Puerto Rico school feedback?

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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

Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Nope it is PR. My hair stylist just told me he is originally from PR and I have known him for 15 years. He siad whenhe goes to visit familly they have these recidency cards that gives them acess to medical. He said it is like socialized medicine.

That's not necessarily true. Here we have what is called la reforma, which is basically Medicaid. Maybe that's what he's talking about? When you have that, you don't get a gold card like in the states--it's through Humana. You pretty much HAVE to have insurance here, or the ER can actually refuse you. That's what I've been told, but I don't have first-hand experience with that, since we have insurance. I don't see how a hospital can refuse to provide treatment, so I don't know the specifics of that. We have various private insurance companies here, like Triple S, Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc.

A warning to those of you who have insurance in the states, do your doctor visits before you come here. Going to the doctor here absolutely SUCKS. You have to go at about 5 a.m. to sign a paper, and then come back when the doctor's office opens to sit there ALL DAY until they call your name. The majority of doctors here don't make appointments. They just give you a day to come, and whether to come in the a.m. or p.m. It's really terrible. I hated going to doctor appointments when I lived in Orlando, now I won't even do it.

Oh, but one awesome thing about la reforma here is that they cover DENTAL!!! I really think something needs to be done about health insurance covering dental in the states, because the costs are just ridiculous. I paid a little under $600 for a root canal in my eye tooth, and that was WITH dental insurance! I need to become a dentist, not a nurse! That's where the money is at it seems.

I don't know about the school's health insurance, but I do know that they offer something. My husband had to sign a paper to decline it, but we didn't check out the specifics.

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Wow, the hepatitis B shots are spread out that much?! My hubby needs to get his done ASAP then if he's going to do the accelerated program. That would stink if he couldn't get in because of that, because I want at least one of us to be making some $$ in less than 2 years!

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Wow, the hepatitis B shots are spread out that much?!

I have tried to get the Hep B series several times and I never went back after 6 months to get the third shot. The whole series takes 7 months. You get the 1st shot, wait a month and get the 2nd shot, and then get the 3rd shot 6 months later. So I did December, then January and now I am waiting until July.

Thanks for the info on health care designer-mommy. I was definitely planning on getting health care through the school. I researched it for other schools but of course for Puerto Rico all research takes 10 times as long and 5 different answers along the way. Since everything seems to be different in PR compared to the mainland I hope the school does offer insurance at a reduced rate. Anyone have info on this? If not through the school how do people plan to carry health insurance?

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Hector (hate to keep referring to him as "my hubby," because he does have a name LOL) called the assistant director in the nursing department last night about the Hep. B shots, and she said he had plenty of time. She gave him the name and number of a doctor and told him to tell the Dr. that he was a nursing student at La Inter and he would be taken care of well. If anybody wants/needs the number, let me know.

As far as insurance, I have la reforma. I have four children and we're pretty darn poor, especially since both of us are going to be nursing students. My in-laws have insurance through Triple S and it's good, but they have it through my FIL's job, which he's a postal worker. You should be able to get information on the school insurance when you go to orientation, ChanelCinq. I'm sure they have a paper on it. Hector had to sign the paper declining it when he went to Recaudaciones, which is where you make payments for your classes, so maybe they're the ones to ask about it.

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Wow,

A lot happens in 6 weeks. Congratulations to those attending later this Summer. I got my letter a couple weeks back. I had finally gotten a hold of someone who didn't mind emailing me back at the school (initials G.D. in the financial aid office). She was super-helpful; despite the fact that I couldn't get a very specific cost break-down, time frame (including all the pre-reqs I've knocked out), and a verified NCLEX pass-rate.

I wish this could work out for me as well but it still sounds a bit sketch. Kudos to the fellow Californians (Mike, Chanel5) for making it out there. I wish I could represent "Hell-a" but probably not. I got accepted to a more expensive but closer program at Touro in Henderson (read: Las Vegas), Nevada; BSN in 16 months. I love PR the way one loves their favorite movie when from when they were like 8 (in my case: Tron). It's all romanticized in my head but the reality of getting married (in a WEEK) having a honeymoon (ironically in St. Thomas/St. John), finally visiting the campus w/ my (future) wife in tow, and setting up a life in about 3 weeks is a bit too much for me.

Things change (you never know) and I hope to hear about how it's all going from all the gringos down there later.

-Oakley44 (Damian)

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Specializes in Emergency.

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!

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.
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!

LOL I just got my THIRD acceptance letter today, and I'm going to have a fourth in a few weeks because I have to change my start date again. Don't worry about that orientation date. Mine said the 22nd too, and the letter was printed on the 21st LOL Yeah, kinda late! My husband never went to that orientation, and he's been going to that school for a year now. I think it's just for them to sit you down with a counselor to choose classes, etc. You need to see the nursing department for that anyway, so it is kinda pointless. The June orientation is the one you want to attend. It's on June 11th, supposedly at 10 a.m., but I also heard 9 a.m., so I plan on being there by 8 or 8:30, just to be safe! That is the nursing orientation, and I don't think it's absolutely mandatory, but it would probably be good if you could go.

One bit of advice for those of you who are traveling down here to visit this summer...PLEASE go to Registration and change your start date for August if it's set for some other time period. You will NOT be able to register for classes in August if you had it set for June, etc. And they make you wait for the new acceptance letter before you can register, which took me about a week to get. I'm sure the nursing department could probably pull some strings to make it happen faster, but just take my advice and change it while you're here just to be safe.

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Oh, and as far as hotels, I'm not too sure. Here isn't like in the states where there is a hotel/motel around every corner. They are very scarce here, except for in the tourist spots, of course. San Juan is your best bet I'm sure.

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Specializes in Emergency.

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.

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I'm looking to arrive the first week in July, so I will be missing orientation. I talked with one of the directors (name started with Y) from the nursing program, and she told me she would sit down with me and tell me what I missed and help me register for classes then. Besides that the only thing she said I needed to take care of before coming out was my Hep B vaccine. I just need one more shot for that.

I have a list of potential places I have found so far. I also have a cheap pickup truck lined up to buy when I arrive.

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Yeah, "Y" is the one you want to talk to--she's awesome! She seems kind of um...snotty on the phone, but she is really sweet in person, and she's really funny too LOL

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Wow. I sure wish I would have seen this before I could have been a HUGE help. I attended the English Trimester at the Inter August-October 2009.

Let me tell you that anything you know about the college system in the US goes down the drain in Puerto Rico. Forget it and don't compare it because it's NOT THE SAME, AT ALL! Not in quality but in the way things are done.

Where to start? Let me take you through my journey of the Inter. I applied in July, very last minute. I wasn't accepted into the school until two weeks before the trimester started( I have a 3.8 GPA, it was nothing short on this end). They just simply are that laid back and slow. It's not a priority to be on time to them, they'll do things when they need to get to it. I got lucky because I wasn't living there; my mom went up to the school and made them individually look up my application and do all the things they needed to do for me to get in. Ha, so here I was worried about getting in when the director told me she likes to give EVERYONE a chance. She even accepted someone with a 1.8 GPA, but it wouldn't matter because he would drop out anyway. She's right though but you never know. The best way to take things done: be a b-otch, get in someones face and get all your stuff turned in, IN PERSON. Forget reaching them over the phone and over the internet, IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And if it does, good luck you ever have that experience again.

So once I was accepted I went into the nursing director's office. She saw my transcripts and signed me up for classes. She gave me a huge packet of information that was very helpful and a schedule of classes for the next THREE years (yes three, NOT TWO!). Sorry to tell you, but unless you're just changing your gen ed's for the BSN you will have to go in to the school to do register/change classes the old school way; paper and pencil registration and wait to stand in line 2-3 hours (haha, if you're LUCKY just 2-3 hours). You literally have to take whole days off to get things done there unless you've got connections. Now, where am I? I've got my classes, I'm registered and I've got a to do list.

To do list: get an immunization record on file, get a certificate of good conduct and some other things. It's not stressful you just have to get it done. All of my classes were from 6pm to 10 pm. I had class Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I believe. They don't have classes Fridays... at least I never did and neither did my brother who did the marketing English trimester program. I also suggest taking online Gen Ed's if you're going to, the English professor is awesome : ) I had A LOT of time to do things...... so much time I had no idea what to do with myself haha.

I can't tell you much about clinicals. I couldn't borrow anymore money for school (and nor did I want to) so I got a job and moved. All my friends are still in the program and I will tell you- even through all the stress of the chaos of classes, once it all settled down, it was an amazing experience. I really miss it there. I know clinicals are Saturdays from 7am to 3pm? or 4pm? They are very long!

Anyone who wants to "travel" to the school because they want to live close to the water is CRAZY!! I lived FIVE stinkin' minutes from the school and sometimes it took me 30 minutes, 1 1/2 hour to get there. Traffic sucks, leave early and get used to it! THe professor don't care much anyway if you're late. Enjoy the "island" time.

**ANY requirement they have is a joke, besides transcripts. There is no GPA, prereq's and you don't HAVE to go to orientation. I'll tell you we were supposed to have orientation and none of us even got the info of where/when it was. So as far as *I* know we never had one and we wouldn't have learned much anyway.

By joke I mean, if you can't get it done, they'll forget about it or let you turn it in super late.

Also at clinicals you are paired up with a fully bilingual student and professor. If anyone has questions that weren't answered feel free to ask before you get there. There are no hotels in that area I recommend (near the school).

There's a VERY inexpensive health care plan offered by the school! It's awesome : )

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