itsmike990

25 is the youngest I've every met. I was 26 when I was accepted and going into my second year now. I am the youngest one in my program. mostly everyone is 28-35 and a few 30 yo's. I dont know how someone who is 22 could even have the appropriate experience. what is that: graduate at 17 ADN: done at 19 then work in an icu directly out of school while getting your bachelors for 2 years? 21 years old and apply?

Just dont sweat it. They teach you everything you have to know when you get there. Just work a lot and save a lot of money, pull over time, anything that you can do so you have an extra dime, because you wont have the time in your program to work much. I am at NEU and it is not bad. I work probably 2 shifts a month. I took a month off before the program started and then didnt go back to work for 4 months after the program started. My first shift back I took a heart out of the OR and was freaked out. It all came back to me like I hadnt even been gone a week within 5 minutes. I think an alcohol pad I dropped on the ground was still in the same place I left it five months earlier. Nothing changes, its all the same stuff over again. Your clinical practice and critical understanding will come in handy at school. You'll be surprised how easy it is to get back into your routine. But just enjoy it, LIVE, WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!

Wait I completely messed up Jacobs experience level and hours worked per week. I thought you said 1 shift per week in an ICU. I am posting from my iPhone at work so I couldn't go back and check. You will be fine disreguard my last post, unless someone else is in that position. But you def have enough valuable experience, sorry my bad good luck.

I'm just messing with you griff. You have a medic mentality, and you guys really watch out for eachother. I was taken back by the fact that you have a lot of diverse experience. It would probably be good for the other medic to have some more experience in an ICU. Part time for a year and a half I don't think is enough hospital experience. It's a much different pace in a hospital setting and there are whole different ways of doing things and monitoring situations. I mean I'm not a medic but I have experience In a trauma lvl1 ED and in a ct sicu and the treatment modalities are completely different. How often do medics deal with invasive monitoring lines like swans, arterials lines, bolts, EVD's, or vigilaeos? And interpet those toward treatment modalities and medication titrations? My stats 1900 gre Gpa 4.5 TNCC ACLS PAL CCRN FCCS ICU ORIN CNA RN BNA....... Jk RN, ADN-BSN Gpa 3.9 Gre 980 :-/ 2.5 years ct-sicu, 1 years step-down, some PeR-diem ED ACLS PALS CCRN FCCS-C ICU CONSORT and a bunch of other lecture classes and random certification educational courses like advanced telemtry. I did alot of this in a short amount of time while working and achieved my bachelors while working full-time and maintaining a great gpa. I stayed motivated and really knew my stuff for the interview. I work with some of the sickest patients in my city and have done balloon pumps, cvvh, Lvads, ecmo, and take direct open heart post op patients that require a lot of independent interventions. I have had great experience and just enough of it to be a good candidate. I am also ridiculously motivated and I am extremely goal oriented, which helped make up for my terrible GRE score.

Griff your the man

I was just accepted to a program in my city and I literally took intro to college math and basic stats. But it depends where you apply. They look for great experience and a great gpa so keep up the good grades and stay motivated they notice.

CT-SICU, CCU is what I have seen preferred by most places. The reason for this is that these icu's tend to deal with the most invasive lines and regularly you are required to interpret advanced hemodynamic monitoring on a daily bases. I come from a CT-SICU where we do cabg's, avr's and some general surgery. These areas foster independent critical thinking because initially, post op it is just you and the patient and some parameters and meds to obtain those parameters. a lot goes on and within 2 years you should have many stories to tell the interviewers for your CRNA program interview. I was just accepted to a program in my city and will start in september. I can tell you that experience and your presentation and resume is the strongest factors taken into consideration. Get great experience, take the sicker patients, build your confidence, take your CCRN as soon as you are allowed, and know your meds at a cellular level for your interview. Also NETWORK, stay personal and dont get on anyones badside because you would be surprised how many crna's know eachother. Stay motivated and good luck!!!!

I'm 26 years old and want to be a CRNA. I have a 3.8 cumulative GPA, I have worked in an inner city SICU/cardio-thoracic ICU for almost 2 years. I have TNCC, ACLS, FCCS-C, ICU CONSORTIUM, and PALS, and I am cardiac certified. I have a bachelors in nursing with a 3 credit statistics coorifice. I will also be taking my GRE's soon and have taken prep coorifices I plan on doing well, hopefully around 1000. I have also worked on a Medical floor for a year and an IMCU (Intermediate Care Unit), I dont know if that makes a difference. Do I need organic chemistry and physics to apply to a program and remain competative? thanx for any tips or information. mike