CRNA applicant with multiple Bachelors...

Nursing Students SRNA

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I am in my second year of my BSN and have a mindset to continue my education and pursue a career as an anesthetist. I graduated in 2007 from Bethany college with a bachelor's in chemistry. After working as an environmental chemist for 3 years i felt as if i had more to offer and decided to switch to a career in healthcare. My thought process was that as an anesthetist i would be able to use my my chemistry knowledge in a healthcare setting. I am in my second (and last!) year of nursing school for my BSN and will get an RN position in an ICU as soon as possible. My question is this...

My chemistry GPA was 3.15. I will graduate with my BSN with a GPA of 3.75 or 3.8 ish. This will take my cumulative GPA only to around 3.4, but with a math and science GPA around 3.8. I have taken the GRE before and scored around 1100. After 2 years of ICU experience i will start applying to CRNA programs. Considering these circumstances will my previous bachelor's in chemistry actually hurt my chances of being accepted into a CRNA program because it is dragging down my cumulative GPA? I have read through some of these forums and it seems that there is some very good information and posters and i would appreciate you input!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

No it will not. Also shoot for more than the "required" ICU experience (meaning more than 1-2 years). A little extra experience will pay off big dividends later in your career.

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Your past gpa will have some impact on your application. However, your bsn gpa will help out. Your gre score is decent. If you could retake gre and score even higher that would make you a stronger applicant. I advise to start applying as soon as you start working in ICU. There are many different crna programs around the country. I am sure you can get into one. You may have to relocate though. Good luck.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

Assuming you can get really high qualiety ICU experience you sound like a shoe-in. I know lot's and lots of people who get in with less academic qualifications. I think your chem degree will be seen as an asset.

Given that every single nurse I know personaly who applied got into CRNA school, though some had to apply a couple times, I don't think it's as hard as people make out.

I think the ICU experience will be your bottle neck. I suggest you look into nurse residency programs that train new grads to be ICU nurses

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At the Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia, we look at a cumulative GPA, but applicants' grades are entered on a timeline so the committee will see the improvements (science grades are a high priority). A strong science background is definitely a plus! For us, the average number of years of experience in ICU for our applicants is three -- with a requirement of one year (excluding orientation) by the time of enrollment.

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