I want to go to Duke's CRNA program

MikeyJ, RN · May 8, 2007

I would suggest you post this in the "Pre-CRNA" forum, as this area is predominantly pre-nursing students. :)

EricJRN, MSN, RN · May 8, 2007

Moved to the Pre-CRNA Inquiry Forum for the most responses. Good luck!

japaho41 · May 8, 2007

First of all don't limit yourself by saying I just want to go to ...... Especially if you live in NC there are a lot of opportunities beyond one particular school. Find out about the program, where do they do there clinical rotations (keep in mind at Duke you do a lot of your hours away from Duke), length of the program, cost (Duke is expensive compared to other programs). Travel, and is the program front loaded. I would suggest that you call the directors, arrange a visit with them to tour there facilities as well.

japaho41 · May 8, 2007

ICU experience, do some research on the programs that you want to possilbly attend, some progams will list in order of the ICU experiences that they are preferential to. In my opinion you will get your best experience in the Surgical ICU or Cardiovascular ICU (post-open heart). You want to be in a unit where you will be caring for post surgical patients that require mechanical ventilation, invasive monitoring (Swan Ganz, Arterial lines ...) and have experience using vasoactive drips.

Extra's after your required beside experience think about getting CCRN, there are additional certifications you could get in addition to CCRN dependent upon the unit you might work in (look at the AACN website). Memeberships to organizations are also something to look into.

kiddo911crnahopeful · May 10, 2007

i interviewed there last year and did not get accepted. Most of the interview process was great, just get to know you questions. A couple of questions I was not expecting were, What research have you performed? What professional organizations do you belong to? Do you hold an office? The general impression I received from the school was that they were looking for the next president of the AANA. Which is fine. I was honest. I told the truth about future career plans and did not bs with them. Looking back I probably should have said I wanted to be the president of this or start a foundation for that, or perform research on a certain part of anesthesia. The program at Duke sounds awesome. The building is beautiful. The area in Durham is a little run down. My stats were 1280 gre, 3.5 gpa, CCRN. But I was not accepted. Good luck! I hope this info helps.

japaho41 · May 10, 2007

If you ask me some of those interview questions are kind of irrelevent to you to becoming a CRNA. Yes, Duke is a major research facility but how important is it if you have or have not been apart of research in the past? I think that some of their questions may have been geared to seeing if they have canidates that are interested in getting their PhD. I still say if you really want to go to school broaden your horizons and not limit yourself to one particular school unless you want to delay this process a few years. You may want to ask them what there average GPA's and GRE's of the current class that they last admitted. This will give you an indication of what they are looking for in that perspective because a 3.5 and 1280 may be a little low for their standards.

Focker, CRNA · May 10, 2007

I wouldn't think that 3.5, 1280 is low for any school's standards, those are good numbers. Schools look at more than just your numbers though. CCRN (and other certifications), personality, maturity, experience, etc all fit into the equation.

japaho41 · May 11, 2007

Your exactly right, however some schools place a particular weight upon certain aspects over others. For example, Duke may perfer a student with a 3.8 with 1 year experience over the one that has a 3.5 and 5 years experinece. There were were quite a few that fit this profile last year that were on this site. That stems another debate of the higher GPA vs. years of experience.

jackielou · May 23, 2007

If you're applying to schools in North Carolina (or even other non-NC schools), don't limit yourself to just one school. I applied to Duke's nurse anesthesia program with overall GPA 3.65, science GPA 3.8, GRE verbal 620 , GRE Math 780, and GRE Writing 5. And I got accepted. I had 3 years of "solid foundation" of critical care experience while working in a Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of a community hospital in South Carolina (but I'm a NC resident). I had limited experience with Swans and other advanced care, but, still, I got in. Because I live 10 miles from Charlotte, I had the opportunity to apply to UNC-Charlotte/Carolinas Healthcare System's program and got accepted. And this has been the best decision I've made. Yes, Duke's program is very good, but UNCC's program is excellent as well and cheaper! Thank goodness! Good luck in your choices.