Applying to CRNA school in 2016

traumaguy8 · Jan 24, 2015

Current SRNA so I might can help a lil...

* I applied to two schools. One I got an interview but not accepted. The other I got an interview and accepted. I've lurked on this forum for a long time and I'd say most people on here would advise to apply to multiple. But it gets kinda expensive traveling and if you do enough research, you should be able to narrow it down to a couple, and maybe a third backup.

* You should DEFINITELY shadow. It's a requirement for most schools and it will let you know whether anesthesia is really something you want to dive into. As far as where to shadow, not necessarily at your place of employment. Wherever you can get in is fine. Unless your place of employment is a main rotation site for a program you're interested in and there is a chance of meeting an instructor and getting your foot in the door then by all means shadow there.

* For GRE I did all study books. Princeton Review, Kaplan, and ETS were my favorites. Studied off and on for 2 months and hit it really hard for about 2 weeks before test day.

* Interviews: Be confident, but not cocky. Different schools have different interview styles but the 2 schools I interviewed at had personality/get to know you type questions and clinical scenario segments. I didn't prep for the clinical scenario because I had 7 yrs of experience in learning everything I possible could about hemodynamics, ventilators, ABGs, vasoactive drips, antiarrhythmics, etc... But if you are weak in those areas, those are what you should get familiar with. Even if you don't take the CCRN (I didn't) you can use CCRN review books as a study guide for clinical type interview questions. I didn't know how to prep for the personality questions until after the first interview. Basically, If you don't know the answer to something, say so. Don't stumble around trying to come up with something. If they ask you a question along the lines of "Have you ever made a mistake as a nurse and if so tell me about it" then the answer is yes and be honest, or make something up. The interviewers don't judge you for making a mistake (all nurses do at some point), they want to know how you corrected the situation.

* Focus on hemodynamics and everything that affects it (drugs, monitoring, normal values, abnormal values and what causes them, etc..). Not only will it likely come up in an interview, but CRNA school will take you down into the trenches of hemodynamics.

But to be completely honest with you, there is nothing I could have done, or learned, or focused on before school that would have helped me be better prepared for the plethora of knowledge that CRNA school force feeds you with the force of a thousand lightsabers.... And I LOVE IT!

Lucidlulu · Jan 28, 2015

Current SRNA so I might can help a lil...
* I applied to two schools. One I got an interview but not accepted. The other I got an interview and accepted. I've lurked on this forum for a long time and I'd say most people on here would advise to apply to multiple. But it gets kinda expensive traveling and if you do enough research, you should be able to narrow it down to a couple, and maybe a third backup.
* You should DEFINITELY shadow. It's a requirement for most schools and it will let you know whether anesthesia is really something you want to dive into. As far as where to shadow, not necessarily at your place of employment. Wherever you can get in is fine. Unless your place of employment is a main rotation site for a program you're interested in and there is a chance of meeting an instructor and getting your foot in the door then by all means shadow there.
* For GRE I did all study books. Princeton Review, Kaplan, and ETS were my favorites. Studied off and on for 2 months and hit it really hard for about 2 weeks before test day.
* Interviews: Be confident, but not cocky. Different schools have different interview styles but the 2 schools I interviewed at had personality/get to know you type questions and clinical scenario segments. I didn't prep for the clinical scenario because I had 7 yrs of experience in learning everything I possible could about hemodynamics, ventilators, ABGs, vasoactive drips, antiarrhythmics, etc... But if you are weak in those areas, those are what you should get familiar with. Even if you don't take the CCRN (I didn't) you can use CCRN review books as a study guide for clinical type interview questions. I didn't know how to prep for the personality questions until after the first interview. Basically, If you don't know the answer to something, say so. Don't stumble around trying to come up with something. If they ask you a question along the lines of "Have you ever made a mistake as a nurse and if so tell me about it" then the answer is yes and be honest, or make something up. The interviewers don't judge you for making a mistake (all nurses do at some point), they want to know how you corrected the situation.
* Focus on hemodynamics and everything that affects it (drugs, monitoring, normal values, abnormal values and what causes them, etc..). Not only will it likely come up in an interview, but CRNA school will take you down into the trenches of hemodynamics.
But to be completely honest with you, there is nothing I could have done, or learned, or focused on before school that would have helped me be better prepared for the plethora of knowledge that CRNA school force feeds you with the force of a thousand lightsabers.... And I LOVE IT!

Everything she asked about is everything I have thought about.

And your answer were SPOT ON!

Thank you so much for this.

Immensely helpful!

traumaguy8 · Jan 31, 2015

You're welcome! Im glad it helped someone.

LexiCCRN · Feb 6, 2015

Hey traumaguy :-) think you can help another person that wishes they were you right about now? LOL how did you do on the gre? I only got a 306 so I'm worried. Great post thank you so much for all the info

traumaguy8 · Feb 6, 2015

I got a 305 (quant=152, verb=153, writ=3.5) which equals 1160 on the old test equivalence scale. It's not the greatest but was good enough to get me an interview at both schools I applied too. I guess it really depends on how much weight the school you apply to places on the GRE. Personally, I don't think many schools really put much weight on it as long as you have the minimum. Some CRNA schools don't even require it. If you have an exceptionally high score then I think it looks good because it shows you take standardized tests really well and what is the most important thing to CRNA schools? Having high board pass rates...

I think 306 is perfectly fine. After the nightmare of a test the GRE was for me, I decided if I was having a hard time getting interviews, I was going to improve my application in some other way.

LexiCCRN · Feb 7, 2015

You're so right. I didn't think about it that way maybe but standardized tests don't really tell them how great of a nurse I may be :-) (thank goodness lol) thank you SO much for your prompt response. I am beyond grateful. Thank you thank you.

Da_Milk_of_Amnesia, MSN · Feb 12, 2015

Apply to a school that doesn't require the GREs and you won't have to worry about them.

Mouserabbit · Jun 12, 2015

I got a 305 (quant=152, verb=153, writ=3.5) which equals 1160 on the old test equivalence scale. It's not the greatest but was good enough to get me an interview at both schools I applied too. I guess it really depends on how much weight the school you apply to places on the GRE. Personally, I don't think many schools really put much weight on it as long as you have the minimum. Some CRNA schools don't even require it. If you have an exceptionally high score then I think it looks good because it shows you take standardized tests really well and what is the most important thing to CRNA schools? Having high board pass rates...
I think 306 is perfectly fine. After the nightmare of a test the GRE was for me, I decided if I was having a hard time getting interviews, I was going to improve my application in some other way.

Hey there... I am in the process applying for one CRNA school.. I am going to apply for more but My GRE is kinda low, I only made 304, but I have 4.0 GPA, 1.2 year ICU experience, I just passed my CCRN early this month.. I am worried that my GRE will become my biggest enemy... I have taken GRE twice and the scores are pretty similar, I just don't think I can improve much..Any advice regarding my chances? Thank you very much!