Jr. Male nursing student with a question

cjcsoon2bnp, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 7, 2010

Hello everyone, Thanks for clicking on my thread! I am currently entering my 2nd semester in my junior year of college for my BSN. I recently was selected to do my summer internship at the ICU. I am extremely happy i decided as nursing as my career. I work as an CNA during college and i know i have picked the right path.
However, with the arrival of the news of my internship i have started to think beyond the traditional BSN Rn degree.
I believe with hard work this summer i may be offered a job in the ICU when i graduate college. From my understanding ICU nurses are highly praised by grad-schools.
My question is- What all steps do i need to accomplish to put me in the position to becoming a NP or CRNA.
I am a 3.3 GPA student who always receives EXCELLENT reviews on my clinical work & at the hospital i am highly praised by my hard work ethic and my ability to bond with patients.
Thanks for your guys' imput!

As an undergrad nursing student I understand where your coming from because I am considering the NP route myself. As far as the CRNA route goes I believe that most schools requires you to have a certain GPA (usually at least a 3.0 while getting your BSN) and at least 2 years experience as an RN in an ICU setting. I'm sure that specific schools will have more requirements but those two seem to be the minimum requirements for most CRNA schools. Your really lucky to be able to get an internship in an ICU because it will look great on your resume and really contribute to your nursing education. How exactly do you function in this internship? Are you more like a CNA or tech position? Do you work one on one with a nurse to help them with their direct patient care? I'm just very curious to see how this works.

!Chris :specs:

Monohydrate · Jan 7, 2010

You work directly under the supervision of a RN. I will work 36 hours a week for 10 weeks this summer for the internship. A rotation of Day shifts and Night shifts are scheduled. And thank you such much for responding to my thread!

Snwbdr · Jan 9, 2010

For CRNA school- you need a BSN and at least 1 year of critical care experience, though more is recommended....and for schools that require the GRE, a good score on that....the GPA is usually at least 3.0 but obviously the higher the better....go cruise over to the CRNA/SRNA forums and read up....

Mr ButtWipe · Jan 9, 2010

CRNA is very competetive. I am in an accelerated BSN program, had a 3.1gpa for my undergrad and a 3.6 so far in the BSN program. I am kind of nervous that my GPA won't cut it. Right now the only thing we could do is hit the books extra hard since the end is near and pick up that gpa, it can only help.

BigPappaCRNA · Feb 7, 2019

You will need to get your grades higher, or prove that you can do good work by taking some upper division or graduate level classes. While your grades might be the same as other people who may have attended other programs, they likely had more, much more, experience than 1-2 years. Virtually any candidate can have one hole in their resume (GPA, Experience, GRE, Recommendations, additional classes) few if any will admit someone with two areas of weakness. If you were to actually get accepted to a program with your current grades, and lets say, just one year of experience, you really would have to ask yourself why they would do that. Did you really blow them away with your potential in your interview, or are they looking at you as a source of 50-150K and don't mind if you can't cut it and drop out, because they did not have clinical spots for all their students anyways.

I am not trying to squash your dreams, but please do yourself a favor, and do all the work needed to be a qualified and effective SRNA, if you choose to go that route. Before you move, quit a job, spend your savings, get rid of your pets, etc, make sure you are set up for success.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Feb 8, 2019

4 hours ago, BigPappaCRNA said:
You will need to get your grades higher, or prove that you can do good work by taking some upper division or graduate level classes. While your grades might be the same as other people who may have attended other programs, they likely had more, much more, experience than 1-2 years. Virtually any candidate can have one hole in their resume (GPA, Experience, GRE, Recommendations, additional classes) few if any will admit someone with two areas of weakness. If you were to actually get accepted to a program with your current grades, and lets say, just one year of experience, you really would have to ask yourself why they would do that. Did you really blow them away with your potential in your interview, or are they looking at you as a source of 50-150K and don't mind if you can't cut it and drop out, because they did not have clinical spots for all their students anyways.
I am not trying to squash your dreams, but please do yourself a favor, and do all the work needed to be a qualified and effective SRNA, if you choose to go that route. Before you move, quit a job, spend your savings, get rid of your pets, etc, make sure you are set up for success.

I doubt the OP will ever see your post since you are responding to a 9 yr old post and the OP has not been on the site since they posted the thread 9 yrs ago.

BigPappaCRNA · Feb 10, 2019

Thanks. I never really look at the date. This came across my feed as a current thread. I did not give it a second thought that it was old. Who knows, the OP is probably onto a 2nd or 3rd career by now.

nursetim, NP · Oct 9, 2019

Sounds like you just need to figure out which way to jump, good luck. Sounds like you’ll do well regardless of what you pick.