Cahoon BSN RN

A good neighborhood to live in if you don't have a car is Las Cumbres because you can walk to school. Also there are student houses that have rooms for rent near the VA hospital and Centro Medico. The nice thing about that area is that you are near the train station. There is a shuttle from the train to the school. As for clinicals, you can usually find someone in your class who will give you a ride if you chip in for gas. I know several people who have been able to make it without a car. It is a lot nicer to have one though. Good luck to you all. PM me if you have any questions, i'm happy to help.

Awanjo: You are correct, I am a student at Inter currently. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can. As for financial aid, you are applying to the US federal government via FAFSA, just like at any other school. Inter does have somewhat limited amounts available from the school. I have heard some people complain about not getting enough money, but I haven't really noticed a difference compared to the amount I got at my last school taking the differences in tuition into account. If this will be your first bachelors degree you have the benefit of getting grants from the government as well. This is my second so I'm not eligible. I don't know of too many people who are able to come here and live completely off of loans and grants, but most of the people I know are in the accelerated program too, so most of them are on their second bachelors as well and don't get the fed grants. They will accept previous credits here for any (as far as I've heard) of the general education requirements. As for classes from the nursing school, I don't think that they would accept any. So, yes, Christian faith, Spanish, math, whatever else they tell you is required that is not directly taken from the nursing department. If you have taken religion classes, or language classes they will accept those in place of Spanish and Christian faith. Some people have gotten other language or world religion classes to count. For me they just looked over my transcript, gave me a paper that said I have to take Christian faith and none of the others. Books are all bought online, so you can save some money in shipping if you buy them on the mainland, but I wouldn't buy books for a whole program all at one time. Things change, teachers want certain editions, things like that. You would probably pay as much getting them over here as you would just buying online and having them mailed here. This trimester we had a week and a half break so I went home to visit family and just had my books sent there (for the one trimester). They will give a booklist in the nursing office. Living on the island is fun and it's gorgeous here, but it can be very frustrating at times. Rent is not too expensive, especially if you are coming from the LA area. You can pay anywhere from $200/mo to about $1400 a month depending on what amenities you want. I think that the average for people who have a roommate, AC, Internet, and included appliances are paying around $400/mo once you include utilities. If you are not planning on buying a car, pick your location VERY carefully. I can give you some suggestions if you want to message me once you decide that you are moving. Public transportation here is pretty much a nightmare from what I understand. I ended up buying a car, as have most of my friends, but not all, so it's not a necessity. Food is a lot more expensive here as well as everything else, but it is most noticeable in the grocery store. Movie theaters on the other hand are wicked cheap! We saw the new HP movie one evening for $6.50! The school's accreditation is not in danger. It was evaluated and renewed as well as the ADN program gained accreditation, which we did not have before in October. What to expect from classes... well, there has been a lot said on this forum about classes so far. My opinion is that it is basically like being in a small classroom with a lot of really loud people. I don't know if it's cultural or what, but people in the classes I have taken NEVER shut up. I have only had one prof. who can keep them quiet and it's an active job. That's been really annoying to me personally. I don't know how other students are dealing with it. Up to this point (second trimester) nothing has been the least bit challenging. I am hoping for a little more of a challenge this time with Adult care 1. It is basically A&P plus the nursing care portion. The teachers seem to be of a much higher quality than last trimester. I have not looked into taking my NCLEX yet but I think that there are some states that you have to jump through more hoops than others. I have heard that a lot of people are taking the test through the state of CT. Once you have your license though, you can transfer it to any state regardless of where you took the NCLEX. Hopefully this will help and feel free to ask any other questions you think of. I will try to help as best I can. Cahoon

Soooooo, my faith in the program at La Inter has been redeemed a little bit. I have a teacher this trimester who is knowledgeable, engaging, and overall a great teacher. There is hope for this program yet!! Yay!

Thanks for the explanation! So much information...so little brain space left. :)

Interamerican's Accelerated program goes from August to the next May. So people starting in August 2010 will graduate with their BSN in May 2012. There is an option to take pediatrics in the summer and those people will have the choice to get their ADN in July 2011 I believe. I don't know anything about rolling admission, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are new classes starting most semesters.

Yes, I have "J" for 2 classes and the deer in headlights known as Dr. "D". I thought she might cry on Thursday night. It was kind of sad. Also sad that students would rather get an A than actually learn something. IMHO I say to them, good luck passing the NCLEX with no Pharm background.

I'm not Jeb (obviously) but I am also a student at La Inter Metro. I'll see if I can pass on some information. So your first question was about a quality education. This is not a quality education. Some of the teachers are good, and some are very bad. If a student would only do their assigned work and not study outside of that scope for the NCLEX they would almost certainly not pass. As for the language barrier, it can be present at times but one of the most difficult things I have found is teachers with very thick accents and students in the program who barely speak english so they ask questions in spanish and the professors answer them in spanish. Its not really a great situation for the "all english" program. That said, we are working on the teachers to get them to require people to ask questions in english. It's an uphill battle because most of them are more comfortable with spanish as well. Also there are many other students who are bilingual and will help the teachers if there is something they are having trouble expressing in english. Yes, help the teachers. Labs...well, so far the only labs I have seen are the practical labs which are to basically prepare you for your rotation in the hospital. The labs are very sparse and outdated (except for the flatscreen tv's). On the other hand though, they do get the students in the accelerated program into the hospital extremely fast. In my opinion this is one of the huge redeeming factors for the school. I am in aprox. my 5th week at the school and I will be starting in the hospital in 4 days. My practical teacher has a VERY thick accent, but she is extremely knowledgable and has gone above and beyond to make sure that we get a great education where our time in the hospital is concerned. As for things like microbiology or chemistry labs...they pretty much don't exist as far as the nursing program is concerned. As for the application process, I used a friend who spoke Spanish, and a lot of google translate. The link you want is #5 Transfer student. You will not need to use any spanish when in class and the offices always have someone there who speaks english, even if they do it reluctantly. If you are a motivated student and don't just coast through your classes, (which is not hard to do here), you will get what you came for. . .a piece of paper that says you can sit for the NCLEX. If you are the type of student who needs a school to hold your hand a guide your studying completely, Interamerican is probably not a good school for you. Even though prerequisits are not required, you will be much better prepared for NCLEX and nursing in general if you take some of the required courses from other schools. Read your textbooks and study NCLEX prep because at Interamerican you get what you pay for...if you're lucky. For some students it is a great opportunity to get into Nursing School quickly and get their license with a BS and for others it could be a nightmare. You just have to decide what kind of school you are really looking for. I hope that I didn't discourage you, but I am just trying to give a realistic picture of what you would be getting with an education here. I am in the program and will stay through to the end.

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.

Mike: I had the same response. No more second thoughts about IUPR. Island life here I come!

Yeah, I love how well this school communicates with it's new students. At least it's right before school so we don't have to go out early, (those of us who are still on the mainland). I bet it's just a last orientation type thing...I hope. I got into San Diego State Univ. also but decided to go to IUPR instead and last week I got a letter from SDSU saying that they had to cancel their program for next year. I didn't read the whole thing, but i'm glad I didn't go there. So....hopefully it's nothing like that.

Geez... where did everybody go? Anyone have info about books?

Can someone clue me into where we can find out what books we need for classes? I don't really want to have to buy them from their bookstore since half.com is usually so much cheaper. Also I heard a nasty rumor at the place where we're to buy our "pretty" green uniforms near the UPR campus. She said that we are going to be wearing them to class as well. "B" My roomie called the offices at the nursing school and he said that they told him it was true. I was at orientation and I know that "Y" said we could wear street clothes to classes. I don't know who "B" spoke to, but they said that "Y" was misinformed. ...isn't she the dean though??? So if anyone else has heard anything on this please chime in. Oh, and I looked it up and it does say somewhere in the packets that we can wear street clothes to classes. I'm so confused. I REALLY hope that the policy has not changed.

I am in hot and sticky Puerto Rico! I will be attending the orientation tomorrow. Are people from this board going to try to hook up there and meet? I've been here since Tuesday and I've gotten a healthy dose of the island. Are people stressed about the health cert because we are supposed to have that before we can register? I think it would be cool to meet some new people. Especially since I am one of the crazy few that speak no Spanish. Until tomorrow. Cahoon

Thanks for the info on the nursing orientation designer mommy. Are others from the states going to be there? If so, where are you guys staying? For that matter has anyone who's gone out recently liked the place they stayed? ....or hated it. What have your experiences been. Thanks.

Does anyone know of a hotel that's not too far from the campus? I can't seem to find anything except the ones up north. Also, I finally got my acceptance letter, woot!! But it informed me of an orientation on the 22nd.I got the letter on the 24th. Oops. So could someone tell me the date of the one in June? Any info would be a great help. Thanks!