Puerto Rico school feedback?

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Anyone out there have info on the school in Arecibo, PR? It is a 24 month program that begins in August.

I'd love to hear anything, thanks.

zzzzzgirl

Thanks for getting back to me so quick Mike!

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of spare funds (though an island vacation certainly sounds tempting), so thats not an option for me. Yes, I have noticed it is very difficult simply to get someone to pickup the phone, and once they do, they don't tend to share as much info as I would like. It seems like most of my info has come from this awesome forum and the english trimester brochure + the english undergrad catalog.

It sounds like the official transcript has to come direct from my college as well (I previously requested they send it to me and I would overnight the whole shebang to PR, oh well).

I take it registration has already taken place? Is that correct?

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Hey Jeb!

As far as the dean letter, I don't think you need that. My husband didn't need it, and neither did I. Registration has already happened, but last year they were still getting people in nursing classes the first week of classes, so you probably still have time. I also heard that last year they opened up a program in November or something like that because they had so many people apply.

As far as your transcripts and stuff...get them over here NOW!!! I turned my stuff in last year in June, and come August it still wasn't done yet. That's why I'm starting this August *sniff, sniff* Worst case scenario, you can still come here and do all of your general ed. classes and then get into the accelerated program next year, which is two years. So, your total would still be 3 years, though done a bit differently. You only need to print out the pages of the catalog that pertain to your classes. My college catalog was HUGE, so I wasn't even about to print all of that out LOL So yeah, just print out the pages and highlight the classes you took or something like that to help them along. As far as I know, there is only ONE lady who does the credit transferring, so that's why it's such a slow process. If you can send your stuff express mail or priority mail, even better. Just get it here ASAP! If there's anything else that I can help you with, just let me know =-) Take care.

Misty

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Oh, and I had my transcript mailed to me and I just took it in there in the sealed envelope so they knew I didn't open it. They didn't require me to have the transcripts sent directly to them from my old college.

Thanks so much for all the great info Designer-Mommy!

I'm having my ol' college overnight an official transcript and also had them send an official one to me (sealed up) which I'll throw in a package and overnight as well, probably tomorrow.

Yeah, it would be marvelous (and cheaper) to do the 2 year program, but I'm not holding my breath. :)

I was able to talk to E this morning and he was really great! I was a little bummed after not being able to talk to anyone in Admissions (most of the time they didn't pick up and after 5-7 minutes I would just hang up) yesterday or today about that silly dean letter, and after my encouraging talk with him (I'm originally from Alaska, which he thought was really cool), I'm feeling much better.

Since I'm overnighting my materials, he scanned in an address for the university and emailed it for me to use.

Hopefully this is the right one to use:

Director of Admissions

Janies Olivieri

Inter American University

Highway 1, Km. 16.3

Corner Francisco Sein St.

Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-1293

This address is quite a mouthful, does it sound right?

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.
Thanks so much for all the great info Designer-Mommy!

I'm having my ol' college overnight an official transcript and also had them send an official one to me (sealed up) which I'll throw in a package and overnight as well, probably tomorrow.

Yeah, it would be marvelous (and cheaper) to do the 2 year program, but I'm not holding my breath. :)

I was able to talk to E this morning and he was really great! I was a little bummed after not being able to talk to anyone in Admissions (most of the time they didn't pick up and after 5-7 minutes I would just hang up) yesterday or today about that silly dean letter, and after my encouraging talk with him (I'm originally from Alaska, which he thought was really cool), I'm feeling much better.

Since I'm overnighting my materials, he scanned in an address for the university and emailed it for me to use.

Hopefully this is the right one to use:

Director of Admissions

Janies Olivieri

Inter American University

Highway 1, Km. 16.3

Corner Francisco Sein St.

Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-1293

This address is quite a mouthful, does it sound right?

Hey! Yeah, that sounds right. We have long addresses here in PR LOL We include the name of our subdivision here too, so that's why it's usually 4 lines instead of 3 like in the states. I know that it is off of Hwy 1, and Sein St. is right there, so you should be OK. Someone from the states send me a letter today, totally screwed up the name of my subdivision and didn't even put the city, but it still got here alright...no idea how. I wish it wouldn't have though, it was collections LOLLLLL

Good luck on getting in for this fall!

Well, I've fedex-ed an official transcript direct from my college in addition to a package I sent that had everything I could send (official transcript, copy of ss card, course catalog), plus I sent an identical package using the good ol' us post service.

Guess what? Fedex was $34 for those 2 packages (from me, plus my college), arriving Tuesday, while usps was $1.70, arriving....Tuesday?!

I wish I hadn't dropped off the usps envelope last, I could've saved some serious Puerto Rico money, but live and learn right?

So, come Tuesday I'm gonna be the most persistent son of a **** I can be and try and get this admission/transcript thing squared away (the idea of breaking my lease, selling my car, and moving to a foreign land w/ 2 suitcases and a backpack in what is likely to be next to notice is mildly terrifying...)

I hope everyone is having fun getting the lay of land before the coursework starts flying!

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Blah, I'm getting so frustrated with this school and the whole financial aid situation. I'm only planning on taking 2 credit hours this trimester (nursing class only) because I need to spread out the other classes over the course of the program in order to be over 12 hours and get the maximum Pell grant allowed. Well, today my husband and I got letters from financial aid (he has to spread classes out too) and they based our cost of attendance on the 2 hours. So, my husband called and talked to someone in financial aid and told her that we were going to be going well over 12 hours the two trimesters after this one, and asked if they would adjust the amount and he was told no, that instead of getting like $5,500 for the year, we would only be getting around $900 for the WHOLE YEAR. I need to go down there and talk to them, but our car is really messed up right now and we can't drive far. ARGHHHHH I'm so frustrated. She told him something about signing up for 12 credit hours and going to financial aid to fix the amounts before we accept the offer. Well, if I do that, I will be under 12 credit hours for THREE TRIMESTERS, and they will cut my Pell grant in HALF. It sure is funny how they will adjust it down and steal money from you when you go under, but God forbid you take more classes, they sure won't give you that money that you're supposed to get. Last year, my husband took 11 credit hours one trimester (only one hour short of full time) and they took $700 out of his Pell grant, cut it right in half for one measly hour. I can see why the UPR students are having strikes and raising hell in the capitol when colleges here do this kind of thing.

Sorry, I'm just a bit mad right now. Can you tell? LOL

Misty-- Do you have the ADN trimster classes if, so can you post it....also, about the comment above, I haven't got my letter yet *cross fingers* hopefully, it's the right amount !!!

Specializes in Emergency.

I haven't gotten my financial aid letter yet either. I was told in financial aid that it should come about the middle of July, so i'm not freaking out yet.... And for those of you like me who are not eligible for grants (because of a previous degree) but only loans, I was told, again by FA, that # of credit hours shouldn't really effect it because I was worried about the first trimester being only 10 credit hours.

DM have you or your hub, or anyone else for that matter, taken the religion class yet? If it is basically a cake class I want to get it over with, but I am hesitant to add a class until I know what the courseload will be like on the accelerated track.

Jeb, what people have said is completely true about being there in person. "E" is great but there are some things that he just can't help with, one of those being transfer credits. If I were you I would call the lady in charge of evaluating transcripts....yes, as someone said earlier, there is one lady. My experience is that the women in that office are very nice middle to later aged and love it if you compliment them and are very sweet and "lay it on thick" . One of my friends used this method and they LOVED him. They would bulldoze through red tape for him without a thought. From what I have seen, these ladies are the gatekeepers lol, and once you're in with them you'll have smooth sailing. Also I would take official copies of your transcripts (from all colleges) and whatever you sent regarding the class description requirement in hand when you arrive in PR. Hopefully you're not going to cut it too close to classes because I sent my transcript fed-ex overnight and it got to their PO box in 2 days and they didn't actually admit to having it until about 3 weeks later. Who knows what vortex it was in until then.

The nursing offices are pretty nice, I dunno if the same method would work with them for getting things done. They seem a lot more business like. You could probably call and speak to the associate dean and get things moving even before they finish with your transcript. Especially if you have a BS, or BA already. I wouldn't count out the accelerated program if you have that. There didn't seem to be much evaluation when I went, other than...oh you have a degree, ok you're in the accelerated track.

I hope some of this is helpful information. Good luck with everything and try not to get too frustrated with their over the phone procedures. They all really are pretty awesome in person.

Just looking for a bit of information for all of you who are already attending school in Puerto Rico and those who will be. I am looking into persuing an degree in nursing, hopefully an accelerated BSN program that will be me through quickly. Currently hold a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and wishing to persue other areas. I graduated with a 3.3, not super-competitive but looks good enough for this program in PR. Not sure if I could get through even quicker as I also have a minor in spanish and have seen some spanish courses in the curriculum. Is it possible to work while doing a program like this? I don't have too much in savings at the moment and not sure how I would pay for expenses such as rent, groceries and utilities if I didnt have time for work. What is everyone doing to cover this? Can loans be used and can you be awarded enough to utilize them for more than just tuition?

Any replies are helpful.

Thanks

quick question,

going over the student budget provided by the university and there is an entry for "cuarto" which is $1,000 for those living with their family and $4,761 for students living on their own. any idea what "cuarto" refers to? it seems to translate as "fourth", which isn't terribly descriptive...

here is the cost of attendance as set out by uipr (produced jan 2009) :

this is for a student living on their own (not w/ their family)

tuition $ 3,696.00

fees $ 1,262.00

books $ 894.00

fourth $ 4,761.00

food $ 4,500.00

transportation $ 1,800.00

personal expenses $ 3,878.00

total budget $ 20,791.00

this is simply what is put out by the university so your tuition could be higher if you take more credits. any thoughts from folks? does your budget match up w/ the above, or how is it different? i was personally thinking the food budget was a little high, but i've never been to puerto rico....

It might be referring to housing, unless that is already on there. Cuarto is also the word for room and it could be colloquially that way.

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