studying nursing in the philippines, did I make the right choice?
ok so i decided to go to the philippines to study nursing. my demographics are: 18 years old, male, part filipino part chinese, speak about 3-4 languages, am a dual citizen for U.S. and philippines, and just transfered as being a 1st year in 2nd semester to a college in Davao city. i was born in quezon city, philippines, up in the north but my entire family is from the south in Davao City. the history was, after i graduated early from high school in california, i was very sure that i wouldnt be going to the philippines for college and made my way as a sophomore in college as my first year via AP and college courses from community college to San Francisco State University with my major as prenursing (i still had to apply for the nursing school). i had decent grades with a full load (19 units) on me at that time. but my parents really wanted me to go and study in the philippines along with my twin sister and my older sister because it was so much cheaper and my mom said that i can get my BS in nursing faster and if i wanted, i could even get my MSN there due to the economy going bad now especially when my dad will be laid off soon and my mom only working as a nurse. so after a period of being pressured so much i decided to follow their advise and i withdrew from my university wasting money (very expensive in san francisco) and my good grades. i never finished the first semester and immediately flew over to the philippines to begin the 2nd semester of my 1st year (i already had college classes that some got transfered over and recieved credit). Everyone in America says that getting into nursing school all over the country is hard to get into so thats why some of them go out of country to study and those that say studying in other countries such as india, nigeria, or other "poor 2nd world countries" wouldnt be credited to america since they are pretty biased, which is my guess since they havent even tried studying in another country and also shove the idea of education in america is so much better. but then if thats said, i ask myself why do we have people such as doctors with degrees from india and nurse practitioners with degrees from nigeria and eastern europe? i was postitive that it wouldnt happen to me yet i decided to play a gambling game to risk my future in going to the philippines to study. my mom says that it, the schools there, are all credited in america since she graduated from a college in Davao City with a major in nursing and is working as a nurse in america while all her kids are in the philippines. i still have yet to trust that statement but im still continuing my studies here no matter what. i promised myself that i wouldnt turn back, especially in my condition now and will just persevere through my studies here though lots of people envy and hate me for being from america and since im not of pure filipine origin by the looks that i get as a korean or a foreigner. lots of the people here are very judgemental and have a different psyche as compared to the north of the philippines, the south has a totally different environment and isnt really known well to many people outside the world since when they think of the philippines, Manila is ususally the first idea in their mind. many of the filipinos from the south dont even speak tagalog and will treat you different if you're from the north or if you're not white but of another asian origin, especially if you dont know how to speak cebuano. this is what i've experienced so far during my first few weeks of stay in the Davao. my question is, did i make the right choice in coming to study abroad and sacrificed so much such as my friends, my good life, and etc... to come to the philippines? my mom said that i made many sacrifices, and hell i even cried here, but nevertheless, in the future it will all be rewarded even better, i just need to make sure i go through tough times and perservere. its hard for me here because i chose not to go to prestigious and well known schools such as ateneo de davao or university of the philippines but i chose to go to a school where it is filled with transferees, drop outs, no foreingers except for me and my two siblings, and many of the people come from poor family backgrounds living in the dirt slums and provinces as far as the muslim lands. most of the dark skinned filipinos like to laugh and make fun of me bacause im chinese looking and always assume that im korean due to the fact that there are so many koreans and foreigners studying here for english and that i devote most of my time into studying, and when i make donations to the school, everyone assumes that i am immediately rich since i came from America which i am not and also because of the types of clothes that i wear. yet we all are nursing students who all want to work and live a better life abroad in the future and i also think to myself, how can they act that why when they live and work abroad? i doubt that they'll be successful since they all are just
Philippines - 5 Answers
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1 :
You wont regret where you are into. You can even go to prestigious schools because you are foreign funded. many filipinos if they could afford opted for nursing because it is lucrative job outside Philippines.If i were you i will finish nursing pass the board and study law or business adm. you can study as many courses as you want.
2 :
Need more information. Can you elaborate?
3 :
Sorry to tell you "NO" , life in abroad is a missery, beleive me. If you are from Dvao, I suggest agriculture is the best course or in mineral resources related course. have you noticed rich and famous Nurse, no! , if want to be a rich someday try to study Lawyer, Physician, Politico,business management, Nurse is low profile job w/ low salary how can you reach to be rich if your are not rich...........
4 :
You probably could have (as a US Citizen) done this just as cheaply and forgone your now having to take an NCLEX. THe only school in the Philippines that is recognized by ETS (The people who admininster AP tests in the US and graduate exams for universities) is the University of the Philippines. Nothing else. You could have finished Community College's nursing program and gotten established as a nurse. If your main question was "how can they act that why when they live and work abroad", the answer is simple. That is a fatal flaw in the character of the Filipino. THere are several stereotypes that fail to die among our people,and it usually indicates they're true - we love to sing (karaoke), we love drama (look at all the soaps on filipino television), etc.. On the flip side, we also like to gossip (such as in airing dirty laundry), and we suffer from Schadenfreude. That is, one filipino cannot stand to see another filipino more successful than they. Since you're in that country from what many of these poor people look at as "the promised land", you're going to get an expected level of scorn. Call it colleagial envy if you will. But ultimately, unless you fail miserably with the NCLEX, you'll be able to use your skills in nursing in the Philippines and practie your profession here.
5 :
19 units for a full load?! wow! back in the philippines mine was 30 units on average! anyway..... money-wise: YES practicality: YES Language: NO Crowd: NO in your case, sometimes, it depends School: not sure, you didn't mention the name of your school Education: not sure, you didn't mention the name of your school if your aiming for BSN, it's very practical to just get it in the Philippines because its cheaper for the same quality of education (assuming that you're in a good nursing school) you could get in an average nursing school in the US. However, there's so many sub-standard nursing schools sprouting like mushrooms in the philippines that you have to be cautious before enrolling yourself in. if you're in one of these schools, please find a better school; and with good high school grades or good current college grades, it should be easy to be admitted in a good nursing school as long as you have good entrance exam results as well. however, the best nursing schools in the philippines could also be discriminating to other nursing schools and may not accredit units from these schools. While it is true that US hospitals don't discriminate applicants based on what school they were in (as long as you meet the min req like passing the state board; and oh, yes they really don't, that's why there's so many foreign graduate nurses), it doesn't hurt to have the best education you could get. If you're planning to take MAN later on, it would be better to take it in the US. in my opinion, taking MAN without clinical experience and/or no exposure to the field is a definite no-no. your hospital training during your undergrad days just isn't enough, especially that nursing education in the philippines focuses more on the knowledge and concept and not on the hospital area. besides, only a few schools offer MAN where as there's so many in the US. if your going to take MAN, do it in the US while working. MAN classes have more flexible schedules in the US than in the Philippines. aside from that, you could earn more in the US. Why even work in the Philippines for just a wee fraction of what you could earn in the US? Unless you'd like to be one of those few filipino heroes who chose to work in the philippines. well, its your call. hmmm.... about the prejudice, i think you're being a little paranoid. there's so many east-asian looking filipinos out there. only the ignorant fools make fun of the unfamiliar. if you really couldn't handle it, you could transfer in a bigger city where there's less prejudice. if you can speak tagalog, you can transfer to manila. btw, you might have a very hard time on your community health nursing if you can't speak the vernacular language. if you could transfer to manila, there's lots of foreign students (esp chinese and koreans), fil-am (not necessay haffies), oh, and haffies too in some schools. not to mention having the same situation as you are in. some schools even offer special filipino classes for those who barely speak tagalog. for now, just ignore them. i'm sure you'll get used to it over time.
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