Keep it to myself? / UMDNJ?

Hello:

I moved from OR to SICU. The ICU Director asked me if it was my goal to go to CRNA school and I was honest. She didn't have a problem with it. But--I have heard that in the past, some of the long term ICU nurses made comments about it.

I was torn about telling or not, finally decided on the walk from the ER up to SI if he asked I would be honest. You can never go wrong being honest having a supervisor on board with your goals can only help. All four schools I applied to wanted a reference from him. Lucky for me he only asked me when I wanted to start (he was a good friend of the Er director I assume he put in a good word for me).

i'd be honest.. heck, most icu's would gladly take someone for a yr, let alone 2. do all u can, be proactive for the unit, and all that jazz.. who cares what the seasoned nurses, or for any that matter, say.. you're there to help and learn. unless you strive to be 'miserable' as they are, then remember two things that were passed along somewhere:

1) don't sweat the small stuff

2) everything is small stuff (until school starts !!! LOL)

-good luck !

I am a nursing student and I recently transferred to the SICU from a med-surg unit. I was told by many people on my med-surg unit not to tell the manager of the SICU that I was interested in CRNA when I applied. However, when the moment came in the interview and he asked me about my future goals, I couldn't bring myself to lie to him. So, I told him that I had a lot of goals and one of them included getting a masters degree, hopefully in in anesthesia. He was fine with it, but told me that I might not want to share that information with everyone on my unit. His reasoning was that the nurses there put a lot of time and effort into training new nurses and it is very dissapointing for them when these new nurses don't stay on long term. He also asked me to make a minimum of a two year commitment to work on that unit, which I have no problem with because I'm still a nursing student and I think I want at least two years of ICU before I apply to CRNA school.

i was a unit clerk during school at my hometown ICU and told them I was going to be a CRNA and lo and behold when I got my RN they couldn't afford to train someone for the ICU and have them leave for CRNA school.

I wouldn't lie about your intentions, but I wouldn't offer that you will be going to CRNA school.

I think this is one of the problems with the admission process. Not that the experience isn't needed, but that it is expensive for an ICU to give you that experience and then you jet to CRNA school. Granted, that's exactly what I did and what anybody who knows during nursing school they want to be a CRNA.

BTW, I just applied to UMDNJ and they want me to get NJ RN license first! At first, they told me it would be OK to apply, just type a letter about reciprocity license in case I get in. Now they cannot process my application without a license...

Did anybody have any experience applying from out of state?

I would suggest keeping your goals private. You have to look at it from the manager's point of view as well as taking into account things such as professional jealously, etc. You should remain professional while maintaining your distance and privacy from hospitals and their administrative staff.

BTW, I just applied to UMDNJ and they want me to get NJ RN license first! At first, they told me it would be OK to apply, just type a letter about reciprocity license in case I get in. Now they cannot process my application without a license...

Did anybody have any experience applying from out of state?

Yikes...I've emailed one of the schools I'll be applying to next year already in hopes that they could give me a general answer to this question, and they replied that I should wait until after acceptance to a school before applying for reciprocity in that state. Made sense considering I might apply to schools in as many as 5 states. However, If I need to be applying for reciprocity now I need to get on the ball - I'm also interested to know what other peoples' experiences are in this regard??? I got the impression from a few of the schools' websites that you need to make sure you're licensed in your school's state before the start of clinicals, which might mean it differs from school to school dependent up on the front-loaded or integrated status of the program, etc. I guess I may have to get in touch with all the schools and ask individually if my application will be processed without the state's license, eeks.

Thanks so much everyone. I wanted to make a comment about UMDNJ as my fiancee used to work there as a medical massage teacher. It is my understanding that UMDNJ weighs admissions heavily on state resident applicants as first choice because they are a state school... Maybe that is why they are making a stink about the license?

We live in the midwest right now for school (been here 1 year) and we are returning as soon as we graduate to north Jersey where I will work and hopefully not run into that problem if I apply to SUNY as well.

It is a tough decision on if you should share your goals or not. The anesthesia school I got accepted into required that I have a letter from a supervisor. I have met different CRNA's who recommend keeping it to yourself, because there will be staff members who feel jealous

It is a PIA and costly to get a NJ license, and extremely unreasonable for a school to even request before you are offered seat in class. I have 6 different state licenses and NJ by far was the most expensive...a little over $300 for the initial license...a waste if you will never use it. Plus, to even get the license, you have to fingerprint at one of these specific in state agencies...if you live nowhere in area, it is even more impractical. To me this a a crock...just some lame hoop a school wants you to jump...you are not a circus animal...consider other programs as well.

Clinical at UMDNJ starts very early in the program - I believe in the first semester; That said, the process of getting a nursing license in NJ via reciprocity - can take an excruciating amount of time. My anesthesia director, who's original license was from NY, stated that it took 8 months to get a license in NJ! Imagine starting the program at UMDNJ and not being able to begin clinicals with the rest of your class because you didn't have a nursing license...