Guinness32

hello- i hope this response will be of some use to you. first, i am a us citizen. i earned a bachelor's degree in business from the states. i hold dual citizenship so i lived overseas for the last 10 years. whilst i was in australia i completed an accelerated bachelor's degree in nursing. once i completed my degree i then moved back to the states. i'm now waiting on getting the approval to take the nclex-rn exam. let me try to explain some of my experiences: 1. once you complete a foreign education, forget the us treating you like a us citizen. the only thing that you'll have in your favour is that you already have your social security number. 2. some of the us accelerated nursing programs take as little as 12-18 months to complete. my australian accelerated program was a 2 year course. 3. the australian program did not offer specific obstetric training, therefore, i may be required to complete an obstetrics course prior to receiving authorization to test for the nclex exam. 4. it's taken me 3 months so far to get my credentials evaluated and my application reviewed by the us nurses board and now i may need to take an obstetrics course so let's add another 3-4 months to the whole process. we're now talking approximately 6-7 months of a paperwork nightmare just to take the nclex exam. if you stayed in the us and took a us accelerated nursing course, you'd be nearly finished and not have any of the hassles of going through the application process as foreign educated. my personal advice to you. if you see yourself wanting to return to the us, it's best to be educated in the us. if you want to go to oz with the boyfriend, wait until you have your rn and then you'll be easily employable in oz. believe me oz is a lot more appealing to live in if you can earn an income compared to being a poor university student. as for getting a master's degree...i've enquired about this and the us universities will accept the australian bachelor's degree, however, you need to have passed the nclex-rn exam prior to getting accepted into the master's program. see i thought while i wait for the nurses board approval to take the nclex that i could at least start taking some master's degree courses. no! doesn't work that way. if you do go to oz and do complete your degree there, my only advice to you would be to ensure you take an additional course in obstetrics. good luck!