Getting into CRNA school

[HawaiiRN]

Hello,

Let me first say that the information posted in this forum has been invaluable in preparing to apply to CRNA school.

I recently decided to apply to CRNA school and am taking the necessary steps to obtain that goal. I have my BSN with >5 years nursing experience most of which is ER (Level I) and 1 1/2 years of high acuity ICU (CVICU ending 3 years ago). I am currently transferring from the ER back to ICU for more unit experience in a Trauma ICU, am taking a GRE prep course with plans on taking the test early Dec, and plan on taking CCRN to add to the other usual certifications (ACLS, TNCC, PALS).

My problem is my gpa and while I know I obviously need to retake and do well in these science classes, the question is exactly what to retake. BSN ('98) was my 2nd degree with gpa ~3.3. My first degree was BA Psychology ('94 gpa 2.7) with heavy emphasis in sciences, but did poorly (c, c-) in these science classes b/c I decided to go where premed is cutthroat and I had poor study habits (what was I thinking???)

I want to take 2 classes this coming semester and 1-2 in the summer before applying next summer/fall for admission in 2005. I am thinking of organic I and perhaps biochemistry or physics or statistics. (the biochem grade was poor, never had physics and stats was okay but has been 12 years). My first organic 1 was actually okay but the orgo II I bombed. Please help!!

Any advice is appreciated. :)

[NCgirl]

The schools I interviewed at all wanted to see organic and biochem, that was in the southeast US. Can't speak for the rest of the country...

[PilotJim68]

Originally posted by NCgirl

The schools I interviewed at all wanted to see organic and biochem, that was in the southeast US. Can't speak for the rest of the country...

They want to see both or just one or the other?

[NCgirl]

Those just seemed to be their favorite two. If I had to pick one, I'd say organic chemistry.

[ThinkingAboutIt]

Hi,

I have been researching this field and reading the posting, because of my own interest in it. Your predicament is interesting, because you have a lot of courses I would guess probably around 170 credit hours.

If you are living in the same area and can go back to the original school, and you can retake some of the courses that gave you poor GPA and they are science course ( general chemistry I & II, organic chemistry, biochemistry) these do seem to be the favorite or required courses of most schools. At least from what I have read on the school websites. That would have the most immediate impact on your GPA, and satify the have hard sciences that most schools want.

If you can't do that you may want to see if a local university has something like a premed certificate. Where you can complete say 24 credit hours of science courses and obtain a certificate in premed. You will have current coursework of the hard sciences and with document with a NEW GPA. Although, I doubt you will make your timeframe for applying.

Your also in a double whammy situation your poor performance is held against you, and many of the course are getting beyond the being taken within the 5 or 10 year range that many schools have for required courses.

Good luck in your quest.

[Gump]

While I too had to retake some courses; I do know of several folks who took higher level courses rather than just retaking the same ones. Just a thought......

[haa]

I have a question: should all these classes be in graduate level?

[TraumaNurse]

I think it is best to not retake undergrad classes unless you have to. It is better to take one or two graduate level science courses than to redo chem I and II. Showing the admissions committee you can get A's in graduate level science courses would be much more beneficial in my opinion. Good Luck.

[kmchugh]

I think from your post you recognize that you are facing an uphill battle. What you want to do won't be easy, but it isn't impossible, either.

The first thing you need to do before retaking any undergraduate classes is check with the school that you obtained your nursing degree from. In many cases, once you have received your degree, the school considers your final GPA to be "set in stone." Therefore, retaking these classes won't change your GPA at all. It will however, demonstrate to an admissions committee that you are capable of doing better than your GPA might indicate.

There is also a great deal of merit to the idea of taking (and doing well in) some graduate level courses. If you can do this, it will demonstrate that you are capable of completing these kinds of courses.

Bottom line is that you have some differing opinions about what you should do. It is possible that what one program will want you to do could be completely different from what another school wants. Therefore, I suggest you do a little research into what programs you might be interested in attending. Contact the directors of these programs, and ask them to point you in the right direction. Once given advice from the directors, follow that advice. Not only will you be fairly sure of being on the right path, but you will show those directors that you are willing to do the work required to achieve your goal.

Good luck.

Kevin McHugh, CRNA

[Gump]

Great point Kevin.

That's exactly what I did. I met with the director and he advised me on which classes to take and of course, earn all A's in. Later, I had a second meeting with him, showed him that I had done exactly all that he suggested; He looked at me with a smile and said "Now, we look forward to receiving your application and interviewing you, good luck."

Like Kevin said, "Once given advice from the directors, follow that advice. Not only will you be fairly sure of being on the right path, but you will show those directors that you are willing to do the work required to achieve your goal."

I interview in 3 weeks.