Chances of me being accepted? What can I do now as a student?

srna17 · Sep 7, 2015

My science GPA was about 3.8. overall GPA 3.57. I had 2 years ICU experience at the time of my interview and three years as a nurse. Only certifications were PALS/ACLS. I had 320 combined on the GRE i believe. Nothing crazy. I was offered a spot immediately after the interview. After starting school and speaking with people i learned some had to wait a few weeks for an official offer. Started school this august at texas wesleyan.

chris21sn, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2015

Hello, and thank you for your quick reply! You have amazing stats. If you don't mind me asking, what ICU floor were you on? :)

srna17 · Sep 7, 2015

14 bed Neuro ICU in a hospital with 4 adult ICUs and 500 beds.

dressagerdr · Sep 8, 2015

I might recommend retaking a science course or two to raise your science GPA a bit, and to show your dedication to improvement. This especially if you're limiting yourself to one area to apply in... I interpreted what you said about living at home to mean you're planning on applying in one area; if that assumption is correct, I might recommend branching out a bit and applying to a few more programs if possible for you.

It sounds like otherwise you have a good plan, I'd just stress making the most out of your ICU career. Make an effort to take the patients that offer learning opportunities, start difficult IVs (provided your hospital doesn't have an IV team), go to the code blues/rapid responses if you can, pick your experienced coworkers' brains as they will be a wealth of information. Try not to get too ahead of yourself and focused on CRNA school, and try to become a really good, knowledgeable, confident, skilled ICU nurse. This is the basis that will help you when you get into CRNA school and beyond. Not to mention, you're going to need those coworkers to write you reference letters when you're ready to apply.

If you're wondering about me, I started CRNA school this August. Had 1.5 years mixed ICU experience at the interview (2.5 years nursing experience), CCRN, ACLS, PALS, TNCC. 4.0 science GPA, 3.9 nursing GPA with honors. That being said, I don't think you really NEED to have those kind of grades to get in - I was just an overachiever.

chris21sn, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2015

Hello, and thank you for your quick reply! It means alot! Do you recommend that I take extra science classes in my undergraduate or when I'm working as a RN, with graduate classes? And if so, what particular classes do you recommend?

Also, yes, I live in the East Coast region. I was planning to stay in my area (North jersey, 20 minutes from the city). I was hoping to subject my search to only NJ and NY, but I'll try my best to definitely look into the other areas! Anything for the ultimate goal :)

And will do! I'll try to really learn while I'm on the floor! I'll try to focus on the things you mentioned. I'll also try to learn as much as I can to be a good ICU nurse.

I just have to also commend you for your amazing stats, I really hope I can aspire to develop and learn more.

Thank you for your advice, it really means alot.

dressagerdr · Sep 10, 2015

As far as when you take your science courses (if that's what you choose to do), perhaps it might be best for you to focus on the studies you need to do to graduate and make sure you do as well as you can in those. I know there's online classes you can take if you want to wait until after you graduate, as far as programs that offer such courses I'm not much help as I've never taken any, sorry... But, whatever works best for you and is most financially feasible as well as what fits into your life. And as far as which courses to take, if there was a particular course you didn't do as well in during your undergrad, it could be a good idea to retake one of those, especially if it's a course that relates closely with nursing (physiology, anatomy, pharmacology, etc.). Or, many programs out there require chemistry within a certain amount of time or organic chemistry, so taking one of those in a few years' time when you're gearing up to apply could also be beneficial. For instance, I've never had organic chemistry before and we're now doing an organic chemistry course this semester in school (and my last chemistry course was sophomore year of undergrad)... I would have liked to have some background in it before starting it at this level with so many other courses to pay attention to. Even just being refreshed in chemistry would have been beneficial. That's just my 2 cents, others might have differing opinions.

I'm not saying you shouldn't focus on that area, I'd still very much encourage you to apply there and do everything you can to make yourself a strong candidate for those schools - I'm all for living at home and having the support of family, as well as decreasing your potential costs during school! But, the reality is that CRNA school can be so difficult to get into, and if your priority is to get in and you'd be willing to consider living further from home, it might be wise to branch out a little further. You never know which school will "click" with you.

Best of luck to you! Sounds like you've got the right foundation to build off of.

chris21sn, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2015

Thank you so much for your encouraging and kind words of advice.

Also, I'm so sorry to pester you again with another question.

Here are my grades and subjects for my science GPA...Should I retake Microbiology only or Anatomy I&II as well?

Chemistry - 4 credits - A

Anatomy and Physiology I - 4 credits - B+

Anatomy and Physiology II - 4 credits - B+

Microbiology - 4 credits - B-

(actually not sure, if I excluded subjects that are supposed to be in a science GPA. If I'm missing a subject, please let me know. These are the only 4 that I used to calculate the science GPA)

And yes, I look forward to definitely studying organic chemistry, especially knowing I can apply it for the graduate program.

Thank you again for reading, and multiple apologies for all the questions.

dressagerdr · Sep 11, 2015

No need to apologize, I had my own thread of questions as I was gearing up to apply. It's called using your resources :)

In my opinion (again I'm not on an admissions committee and don't claim to be an expert on this), the B- raises more of a red flag than the B+'s. So my thought would be to definitely try to improve that. As far as the physiology B+'s, from what I've read on other threads and my own personal feeling, retaking one and getting an A should demonstrate plenty of dedication to improvement. A B+ is not really a bad grade, all in all. But, two A's wouldn't hurt you either if you retook both and did better. That being said, I don't really think it would be 100% necessary to retake both. That's just my opinion though... One thing you could try is contacting the schools you're wanting to apply to and ask; they know what kind of stats their students generally have, so they might be able to offer guidance to you as far as what you need to do to make yourself more marketable.

If you took a biology, biochem, or anatomy course at all, that should be included in your science GPA as well. I feel like I took far more science courses as an undergrad than what you listed... I don't have my transcripts handy to check what else you might be missing in adding up your GPA. Hmmm....

kbl7td · Sep 11, 2015

Not that any of this is bad advice, but I wouldn't retake any of those courses, it's really just a waste of money. If you are dead set on adding a couple of courses, take organic chem and pathophysiology. I would focus more on your actually nursing career and moving forward with being more educated as a nurse. CCRN, PALS, ACLS, TNCC are all easy. Get your CMC, CSC, and any other certs you are eligible for. Also, join committees and volunteer if you can.

Just for example...I was in a 12 bed mixed adult ICU for two years, learned a lot, but not a ton. I just recently moved to one of the top heart and lung transplant CICU's in the nation, and let me tell you, these kids are very sick. LVAD's, RVAD's, ECMO, CVVH, Berlin Heart, etc are all regular occurrences.

Experience > classes in my opinion. But if you have both, you're golden, and you have an excellent GPA.

chris21sn, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2015

No need to apologize, I had my own thread of questions as I was gearing up to apply. It's called using your resources :)
In my opinion (again I'm not on an admissions committee and don't claim to be an expert on this), the B- raises more of a red flag than the B+'s. So my thought would be to definitely try to improve that. As far as the physiology B+'s, from what I've read on other threads and my own personal feeling, retaking one and getting an A should demonstrate plenty of dedication to improvement. A B+ is not really a bad grade, all in all. But, two A's wouldn't hurt you either if you retook both and did better. That being said, I don't really think it would be 100% necessary to retake both. That's just my opinion though... One thing you could try is contacting the schools you're wanting to apply to and ask; they know what kind of stats their students generally have, so they might be able to offer guidance to you as far as what you need to do to make yourself more marketable.
If you took a biology, biochem, or anatomy course at all, that should be included in your science GPA as well. I feel like I took far more science courses as an undergrad than what you listed... I don't have my transcripts handy to check what else you might be missing in adding up your GPA. Hmmm....

Hello! Looking at my transcript, I feel like Pharm, Patho, or Nutrition? Might also be included? Please let me know. And you're right about the B+/A with Anatomy, you can never be too prepared. And yes! I definitely might end up pestering my graduate program with questions in a year or two haha!

chris21sn, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2015

Not that any of this is bad advice, but I wouldn't retake any of those courses, it's really just a waste of money. If you are dead set on adding a couple of courses, take organic chem and pathophysiology. I would focus more on your actually nursing career and moving forward with being more educated as a nurse. CCRN, PALS, ACLS, TNCC are all easy. Get your CMC, CSC, and any other certs you are eligible for. Also, join committees and volunteer if you can.
Just for example...I was in a 12 bed mixed adult ICU for two years, learned a lot, but not a ton. I just recently moved to one of the top heart and lung transplant CICU's in the nation, and let me tell you, these kids are very sick. LVAD's, RVAD's, ECMO, CVVH, Berlin Heart, etc are all regular occurrences.
Experience > classes in my opinion. But if you have both, you're golden, and you have an excellent GPA.

All advice is great advice! Thank you for your input! You're definitely right, experience is definitely golden. I'll do my best to take both classes and grow with my ICU experience. I've never heard of CMC and CSC, I'll definitely look more into that! They look amazing.