Location vs. Program Ranking

You will see the inside of your apartment, the library and your classrooms.

I think there are lot of factors to consider.
1- Review the curriculum. Front loaded vs integrated. Talk to the program or maybe students in the program.
2- Cost. This is really important if you need student loans. It's getting very challenging to find private student loans for cost of living. So consider tuition costs as well as cost of living near the school. Figure out in state vs out of state tuition if applies.
3- Get info about the schools success (seems more important than a ranking number). How many pass. How many drop out. I understand there are programs out their the admit a lot of students and weed some out.
4- Look at where the clinicals are. Do you have to travel for them? Will you compete with AA or MDA students for cases..or GOOD cases?
5- Consider location. Will you have a support group near by? That may not be an issue for you. I hate cold weather..so that played a part in my decision.

That's just a short list I considered when I applied. And I personally love the weather in Miami, except for the summers...where my school is.

I find location to be important when i am buying a house, not when i am going to school.

I would like to live in Miami for a couple of years, however, you may as well like in Northern Cananda as you'll only be inside studying anyhow. At least i would hope so, I would want my CRNA hitting the books pretty darn hard.

well... you could always study outside by the pool...or on the beach if you don't get distracted. I sit by my pool outside with some books at times.

absolutely nothing against anyone who loves SoFlo, but IMHO, the scenery wears off, awful damn quick.... I'll never be back there to live.

At the risk of being repetitive, program rankings mean very little. Here is a copy of a popular program ranking survey compared against COA accreditation time frames. Since the COA actually visits the programs and does a top to bottom inspection, I think it is much more reflective of program quality than a subjective survey.

Originally Posted by NRSKarenRN

Us News: 2007 Nursing-Anesthesia ranking.
*This ranking was computed in January of the year cited, based on data from a survey sent out in the fall of the previous year.

A survey sent to program directors and deans of those programs leaves a lot of room for subjectivity. Since this data was computed in January 2007 gathered from a survey sent in the fall of 2006, it is also less than current. Here is a list taken from the AANA website in 2008 showing the accreditation periods granted to each program. These time frames were based on objective data which included site visits and a thorough review of student case numbers, graduation rates, pass rates, and overall program administration by the COA. I submit that this list (roughly in alphabetical order from the website) has a little more credibility. Also note that the 3 and 4 year accreditation periods may be provisional, given to new schools awaiting their first formal accreditation cycle. In editing, I've added the approximate USNWR rating to schools who received less than a ten year accreditation by the COA.

10 Years:
Albany Medical College
Allegheny Valley
Baylor
Boston College
Bryan LGH
Carolinas/UNCC
Cleveland Clinic
Columbia
Crozier
Decatur/Bradley
Samford
Drexel
Duke
East Carolina
Evanston/Northwestern
Excela
Fairfield/Bridgeport
Case Western
Skemp
LaSalle
Gooding
Gannon
St Raphael’s
Kaiser
LSU
Mayo Clinic
MUSC
Memorial/Rhode Island
Minneapolis
Mt. Marty
Navy Nurse Corps
Nazareth
New Britain
Northeastern
UAB
Oakland/Beaumont
Raleigh
Rush
St. Mary’s
Samuel Merritt
St. Elizabeth’s
St. John’s
St. Joseph’s
TCU
Akron
Iowa
Michigan/Flint
Tennessee Knoxville
Tennessee Chattanooga
Tennessee Memphis
Truman
US Army GPAN
USUHS
Cincinnati
Detroit Mercy
Kansas
Maryland
Pitt
Penn
North Dakota
U Southern Cal
U South Carolina
UT Houston
VCU
Wake Forest
Wayne State
Webster
Wyoming Valley

8 Years:
Arkansas State #77
Barry #78
Charleston Area MC #42
Georgetown #7
Barnes #31
Middle Tennessee #69
Newman #65
Sacred Heart/Spokane #74
SIU/Edwardsville #82
Minnesota #49
U of New England #50

6 Years:
Florida International
MC Georgia #63
Midwestern
Old Dominion #56
Texas Wesleyan
Trover #74

4 Years:
Inter-American
Florida Hospital
SUNY Harlem
Our Lady of Lourdes
Mountain State
Michigan State
Rosalind Franklin
Union
SUNY Buffalo #18
UMD/New Jersey
U Puerto Rico
West Carolina
Wolford
York #86

3 Years:
Thomas Jefferson #73
U of North Florida
Florida Gulf Coast
Mercer #80
Oregon Health
Our Lady of the Lake #81
U of South Florida
Miami
Westminster

Just

6 Philly area schools with 10 yr accreditations... sand 1 hr away at Jersey shore..

don't worry about the rankings, just pick the best school for you. one thing I will say about FL is there is a lot of action for SRNAs. We (Barry) easily doubled the case requirements by the COA, and all but a couple passed the boards on the first try (my class had around 65 people in it).

bottom line is people who will hire you are not going to care what rank your program was...we just want to make sure you can pull your load in the OR and do so safely.

good luck