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

Just wanted to say hello, I currently live in Orlando but will be attending the UMET (Cupey) ADN program in Aug. I went in June to visit and get my credits validated from Valencia CC; and it put me ahead of the game. If I am financially able to I will transfer over to the Bilingual BSN program. If not, I will take the NCLEX, return to Orlando and obtain the BSN online. I wish all of you the best and hope to read stories and comments about others experiences in Puerto Rico.

Joel

Hi, I live in Florida now as well, Orlando to be specific. I will be attending Inter. What BSN program were you looking into online? How long is the ADN program at UMET? I will be moving to PR mid July. I plan on going back to Orlando myself, but I was hearing quite a few things about transfering from PR to Florida, as Florida being one of the more tough states to get into from PR. Best of luck.

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Hey! For those of you who wanted the book list, I scanned my copy and put in in a Google Doc. You can look at it here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tVkjyUqRkJlKHtiqB3aem2A4P55PGt9TnQ70HrTUx_M/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKrky4YK

I hope it's alright to post that. If not, the mods can remove it and I can just PM it to whoever wants it. I believe that it's posted online on their website though, so I don't see why it would be a problem. It's just that their website is super hard to navigate LOL

Just a note, the Med-Surge book for Adult Care 1 and Adult Care 2 is different. However, I doubt that you guys will buy more than the books for NURS 1120, 1121 and 1122 because that's the first trimester's books. If you're in the accelerated program you will need the NURS 1130 books for Pharmacology too. If I were you, I would just buy minimal books because they may change them. You don't want to be stuck with books you don't need.

Sorry the copy is so crappy. My scanner doesn't work too well.

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Thank you, Designer Mommy for that book list!!!! I would rather buy them from online than campus. When I went to UC Santa Barbara, just like any other university i'm assuming, books per Quarter exceeded me over $500!!!!! I need to be as cheap as possible. Thanks again :D

Btw, do you happen to have an of those books? If so, are you interested in selling them? :)

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

No problem :)

Yeah, just like everything about this school, the book issue is backwards as well. When I went to Valencia in Orlando, I was able to give the book store my ID and they swiped it and charged it to my account. I had the Pell Grant, so it just came from there. That was AWESOME. They had used books, new books, and they had ALL the books I needed for every single one of my classes. At La Inter however, they have a tiny "book store" (if you can even call it that) that sells books from like 1990 something. They don't have all of the books you need for your classes either. So, if you have grants and loans, you're screwed. You have to buy the books from one of the stores here. There is one right down the street from the school near Starbucks and McDonalds. However, they don't take the vouchers from the school, so you have to come out of pocket and then wait for the school to send you the funds from the leftover of your loans to be reimbursed. The reimbursements don't usually come for at least a month to a month and a half after classes start, so go figure. Last year classes started on August 1 I believe, and I didn't get my refund until about September 12. I looked at the calendar for this year however, and it looks like they have sped things up considerably. It seems like reimbursement for the August trimester will be on August 12 or 13 I believe. Man I hope so!

And I do have the books, but I'm actually holding on to them. Sorry! I just want to have them to study from. Oh, and look on eBay. I found my Basics/Fundamentals book for like $30 with shipping when everyone else wasy paying over $100 I believe. You can usually get earlier editions that are almost exactly the same. The sellers will usually say in their listings if the edition is the same as the new one. None of my teachers minded. But yeah, check on eBay and Amazon. I think WorldTravelingYogi mentioned half.com too. I've never ordered from them because it confuses me, but I hear that a lot of people do with no problem. It is MUCH cheaper to order them online. It's highway robbery at the book stores down here.

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Oh okay! Thanks for the info. and thats okay. My Bf uses half.com to buy his books, so i'll have to ask him to show me how to use it to buy my books. hehehe. :D

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Hi, I live in Florida now as well, Orlando to be specific. I will be attending Inter. What BSN program were you looking into online? How long is the ADN program at UMET? I will be moving to PR mid July. I plan on going back to Orlando myself, but I was hearing quite a few things about transfering from PR to Florida, as Florida being one of the more tough states to get into from PR. Best of luck.

From my research this is what I understand about the FL licensing. When you graduate you ARE QUALIFIED to take the NCLEX exam, the Puerto Rico Exam, or both. The only thing that FL is concerned about are the ENGLISH credits which you are required to take anyways at the INTER, UMET, and UPR. The problem seems to be with those that take the PR license exam transferring to FL without taking the NCLEX. The NCLEX is given on the island and you can take it for the state you wish to apply for. Wisconsin seems to have been talked about alot but I am gathering that it is for those nurses who took the PR exam to simply transfer it without taking the NCLEX. While I plan to come back to FL ASAP (because while I love my island I see no future for me there) I am going to sit for both the PR and NCLEX exams so that I have both licenses. Also there was an amendment to FL laws not to long ago making it easier for PR nurses with at least 3 years experience to transfer.

The ADN program for the UMET is 2 years semester 1 year trimester (nights), I was lucky for the fact that I had started towards the nursing program at VCC (2 year wait list) so they accepted all my pre-reqs and I am just going to CLEP out of Spanish.

Be aware however, that the ADN program is taught only in Spanish (with English books). Because of personal financial circumstances I am doing the ADN, but if things change for me I will transfer to the BSN and recommend that everyone who is prepared for this to go ahead and do the BSN (bilingual program).

The UMET is cheaper than Inter but just as I did, I recommend that you visit and see if it fits you. No school is a one size fits all (as I learned with VCC)

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I've called the Fl nursing boards and they told me that PR was not considered international. Also the nurse director at Umet told me that Fl use to accept the PR license.

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

A lot of people go through Wisconsin because it is supposedly the easiest and cheapest to get into. They say that there is much less red tape/hoops to jump through if you go through that state. I think La Inter at one time had ONLY Wisconsin approval or something like that, but now it can be any state the students want.

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@designermommy I am really concerned about the refund situation. Is this the first year that the refund is scheduled for August? Has it been on the calendar for September in previous years?

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.
@designermommy I am really concerned about the refund situation. Is this the first year that the refund is scheduled for August? Has it been on the calendar for September in previous years?

Yes, this is the first year that they have it posted for August. It usually has said September, December and March. Now it seems like the most they will make us wait is around two weeks. I see something on the new calendar about the 14 days being up for reimbursement and that's right around the time the reimbursements come, so maybe there was a new law passed or something? I hope so, because it is ridiculous to make us wait until the middle of the trimester to get our funds, especially since they don't have a bookstore that actually has the textbooks we need. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely ADORE my school, it's just super frustrating at times.

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Specializes in Psych, Substance Abuse.

Also, I saw an ad posted for an apartment for rent while I was at school today. It is in Las Cumbres (right near school where a lot of students live--within walking distance) and it is SUPER cheap. It's a 1 bedroom, furnished with water and lights for $475. I have the number if you want to PM me. Also, someone posted that he is selling a Ford Escort with only 50,000 miles for $1500 OBO in case someone is looking for a car. And actually, I think my PM box is almost full, so it would probably be better for you guys to send me an email through here if you get the "full" message. I hope it's alright for me to post this info. I get confused because there are quite a few rules here that are hard to keep up with. Not complaining, just sayin', if this post is against the rules I apologize in advance. I'm just trying to hook some fellow students up :)

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I've called the Fl nursing boards and they told me that PR was not considered international. Also the nurse director at Umet told me that Fl use to accept the PR license.

That's good, I called Florida Department of Health and they told me all I would have to do is apply to them wait 30 days, send transcripts from PR and apply to Pearson Vue then I would be able to take the exam. They told me that the English proficiency test is not required because PR is not considered international. So, I was really happy about that.

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