has the option of an Accelerated BSN (takes just over 1 year) or even do a traditional BSN here which would take about 2 years, about the same amount of time as an ADN program. When she's done, she'll have fewer licensing headaches than people coming to the US from the PI.
Turbota
23 Posts
TheAverageMan ...
My wife is originally from Bacolod. In fact when we got married in Bacolod, we had a house built in Ayala North Point. Sold it before I brought my wife to Florida ... I lived in the PI for 5 total years myself.
Anyway, my wife is also a graduate from AMA Computer College in Bacolod.
I will send you a PM ... My wife may want to talk to you on the phone in the future if that's ok.