How important is the school name?

[BBB888]

Do more prestigious CRNA programs produce the best CRNA's? Is graduating from a more prestigious school a lot more beneficial to a new grad? In terms of finding job placement at a top choice hospital?

Has anyone ever been in a position where they had the opportunity to attend a less prestigious school, but wanted to wait another year to make themselves more competitive to apply to more prestigious programs with a well known name?

[thetsaguy]

I believe what matter most is the personality behind the profession. School is just a tool among many others. Today the world is striking towards E-learning with its own advantages and disadvantages. when you are aware the workforce market is a competitive one, then what remain is to put personal efforts to come out as proud professional with sufficient self esteem.

[BigPappaCRNA]

The school name does not matter. At all. What school you choose to attend matters a great deal. There is zero correlation between big, famous, name recognition Universities and the quality of their CRNA programs. If anything, the opposite. I would never ever consider any of the programs affiliated with famous institutions in the northeast. Lots of pomp and bluster and "rigor" and then poor clinical training.

[emb92250]

School name doesn't matter at all. There are about 10 job opportunities for every graduating SRNA

[loveanesthesia]

As Bigpappa said, the program matters but not a big name university. There are a lot of jobs but if you want your pick of the best go to a program that will give you great clinical experience. Ask about the regional anesthesia experience, it varies widely. Potential jobs will want to see your case records and if you have regional, peds, OB experience. Also some programs will place you in rotations with independent CRNA groups which is invaluable for networking.

[icuCCRNurse]

I honestly do not think the prestigious name of a program matters. I always wondered myself, why would a student attend Stanford University to get a BSN? Are they going to come out and make more money than me? No, they just have a larger educational investment. Is their program somehow better than mine? Doubtful. I'm sure the same goes for graduate school. Check out their graduation/pass rates and go from there. In the end, all that matters is that the degree you receive is from a national accredited program. Everyone takes the same boards and have the same letters behind their name, CRNA.