magno79

I will be starting at MSA in August and know the city pretty well. While public transportation is pretty good, I think that you will still need a car. I know that your clinical sites are spread out through out both Minneapolis and St. Paul. They are in the process of completing a light rail section to St. Paul from Minneapolis but it will only get you so close to a hospital. I am sure that a bus line could get you much closure if not to the front door of most hospitals but you would have to be on their schedule. I know that after 12+ hours of clinicals, I don't want to be on anyone's schedule but my own. Bottom line, a car could and would make your life a lot easier. magno79

I don't think that your time out of school had anything to do with it. There are several students admitted with 25 plus years experience. You have to remember that there are hundreds of applicants each year. I quickest most painless way to eliminate an applicant is if they don't meet the minimum requirements. You unfortunately did not meet those requirements with your limited ICU experience. Also, I think it is more common then not for a student be rejected on their first attempt. These programs want to know that a student is committed to the very difficult task ahead. What better way for them to know this than seeing a student apply a second time. It took me two times applying and interviewing with the same program to get in. Your best bet would be to submerge yourself in the ICU. Learn as much as you can. Get your CCRN and get great letters of recommendations from your nursing supervisors. Also, a chem class may be very beneficial and I think that they would like to see that. With all that said, if this is truly something that you want to do, it is worth the wait. Magno79

Here is the way I see it. As a new nurse, nights is the way to go. It is slower paced and provides more time for learning and understanding what is going on. As you get the basics out of the way, you should go to days. There is so much more going on and so much more to see. You are involved more in procedures and tests. You get a chance to learn beyond to basics. As far as anesthesia schools go, I had three interviews this year and not one asked if I worked days or nights. They don't care. It is just the time spent and quality of ICU you are working in. (Level 1, Teaching) As far as letters go. I have talked with several Deans from several schools. They all say that they really want nurses to write the letters for you. Someone that works beside you daily, that really knows what kind of nurse you are. Not someone that you talk to three minutes out of a 12 hour shift. Have a Charge Nurse, your unit manager and a preceptor write you letter. It also looks good to shadow a CRNA and have them write a letter for you. Bottom line, it doesn't mean a thing if you have a letter of rec from the leading neuro surgeon at your hospital. They would rather see one from the nurse that trained you into the ICU.

I don't believe any of these last remarks to be true. The bottom line is that just like nursing, the average age of a CRNA is ever increasing. Thus, there will be many voids in the profession within the next ten years. Common sense tells you that by accepting younger students into the program, the more time to work in that role they will have. I know this will offend many people and I truly do apologize but the truth is that by excepting a student that is 45, they will be 48 when they get to the workforce. This only provides the CRNA community with an employee for around twenty years. Now, if you take a student with one year of ICU experience, they will start school around 23/24 years old and enter the workforce when they are 26/27 years old. This will provide an employer with 38 years of anesthesia care. At times, I do wish that the more deserving person got a break in life. Unfortunately, this is just not how the world works. Health care is the biggest enterprise in the United States. To say different, you must be living under a rock. The health care community recognizes this and as a result needs to produce CRNAs that will be in the field as long as possible. A gap in capable provides would cost millions and set advanced practice nurses back fifty years in terms of respect and the autonomy we have worked so hard to build. Bottom line, they (the hospitals) would fill the gap and CRNAs would be out of work. So, it just makes sense to get an intelligent, capable person out and working as quickly as possible. Magno79

Neuro, I am sorry for the misunderstanding. "Old Nurse" is more a state of mind then an age. I have a great deal of respect for people that have good experience. I use them often as resources and due value and trust them in time of need. What I am saying however, is that no one on this thread, who is not a CRNA, has the qualifications or education to say that someone else is not qualified. Even more so if you have never worked with the person. So, an old nurses is someone that thinks they are better than another. Some one that no longer has time to teach or help out. The saying that "nurses eat their young" is so true. Why on earth would you not encourage someone that is willing to learn. That is the fatal mistake to our career. Magno79

Armynse, You have very quickly become quit the expert on the CRNA profession. Per your profile, you have 4.5 years of experience under your belt yet you write like so many of the old, should not be working any more, nurses that lumber through the ICU. Attempting to limit a potentially very successful (and must be threating) young nurse. I believe that this forum was intended to motivate and even praise our accomplishments. Who are you to tell someone they are not qualified to attend a CRNA program? The answer: NO ONE. The bottom line is that someone thought Forest capable and competent enough to give him a very highly sought after spot in a program. While it is your opinion, and your right, you should try taking a more supportive stance. When you yourself are a CRNA, and you have a better understanding of what it takes to be successful (not knowing at this point in your career) then you can voice your opinion, and it will be valid. Until that time, you should work to motivate and not cast judgment on someone you have never meet and have no understanding of the clinical competence. Magno79

That is why I posted. I have been following this site for 2 years. I remember the first time I saw a thread like this, everyone saying that their GPA was 3.5+ and that you didnt stand a chance with anything less. That is just not the case. Just like anything else in life, if you are good at what you do and want something bad enough, it will happen. I think this site was created to inspire. There are many times that this if forgotten. A little effort and a lot of heart, anyone can do it. Magno79

I have been waiting a while to post this. I have an over all GPA of 3.1 and a science GPA of around a 2.5. I have been a nurse for almost 3 years. My applications go as follows; Interviewed at University of North Dakota: Alternate List Interviewed at the Minneapolis School of Anesthesia: Accepted Pulled app from St. Mary's in Minneapolis The point of this being, while a solid GPA obviously helps, it is possible to get in with a 3.0. They look at the whole package, evaluating your work experience, letters of recommendation and credentials. A good GPA gets your foot in the door. There is now doubt about that. The rest is up to you and your interview. I would certainly encourage you to do the best you can in undergrad but you dont need to kill yourself. I feel that part of undergrad is to gain life experience as a whole. I went to nursing school with several people that got 3.8s, missed out on the culture of college and still have not made it into CRNA school. magno79

Has anyone interviewed at MSA yet this year or going to? I assume that format is unchanged and still very informal. Thanks, magno79

Has anyone interviewed at MSA yet this year or is anyone going to? I assume that the format is unchanged and still very informal. Thanks

I interviewed at Minneapolis School of Anesthesia and we had talked about that. They said that if you were dismissed from one program you would most likely not be accepted to another. I guess that your progress throughout the programs is tracked and that if you couldn't get through one, you will not make it through another.

I got the same letter. I also though it strange, the wording and all. I really thought that I had a chance getting an interview having interviewed and been placed on the waiting list for MSA. Both you guys let me know what you find out. Magno79

Hey buddy, do you know what the time frame is for St. Mary's. Have you heard anything regarding the alternate list for MSA. I am still just waiting and dont know if I should move back to Minneapolis or try and stick out the summer in Phoenix. magno79

Very bad news. I just spoke with someone from MSA. I was told that everyone that had gotten an interview was placed on the alternate list. I thought that there was only 6-7 students on that list. It turns out there are 50+. I was also told that only one student had declined and that that spot was already filled. magno79

Hey guys, I was also put on the alternate list. I guess that makes three of us for sure. I recall in the interview that there are six to seven placed on the list. It is so hard to just sit by and wait for someone to withdraw to make room for us. Best of luck and let us know if you do get in when all is said and done. magno79