Questions about Dallas

U.S.A. Texas

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Hello All,

I have been working as an RN in the pulmonary stepdown for a year in a NYC hospital and I am thinking of moving to Dallas, Texas. I had a few general questions:

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good RN to BSN programs?

Do the hospitals there tend to offer tuition reimbursement?

Is it recommended that I move Dallas a travel nurse initially?

How is the demand for nurses in the Dallas area?

finally,

Can anyone recommend any good hospitals?

I plan on changing my department to L&D or Peds and get about 6 months to year experience in the area I decide to go to, before I move. I have always wanted to work in those areas but every "experienced" RN that I met along the way, have always told me to get a year of med-surg under my belt first. I really thought it was good advice because I got to sharpen the skills that I learned in nursing school. The floor that I am on now is mixed with stepdown and medsurg patients, so we get a little bit of everything. We get floated to the MICU at times and I even had to cross-train there.

I have a 3 year old daughter and I live at home so I dont have a huge amount of living expenses. My salary here in NY is about 68k a year. I know that by moving to Dallas I will take a pay-cut but I have heard that in Texas you are only responsible for federal taxes, so I may not even miss it in the take home pay. I get about $800-$1000 taken out my check here bi-weekly in taxes because we pay a city and a state tax as well.

Sorry, I feel like I am rambling on but I wanted to give enough information to get the best advice.

Thanks for your help

Camille:flowersfo

Thanks for putting the other areas out there. I have never even heard of those areas but I have started checking out homes in the other areas on the internet. Are the housing tax in these areas (Mansfield, Bedford, Hurst, Euless) less than the that of the dallas area?

I see Methodist is opening a new facility in Mansfield at the end of the year.

I was really beginning to think that I needed to rent in order to be able to afford living in dallas.

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Specializes in Postpartum/Nursery.
I would like to thank all of you for all the wonderful advice. I have been looking into surburbs in the dallas area. I have been looking at frisco, allen, grand prairie to name a few. It's hard because I have only visited the area once and I dont remember if I mentioned this or not in my previous post but I am a single mom and I have to make sure that I find a good school district.

I graduated from South Grand Prairie H.S. in 2003 and I must say that it is a great school district (Nationally Recognized)!!!

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I graduated from South Grand Prairie H.S. in 2003 and I must say that it is a great school district (Nationally Recognized)!!!

I didn't mean to offend ! I'm sure there are some great schools in GP, but in general people tend to move elsewhere to find "better" schools.

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Specializes in Postpartum/Nursery.
I didn't mean to offend ! I'm sure there are some great schools in GP, but in general people tend to move elsewhere to find "better" schools.

I'm not offended... I just had a really good experience in Grand Prairie schools (the south side). My parents moved to Mansfield before my junior year, and I chose to stay in GP!

Yes, Mansfield is growing, and they are supposed to be building 3 hospitals out there...(Methodist, THR, and HCA). I think they are listed on the city's website. Mansfield is really a great place to live....(better than Grand Prairie), and I plan on moving back once I finish school!

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Specializes in Postpartum/Nursery.
Thanks for putting the other areas out there. I have never even heard of those areas but I have started checking out homes in the other areas on the internet. Are the housing tax in these areas (Mansfield, Bedford, Hurst, Euless) less than the that of the dallas area?

I see Methodist is opening a new facility in Mansfield at the end of the year.

I was really beginning to think that I needed to rent in order to be able to afford living in dallas.

My parents say that Mansfield has some of the highest taxes in Dallas/Fort Worth!

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as i am not a nurse yet, i can't respond to your other questions, but thought this site would be of help. http://www.dallasrelo.com/hospital.html it has the area hospitals websites listed for north tx, along with other relocation tools such as info on schools and their websites, community profiles, etc. best of luck in tx!

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I am from the West Coast, but have gotten to really like living here. It was HUGE culture shock at first though! I live in Fort Worth/Saginaw (depends on which side of the development you live on) and my taxes last year were $4500.00 - $2500.00 of that was for schools. The Eagle Mountain school district is very highly rated as it should be for that kind of taxation! Housing purchase prices are low compared to the East and West coast. You do need to be able to tolerate a long, hot, humid summer. Hope that info helps. PM me if you want to know any other details.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I am from California and moved to Texas four months ago. I paid $104,000 for my 1,860 square foot brand new house in southwest Fort Worth and live in a highly-rated school district (Crowley Independent School District). On the flip side, my property taxes will be about $3,500 yearly. Houses in good school districts tend to be taxed more heavily.

As a new LVN I earn $18 with benefits working in LTC in southwest Fort Worth. Tarleton State University offers an affordable LVN-to-BSN program if you have established Texas residency for at least 1 year and have 1 year of LVN work experience. Good luck in whatever you decide.

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I guess maybe renting is the way to go right now. $4500 is a lot of money in taxes every year. Especially since the pay isn't THAT much. I just hate the idea of putting money in someone else's pocket when I could be putting it toward to my own.

Thank you babynurse for the website it has been very resourceful.

Thecommuter, I have checked into the RN-BSN program at Tarleton but the website for Fort Worth doesn't mention anything about having a nursing program. There is one in Killeen?? that does have a program though.

Thanks again to everyone for all the information. I know the post is old and I had given all hope of ever getting help. I really appreciate it.

I am coming to dallas next week and I have interviews at Baylor, Dallas Pres, and Methodist.

I would appreciate any info on these hospitals. Thanks

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I guess maybe renting is the way to go right now. $4500 is a lot of money in taxes every year. Especially since the pay isn't THAT much. I just hate the idea of putting money in someone else's pocket when I could be putting it toward to my own.

Thank you babynurse for the website it has been very resourceful.

Thecommuter, I have checked into the RN-BSN program at Tarleton but the website for Fort Worth doesn't mention anything about having a nursing program. There is one in Killeen?? that does have a program though.

Thanks again to everyone for all the information. I know the post is old and I had given all hope of ever getting help. I really appreciate it.

I am coming to dallas next week and I have interviews at Baylor, Dallas Pres, and Methodist.

Those are all good hospitals with good reputations. UT Arlington has an RN-BSN program that is pretty flexible and nicely located in the middle of the metroplex.

4500 for taxes would probably be on a 175-200K home. Just food for thought.

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I live in Mansfield and I love it here. Everything is new and nice and there's hardly any crime or anything to worry about. As far as peds goes, Cook's Children's in Fort Worth is a great hospital. I just did my clinical rotation there and I have to say I was very impressed. I saw absolutely none of the catty politics that I've seen at some of the other hospitals. If I was into peds, I would work there in a heartbeat. As for housing, it's fairly cheap. I live in a 2800 sq foot house that I paid less than 150k for. It's not as fancy as some, but it's new and in a good neighborhood. I know there are cheaper homes in the area if you don't want a new home. I pay about 3500 a year in school and property taxes, which isn't bad considering there is no state income tax. And now you can deduct state tax on your federal income tax in leiu of the state tax. Also, the traffic on this side of the metroplex is not as bad as it is in the Dallas area. I lived in North Dallas for most of my life and I can say I definitely prefer it over here. Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide!

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Specializes in Operating Room.

My children attend Mansfield ISD, and it is a good school district.

As far as taxes, Keller, Colleyville, and Southlake are probably higher than Mansfield. However, the way it is booming down here, Mansfield is becoming the next Southlake.

The new Methodist hospital should be completed in 2007, if I remember correctly and is between 360 and 287 on Broad...if you care to look up the area.

There are very few apartments to choose from, but you will find a couple of nice ones.

I recommend Mansfield ISD over Arlington ISD. I'd never send my children to GPISD, but have heard good stories, as well as bad.

Irving ISD has a great ESL program if your children happen to need ESL. I grew up in Irving, as well as worked for the school district.

HCA and Baylor-Irving is there, North Irving is nicer, but there are some nice, more affordable houses throughout Irving.

HEB (Hurst, Euless, Bedford) is good too, with a variety of hospitals around.

Parkland Hospital is a county hospital, therefore the pay....bites.... :uhoh3: However, you WILL get great experience working there, which is great for new nurses. My aunt (an RN) retired from Parkland as a dept. director, and loved working there.

Other areas outside the main hustle and bustle include Midlothian (S/W of Mansfield), country towns such as Tyler.....so much to choose from.

(BTW, renting is throwing your money down the drain, giving it to someone else for the rest of your life....but then again, you're able to change your surroundings every year if you want.)

Good luck in your search, and your interviews.

(I too am preparing for UT-Arlington's RN-BSN program for my future bridge over. UTA is a good school, with a good reputation. I've only heard good things from graduates of the nursing program there.)

http://www.uta.edu/nursing/rntobsn/rn-admissions.htm

(Although they are currently working on the website, maybe it will be back online when you see this.) :)

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