USA career changer wants to study in UK

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Hello, I am a U.S. citizen, I already have my bachelor's degree in English from an accredited American university, and I am planning on returning to school to become a nurse. I would like to live and work abroad, and am wondering about moving to the UK and going to nursing school there. I have taken a look at the UMC website, but I still have some unanswered questions, especially since I notice that, unlike in the U.S., it seems as though one should already know what field they want to specialize in, more or less, before they enter school (i.e. pediatrics, adult medicine, midwifery).

Does anyone know of any resources to compare become a nurse in the UK versus the US, and what steps a foreign student would need to take to move to the UK for school?

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

There are not many universities that accept International students as nurse students because of how the set up is for training. Also as a International student you will have very high fees to pay as well as cost of living (you have to prove that you can support yourself)

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Hi

I am just wondering if you know much about how UK nurses can work in the US with a foreign nursing degree. I am in the same boat as you only want to go to nursing school in the UK to be closer to my boyfriend who is in France.

Thanks

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hi

I am just wondering if you know much about how UK nurses can work in the US with a foreign nursing degree. I am in the same boat as you only want to go to nursing school in the UK to be closer to my boyfriend who is in France.

Thanks

Bit lost to what you mean?

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SD - I think silentsiren4 means that she wants to study nursing in the UK as it is nearer France (+ the boyfriend) than the USA. Thus, she wonders how she will be able to work back in the USA eventually. That's how I read it anyway. :)

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It makes life a lot easier to study nursing where you plan to practice. If one is planning on making a career in the US, I would definitely not advise going abroad to study. If you're planning on staying in the UK and working there, then studying nursing there would be the way to go.

The UK uses an entirely different educational model for nursing than the US does, and there have been numerous threads here about UK nurses having difficulty getting licensed in the US because their education doesn't meet US standards. I don't mean to suggest that it's not as good as US nursing education (from what I know, I believe UK nurses are significantly better educated than us) -- just that it's a different model of nursing education and doesn't "fit" the US requirements for licensure.

Also, if someone completes nursing school in another country, you will always be considered a "foreign graduate" by the US BONs (despite being a US citizen -- the point is where you got your nursing education) and will have additional requirements and hoops to jump through for licensure, not just for initial licensure, but by every state, every time you want to change states, for the rest of your career. Also something to consider ...

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You are right... I was thinking of school in UK in order to be closer to France.

Thank you for all of your advice. I realize that it would be difficult in the future to work in the US. I am just trying to weight all of my options. I am planning on doing an NP and CNM program after nursing school. I was just thinking of doing a nursing degree in the UK and then continuing my education in the US afterwards. I would gain a year by doing so since it is not too late to apply to nursing schools in the UK. This may just be a really BAD idea.

Thought I would run it by to see if anyone else has had a silly idea like this as well

Thank you all for your comments

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

The issue would be finding a university that takes International nursing students and then seeing what sort of International fees you will have to pay. Not cheap especially when you have to then factor in living expenses etc

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