Natef26

I'm interviewing with Raleigh on Dec 3 in the evening. Good luck to everyone.

I highly recommend the Kaplan GRE Math Workbok and the Kaplan Verbal Workbook. I diligently worked through each workbook over like 2 months (could have did both quicker) and I scored a 1240 on my first GRE attempt. Should run you about $35 for both.

I'm also in the market for a laptop. I was initially leaning towards HP but I quickly changed my mind when I read the reviews of their horrid battery life. 2 hours 15mins or so if you are lucky and very stingy with screen settings, etc. I HATE to have to be tethered to a plug so I've been leaning heavily towards Dell now. They seem to get great reviews for the most part and the price is right. Good battery life too. If you can afford it, get one with a little extra memory for faster running speeds especially when running multiple applications. It seems the new Vista operating system sucks up precious memory so get a 2.O dual core Intel processor at a bare minimum. Having come from an AMD processor on my home desktop I will be staying away from AMD for the laptop. I had lots of heat problems with the AMD at home even with the side panel off and this is in a semi large computer case. Imagine all that heat in the tiny confines of a laptop case. Ouch!

The unit stood up back in early April IIRC. They do mandate that you have 1 year of being a nurse before they'll let you join. I won't be joining afterall, due to some personal reasons. Pretty bummed about it as it looks to be a great unit. If you want the recruiter POC let me know. He is a very gung ho guy and takes care of things quickly to expedite the process.

Well, how you choose to use your "5 minutes" is of course up to you, but for someone so seemingly frustrated and hell bent on measuring education levels ad nauseum, I would think some down time would be healthier. Maybe go outside and breathe some fresh air or listen to some calming music via an iPOD. Have you always been so caustic, or is this an outgrowth of unhappiness elsewhere? CRNA's have been here and will continue to be here long after your gone.

Ditto. I can only WISH I had the free time DocHolliday apparently has!

I'm a CRNA wannabe and trying like crazy to get the final loose ends of my prereqs done before applying this fall for next fall 09 start date. I have 10 years prior enlisted military experience (Air Force) in an ancillary medical field (clinical lab). I'm curious if this would help me at all with increasing the odds of success with getting admitted? I will have the following when I apply: 80 hours of CRNA shadowing time ICU experience: 1 year 4 months at application and 2 years 4 months just before school starts Nursing GPA: 3.795 Science GPA: probably 3.7 *Cumulative GPA: 3.1214 (this is counting OLD OLD course work not applicable to nursing. from 1991-1992 when I was a complete idiot) GRE- assume 1100 CCRN ACLS/PALS/TNCC/BLS Applying to Kaiser and Texas Wesleyan Thanks everyone for the feedback!

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I'm interested in applying to Kaiser-P Anesthesia at Cal-State Fullerton. I watched the info video and it definitely looks like alot of travel for clinicals. Curious how long each of these sites rotation typically is and how does housing work while at these sites. Surely there isn't commuting every day 100+ miles from home base in Pasadena/Fullerton. How long is the Hawaii assignment and does everyone go there as well or only the top students? Any negatives about the program I should know about? They mention community service on the video. How much have you all found that they want of this? What are the chances of acceptance assuming you exceed all qualifications but your ICU experience isn't from a Level I teaching hospital? Level II here and no MD residencies. How much can I expect to spend for rent for myself if I do and do not get a roommate during the program? Are there monthly or weekly rental options readily available for the month long clinical rotations? I despise sitting in traffic and have no intention of adding 5 hrs to my already long clinical day for round trip commuting to home base.

I would echo what others have said and definitely get into an externship into a local ICU for a capstone course. This will give you invaluable face time with a prospective employer/unit and allow you to really see if ICU is for you. I had a very similar GPA, and did a 64 hour externship/capstone in an ICU during my last semester in school and I got the job. We had a 6 month orientation into the ICU for the job and so they want to really make sure that the both of you are compatible together. Try and get into Sigma Theta Tau as well. You definitely have the grades for it. Looks great on a resume IMO. Another thing I did was take an elective critical care course at my school and made sure to do well in that as well.

I'm a new ICU nurse and nurse altogether and I'm planning to take the CCRN exam this Fall. Curious to see just how doable it is with my limited experience? I am studying a CCRN review book I purchased which seems great. The test is $325 so hoping to pass on the first go round. It seems many nurses are deathly afraid of it. Some say they studied for 1 year prior to taking it and this with 5+ years of experience in ICU. What say you? Any tips? Words of wisdom? TIA!

I'm currently trying to wrap up a few things to get myself ready to apply to CRNA school for the Fall 2009 start date. Given my family situation though I would need to find a school that offers a split type arrangement with clinicals and class or a distance learning option. For instance I found Texas Wesleyan in Ft Worth has students go the 1st semester to the actual university for didactics and then after that the student can go to their choice of a list of clinical sites for the remainder of the program. This would work great for me as it would allow me to do clinicals in my home area ( Are there any other programs like that that have sites in Denver, Colorado Springs, or Pueblo? I was looking at Mountain State Univ in Kentucky and while I can do the didactic at home I would have to do the clinicals in the vicinity of Kentucky. Wouldn't work for me unfortunately. Oh and Sumner Health in Denver is not accredited and the online only format isn't for me. TIA for any help with this.

Thanks Mark! Hopefully I get a response.

I'm also interested in applying to Sumner for the July 09 start date. They seem very willing to help with any info needed. I live in Colorado so the program was a Godsend in terms of family stability for me. Moving for my whole family is not an option for me. There will at least be one year of student feedback available to me before I would begin. $$$ but hopefully worth it. Would love to hear more details of the interview from you! :) Thx! Nate

Hi everyone, Becoming a CRNA has been my goal even before I started nursing school. I am now an RN coming up on the end of my 1st year in ICU. I am hoping to find a CRNA in Colorado (Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs area) that would be so gracious as to allow me to shadow them. I am guessing I would like to have maybe 24-36 hours of total shadow time. Hoping to submit my CRNA school application in by the end of this year. If anyone would be able to help I would be grateful. Please PM me if you can. Thanks so much! Nate