Puerto Rico school feedback?

WorldTravelingYogi · Feb 10, 2011

I got accepted! =] big move in July!

That is awesome Jen. They were quick with you. I wonder why it happened so fast. Perhaps they are more on top of it this year. Hopefully others have the same good news.

aphoris · Feb 10, 2011

Hi Kvano51!

Yes, it's possible to get a job in the states, I did when I graduated in 2009, I took the NCLEX in the states and then started working. Good luck to you!

FutureCruzanRN · Feb 11, 2011

Puerto Rico is NOT considered international. It is a commonwealth of the United States of America.

WorldTravelingYogi · Feb 12, 2011

Puerto Rico is NOT considered international. It is a commonwealth of the United States of America.

Yes we are all well aware and that is why we want to go here so we can take the NCLEX.

However, if you look under regions the options are International or United States. When you click on United States each state has their own forum. So when the original poster started this thread 8 years ago in Jan 2003 instead of picking a random state but it in international. Who knows what the original poster was thinking or how the board was set up 8 years ago?!?!

kevano51 · Feb 12, 2011

so is it true that Florida does not accept a degree in nursing from Puerto Rico or that it is more difficult to sit for the NCLEX?

WorldTravelingYogi · Feb 12, 2011

so is it true that Florida does not accept a degree in nursing from Puerto Rico or that it is more difficult to sit for the NCLEX?

Huh, are you joking? It does not matter what school you go to. You just need to pass the NCLEX. And here in PR you can sit for any state as long as you pay the fee for that state. You can't sit for PR but you have to pick a state. If you have a Bachelors and are in the accelerated program you can take the NCLEX after pediatrics in the summer. So our class started Aug 2010 and we will finish pediatrics in June 2011 so we can take the NCLEX July 2011 which is less than a year. Then some people will leave with their ADN and the rest of us will stay another year for the BSN.

My roommate is from FL and he plans to leave this summer after the ADN. His mom is a nurse so he has plenty of job opportunities.

And yes now this is post number 15 so I can message people!!!

pearlgirl52508 · Feb 12, 2011

Sorry, i am still confused with this whole PR school thing. I thought that the ADN program there at the school was NOT accredited so you would have to get your BSN in order to be classified as going to a qualified school??? I remember even reading on their brochure "ADN program is not accredited, only BSN"
Hopefully you can clarify this for me!

WorldTravelingYogi · Feb 13, 2011

Sorry, i am still confused with this whole PR school thing. I thought that the ADN program there at the school was NOT accredited so you would have to get your BSN in order to be classified as going to a qualified school??? I remember even reading on their brochure "ADN program is not accredited, only BSN"
Hopefully you can clarify this for me!

In October or November 2010 the BSN was reaccredited for I believe another 8 years. The ADN received an initial accreditation for 5 years. But even before this, people were getting an ADN at La Inter (the nick name of our school is easier than the acronym because there are two ways to write the acronym in English and another in Spanish). People were getting it I believe through a school in Wisconsin but going to La Inter. There was some agreement. Anyway it is moot now because La Inter now has their own ADN. This actually opened a lot of doors and a lot of students in my class that had a Bachelors and were planing to get a BSN are leaving this summer after the ADN and will do their BSN at home or online.

This new ADN is a nice option because if you have a Bachelors and are in the accelerated program you can be finished with the ADN in 11 months for under 10,000 and there is no wait list.

I believe, but don't quote me that if you didn't have a Bachelors and did the ADN it would take 15 months. But I am not very familiar with the non-accelerated program. Dessigner-mommy is more familiar with that program.

kevano51 · Feb 13, 2011

ok, thanks, a prior post said that Florida was tougher to get licensed in and I spoke with my sister in law who is in nursing school in Ocala and she said the same thing. I was wondering how much it costs approximately for a year at Interamican University pls?

WorldTravelingYogi · Feb 13, 2011

ok, thanks, a prior post said that Florida was tougher to get licensed in and I spoke with my sister in law who is in nursing school in Ocala and she said the same thing. I was wondering how much it costs approximately for a year at Interamican University pls?

Once you are licensed in a state you can have your license transfered to another state. The people that I know who have done it simply paid the fee for that state. My friend in NYC took the NCLEX in NY in November. He shortly after planned to move to CA so he started the process and now it is Feb and he still doesn't have his license transfered. But as far as I know it is just a matter of paying a fee.

Our Adult Care 1 professor was telling us how there is no Puerto Rico NCLEX. You can take it here but have have to decide in advance what state you are sitting for and pay the fee for that state.

The tuition is about 3,000 per trimester. You can't really do it by unit because there are various different lab fees tacked on each trimester for clinicals. If you want medical insurance it is about 120 per month for full coverage and 5 USD doctor visits. There is no deductible. The insurance is good. It is Triple S which is Blue Cross / Blue Sheild of Puerto Rico.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Feb 13, 2011

Not just a case of paying a fee but also meeting requirements for endorsing a license when applying from one state to another

WorldTravelingYogi · Feb 14, 2011

Not just a case of paying a fee but also meeting requirements for endorsing a license when applying from one state to another

I just found out some information from another student that is a year ahead and has already taken NCLEX. Kevano51 you are right about FL. So FL considers schools in Puerto Rico international. So there are various hoops you have to jump through before you can sit for the FL NCLEX. One of them is take an English proficiency test which seems just pain silly since we are studying in English and a quarter of our class did not speak a single word of Spanish when we arrived.

So this person said that 5 people have taken the NCLEX from their class. A couple more people from CA still don't have a date because CA requires a background check, finger prints, and other stuff. So the 5 people that took the NCLEX took it last fall. They all sat for Wisconsin. Not a single person is from Wisconsin but that is the easiest sate to qualify for. My contact had an NCLEX date within a couple weeks after getting the ADN paperwork from school.

Now the different students are doing all the various things they need to do to get licensed in their home state.

If you have a Bachelors the program is 2 years and if your class petitions to have Pediatrics offered in the summer like our class, and the previous class then you can start getting everything together for the NCLEX after June. First you have to get your ADN paperwork from the school. The earliest you could get a date would be Sept or Oct if you sit for Wisconsin.

Then once you have your license you have another year of BSN classes and you can work on transferring you license to your state. It does sound a bit complicated but I will probably do the same thing because I am from CA as are a huge portion of the students and I would rather have the NCLEX over with in Sept, Oct, or Nov and then spent the next 6 months transferring it to CA.

I hope this clears up some stuff. I got a lot of info from my contact this evening that helped me understand this better.