Nurses Helping Nurses
allnurses Network: Central | Jobs | Books | Newsletter
allnurses: A Nursing Community for Nurses
Home General News Blogs Articles Students Region Specialty Degrees F.A.Q.
Pre-CRNA Inquiry Forum /

Advice needed



Did You Know?
allnurses is the largest community for nurses on the web. We now have over 388,693 members! Join today to network with other nurses, laugh, share, and much more.

Apr 03, 2009 01:03 PM

Advice needed

by Atlas09

Some background on myself. I am 24 and currently work in a large ICU where I have been working for about 3 months now. I previously was a med surg nurse but got tired of that setting. I decided about a year ago I wanted to be a CRNA. I'm currently working on my bachelors and should be done in February of next year. Unfortunatley my undergrad GPA prior to my bachelors is quite bad. I went to engineering school out of highschool with no desire to be an engineer and then after a year wandered about the academic sceen until deciding to be a nurse (which I love by the way). I wasn't motivated in school and my undergrad GPA is about a 3.0 with mostly C's in my sciences. My bachelors program however I'm holding a 4.0 and plan to graduate with it.
So here is my question, I want to be a CRNA and will do whatever it takes. So what will it take? Can you guys tell me what certifications I need to go after? What extra classes to take? I know that I need to do some graduate science to show that I can handle it and I need my CCRN but what else is there I can do? Any help is greatly appreciated.


Share

Search Tags
None
Top

 
Advertisement
Sponsored Links
 
Reply
4 Comments
No. 1
from adamrj8282
Old Apr 04, 2009, 05:18 AM

Default Re: Advice needed
Well first of all, your GPA should end up pretty decent. If you read on the forums, there are plenty of people with ~3.4 GPA that get accepted. If I were you I wouldn't just take any old graduate sciences, I would look at some schools I was interested in and see what some of the generals are (such as graduate patho). That way you'll be ahead when you start CRNA school. A great GRE score would also help your case. I used the Princeton Review book and a website called mygretutor.com and studied for about 3 hours a day for a month and got a 1260. If I had spent another month doing it I feel I would have scored much higher so I'd recommend 2 months.

I didn't have any extra certifications (not even CCRN) so I don't know a whole lot about that, but I do know that the interview committee at Pittsburgh seemed impressed that I was the co-chair of a committee at work and involved with a couple more committees.

-Adam
Top

1 Reader Gave Kudos
 
No. 2
from Atlas09
Old Apr 05, 2009, 07:20 AM

Default Re: Advice needed
Thanks for the reply, I'll look into some advanced patho courses and some prep for the GRE.
Top
 
No. 3
Old Apr 15, 2009, 05:52 PM

Default Re: Advice needed
You sound like you are on the right path. Your GPA will be fine if you stick with it. I too was engineering before I got my BSN. Many programs look at the last 100 or so credit hours with a keen eye on the basic sciences. I have TNCC. ACLS, PALS, NRP, and BLS. I have worked in the ICU for 2 years 5 months and start my program in June of 2009. Stay the course
Top
 
No. 4
from dizzlern84
Old Apr 19, 2009, 11:45 AM

Default Re: Advice needed
I can tell you I think you will do fine. I just got accepted to a CRNA program with a 3.09 GPA overall. I did get my CCRN CMC and CSC certifications. I believe these helped me out tremendously by increasing my knowledge but more importantly showing my motivation for higher learning. I also had 2 years experience before applying as well.
Top
 
Reply




Thread Tools


Who's Online
99 members
1,283 guests
1,382

42

lawsuit - But don't most RN's work through breaks/lunch...

0

Patient Evaluation of Retail Clinic Care

6

The hard to reach on-call doctor, and its effects on...

9

Woman charged with passing off prescription drug as...

22

Man in "Vegetative State" was conscious for 23...

2

Interesting article on ThedaCare's Collaborative Care Model

13

Possible breakthrough regarding MS

63

16th Philly area hospital to stop delivering babies: Mercy...

14

Really interesting article on Indian open hearts

12

High-Tech Pump Does What Her Heart Can't



43

Dear preceptor

1

Society Needs Care Too

13

Why am I doing this, anyway?

2

Nurse Heal Thyself

10

My Papa, why I am the nurse I am today.

17

I made it through

11

An angel's gaze

16

A Sister Never Forgets

16

Ruby's Marbles

42

What Do Operating Room Nurses Do?

14

My Little Old Jedi

21

I love this job......

23

"I hear voices"

20

Preventing FRUTI (Foley Related Urinary Tract Infection) in...

24

Error and Attitude





Currently Reading This Page: 1 (0 members & 1 guests)

Interested in the hottest topics of the week? Subscribe to the Nurse-zine Newsletter.
Enter email address: