How difficult is FNP school?

[Jo Dirt]

I've been told how much easier FNP school is than CRNA school. SRNAs say they have their noses to the grindstone all but the 3-4 hours of sleep they get each night, and they have some of the brightest, toughest, smartest instructors there are, who make life almost unbearably difficult. According to them, they have it harder than anyone else and if it wasn't for their sheer love and dedication to the profession of nurse anesthesia they could not survive the rigors of such a demanding program. This is a field only for the best and brightest.

After basically being told I was scum with no clue as to what a high achiever it took to survive the standards of a CRNA program I was told to "stick with NP school."

Do you feel like this is true? I have a feeling I know the overall answer already, but really, tell me how NP school is so much easier and why the standards are so low to become a NP.

[Jo Dirt]

You're missing the whole point...

[JDCitizen]

Difficult as how? Time, course work, clinical, instructors, etc......

[JDCitizen]

Difficult as how? Time, course work, clinical, instructors, etc......

ohhhh just kidding :-)

[BChapp3182]

I am currently attending my last semster at a private ivy league school. All I can say is my original class size was 34 students, 2.5 yrs later the graduating class consists of 8 people for the FNP track. It's not easy.

[Sheri FNP-C]

I am finishing up my MSN (FNP). I had a 3.98 gpa in my associates and bsn programs. I found the FNP program difficult. I want to learn everything I can while I am in school. I want to know the patho behind every disease and all the various treatment modalities. I want to keep up on the ever changing recommendations. Probably, I have made it "hard" on myself. I am sure it would be much more manageable if I was satisfied with a "c" or just doing without knowing.

My daughter's teacher has a friend in CRNA school, so keep in mind this is hearsay at this point. Anyway, the friend is also graduating in May. She tells me the program isn't as much hard as unbelievably stressful. Although she is planning to graduate in May, the school can and will expel students if they perform badly on one test or one day at clinical. It seems that the school demands near perfection. I do work with 3 ICU nurses that were thrown out of this same program. I don't have that stress to deal with, thankfully. It makes sense that it would be integrated into this program though, since they do need to succeed and exel during times of stress. She also has had to give up her employment, move away, and focus solely on school. I was able to work one day a week and still have occasional free time with my family by doing a 3 year program.

I think they are both hard, just very different types of difficulty. Who is to say which is harder...it very well could be CRNA, but for some it could just as easily be FNP. In this situation, I think I made it hard on myself while the CRNA school makes it hard on all students (not necessarily a bad thing).

[Polley93]

Its like comparing apples to oranges? Don't we all just have to look at what our talents and gifts are, where our passion lies, and aim our goals toward that end? Its confusing to me why the confusion is even there. I think it comes dowo to what you really want to do and where you can really make a difference. The two vocations are on totally different roads under the same umbrella.

[jlcole45]

I am currently attending my last semster at a private ivy league school. All I can say is my original class size was 34 students, 2.5 yrs later the graduating class consists of 8 people for the FNP track. It's not easy.

Is this a reflection of how hard the program is perhaps they are just more picky?

Gosh this reminds me of my old catholic hospital diploma program where the nuns weeded out the ones they thought wouldn't make good nurses ...

I thought that most graduate schools

tried to hold onto their graduate spots because of funding reasons.

Even the private ivy league schools are struggling financially now a days....

[core0]

Is this a reflection of how hard the program is perhaps they are just more picky?

Gosh this reminds me of my old catholic hospital diploma program where the nuns weeded out the ones they thought wouldn't make good nurses ...

I thought that most graduate schools

tried to hold onto their graduate spots because of funding reasons.

Even the private ivy league schools are struggling financially now a days....

Its probably not too far from reality. If you interpret the numbers from the graduate report on nursing the graduation rate for NPs is around 50%. At the PA doctorate summit the AACN representative stated that the graduation rate for DNP programs was 43%. It actually makes financial sense in a lot of ways not to graduate people.

David Carpenter, PA-C