Please enlighten me

Hello Everyone! I'm Jenny, 22 years old and originally from Germany. Right now I'm an Au Pair in Virginia and would love to stay in order to study nursing/become a nurse in America.

I'm happy I found this website and am eager to gain more knowledge about becoming a nurse in the US. The American educational system is still very confusing to me and after days of googleing I've decided to ask you for help. I already contacted colleges via e-mail but they are not giving me any useful information unless I visit the campus which I'm struggleing to find time for, because the office hours collide with my working schedule..I don't know where else to turn to.

I apologize if the following has already been asked.

I'm just going to jump right into my questions from here and try to keep it short:

1. Is there a placement test or any other sort of test I have to take before I can take the prerequisites?

2. How much did you pay for the completion of your program/how much is the approximate complete cost for prereq. and an associates degree?

3. How difficult was it for you to get through the prereq.?

I'm worried I might not be smart enough or don't have what it takes which makes me incredibly sad.

I'd love to hear your experiences, feel free to share!

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this and maybe even answer.

' Jenny

I don't think any exams need to be taken when just doing prerequisites.

Things to be aware of a) you will be classed as a International student which is expensive and once you start doing your actual nurse training you will need to become a student and in most cases have to show you can fund your course and living expenses for the first year. If you need to work then in the first year you have to apply for permission and it is restricted in the first year and you have to be in full time education. b) Once qualified and you have used your year OPT you will get then it may still take you a few years to get a visa allowing you to live and work in the US. Generally being a student indicates a return to your own country.

Thank you very much for your answer! I'm aware that it'll be super expensive , I might not even be able to pay for it and will probably have to go back to Germany . I thought there might be a way for me to finance my studies or another way that is less expensive.. unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.