Chances of Direct Entry MSN in Chicago?

RegularNurse · Mar 1, 2017

You should be a strong candidate. You will have two bachelors degrees, and two masters degrees when you enter the nursing workforce.

Some Questions:

Why do you want to be a nurse? You took the MCATs, which leads me to believe that your end goal is likely CRNA or NP.

If you are applying to a direct entry MSN that results in an opportunity to challenge the NP boards, and this is your career goal, you are on the right track.

I'm not sure that you are on the right track to be a CRNA, because you will need ICU staff nursing experience.

Judging by your previous academic and professional experience, you may not be satisfied with staff nursing because it is the labor arm of medical care. If your career goal is to be a staff nurse, you are beyond overqualified and might want to pursue a traditional BSN tbh.

Regardless, I wish you the best and a fulfilling nursing career. :-)

kpate88 · Mar 1, 2017

Why do you want to be a nurse? You took the MCATs, which leads me to believe that your end goal is likely CRNA or NP.
If you are applying to a direct entry MSN that results in an opportunity to challenge the NP boards, and this is your career goal, you are on the right track.
I'm not sure that you are on the right track to be a CRNA, because you will need ICU staff nursing experience.
Judging by your previous academic and professional experience, you may not be satisfied with staff nursing because it is the labor arm of medical care. If your career goal is to be a staff nurse, you are beyond overqualified and might want to pursue a traditional BSN tbh.
Regardless, I wish you the best and a fulfilling nursing career. :-)

Thank you for the response! I have been wanting to go into healthcare ever since I could remember. However, I have visited and interviewed at medical schools and realized it was not right for me to pursue the doctor route. Most residents I talked to were so burned out and lost their passion for the field. A lot of M1 and M2 friends I have tell me how much they knock you down during your time there. I have a lot of friends in nursing and they have nothing but amazing things to say about their programs and the camaraderie in the class. CRNA seemed right up my alley in what I would like to do as an end-goal.

I am looking to pursue a career as a CRNA. Most programs for this require 2 years experience in the ICU, ER, Surgical, etc. This I could do once I get my MSN, then apply to a CRNA program. I'm only 22 years old right now, so timing would not be an issue for me. I would prefer not do a BSN as at that point, it'd be my third bachelor's degree. All of the Direct Entry MSNs I've applied to also allow you to sit for a clinical nurse leader certification exam.

RegularNurse · Mar 1, 2017

Thank you for clarifying your career goals.

How to achieve your goals:

I am going to use info from Rush University.

1. If you started today, it will take two years of full-time study to get your generalist MSN.

2. For their CRNA program, Rush recommends two full years of ICU experience prior to admission to be competitive (their website says they wait list people)

3. Your only real DNP option for CRNA is Rush because other colleges are not compelled to accept their trimester grad school credits. In my experience with grad school, doctorate level programs don't view other school credits interchangeably with their own.

4. The GEN is 2 years long 74 credits at $995 a credit ~ $73,630

5. The minimum credit hours for the DNP are 30 at $1050 a pop ~ $31,500

6. Based on this info, it will take almost 7 years for you, from the start of your RN training to finishing the DNP Anesthesia program, assuming you immediately find employment in an ICU at graduation.

7. Beyond taking a full seven years, where you are only working as an RN for two of them, you are spending 100k.

8. I think you should consider an accelerated BSN program, some of which take as little as 15 months, do whatever you can to get an ICU job and apply to MSN CRNA programs nationwide. Employers do not care about the DNP. The DNP debate is a figment of academia's imagination.

You will succeed no matter what path you take, but take the path of least resistance.

kpate88 · Mar 1, 2017

Thank you so much for your thoughts! I am going to look into BSN options as well, however, I am applying pretty late for Fall 2017. I applied to 3 MSN programs so far. I am just looking to start as soon as possible, so whichever program accepts me first!

I really do appreciate your help! I didn't think about MSN CRNA programs either. I will definitely look into that!

SEWRN · Oct 9, 2017

Very interesting your experience and aspirations just sort of mapped out my nursing career.

I also did poorly as an undergrad, gpa

I also considered Med school and decided it wasn't for me as I was studying for the mcats.

Already had a bachelors in psych when I decided to go into nursing. Got accepted into an accelerated bsn and Rush for the entry level msn. Considering the prerequisites and amount of time I needed to spend on the accelerated bsn (2.5 years) it didn't make sense to me to go for another bachelors.

Went to Rush for several reasons. It was in the quarter system when I attended - finished in 21 months. Came out with a masters that also allowed me to sit for the cnl and potentially go into leadership later on. Also, what attracted me to Rush was that I would already have some graduate courses knocked out in preparation for crna school--and also being able to prove that I am a capable student at the graduate level. Though I have a ton of loans I'm still trying to pay off (the only aspect I wish was otherwise), I never regretted making the decision to go to Rush for school bc of the clinical experience and the education. Graduated 2012, already had a job lined up in the ICU at graduation. Many of my peers in other schools had difficulty landing a job or substantial clinical experience at the time.

All this said, crna was always in the back of my mind. Fast forward 5 years, I have been an Icu nurse in a tertiary hospital and am at crossroads. Just got accepted to Rush and another school for crna! In my application and interview, I was able to point out how well I did at the graduate level and that I am well prepared. Aside from school, my manager encouraged me to apply for the nurse educator role at my unit even though she knows I will be going back to school--because of the way rush has already prepared me for quality initiatives and I already have a MSN. I think as much as people say schools/employers don't look at where you went to school, etc. I would have to say my experience says otherwise.

There's never a 'right' answer and a straight path for such decisions. You can only base it what your goals are and run with the program that's the best fit. If you have more questions, I'd be happy to help.