linnusik

As a follow up post to my last one. I am graduated and working now, and I can honestly say that it still hasnt hit me that I am in this amazing profession. Every time I put a patient to sleep, wake them up, and bring them to PACU and give them report... I have to pinch myself because I keep on thinking " is this real? am I really here?" School was completely worth it. I am still sort of traumatized over it since it wasn't that long ago that I graduated but honestly I can say it was worth it. Would I do it again... yes. Was it hard... god yes but nothing worth doing is ever easy.

CRNA school is one of the best and worst things I ever did to myself. I went to an accelerated nursing program before that and it really is NOTHING/ fluffy studying compared to the amount of work and knowledge you need to know in CRNA school. My program has one semester of straight didactic which is one of the harder semesters. You think that just because you are a nurse, you can breeze through an anatomy and physiology course with no problem, but in reality, it is so much more in depth than you think, down to the molecular level. Pharmacology is drilled into you from day one, and frankly my program does a semi ****** job of teaching it to you but you have to know it for the comprehensive examinations that they require. Receptor theory, and pharmakokinetics are vital parts of knowledge base, and nursing school NEVER COVERS THIS ! First semester is what I like to call Weed out semester. They load you up with hard classes, and stress you out on purpose. Then the next semester, you have the same amount of classes, and they add 2 days of clinical. Classes are typically 12 hours long, and clinical days are 12-16 hours depending on your rotation. They build up more and more clinical until you are going to clinicals 4-5 days a week, with class sporadically. I can honestly say that I have put in 10-12 hour study days on majority of weekends to keep up, and after clinicals you are so exhausted but you still have to keep up with the physiology that is part of your cases the next day. In clinicals it is BRUTAL. Just because you used to be an ICU nurse, doesn't mean anything. The knowledge base is so much greater, and as a student you are treated like a piece of crap most of the time. You are evaluated every day by your preceptor, and the skill level required is much higher than probably any other advanced practice nurse. You learn to intubate, place nerve blocks, epidurals, spinals and the pharmacology and technical knowledge behind all of that. I can honestly say that I have given up my social life completely, and I am lucky that my family is supportive of me doing this, some people in our class end up divorced/broken up. It is not uncommon.One other thing with the CRNA profession that I have to state is annoying/crazy, is that there isnt as many of us as there are regular nurses. There are probably 1200 crna's in the state of California, and most of them either know someone who knows someone else or they do know them directly. It is common to see the same people at different sites and state meetings. What I am saying is that your reputation as a student/provider precedes you. If you are doing poorly, everyone knows of you. If you mess up in clinical, all the other clinical sites are aware. You have to be super professional at all times even in your personal life because it is all about how you present yourself. I am exhausted all the time, in debt because this program is expensive, and came from making a 6 figure salary as an ICU nurse in California working 3 days a week to working 5 days a week and making nothing as a student. I am done with this program in 2 months. Am I glad I did this? Probably. Do I love what I am doing now? Its amazing..... would I do it all over again knowing what I know now? ........ hopefully.

i have a perdeim job that i still keep now that I'm in school, but I've worked maybe 3 days in the semester. Its really almost impossible to work while you're in school, the amount of studying and time needed to succeed in school is sooooo much more than what nursing school required. It really is overwhelming. I know they tell you you shouldn't work in school and thats because ITS REALLY ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. We have 5 classes this semester and 19 units, i am literally up every day at 5 even my days off to get started on studying. When you do have a free day here or there, its really a miracle and honestly the last thing i really want to do is go wipe ass cheeks with c-dif patients and deal with onry withdrawing alcoholics that shouldn't have been drinking in the first place but they suck so they do..... Its a balancing act, there are only a few people who work in my class, and definitely only once in a blue moon like for the holiday weekends and all that. SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU CAN NOW, WORK AS MUCH OVERTIME AS YOU CAN, IT SUCKS LIVING ON FINANCIAL AID, ALSO LOOK FOR ANY GRANTS OR SCHOLARSHIPS YOU CAN APPLY FOR! i didn't really take the grants seriously because i felt like i didn't have enough time to write a paper, but some people in my class got 2000$ + from this. Hope this helps.

Im in CRNA school right now, and basically , when I worked I saved up money to pay for school. Save as much as you can! honestly i am almost loan free, and i still have to watch every penny. CRNA school is expensive 50-100k depending on where you go. I took a loan from my hospital for about 20k that is forgivable if i get a job with them after graduation but that isn't a for sure thing, but thats really the only loan i took. Most students in my class didn't save and took loans/financial aid, you do what you have to get by, even those people who have families...thats just because CRNA school is worth it. I am almost done with my first semester and couldn't be happier!

It depends on the school which gpa is more important, but generally your nursing gpa, is important, your science gpa is important and then your overall. My science grades SUCK! but my nursing gpa was a 4.0, so it pulled everything up. When you apply to schools if you have a good nursing gpa you can rationalize that you finally found what you wanted to do and thats why your grades are so much better, also i retook biochemistry and physics after nursing school when I was already a nurse so that i could be more competative, some schools require a good background in those classes. I did get good grades in those classes. Honestly bust your ass in nursing school and a good gpa will pay off whether or not you go to crna school or not. Even job hunting will be much easier. Hope that this helps.

I did get an email stating that I was accepted.

Nursing gpa : 4.0 overall gpa: 3.4-3.5, I had super crappy science grades too. like b's and a few c's (thats really been a hinderance), but I took biochemistry and physics after nursing school (it was a prerequisite for some schools I applied to for CRNA) and got good grades in that 3 years Adult Med/surgical ICU experience (started as a new grad in ICU) CCRN (dont kid yourself, unless you have a bunch of experience, they dont just "recommend it," they require it. Plus its a great base of knowledge about patients you dont normally see) BSN AANA member ACLS/BLS/ just got PALS multiple shaddow experiences To make a long answer short I want to be a CRNA, a) I want to widen my scope of practice (and why) b) I want more autonomy (and why) c) I wanted to work with a variety of patient populations (and why) d) I wanted to be able to do more procedures. (and why) e) I have what it takes to be a crna (use your qualities and qualifications and experiences as examples of why you would fit the crna role) f) most important, I wouldnt be ready to move away from my family, my job and my life for this if I didnt really love what these people do. BY THE WAY, I JUST GOT MY ACCEPTANCE LETTER YESTERDAY... :heartbeat:heartbeat:lol2: :) , and dont worry last year I bombed my interviews, so stuff happens but obviously try again.

The interview actually wasnt bad. First you go into a room with (moderator edit of name), the lady that everyone communicates with when they apply to the program. She tries to talk to you and put you at ease. Then you are brought into a room with the admissions comitee. There were 15 people in the room, and they really are all very easy going. Made me feel great and at ease. The admissions director was fantastic! He is super friendly and nice. They asked me to tell them about myself, and what kind of hospital i work for, why i wanted to be a crna, and why i had applied there.I tried to be really confident with my answers. My answer for why I wanted to be a CRNA was solid!!! I think its super important to be confident with that question. The admissions commitee were not stuffy, we even joked about some of the things that I did at work. They also asked me what other schools I applied to. I did answer truthfully, and let them know that this was my first choice school. Afterwards the director took me out and told me he thought i did a good job and hoped to see me in the program next year! score! I think I rocked it!, but not sure, sometimes im wrong, better not get my hopes up. We will see! Good luck to everyone too. Hope this helps for those of you applying next year.

How was your interview? What kinds of questions were you asked? Was it intimidating, were there many people interviewing you? Help!? :)

Just so we are clear, I know i am like 4 years too late for this post, but registered nurses in northern california (in hospitals) do make around 100K a year plus. I have been a nurse for 3 years and last year I made 110 K with NO OVERTIME! I work 3/12 hr shifts, so 36 hours a week. CRNA'S at my hospital make 170K starting, and in some areas they can make upwards to 200K a year. So if thats not an incentive, I know that whiping less poop definately is!

I didnt get in... bummer. I actually think the interview wasnt that bad, I was just nervous and talked like a blithering idiot. The people are all super nice. Good luck to everyone who got in. I have an interview at USC this week, maybe that will go better.