Minimum ICU experience

The schools in my area say a minimum of 1 year is required, but in reality a candidate isn't competitive unless they have 3-5 yrs.

I've seen interviews with CRNA students and they said the nurses who have been working a long time have certain advantages, but the students who have been in school more recently have their own advantages, such as still remembering material from their bio classes and such.

I'm a recently graduated BSN student. I just got hired at a reputable level one trauma center in an ICU and it's part of their new grad residency program. Does this first year of nursing count in the ICU experience years?? I had someone tell me it would not since residency/ first year program aren't fully "on your own" yet, but I would love to apply to CRNA school as early as I can just to give it a shot

I had 6 years of experience (first surgical floor, then ICU) when I went back to school. In my class there are people who have been in nursing for quite a while and only one or two who have been nursing for 2 years. I don't really buy the "past 5 years you are too set in your ways" : it is a totally different profession, what ways can I possibly be set in? (I'm not being facetious, I think it would be pretty interesting to do some statistics about how many years of experience & what background people had when they decided to pursue their studies)