Removing barriers to admission!

Specialties CRNA

Published

I have a few questions for CRNAs, specifically I'm looking for critique about barriers to admission.

1. Is an online BSN looked down upon by admission committees? Maybe a better question would be if any of you have been admitted after earning an online BSN?

2. Given the 2015 doctoral deadline, do you think that there will be a last minute push for master's programs- thus a little lighter on the competition for spots in the DNP programs?

3. Since I have a choice, do any of these paths add or remove barriers to admission? I understand that there are a lot of other admission factors, but if you see a glaring difference in one path vs another, I'd love to hear it. (*I'm working on the DNP prereq sciences now, so they will be out of the equation and not part of any path)

a) community college ADN --> University BSN online --> DNP applicant

b) community college ADN --> BSN online from an online college --> DNP applicant

c) hospital based aBSN --> DNP applicant

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Specializes in Trauma 1.

I am currently in CRNA school, and no one in my class has an online BSN. Im not certain, but I would think that the BSN would have more to do with the college/university it came from (i.e. are you taking online courses at a well known and accredited college or university?)

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Specializes in MICU & SICU.

There are quite a few online BSN programs and perhaps there are those that are not looked as very reputable by program directors. I think the best thing to do is to look at the admission criteria for each program you are interested in and see how you compare to what they would like to see in a candidate. Secondly, if you want to take a step further, that is if the program director would be willing to share with you what the stats were on there latest admission class (what do they really admit). By this I mean ask them of the class you admitted what was the averages of GPA, GRE score and years of experience. This may give you a better understanding of the barriers of admission.

As for the DNP, I really would not factor this into the equation at this point especially if you are going to apply in the next few years. To my knowledge this standard has been adopted by the AACN and not necessarily the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists. What I was told by my program director who called the Council and asked if they were going to stop accrediting MSN anesthesia programs in 2015, the answer was no.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I believe experience counts for a lot more than where your actual degree came from.

Nurse anesthesia programs aren't required to switch to the DNP/DNAP until 2025. We have different timeline than other APNs. http://www.aana.com/SearchResults.aspx

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There are quite a few online BSN programs and perhaps there are those that are not looked as very reputable by program directors. I think the best thing to do is to look at the admission criteria for each program you are interested in and see how you compare to what they would like to see in a candidate. Secondly, if you want to take a step further, that is if the program director would be willing to share with you what the stats were on there latest admission class (what do they really admit). By this I mean ask them of the class you admitted what was the averages of GPA, GRE score and years of experience. This may give you a better understanding of the barriers of admission.

As for the DNP, I really would not factor this into the equation at this point especially if you are going to apply in the next few years. To my knowledge this standard has been adopted by the AACN and not necessarily the Council on Certification of Nurse Anesthetists. What I was told by my program director who called the Council and asked if they were going to stop accrediting MSN anesthesia programs in 2015, the answer was no.

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Really? Wow. Ok, that gives me a few things to think about for the MSN vs DNP. My first choice path is into a university that does not require GRE (not sure why) but they have went to only DNP, the MSN option does not lead to anything other than nurse educator. All of their NP tracks are DNP programs. They state on the FAQ that they receive "inquiries" from 20 people per month, but accept a group of 10 per year. If that's not inflated, perhaps half +/- apply, so they are taking

I know it seems premature to plan this out, however, with all of the requirements of nursing school, the serious load of science prereqs for the DNP program, and essential work experience, I really feel that prudent planning is essential if I want to complete ALL of the requirements in a good sequence and without too much down time. (for example, I can't imagine organic chemistry gets EASIER the longer I have been away from general chem lol!!) I accept that I may get off track or have a change of heart, however, I can always back out. I just want to start my journey aimed in the right direction so that IF I make it, I am a competitive applicant and have been academically prepared.

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(for example, I can't imagine organic chemistry gets EASIER the longer I have been away from general chem lol!!)

You'd be surprised then. As they are taught, organic and general have very little overlap. I referred to my general chem book maybe twice: at the very beginning of the class discussing electron configurations and then again when we talked about gas laws.

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