Anyone applied to or currently attending a CRNA program in California?

missnurse01, MSN, RN · Jul 21, 2012

altho I am not in a program I hear from those that have gone thru Kaiser's are extremely happy with it--altho all the long drives to clinicals are a killer. I was really interested in San Fran for a while but cost of living was a little too high

SinapseSRNA · Dec 22, 2012

I am a Kaiser SRNA,

It might be a biased opinion but many believe that if you can get in, this is your best california option. It is 24 months, very well put together, great professors, great clinicals, and CHEAP (28k for the whole program). The professors are awesome and the learning curve is steep and F.U.N. I really have no complaints all around. You DO have to drive 2 hours round trip to go to certain clinicals and that can get time consuming but that's not a huge inconvenience for me. Whats nice is that they pay for your hotel if you have to go to more distant sites like San Diego, Palm Springs, Barstow, and Hawaii. I think there is a total of 16 clinical sites and you rotate through large part of them. The class size is close to 40 students now and they are all great people. Its like a family environment

Having said that, your other Cali options are not bad either. Loma Linda and USC are both good universities and I have friends that go to both and they like it. USC is 65k, Loma Linda is almost 90K. (these are rough estimates). USC is 2 years, Loma Linda is 3. Both have a med school with Anesthesiology residents in training. LLU class size 6-8ppl, USC is around 12 students.

National Unversity is so new I have not heard much except for the fact that their director is great.

hope this helps.

stunt362 · Jan 18, 2013

I am a SRNA at Loma Linda. As a clarification, the tuition is about $95k, the program is 2.5 years long, and my class has 14 people. The incoming class will be 16.

It is a more expensive program, but you get your moneys worth. It is a really strong, solid program and I have no complaints so far. All of the clinicals are local (in San Bernardino and Riverside counties), so there is no commuting. It is a very difficult, challenging program (a few of the classes are based on the medical school curriculum but more focused to anesthesia). State of the art simulation lab and cadaver lab. The faculty are all very nice, supportive, and encouraging.

When I was completing my applications, I did also interview with National University in Fresno as well. Their program is brand new also with their first class having started last April. Their campus is very nice. I have no complaints about the interview process at all. It was organized and efficient, and all of the faculty were very nice and helpful. They also have a simulation lab, but on a smaller scale. The class that I interviewed for was 10 people, not sure how many people they will be admitting this year. Their tuition is about $50k, if I remember correctly.

Wtf54321 · Oct 20, 2017

Anyone else find this thread?

https://allnurses.com/student-registered-nurse/national-university-crna-1018211.html

It has sown pretty crazy stuff. But with what's going on today in our country, it's very believable. I think I'll skip applying to this program and try my best elsewhere or never go to crna school at all.