How did you choose your school?

[Noobposter]

What did you look for in a program? My state doesn't have a school, so that's not a factor for me. I saw the school rankings, but I'm guessing that probably is a little like med school rankings and doesn't really mean a whole lot. How do I choose?

[indecisiveRN]

I'm still in the process of applying, but I can tell you why I applied where I did. One of the schools I'm applying to is close enough to where I live that I could commute. We already live here, so my husband could keep his job and my mom could continue babysitting our daughter. We have also discussed moving in with my parents to save money while I'm in school. It is also a really good program, and it is front-loaded.

The second program is about a five hour drive from here, but the cost of the program and the cost of living are very low. The clinical site is pretty great, and it is a Master's of Nurse Anesthesia, not a MSN, so the theory-type classes are kept to a minimum.

The third program is about six hours from here, but only 1.5-2 from my in-laws. It is also a really great program (so I've heard). There are opportunities to do clinicals at fantastic hospitals.

I chose all three because none of them require recent hard sciences (o. chem, biochem). I took science as an undergrad, but those are nearing 10 years old and I didn't do that well in them.

Other things to consider are front-loaded versus mixed (there are posts about that here if you search for them), cost, size of the program, how established it is, whether or not you'd like to live in the area, and where clinicals are held. I'm sure others will have things to add to that list.

This has gone on longer than I intended, but I hope it helps!

[mark2climb]

I think there are lots of factors that you can consider in choosing a program. My ideal program would be one that doesn't require relocation, integrated curriculum, consolidated clinical sites, and in state tuition. I also live in a state that does not have a program, so all that kinda went out the door.

I applied to three programs the first round and got accepted in to my first choice, which was a public school that was ranked well and had a very pleasant interview process. The program also has an excellent reputation nationally. To find that out, you can talk to people here or CRNAs that you know. You want to make sure that the graduates of whatever program you like has the reputation of being well prepared. You can also find out the board pass rates and dropout rates online for certain programs as well.

I hope that helps.