Fil-Am Considering Studying in the Philippines

World Philippines

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Hello everyone,

This is my second time posting about my thoughts on going back to the Philippines to study but it has been a few years and I think a lot of things have changed since I the last time I asked.

Anyway, a bit of a background on where I am as far as my path to nursing goes:

I'm a 20 year old pre-nursing student in California and am applying to several BSN programs in my area. These programs are extremely competitive (80 spots for 400+ applicants) but with my grades and TEAS scores, I am fairly certain that I will get in to at least one. My only issue is that it is going to cost me about $25k per year (the program takes two years to complete, for a total of about $50k) to get my BSN. With scholarships, loans, etc. I am able to afford this but at the cost of being in debt after graduation and the risk of taking forever to find a job as a new grad. The average yearly income for nurses here is about $50-60k a year, which will allow me to pay off my student loan debts easily because I'm really frugal... but the job market is something I'm very worried about.

Now my question is, if you were in my shoes, would you rather study in the US or in the Philippines? How would you rate your experience studying in the Philippines to save money? If you guys don't mind me asking, what school did you end up studying in? I know that it's getting tougher for foreign grads to qualify for the NCLEX so that's something I'd like to know about as well.

Ultimately, my goal is to find a job here in California. But I know that the job market is very saturated with new grads.

P.S. Before anyone asks, I'm fluent in Tagalog so I wouldn't have a problem fitting in :)

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

You need to have a good read on AN about the difficulties that nurses educated in the Philippines have been facing when trying to get licensed in the US, especially California.

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You need to have a good read on AN about the difficulties that nurses educated in the Philippines have been facing when trying to get licensed in the US, especially California.

Oh yes, I've heard of it... my plan (if I were to study in the PI) was to get my BSN, take the Board exams, try and get at least 2 years of experience under my belt if the job market permits it and then apply for the NCLEX at a different state to endorse/transfer over to California. This is exactly what several of my family members did in the past, but it has been quite a while since then and there isn't as much of a shortage in nurses now.

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From what I've heard things are changing now. It is harder to endorse a license from a different state to california. Ca has become stricter since 2008. Before it was easier to get a BSN from the Phils and get licensed in Ca. But now when you apply to Ca they want your curriculum taken prior to 2005. My cousins are doing the same thing and they are thinking of doing the same thing but my aunt told them that it would be a lot harder for them to get licensed in Ca (she's an RN here). They too were worried about debt.

If that is your biggest concern, have you thought about a different route? Something that will take longer.. But a lot cheaper? Perhaps go to adn (community college) first then take an online course of BSN ()? There's a lot of options. But I would not recommend going to the Philippines to get a degree.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, Med-Surg/Tele, LTC.

California has indeed become stricter with concurrency recently. They have required Philippine graduates to retake MS and OB before being given an authorization to test for NCLEX.. Since nursing programs are typically arranged in cohorts, it is extremely difficult to find a school that will let you take individual nursing classes without being in their program.

Here is another thread where the poster discusses what they needed to do to be eligible to test in California as a Philippine BSN grad: https://allnurses.com/nurse-registration/received-att-california-832461.html

And here's another where the poster describes her experience as a Fil-Am moving to the Philippines to go to nursing school: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/raised-america-nursing-831332-page5.html

Hope that helps.

But, I was wondering, if you are only pre-nursing now, how will it take only 2 years to complete a BSN in California? Are you planning on an ABSN? That's the only way I can think that you'd get a BSN in 2 years without having some sort of nursing license/degree (LVN/ADN) already. And if you were to go to school in the Philippines, wouldn't you have to do the whole 4 years for your BSN?

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From what I've heard things are changing now. It is harder to endorse a license from a different state to california. Ca has become stricter since 2008. Before it was easier to get a BSN from the Phils and get licensed in Ca. But now when you apply to Ca they want your curriculum taken prior to 2005. My cousins are doing the same thing and they are thinking of doing the same thing but my aunt told them that it would be a lot harder for them to get licensed in Ca (she's an RN here). They too were worried about debt.

If that is your biggest concern, have you thought about a different route? Something that will take longer.. But a lot cheaper? Perhaps go to adn (community college) first then take an online course of BSN (WGU)? There's a lot of options. But I would not recommend going to the Philippines to get a degree.

I have thought about that since I actually just completed my pre-nursing requirements at a community college. The problem is that many community colleges have ridiculous wait-lists just to get into their 2-year (sometimes as much as 4 years) ADN programs. In my area, none of the hospitals are hiring ADNs anymore as they prefer nurses with a BSN, so even if I did get my RN license with an ADN degree, I would probably just end up working as a CNA or something.

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California has indeed become stricter with concurrency recently. They have required Philippine graduates to retake MS and OB before being given an authorization to test for NCLEX.. Since nursing programs are typically arranged in cohorts, it is extremely difficult to find a school that will let you take individual nursing classes without being in their program.

Here is another thread where the poster discusses what they needed to do to be eligible to test in California as a Philippine BSN grad: https://allnurses.com/nurse-registration/received-att-california-832461.html

And here's another where the poster describes her experience as a Fil-Am moving to the Philippines to go to nursing school: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/raised-america-nursing-831332-page5.html

Hope that helps.

But, I was wondering, if you are only pre-nursing now, how will it take only 2 years to complete a BSN in California? Are you planning on an ABSN? That's the only way I can think that you'd get a BSN in 2 years without having some sort of nursing license/degree (LVN/ADN) already. And if you were to go to school in the Philippines, wouldn't you have to do the whole 4 years for your BSN?

Thanks for those links, I'm glad people are posting about their experiences here.

Also I guess I should clarify what I meant by pre-nursing. I've done 3 years of general education at my local community college so far (which includes Anatomy, Physio, Micro, etc. - all of which are considered "Pre-nursing") and am ready to transfer over to a state university's clinical nursing program. So all in all, my total time studying for nursing would be 5 years.

Lol, if only we could get BSNs in 2 years of college! :eek:

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To the OP, here's the BEST article that puts everything in a nutshell: https://allnurses.com/international-nursing/end-phillipine-nursing-885162.html

I can tell you the CHED, PRC and PNA are all under BIG pressure to meet the concurrency issues and word has it 2013 grads are still being denied in CA and 2016 was the projected year to get their act together now talks are "maybe" 2019-2020. If I was you and DON'T ever plan to work in CA (or the other 13-14 states with concurrency requirements), then get your PH degree.

Otherwise, forget the PH BSN, it's not worth saving money and major waste of time if CA is your final and desired place to work. Did you know there are a couple of CA schools that offer the deficient course but $14,000 worth for a few months, up front tuition? No waiting list, go figure.

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Oh yes, I've heard of it... my plan (if I were to study in the PI) was to get my BSN, take the Board exams, try and get at least 2 years of experience under my belt if the job market permits it and then apply for the NCLEX at a different state to endorse/transfer over to California. This is exactly what several of my family members did in the past, but it has been quite a while since then and there isn't as much of a shortage in nurses now.

The "back-door" approach has been closed now. There are many Phils that got licensed in the other "easiest, faster and cheapest" states then try to endorse in CA recently only to find it's now become the "hardest, slowest and expensive" way.

They not only lose their endorsement application fees but went asked for their college transcripts for evaluation and copies of their clinical cases, they are denied for the concurrency or some lacked enough hours.

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How has endorsement gotten tougher?

I guess at this point the only way a PH grad could work in the US is by working in states that don't have a concurrency requirement, am I correct?

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

If you try to endorse to CA you will still have to meet the CA BON requirements. If you are denied due to concurrency issues you will not be able to endorse due to the same issues. You still have to meet the CA BON requirements no matter what. Having a license in another state means nothing.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, Med-Surg/Tele, LTC.
How has endorsement gotten tougher?

I guess at this point the only way a PH grad could work in the US is by working in states that don't have a concurrency requirement, am I correct?

It has gotten harder to endorse because the California BRN is no longer accepting other nursing curriculums as a whole. Merely having a nursing degree or a license from another state will not satisfy their requirements because they are now looking at coursework on an individual basis. They have gotten so strict that they didn't even accept my LVN license and bridge coursework without having me submit copies of VN transcripts directly to them to demonstrate completion of OB and peds.

In my ADN program, those classes are completed in the first year of their two year program. Because I bridged, I didn't take those classes as part of my ADN curriculum. However, they were required to obtain my LVN license so they were included in my VN coursework. But it didn't matter that I had an LVN license in their state even though those classes are required to be issued a VN license, they needed to see it for themselves. If they don't even trust the VN board of their own state to issue a license without having completed appropriate coursework, they're certainly not just going to accept curriculums from other states or countries wholesale.

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