Hello, I am currently a Senior in High School, but I will be graduating on the month of June. I am a US citizen, but I will be planning to become a dual citizen when I turn 18 this coming April.
I decided to study in Cebu, Philippines for Nursing because the tuition in California college especially is really expensive, and other states as well isn't affordable for my parents to pay off. Anyways, my relatives are scared that I would not be able to pursue my career path if I study in the Philippines.
I am not planning to apply here in California for my future license but I will go into a state where it does not require me to do further education needs.
I may need some help for your guys opinions. THANK YOU!
The NCLEX pass rate for students who trained at in The Philippines is less than 30% meaning 70% fail. Retaking changes are that you will not pass on the retake is even lower than 30%. Since you are American, you can apply to LPN school, the costs are low and you can take a small loan, and work part time. Your chances of passing will be 80 % or more and your application will not be an issue.
Then you can apply to an ADN and work part time as LPN once again you can pay for yourself , you will not have to tax you parents and your license will never be an issue. Once again you chances of passing will be 80 percent or higher. You will have a command US Nursing practice and will develop great life skills. I am not a gambler but less than 30% is not an favorable ratio to me.
Hi Ginger's Mom,
I agree with you on her getting a job and studying at the same time. If the problem is financial constraint and you are really more concern of lightening your parents' burden then, elyzarae, the best solution is YOU. You actually have to do something to ease that burden from your parents.. Lucky are we to grow up here and be able to get a job as young and as early as we can as compared in the Philippines where you fully depend on our parents' blood and sweat most of the time in order to go to school to say the least.... There may be jobs for students in the Philippines but they are very limited and not enough to sustain your nursing tuition fees.... Going to the Philippines and study will not help your parents because you are still going to fully depend on them, as it seems, to sustain your needs.... Tuition is not the only thing that you will need in the Philippines.. How about your monthly allowance, shelter, utility bills, books etc.? Even if you say that you are going to stay with your relatives for sure your parents would be sending something to them as well since you are staying with them right?.... Going to school whichever State your parents would end up deciding for all of you to stay and securing a job to sustain your education/needs (or at least most of it) is the better solution, if not the best for all of you.. It might take you awhile but it will be worth it..... It would be rewarding in so many ways you would never have imagined once you're done.... Trust me, been there done that..... I speak through my experience and others I know of.... From Philipines-US-Canada.. Might be hard at first but you will be fine;)
Hello, I am currently a Senior in High School, but I will be graduating on the month of June. I am a US citizen, but I will be planning to become a dual citizen when I turn 18 this coming April.
I decided to study in Cebu, Philippines for Nursing because the tuition in California college especially is really expensive, and other states as well isn't affordable for my parents to pay off. Anyways, my relatives are scared that I would not be able to pursue my career path if I study in the Philippines.
I am not planning to apply here in California for my future license but I will go into a state where it does not require me to do further education needs.
I may need some help for your guys opinions. THANK YOU!
Hi there! Im only a gc holder and I just got here 2016.
Ive started my BSN in Cebu(CDU)
but had to stop bec I moved to Arizona.
Im also planning to continue my BSN in Philippines bec it's much cheaper( I dont wanna apply student loan������)
still debating tho bec of concurrency issues in some states. So whats your plan?
im also looking for some states that its not that strict/the same with how CA bon.
I am in the same situation as you, (a US citizen who studied in the Philippines), and I graduated with a BSN in April 2016 and am now an RN in California, currently endorsing my license to Virginia.
What I cannot stress enough is, do your research on the school you want to go to and make sure that it is reliable, has experience with international graduates, and will consider your situation as an international graduate. (as in, they have experience with communicating with countries outside of the U.S.)
I have heard horror stories from friends and family about graduating nursing in the Philippines and here are some of them:
did not finish nursing school, credits they had were not accepted in the U.S. (this means they tried to continue nursing school in the states but could not and had to start over).
school's classes were not on par with international standards, had to take extra classes (just one class cost them at least $20,000). look up specific requirements in your state. To be safe, choose a school that adheres to California's standards, as they are the strictest.
school's classes were not scheduled the same time as its corresponding CLINICALS and CASES (for example, in California, you need to have a documented case of delivering a baby - the case MUST ABSOLUTELY TAKE PLACE within the semester you took your maternity class. Now I know some states don't even ask about your cases, like California does. This is just so you know, in case you would like to work in California in the future. While in nursing school, you should be documenting these cases. Your professors can help you if they are familiar. If they are a REPUTABLE school, they should be.)
are you dual citizen? If not, I recommend you apply to be one. It's very easy and quick and once you finish you can revoke it if you like. If not, you need a student visa which can be costly and easy to forget to renew/follow the rules i.e. you have to leave the country once a year to prevent you from being fined. I've had classmates abruptly take a trip to Hong Kong in order to do this. I've had a classmate that completely forgot and her immigration status was a completely mess for a while.
will you be moving there by yourself or with family? a family friend was sent to a school in a far off place just because they "heard" it was a good school. She could not handle the culture shock and had to go home after 3 years, and couldn't continue in the states (see the credits story above). Choose a place close to a good support system because yes unless you have lived there, no matter how Filipino you are, the culture shock will be jarring and frustrating. If you do not have close family choose a school who, like I said, has a good reputation/is credited in the States. These schools usually have a handful of students like you and will help with coping.
LANGUAGE - choose a school that TEACHES IN ENGLISH, and has a high standard for english. These are obviously better schools.
SAFETY - DO. NOT. CHOOSE. A. SCHOOL. WHERE. YOU. ARE. THE. ONLY. FOREIGNER. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT. Safety obviously being the number 1 reason, but you would also have a very difficult time adjusting as well.
Overall quality - a friend from a different nursing school needed her transcript to be processed and sent. It took more than 6 months. Mine took 2 weeks from submitting application to arriving in California. This is definitely something to be aware of.
JUST to let you know, I graduated at De La Salle Health Sciences Institute - Dasmarinas. I know there are good med and nursing schools in Cebu but I don't know about their accreditation as, no offense, it is still not siyudad, so studying in Manila/Cavite might be better for you and your future (education accreditation wise).
I don't want to name names but graduates some of the top performing schools have had problems with classes that don't meet U.S. standards. This was fairly recent but I hope they have fixed it now.
The bottom line is: DO YOUR RESEARCH. Not all nursing schools in the Philippines are created equal, and even the large ones can have problems with U.S. standards. You need to find out from your prospective schools if they are experienced with International graduates and are known to be accepted in the U.S. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you have and I can answer you based on experience.
I have had no problems with my education so far and honestly I think I just got lucky with my school.
Edit to address NCLEX passing standards: I had 11 classmates who were Fil-Ams, each from different states. So far 5 have taken the exam and 5 have passed on their first try, 3 of passing in 75 questions. I also have known a Fil-Am from a higher year who passed after 3 tries. Again, it depends on your school and it depends on you.
In addition:
I have a friend who was scared of not being able to practice in the states (rightfully so) and left after our second year. Since then, she had been working as a CNA and now JUST started LPN school. While most of us are now RNs.
Advice for when you do actually start nursing school there:
It's very easy to not get a high grade. I mean, while nursing school in the U.S. is very tough, nursing school in the Philippines is hard in a different way. Not to discourage you or anyone, because obviously my classmates and I survived, but the way the classes are scheduled is a bit overwhelming at first. Monday - Saturday class, 8-6 every day (even saturday). With that schedule, it might be hard for anyone to get a high grade unless you're committed to studying all the time. I say this in case you plan to pursue higher education in the future. A lot of grad schools want a minimum of 3.5 GPA. However if you're not interested then it's up to you.
Specializes in Telemetry, Emergency, Cardiology, Respiratory.
Hi,
A lot of Philippine-educated nurses applying for licensure in California are facing difficulties because of concurrency issues. It seems to be affecting only those who graduated from 2005.
It would be helpful to do some more research before you commit to studying overseas for 4 years only you find out you have to do some more studies when you return to the States.
By all means, go for it. If you will not be practising in Cali, then studying in the Philippines will not be an issue if you'll go back to the states after you are done with Nursing school in the Philippines. You already are an American, everything will be easier once you get that Nursing Diploma. Don't be disheartened with all the negativity here, its ridiculous, the mere fact that there are alot of Filipino Nurses in the states is a testament that if a Philippine-trained Filipino nurse can have it easy on the states how much more a Philippine-trained American wanting to work in America?
The "not siudad" enough Cebu would be a great choice if you have relatives there. But if you really want to cut on cost try other cities, Davao City perhaps. Much cheaper but quality of life would be a outstanding.
So in conclusion, my dear if you do pursue going to Nursing school in the Philippines, that would be great if it would help your parents to cut on the expenses. There might be problems along the way, but nothing that would be impossible to hurdle. One is being a student, if that won't be considered a problem enough, I don't know what is, you just have to deal with it. There are lots of other problems along the way but hey, LIFE. So good luck.🙂
Hello, I am currently a Senior in High School, but I will be graduating on the month of June. I am a US citizen, but I will be planning to become a dual citizen when I turn 18 this coming April.
I decided to study in Cebu, Philippines for Nursing because the tuition in California college especially is really expensive, and other states as well isn't affordable for my parents to pay off. Anyways, my relatives are scared that I would not be able to pursue my career path if I study in the Philippines.
I am not planning to apply here in California for my future license but I will go into a state where it does not require me to do further education needs.
I may need some help for your guys opinions. THANK YOU!
Cebu Doctors is a very good and reputable school. I just mentioned the siyudad part just in case your parents wanted to whisk you off to some distant province - that's not something you want. Again, do your research. Yes, there are a lot of Filipino nurses in the states so obviously studying there is fine, it's just that changes in requirements for foreign-educated nurses are pretty recent, so you need a school that is up to date with that.
I am in the same situation as you, (a US citizen who studied in the Philippines), and I graduated with a BSN in April 2016 and am now an RN in California, currently endorsing my license to Virginia.
What I cannot stress enough is, do your research on the school you want to go to and make sure that it is reliable, has experience with international graduates, and will consider your situation as an international graduate. (as in, they have experience with communicating with countries outside of the U.S.)
I have heard horror stories from friends and family about graduating nursing in the Philippines and here are some of them:
did not finish nursing school, credits they had were not accepted in the U.S. (this means they tried to continue nursing school in the states but could not and had to start over).
school's classes were not on par with international standards, had to take extra classes (just one class cost them at least $20,000). look up specific requirements in your state. To be safe, choose a school that adheres to California's standards, as they are the strictest.
school's classes were not scheduled the same time as its corresponding CLINICALS and CASES (for example, in California, you need to have a documented case of delivering a baby - the case MUST ABSOLUTELY TAKE PLACE within the semester you took your maternity class. Now I know some states don't even ask about your cases, like California does. This is just so you know, in case you would like to work in California in the future. While in nursing school, you should be documenting these cases. Your professors can help you if they are familiar. If they are a REPUTABLE school, they should be.)
are you dual citizen? If not, I recommend you apply to be one. It's very easy and quick and once you finish you can revoke it if you like. If not, you need a student visa which can be costly and easy to forget to renew/follow the rules i.e. you have to leave the country once a year to prevent you from being fined. I've had classmates abruptly take a trip to Hong Kong in order to do this. I've had a classmate that completely forgot and her immigration status was a completely mess for a while.
will you be moving there by yourself or with family? a family friend was sent to a school in a far off place just because they "heard" it was a good school. She could not handle the culture shock and had to go home after 3 years, and couldn't continue in the states (see the credits story above). Choose a place close to a good support system because yes unless you have lived there, no matter how Filipino you are, the culture shock will be jarring and frustrating. If you do not have close family choose a school who, like I said, has a good reputation/is credited in the States. These schools usually have a handful of students like you and will help with coping.
LANGUAGE - choose a school that TEACHES IN ENGLISH, and has a high standard for english. These are obviously better schools.
SAFETY - DO. NOT. CHOOSE. A. SCHOOL. WHERE. YOU. ARE. THE. ONLY. FOREIGNER. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT. Safety obviously being the number 1 reason, but you would also have a very difficult time adjusting as well.
Overall quality - a friend from a different nursing school needed her transcript to be processed and sent. It took more than 6 months. Mine took 2 weeks from submitting application to arriving in California. This is definitely something to be aware of.
JUST to let you know, I graduated at De La Salle Health Sciences Institute - Dasmarinas. I know there are good med and nursing schools in Cebu but I don't know about their accreditation as, no offense, it is still not siyudad, so studying in Manila/Cavite might be better for you and your future (education accreditation wise).
I don't want to name names but graduates some of the top performing schools have had problems with classes that don't meet U.S. standards. This was fairly recent but I hope they have fixed it now.
The bottom line is: DO YOUR RESEARCH. Not all nursing schools in the Philippines are created equal, and even the large ones can have problems with U.S. standards. You need to find out from your prospective schools if they are experienced with International graduates and are known to be accepted in the U.S. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you have and I can answer you based on experience.
I have had no problems with my education so far and honestly I think I just got lucky with my school.
Edit to address NCLEX passing standards: I had 11 classmates who were Fil-Ams, each from different states. So far 5 have taken the exam and 5 have passed on their first try, 3 of passing in 75 questions. I also have known a Fil-Am from a higher year who passed after 3 tries. Again, it depends on your school and it depends on you.
In addition:
I have a friend who was scared of not being able to practice in the states (rightfully so) and left after our second year. Since then, she had been working as a CNA and now JUST started LPN school. While most of us are now RNs.
Advice for when you do actually start nursing school there:
It's very easy to not get a high grade. I mean, while nursing school in the U.S. is very tough, nursing school in the Philippines is hard in a different way. Not to discourage you or anyone, because obviously my classmates and I survived, but the way the classes are scheduled is a bit overwhelming at first. Monday - Saturday class, 8-6 every day (even saturday). With that schedule, it might be hard for anyone to get a high grade unless you're committed to studying all the time. I say this in case you plan to pursue higher education in the future. A lot of grad schools want a minimum of 3.5 GPA. However if you're not interested then it's up to you.
Hi honeybee_23! I understand your point. By the way, we have the same alma matter although I'm from an earlier batch. I completely agree that not all Nursing schools in the Philippines are created equal so future Nursing students should do their due diligence in researching. How long after you submitted your application did you receive your eligibility/ATT? I'm currently waiting for an update since August. Appreciate the info.
I am already a US citizen. Do i still have to worry about the visas?
The problem is not your visa but your educational attainment in the long run may be not acceptable in CA BRN as most Philippine graduates have concurrency issues and ask to take Or comple courses again to fill their deficiencies. I think some schools have already updated their curriculum in the Philippines to deal with this issue but scouting for school maybe difficult.I suggest to study in US if you are planning to work in Ca.If you really want to study in the Philippines because of financial constraint then choose a school in which cases are concurrent.
The question is, are you sure that at some point in your life, you wouldn't have to move back to California to be with your family and endorse your future out of state license here? I graduated in the Philippines too and passed my RN licensure exam in another state but realized that my home is in California. But to cut it short, it really depends on your priorities and whether or not a CA RN license would be a necessity some time in the future. Just my two cents.
Always check the accreditation of the school. I went to a private college that had level 4 accreditation for their nursing program (1 of the 7 in the entire Philippines). And make sure you get a minimum of 5 for each clinical case (DR 5 actual & 5 circu), NICU 5 cases, OR scrub [5 minor & 5 major], OR circu [5 minor & 5 major]) and must be concurrent (all maternal cases done in second year, all OR cases done in 3rd year). My application was a breeze compared to others. Good luck with everything :)
KSKJB18
12 Posts
Hi Ginger's Mom,
I agree with you on her getting a job and studying at the same time. If the problem is financial constraint and you are really more concern of lightening your parents' burden then, elyzarae, the best solution is YOU. You actually have to do something to ease that burden from your parents.. Lucky are we to grow up here and be able to get a job as young and as early as we can as compared in the Philippines where you fully depend on our parents' blood and sweat most of the time in order to go to school to say the least.... There may be jobs for students in the Philippines but they are very limited and not enough to sustain your nursing tuition fees.... Going to the Philippines and study will not help your parents because you are still going to fully depend on them, as it seems, to sustain your needs.... Tuition is not the only thing that you will need in the Philippines.. How about your monthly allowance, shelter, utility bills, books etc.? Even if you say that you are going to stay with your relatives for sure your parents would be sending something to them as well since you are staying with them right?.... Going to school whichever State your parents would end up deciding for all of you to stay and securing a job to sustain your education/needs (or at least most of it) is the better solution, if not the best for all of you.. It might take you awhile but it will be worth it..... It would be rewarding in so many ways you would never have imagined once you're done.... Trust me, been there done that..... I speak through my experience and others I know of.... From Philipines-US-Canada.. Might be hard at first but you will be fine;)