Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.
allnurses

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.
Discussion

Advice needed

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.

Featured Replies

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

  • Author

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into some advanced patho courses and some prep for the GRE.

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 :)

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.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
Go to topic listing

Currently Reading 0

  • No registered users viewing this page.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications
Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.