U.S. Student Thinking about transferring to Canadian Nursing Program

[kchristenson92]

Hello! I know there is a post from 2008 about transferring to UofT. Since its been a while, I'd like to see if there are updates as to transferring to UofT or University of Alberta.

I just finished all my prerequisites and have an associates in Allied Health. My current GPA is 3.89 and will bed starting volunteer work to boost my application a bit. Currently living in California an will be applying to all California schools to see where I get accepted. The issue here is that 90% of the schools are terribly impacted, so for every 800 or so nursing applicants, only 20-80 get in.

I saw someone post about Canada and I looked at the UofT website and it at least seemed like a more straightforward process, plus the school itself seems excellent.

What are the issues with going to Canada as an international student? It seems like the costs are roughly the same as they are here, and much less than going to a private nursing school. I have a husband and 2 children as well, so I'm assuming I'd have to get a student visa for myself and possibly my daughter who will start kindergarten next year.. I've been working so hard to get to this point and I'm worried I won't get into a school here at all. I applied to two schools last semester but both programs only accepted less than 40 students.

What about NCLEX? Assuming I'd like to go back to the USA to work?

Any help is so appreciates. I've been wanting to work as a nurse since I was young but find myself getting more discouraged..thank you!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

If you qualify for student visa husband will get a work visa. NCLEX is sat in Canada and is the same as the US. The issues will be registering as a nurse back in the states. If CA is where you plan on registering in then we have seen Canadian nurses struggle so you will need to ensure your training in Canada meets state requirements

[dishes, BSN, RN]

If your pre-requisites and associates in allied health were obtained through a community college, your education is not considered equivalent to university level and university level is required for admission to UofT's program.

If somehow you were accepted into a Canadian nursing program, you might not be eligible to obtain a nursing license in Canada because you will not be a permanent resident and you will not receive a visa through a job offer, as the nursing job market is saturated with local, qualified nurses and employers are not going to violate the law to offer jobs to nurses who require work visas. As silverdragon mentioned, you also might not qualify for a California license, as you might not receive all of the various clinical placements if you attend UoT's program.

You might be better off applying to nursing school in states that are short of nurses, rather than Canadian schools.

[elkpark]

If you plan to practice nursing in the US, your smartest choice is to attend school in the US. If you're in a position to relocate to go to school, why not just relocate somewhere within the US to attend nursing school? No visa issues, no concerns about being eligible/qualified for licensure.