CRNA School Hopeful!

[Bunny Bear]

Hi all.

I have been interested in applying to CRNA school since before I went to Nursing School- in fact, that is why I went to Nursing School. It has just taken me 9 years to actually get to the point of applying and I am curious on your thoughts of whether or not I am a competitive applicant for the Ida B. Moffett program in Birmingham, Alabama.

I am not sure of my overall GPA. I goofed around at LSU for three years (1993-1996) and I think my GPA is around a 2.6 ( mainly C's and D's for science). As for my nursing pre-req's (including my A&P's), I got all A's. For my ADN degree, I received A's and B's, and finally for the remaining classes in order to complete my BSN, I earned all A's.

I received a combined GRE of 1080 and am not sure what I scored on my Analytical Writing as of yet.

As for experience, I did 8 months of SICU and then moved out of the country. I ended up returning home, fairly quickly, an did a number of 4-8 week contracts in SICU/CICU. I spent 2004-2006 in a Neuro Intensive Care Unit before moving to Alabama. So now, I am working in an area that has vents and the occasional Dopamine drip, but is not considered Critical Care.

I do not belong to any professional organizations and have little volunteer experience since college.

So that's it in a nutshell. What do y'all think?

Any suggestions on becoming a more competitive applicant?

THANKS!

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Moved to Pre-CRNA Inquiry Forum. Good luck to you!

[japaho41]

Go back to the ICU, many programs will specify that you need to work in the ICU up until you start school. Look at the classes that you didn't do so good in that may be looked at in your transcript and if they are classes that are required you might want to consider re-taking. It sounds like you Nursing GPA will be sufficient and your GRE is above the min. required. Keep in mind that if you don't think your GPA is competitive you want to have a higher GRE score.

[wanttobeacrna]

try applying for the programs that accept the last 60 credit hours of your education. Your GRE sounds adequate although many programs think that it is useless. Retaking your sciences will help because many programs weight your GPA on your science grades..they would like you to do well in these.