Puerto Rico school feedback?

World US Territories

Published

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

Nice to meet you(Un placer conoserte),I am located in Guaynabo city ,so how are you finding Puerto Rico??,do you like it here??.do u like the people??Is it hard for you to overcome the spanish/english thing?....just looking for some feedback of my island:)......

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.
Nice to meet you(Un placer conoserte),I am located in Guaynabo city ,so how are you finding Puerto Rico??,do you like it here??.do u like the people??Is it hard for you to overcome the spanish/english thing?....just looking for some feedback of my island:)......

Hi! I like it here, but if I had a choice I'd rather be back home in FL. PR is beautiful and the people are friendly. I get frustrated over how things work sometimes, just because it's so different from back home. I guess if you're a single person with no children, it would be AWESOME because the nightlife here is great. I have 4 children so yeah, not much time to go out. I hate the public education system here, so I'm looking forward to graduating and getting my kids back in school in the U.S. As for the Spanish/English thing, I wouldn't say I'm fluent in Spanish, but I'm pretty darn close. My hubby was born and raised here, so when we go out I don't even have to bother with it, because he does all the talking. So yeah, I like PR, but I also can't wait to get back home. I'm looking forward to cooler weather. FL isn't cold by any means, but it's much cooler than here LOL And it's nice to meet you too.

I just picked up my mail and I had 6, count them 6 letters from the Interamericana admissions office. Why on earth I received 6 letters all dated March 5th and all 6 with the exact same info is beyond me.

Two days ago I received my return receipt, signed by the University on March 3th. I sent my application, my transcripts, and a copy of my social security card a couple of weeks ago. It was sent certified, signature required and return receipt.

So then 2 days after they signed for my package they sent 6 letters. All 6 letters were written in Spanish which again makes me nervous as this is supposed to be taught in English. I would assume at the least the letter would be in both Spanish and English. But it was only in Spanish and since I don't speak a word I had to type the letter into Babel Fish to get a translation.

So all 6 letters state that they received my application but I still need to send them my transcripts and a copy of my Social Security card. Huh??? All these things were in the same envelope!!!

It is these things that scare me to death about this school.

How did they get my application and not a copy of my SS and my transcripts when they were in the same package?? Why did they send 6 letters. Why was it not in English when this program is taught 100% in English?

Oh my oh my. I guess I will try to contact the school on Monday though I have no hopes of actually speaking to anyone. I have yet to speak to someone that does not tell me to call back or transfer me to a dead line.

I think "E" will be getting an email from me. I was frustrated at him for a bit when I thought I had to send college catalogs dating back over 20 years. But really he has been the only helpful person there and I have tried to contact over a dozen people at this point.

Here we go again!

I cannot help you with your current problem, but i can tell you that the nursing program is 100 % English (i know because i am from that school(not nursing)).

Dont give up friend,the nursing program is very good(PR is also cool!!),the problem is doing the logistics to get there.Wish you the best of luck!!!!

I cannot help you with your current problem, but i can tell you that the nursing program is 100 % English (i know because i am from that school(not nursing)).

Dont give up friend,the nursing program is very good(PR is also cool!!),the problem is doing the logistics to get there.Wish you the best of luck!!!!

Thanks PuertoRicoLocal. It is not like this school is the only school I am having issues with as there are actually quite a few schools causing me grief. It is just that IAUPR is causing me more grief than others.

I know that once I get passed the admission process I will not be so frustrated. There are quite a few graduates from the program that have posted over the years and say good things about the program.

It is just getting through the admissions process that is causing me grief.

By the way, how hard is it to live in PR if one does not speak a single word of Spanish (well not more than 5 words)? Is life going to be difficult on a day to day basis if I don't speak or read Spanish?

I was just thinking the other day that if I will be going to school full time and my brain will be saturated with lectures and studying and then when I am out and about my brain will still be working really hard. I wonder if this is a good idea.

I have traveled to over 70 countries and have lived on 4 continents. The longest time I lived in a non speaking country was France. At that point I had already been studying French for a while and still struggled but I was not going to school. When you are studying it really takes a lot out of you.

Also I know people are going to tell me French is similar to Spanish. Well they may be in the same family but so are English and German and I studied German for a semester and would never study it again (for many reasons). I took Italian and was frustrated as the nouns that were feminine in French were masculine in Italian and vice versa. That made Italian even more frustrating. There were other aspects that threw me off. I think I would have been better off studying Italian if I had never studied French.

However I will say that when it comes to reading signs and things I will have a pretty good understanding of the gist of the content. So when it comes to short statements I think the French will come in handy. I will not have any idea what people are saying though.

So if anyone has an idea of what it would be like for a non Spanish speaker I would appreciate it.

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Hey ChanelCinq! I have to email you back again--I'm sorry! I was working on something when I read it, so I didn't reply right away and it totally slipped my mind until I saw your post here. God help me when I start nursing school, because my kids have my mind completely frazzled LOL

"E" is definitely the one to get in touch with. He's the only one I will work with when I go there because he is faster than the others--and much nicer too!

As for living in PR and not speaking Spanish, you may have a little bit of trouble but nothing that will make it unlivable here. You would be surprised at the amount of people who know English here. Even if it's not perfect, it's enough to get the point across. Like you said, signs shouldn't be a problem. All of our street signs are in Spanish, but they're the same shapes/colors as the signs in the U.S. of course, so you'll know what they mean. If you hang out in San Juan and other tourist areas, pretty much everyone will be fluent in English. It's the small towns (like mine LOL) that you may have the language barrier. I have the luxury of speaking Spanish, but my hubby and I pretty much speak English all the time, even when we're out, and sometimes people will join in LOL Since the clinicals for IAUPR are in Puerto Rican hospitals, the patients will speak Spanish, but I hear that you have a bilingual nurse looking over you. Plus I'm sure that some of the students will speak Spanish and can help you out. My hubby was born and raised here, but he is going to try and go to the English trimester program if we can work out babysitting with my MIL. If not, we're going to have to try and split it up by him going to the Spanish trimester in the morning and me do the English at night. Anyway, I don't think you'll have that much of a problem here with not knowing the language. There may be some bumps along the way, but nothing major. And hey, you've got a friend here that can help you out! ;-)

Hey ChanelCinq! I have to email you back again

No worries at all. I know we emailed back and forth but I meant to thank you publicly on the boards for all the info you posted. It was a huge help. I would have had no idea about the car insurance thing. And that classified site was extremely helpful. Many more postings than CL.

I will probably go visit in July to find an apartment and take care of stuff. We should meet up.

Of course I am assuming I will be accepted. I don't know if they turn people away but they are now listed as on on the accelerated BSN programs on that national list. A couple months ago they were not there. I don't know if they will get more applicants or not because of that listing.

Anyway thanks again for taking the time to post so much helpful info.

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.
No worries at all. I know we emailed back and forth but I meant to thank you publicly on the boards for all the info you posted. It was a huge help. I would have had no idea about the car insurance thing. And that classified site was extremely helpful. Many more postings than CL.

I will probably go visit in July to find an apartment and take care of stuff. We should meet up.

Of course I am assuming I will be accepted. I don't know if they turn people away but they are now listed as on on the accelerated BSN programs on that national list. A couple months ago they were not there. I don't know if they will get more applicants or not because of that listing.

Anyway thanks again for taking the time to post so much helpful info.

Ohh, I didn't know that! Hmm, looks like I need to get my butt in gear and do the nursing school song and dance LOL We went up there a few weeks ago but it was just ridiculous. The director was wayyyy late (as in not even there yet!) and there were a few people ahead of us already, so I just went to see "E" and called it a day. Definitely let me know if you come over here in July. Also, for you and anyone else on here, just let me know if you have any questions about anything. It's extremely frustrating for me, and I can just go down in person to get things accomplished. I can't imagine being across the ocean and trying to deal with their less-than-stellar phone etiquette over here. Either they don't answer, don't have time to bother with you, or keep transferring you into an abyss. The culture over here is very different and extremely laid back. It's not just like that at the university. Calling any business over here usually leads to frustrations. I guess you get used to it, but sometimes I miss the States, where things actually get done LOL

Anyway, I'm glad to help in any way I can.

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Oh, and just to give you another idea about how laid back and mixed up things are here, most of the doctors don't make appointments. They give you a specific day to come, and you have to get up at the butt crack of dawn and write your name on a list, at like 5 a.m. Then you come back at around 8 a.m. and pray that your name was one of the first on the list so you don't have to wait ALL DAY LONG to get seen. I first found that out when I was pregnant. I wasn't supposed to eat because they were doing a blood test, and I got there around 7:30, hadn't eaten anything, and we didn't get called until 3:30 p.m. My hubby went down at 5:30 a.m. to sign us up too. I seriously felt like I was going to faint, not eating anything all day. The doctors say that they don't make appointments because people don't show up for them. Nice, huh?

Well,i know that as part of your nursing program you will be learnig spanish( i have seen that they learn fast and so will you) and if you can get by english alone?? ...well the answer is yes and no,but if i were you i woud be at least learning the basics of spanish

Most people here seem to understand english but not everybody is fluent,It really depends in what area of the island you are,but since you are going to the metro area(were the inter is located)you shoud be fine,but plzzz make the effort to learn spanish..sooner or later you will have to use it.You can also make friend who are bilingual once your are there, it will be of help.........o and french and spanish are not alikeeeeeeeeeee i take class with a french speaking canadian and i can tell you that i can barely understand what she is saying whe she speaks in french(but she says that is easier for her to learn spanish...so who knows).....PS sorry for the english, i am not a good english writer

And what designer mommy says that the culture here is a very laid back issssssssssssssssssssss so freaaaaaaking trueeee(not that i know,cuz i have never been outside the island...lol)

+ Add a Comment