How long did it take you to get accepted into CRNA school?

It will be about 18 months from the time I began to apply, transfered to the ICU, and am sitting in a classroom learning to pass gas.

I applied to only one school and began the application process to another. I got accept to my first choice and never sent my application fee into my second choice. I am fortunate that there are two schools within 30 minutes of my house, because moving at this time is not an option for me.

I have heard of two people who got into my program that applied for three consecutive years before getting accepted. This made me worry some, but I got in my first shot. I am sure you will do fine and that year on tele. will help you learn faster. You will have a good understanding of cardiology to start with as well as time management skills. This year on tele. may count towards your CCRN depending on what types of patients you saw (a lot of people don't realize that ED and tele counts towards your hours). Hope that helps.

Good Luck

-Smiley

...and that year on tele. will help you learn faster. You will have a good understanding of cardiology to start with as well as time management skills...

This is unrelated to the first post, but I wanted to voice my opinion. With all due respect, I disagree with this statement--especially for anyone who doesn't yet work on a tele floor and is looking at critical care and eventually CRNA. You will not learn any faster than you will in the ICU, and I don't think many of the skills on the floor translate well to the ICU. There is very little critical thinking, no autonomy, and the time management skills of 6 tele patients do not compare to 1 critical patient (and still equally busy). You will not learn in-depth pathophys. or pharm. related to your patients because it's not necessary, and you won't have time. I'm not saying floor nurses are in any way "less." I could never do their job. It's just different, and if you have the drive and smarts to get you into anesthesia school, you should not waste your time in med/surg or telemetry. An intermediate or step-down unit is different and might be considered, especially if it could help you eventually move into the ICU.

As for the OP's grades, many on this forum have shown that you can get into anesthesia school with a wide range of grades and GPAs. Go for it!

I agree with summit, although these are just opinions, but do not go to tele first unless all you want to do is delay entry to CRNA school by 1 year. I worked on a very intensive tele unit, and after 9 months went to the icu. I learned more in the first month of icu than i did in the 9 months on tele. If i could do it all over again, I would have went straight to the ICU in a heartbeat and skipped the tele nightmare. just my opinion

Tony

Well Summit we will have to disagree....I feel that any nurse who starts in the ICU with floor experience already will learn much faster then a new grad in the ICU. The transition from student rn to rn is huge and takes a good 6-12 months. Once past that point knowledge comes quicker, and transitions are easier. Also, in my experience I worked with Tele nurses that were 10x better at rhythm interpretation then MICU/SICU/NICU nurses with the same years experience. I believe that no nursing experience is a waste of time and that new grads in the icu do not learn fast they get confused fast...I stand by my opinion that the op will be served well by her time on the tele unit and will pick up info faster in the icu becuase she can focus on learning the info and not learning how to be a nurse and learn the icu info at th same time. The optimal situation is a nurse with multiple years experience entering the ICU for the first time, that fact ever changes despite the nursing shortages.

-smiley

Thanks for all your input, I really appreciate it. I do have to say though, I feel 10x more comfortable working as an RN (I just started 1.5yrs ago) starting off on a tele floor. I happened to start there because I worked there as a RN extern while in school. I believe that working the tele floor will better prepare me for ICU. And actually, I was looking into transferring to the CVICU. I truly think I would have felt a bit overwhelmed starting off working in ICU straight out of nursing school. I like working with 4-5 stable, heart patients and then transition into taking care of 1-2 critical heart patients. I have one more year left of my BSN anyways, so by the time I transfer, I will have one year experience in!

Well Summit we will have to disagree....I feel that any nurse who starts in the ICU with floor experience already will learn much faster then a new grad in the ICU. The transition from student rn to rn is huge and takes a good 6-12 months. Once past that point knowledge comes quicker, and transitions are easier. Also, in my experience I worked with Tele nurses that were 10x better at rhythm interpretation then MICU/SICU/NICU nurses with the same years experience. I believe that no nursing experience is a waste of time and that new grads in the icu do not learn fast they get confused fast...I stand by my opinion that the op will be served well by her time on the tele unit and will pick up info faster in the icu becuase she can focus on learning the info and not learning how to be a nurse and learn the icu info at th same time. The optimal situation is a nurse with multiple years experience entering the ICU for the first time, that fact ever changes despite the nursing shortages.

-smiley

My my eperience I disagree with this statement. I have oriented both floor nurses and new grad GN's. I would take a New GN any day that I could be in charge of hiring. We have a few that were hired the have a far greater ability to understand critical care and critical thinking. I think with floor nurses it seems to me that you have to break them of being so concerned with non critical issues and sometimes that is tough.

I have been debating with myself about posting to this thread again or just letting it die along with the posts that fail to address the OP's questions.

My problem is that the CRNA/SRNA areas are for people to gain knowledge about all that is the CRNA profession as well as how to gain entrance to school. I feel obligated to respond because this site was a great source of info for me. Several of the posters here seems to have not even read the OP and did not realize that the OP is already an RN working on a Tele floor, not a new grad looking for advice as to where to begin her training. It is unfortunate that these forums seem to have dropped off as far as quality posting from individuals who are actually qualified to answer the questions. People, who have actually done what the OP is asking for advice on, time frames for applying and being accepted to CRNA school.

-Smiley

I have been debating with myself about posting to this thread again or just letting it die along with the posts that fail to address the OP's questions.

My problem is that the CRNA/SRNA areas are for people to gain knowledge about all that is the CRNA profession as well as how to gain entrance to school. I feel obligated to respond because this site was a great source of info for me. Several of the posters here seems to have not even read the OP and did not realize that the OP is already an RN working on a Tele floor, not a new grad looking for advice as to where to begin her training. It is unfortunate that these forums seem to have dropped off as far as quality posting from individuals who are actually qualified to answer the questions. People, who have actually done what the OP is asking for advice on, time frames for applying and being accepted to CRNA school.

-Smiley

I agree

to the OP, I applied to two schools. the first one I did, I didnt really know what was involved in the appliction process, and I guess I can say I was less educated on it the first time and when I look back on it, it was not a great overall application. needless to say I was not accepted. I only applied to one program at a time anyways a couple of months after getting my letter I made sure I did it right the next time and really researched and did my homework on CRNA schools and what a steller application looks like, so I applied to my second school and was accepted. time frame I would say 6 months from application to first shcool to second, to acceptance. If your looking for a time frame, my suggestion would be to apply a few months before your year is up of icu experience.

as far as grades your worried about, dont, your gpa is fine. :wink2:

good luck.

Then again, perhaps those who have considered this approach among others and chose otherwise, are 'qualified' to weigh in on the question at hand. Personally, I chose to go straight to surgical ICU from school. I worked my 2 years and am in my second semester of anesthesia school. I can't speak for other programs. At mine, we are all largely in the same boat. Some may have NICU experience that the rest don't have, which provides a certain advantage. Others have adult SICU experience, which provides a different advantage. Others have a combo of ED and ICU experience, with yet a different advantage. I have yet to see one approach as clearly superior over the others. What matters is that you have learned everything you are able to learn within the time allotted by your experience, that you have a passion for the field and the learning, that you have exhibited good clinical judgment prior to acceptance, and that you make the most of your time in and out of class.

The 4 CRNA universities in Florida I have checked out specifically say OR/med-surg and ED do not count as critical care, make sure you check out your university requirements.

Prior to returning to school to become a CRNA I was a director for a cardiovascular care unit. While each applicant is unique we preferred to have a new grad vs. a 1 yr tele nurse for a couple of reasons.

1. New grads qualified for a 6 month preceptorship and transfers get only 6-8 weeks.

2. with a new grad you dont have to "break" the nasty habits learned from floor/tele nursing. (calling docs for everything, cursory physical assessments compared to the assessments performed in critical care, etc.)

Now with this being said we have stolen a couple of tele tech nurses that worked out great in CCU.

I got into the school of my choice the first year I applied. However I spent a year getting everything is order prior to applying. I quit my management job, went back to bedside, took my GRE, took a research course, etc. so I would be a strong candidate for the program.

My question is how many tries, how many different schools, did it take to finally be accepted into CRNA school? I live in Indiana, finishing up my BSN right now and currently have 3.5 GPA. So I am looking into Chicago schools or possibly Ohio for schools. I know I need to work 1-2 years of ICU and take the GRE's prior to applying. I have been working as an RN on a telemetry floor (I'm transferring soon to ICU) for little over a year now and intend on going to CRNA school. I'm already ACLS certified, aware that I need to work ICU, but am concerned about getting accepted with A's and B's on my transcript. How long was the entire process for you?

Hey Nicole,

Since no one is actually answering your question, here's one for you. I applied once, to one school and was accepted. Having A's and B's on your transcript is good, that is what you want.....a GPA of 3.5 is competitive, especially if you can score high on the GRE, plus it all depends on the program, some schools dont focus soley on the GRE number. My school, Barry University is one of these........my GRE was 1000 but my GPA is 3.9, plus I aced their intra-interview test. So keep up the good work, do your best on the GRE and get a couple of years of ICU under your belt.

After that lool seriously at the schools you want to attend (i.e. talk to the faculty and staff, talk to graduates and current students in that program). Also, shadow some CRNA's so you can get into the OR and see what exactly is they do.

Good Luck