I have a B.S. degree, what would it take to become a CRNA?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I currently have a Bachelor's degree in Applied Professional Studies, which is completely unrelated to Nursing. I would like to go back to school and become a Nurse Anesthetic. I think I need to become an RN first. Every time I look at colleges, it seems the programs are for people who are already RN's and would like to become BSN's (???)

I would like to know if anyone has an idea what would be in store for me. I have an appointment to meet with a guidance counselor locally this coming week, but after reading about the program, I don't think I qualify because I'm not an RN. Please help!

It depends on where you live and how competitive it is. Where I am all of the jobs for ICU require a BSN. It says it on the job description on the hospital's website. However, I don't think anyone could guarantee you a job. From what I've heard around my area, not only do they want BSN grads, but they want someone with experience. I would talk to people who have graduated from the schools you are looking, nurse recruiters, hospital websites, etc. It seems every city has a different market and requirements.

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Do CRNA schools take into account your grades from nursing school and/or previous bachelor's degree? Or is it mostly your work experience and letters of rec.? (Sorry if this is a "duh" question...)

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Specializes in ICU.
Do CRNA schools take into account your grades from nursing school and/or previous bachelor's degree? Or is it mostly your work experience and letters of rec.? (Sorry if this is a "duh" question...)

Most have a min. 3.0 GPA requirement (some even have a 3.5 minimum), and sometimes your science GPA is considered seperately. Your GPA definitely is important, but so is your experience, interview, letters of recommendation, etc.

Check out www.allcrnaschools.com and try looking at the programs in your area to get a better idea of the requirements of the schools you might consider in the future.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
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Is that true??

When you consider that an ADN is going to cost about $8000 and an accelerated program can cost $35,000 I'd really want to know if this is true. I know i'm not the op, but this is a decision I have to make too- so I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Is that $27,000 really going to promise someone a job in an ICU?

*** It is likely true is some areas. I work in the SICU of a large hospital and being a new grad with a BSN will guarantee that you will not be hired. I know of one other ICU doing the same but I am pretty sure these are exceptional cases. I earned my BSN last year but before that I was an ADN and I have been offered every single job I ever applied for.

This discussion really only applies to people with degrees in other fields. If we are talking about a person who does not already have a degree then the ADN - work while getting BSN at the hospitals expense rout provides a clear advantage over the strait BSN rout. Unless you live in one of those areas where the community colleges are crazy and require 3-4 years just to complete an ADN.

Think about it this way. At the end of 4 years where is the traditional BSN student? Well they are an RN and they have a BSN and they likely owe a heck of a lot in student loans.

The ADN-work-BSN route at the end of 4 years is an RN and has a BSN. They likely don't owe anything (many hospitals, like where I work will pay for a BSN), have two full years of real RN experience and made around $100-$120K over the two years they worked.

Of course I live in Wisconsin where an ADN can actually be done in 2 years.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Diabetes/Oncology.

What if you have your bachelor's in Respiratory Therapy! and worked it for more than a year are you still able to apply to become a CRNA???

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If you live in Idaho - ISU has an accelerated BSN for people with degrees in other fields. 4 semesters (15 months), then you can apply to a masters level CRNA program. Good luck! :nurse:

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I was at a community college where there was a two year waiting list to start clinicals (that's where the waiting comes in) and I heard through the grapevine that there was a program called "Quad A" usually written "AAAA". If you had an A in micro, biochem, A&P I and A&P II, you could be placed at the top of the list and bypass the waiting list. Wellll, I had to check that out!!! So I made appointments with everybody in the nursing department "chain of command" until I found someone who knew about that "secret" and I bypassed the whole list and started my clinicals the next semester. I asked the person to show me on the internet (our college website) where I could get information on this program, and she showed me---but it took her about 20 minutes to find it, so it's so hidden the normal person wouldn't have found it--or known to even look for it. Before I would start at a community college, I would make an appointment with the nursing chairperson and ask if the school has a benefit (such as bypassing the waiting list) for students with good grades. I'd still be sitting around waiting had I not asked.

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Specializes in -.

You can get your RN without going the full 4-year nursing program from scratch. If you have a bachelor in an unrelated field already completed, I've found three paths in the Ohio/KY area 1) community college to get associates then test for RN or 2) Accelerated BSN 14 month course NKU and Mt. St Joe College 3) MIDAS accelerated nursing program at Xavier University to recieve a MN, RN, CNL, and HN in 20 months.

I've been accepted into the Xavier program and my undergrad degree is engineering (and its 20 years old). My pre-requisites took a year for all programs I applied to - crazy enough the associate nursing program had more pre-req requirements. But two years from now I will go from a non-nurse to all of those letters above.

So that's my info for getting your RN quickly. As far as the CRNA requirements it sounds like other people have given you good info. Best of Luck :)

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You know, I know I'm going to come off as an ass with my reply but, I think it's time for some tough love. Let me get the story straight-You're not even an RN and you want to become a CRNA? I want to make sure I get that part right. First off, you obviously have no interest in becoming an RN or you would start there. Most people are RN's for a while, get some really good ICU experience under their belt and decide to advance their career through becoming a CRNA-That's the way it normally goes.This couldn't be about the money, could it? Hmmmmm....I wonder. We just got through with a thread about people going into nursing for the wrong reasons and here we go.... Another rule of thumb...If you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't pursue it as a career. It's not nurse anesthetic...It's nurse anesthetist. They administer anesthetics.

You have to start out with being an RN first-BSN minimum-This is a master's level program. Then a minimum of 1 year ICU experience. Most programs will hardly look at you unless you have around 5 yrs. of ICU experience-I'm not talking about the community ICU either, more like Level 1 trauma center ICU. You really need to have a strong cardiac background. This is just the beginning.

Then you have to take the GRE and pass it-SAT at a higher level. They then look at your GPA-Most want a GPA of, at least, a 3.6 or higher-They start at the top and work their way down. When I looked into it, they wanted courses at the bachelor's level that were more Pre-Med level-Bio chem, physics, organic chem, more physics, etc. and they want you to have good grades in those classes. The next step is to pay off all of your debt because you won't be working for 28-36 months, depending on the program you apply to. When you get out of school, you'll have even more debt from the program. You basically live off of loans or a spouse working or both. Yea, the course is grueling and you can expect to be up at 3AM looking at cadavers. I know these things because I've known quite a few people who were accepted into the program. I was going down that road but decided some things were more important than money and giving up my life for 3 years. I have quite a bit of ICU experience and OR experience(I've seen what they do)and I decide the program wasn't for me.

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You can get your RN without going the full 4-year nursing program from scratch. If you have a bachelor in an unrelated field already completed, I've found three paths in the Ohio/KY area 1) community college to get associates then test for RN or 2) Accelerated BSN 14 month course NKU and Mt. St Joe College 3) MIDAS accelerated nursing program at Xavier University to recieve a MN, RN, CNL, and HN in 20 months.

I've been accepted into the Xavier program and my undergrad degree is engineering (and its 20 years old). My pre-requisites took a year for all programs I applied to - crazy enough the associate nursing program had more pre-req requirements. But two years from now I will go from a non-nurse to all of those letters above.

So that's my info for getting your RN quickly. As far as the CRNA requirements it sounds like other people have given you good info. Best of Luck :)

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I want to add to this post that Wright State University just north of Dayton OH has a program called BEACON that is for folks who have a four year degree in something other than nursing and want to earn a BSN. It takes 15 months and costs around 16K. It is a good deal in that you get six courses that are graduate level so it makes a good springboard to a MS follow-on. Information can be obtained from the Wright State web site under nursing and BEACON. Also, Mt Carmel near Columbus runs a great program for those who already have a four year degree but want to transition to nursing.

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Specializes in ICU.

Great comment johnnybravo. All that not to say that some of us in pre-nursing classes now might not someday make awesome CRNAs, but that right now our focus needs to be on doing well at the tasks that are in front of us *right now.* Yes, if we have time and money and brain cells to spare we can throw in an o.chem series or a non-required physics course now because it might come in handy down the road when it IS time to start looking at what advanced practice program will be right for us (if any). Very helpful comment. None of us know for sure where we'll be in our education and career in 4-7 years, so it's a little hasty to start counting on things that far down the road.

Not that I'm not guilty of it.... :D

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Great comment johnnybravo. All that not to say that some of us in pre-nursing classes now might not someday make awesome CRNAs, but that right now our focus needs to be on doing well at the tasks that are in front of us *right now.* Yes, if we have time and money and brain cells to spare we can throw in an o.chem series or a non-required physics course now because it might come in handy down the road when it IS time to start looking at what advanced practice program will be right for us (if any). Very helpful comment. None of us know for sure where we'll be in our education and career in 4-7 years, so it's a little hasty to start counting on things that far down the road.

Not that I'm not guilty of it.... :D

The thing I was pointing out is, start with nursing first but decide that the profession is really for you. I always recommend that someone work in a hospital first as a tech and, at least, get used to the environment and see what the medical profession is like. It's not worth wasting years of your life on a profession that you may not even enjoy-You need to get your feet wet. You can't get those years back, especially with this economy- you really can't afford to make those mistakes. I went through the same thing as a young nurse and many others also-Lofty goals before you even know the first thing about the profession-Wanting to specialize before you have one stick of floor experience. Nursing is a complicated profession and you need to grow good quality nurses-You're dealing with lives!!:redbeatheToo may people see the CRNA thing just as a means to make a lot of money and nothing else-That's the wrong reason to do it-Do it because that's what you really want to do after putting a lot of thought into it. Know what to do if a patient crashes while under anesthesia(I've seen it), know what's really going on with a Schwann-Ganz, have experience with comparing CO to CI, know the different settings of a vent and how to trouble shoot alarms, etc(You can't get that from a book). It's a lot more than just sitting at the head of a patient with a heart monitor stuck in your ear and a lot more than stuffing your bank account and taking that cruise to Cancun.

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