malenurse2001

I talked to the director last week. She said that the anatomy pharmacology I mentioned is actually anesthesia pharmacology and that it's been dropped from the summer quarter. So that's one less class we have to worry about initially:yelclap: I also asked about booklists so that I could possibly study ahead. I anticipated I would not get one, but I did get a little more than I had expected. She was able to give me last year's books with the disclainer that they could change. Here's what she said . . . The required text for Anatomy was: Drake, R.L., Vogl,W., Mitchell., Gray's Anatomy for Students, Elsevier, 2005. They also require one of several atlases including Grant's Atlas of Anatomy by Agur, Atlas of Human Anatomy by Netter, Color Atlas of Hyman Anatomy by McMinn, Color Atlas of Numan Anatomy by Rohen, or Anatomy: A Regional Atlas of the Human Body by Clemente. They recommend choosing one that you find most suitable to your individual needs. The required textbook for Biochemistry is Lippincotts' Illustrated Review: Biochemistry, Third Edition by Champe, Harvey and Ferrier. There is no textbook for Biophysics. I've already ordered loads of books about chem, o. chem, biochem, nursing pharm, the icu book and perhaps best of all 'basics of anesthesia'. I started in on the last two and I plan to finish basics of anesthesia since I'm sure it will relate. Biochem reads a little like greek to me right now so I'm hoping to have time to go through chem and o. chem. Maybe the Illustrated Biochem Midwestern required will be an easier read than Schaums outline of biochem. I hesitate on pouring over an anatomy textbook. My concern is that the class may not go cover to cover, as many don't. I'm hoping that I've still got a decent understanding of anatomy from my undergrad and I'll only have to fill in the gaps Andy

Thanks for the replies everone. Very helpful!!

hey all. i'm hoping to get some help, especially from someone in a frontloaded program. my sciences background is a little weak, not on grades but on how far i went with basic sciences courses. i aced micro, a&p, bio and chem, but these na science courses are very advanced and very intimidating.:chair: i'm looking at biochem, biophysics, anatomy pharmacology and anatomy w/ cadaver lab. i already have schaums outline of biochemistry and i hope to be able to get a head start on the book list. plus i'm trying to balance my potential academic needs with our financial needs so i'm also planning on working a little extra before school starts to help out with $, but i definitely don't want to struggle too much w/ the academics.:smilecoffeeilovecof so for me that's the main priority! any suggestions.

Midwestern. How about you?

I'm not Bonita but I can help with your questions. I got my acceptance letter to Midwestern on Wednesday 2/7/07. I interviewed 1/17/07. As far as my stats: CCRN; GRE: 1240, they had my GPA @ 3.8 w/ a 4.0 in the sciences, 5.5 years nursing experience, the last 3 being in the ICU. I had been to 3 other interviews on the other side of the country and I only made it on the alternate list at one. My feeling is that perhaps schools are a bit partial to students that live in town. All four interviews were very different. Two were panel style, the other two were not. One asked behavioral questions, and two asked a single clinical question. The point is to prepare for all different types of interviews. For me this meant to archive as many questions as I could find . . . if you look in this forum and Google "CRNA interview questions" you'll find dozens. It helped me greatly to write out my responses and reheorifice them with others. So while I only had a 'canned answer' for about half the questions, the whole process was helpful b/c you'll be able to get a broad idea of what they may ask, and how you should respond. Less surprises!! Of course dress nicely- I wore a suit. Midwestern in particular was a very laid back interview with no clinical questions and no panel (only 2 faculty memebers). They seem to try to take a lot of the stress out of it, which I'm sure almost everyone appreciates. The other schools I went to were VCU, Wake Forest, and Raleigh. I cancelled an interview at CHS and I pulled my app @ TWU (I applied there late). Hope this helps. Just trying to give a little back since I do realize that I couldn't have done it without the help of the 'experts' before me.

hey everyone, i wanted to update you all. i got an acceptance letter today!!! :smiley_aa thank you to everyone that replied to my frustrated post. the guidance is much appreciated. :cheers: hopefully my story will help others out there that are in a similar situation- which is why i wanted to post my happy ending. this fall the journey begins!!!

thank you so much for your reply jaznaa, i have been feeling somewhat aimless and disheartened lately, so i really appreciate comments from the experts in this forum. i do feel that the lack of high acuity experience is the only piece of the puzzle that i'm lacking. it really helps when those who know confirm it. i just don't really want to give up a good thing (which is what i have now) for less pay and more stress if lack of high acuity experience is not what's keeping me out. but i definitely will make that change if these next two interviews pan out the same way. we all have to make sacrifices to get in. i'm just biding my time a little to make sure that it's a sacrifice that i do have to make.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement Shang and Jackson74. A few weeks ago I had thougt about changing jobs asap just as you both suggested. However, the timing for a job change is unfortunately kind of poor at the moment. We're expecting our 2nd child in two months. Plus, a job change will probably entail taking a big pay cut which will not help with trying to fund the CRNA training. And I was afraid that making an ICU change now might add to the interview panel's suspicion that the ICU I'm currently at isn't adequate. It's probably not the best attitude to go into the interview with, but I'm starting to feel like "there's always next year". I would really like to vary my skills mix and therefore improve my profile but I think I should wait to see how these next two interviews pan out. After all, application season begins again in another 6 months or so. At least what I'm potentially lacking is something I can fix for next year and not somthing that takes years to fix like a low GPA.

Let me start by saying that I greatly appreciate all of the knowledgable posts from everybody in this forum. Since I got such a great response from the last question I posted, I figured I could throw out a more personal question and see what I get. I went 5 for 5 this year on applications converting to interviews. So I figured that surely I'd get in somewhere unless I really freeze up or say something stupid during the interview. I had prepared for the interviews by studying my CCRN stuff and rehersing for all the potential CRNA inteview questions I could find online. Leaving the interviews (I've done 3 of 5 so far) I felt pretty good about them. I did not feel caught off guard. Then the denial letters started coming in (though I did make the alternate list at one program). The feedback I recieved was that my ICU experience was too low of an acuity (it's a 6 bed medical/surgical ICU). This is despite trying to inflate my experience as best I could without lying. Now I'm realizing that the only reason I went 5 for 5 was b/c of my high stats (GPA, GRE score, reference letters, CCRN, ect) {trying not to toot my own horn} I now feel that what is primarily judged during the interviews is the depth, not the time length, of experience. So while I feel that their feedback has merit, I also know that there have been many others that are now CRNA's who also came through our ICU for far less time than I've put in (3.5 yrs). So I'm holding out on an ICU change while I await the outcome of the next 2 interviews. I'm doing registry shifts now and then around town to get a feel for what other ICU's I might want to go into and I ask questions everywhere I go. I'm thinking that maybe the schools have a bias toward CVICU just from an inclination I get from what I've read here (though the schools won't say that explicitly). If I don't get in this year, I will go to the highest acuity ICU I can find (probably CVICU), and I'll continue to apply every year. Being in a uncommon and perplexing situation, I appreciate any advice since you all are definitely the best group of people to ask about my unique situation.

Again thanks for all the info. As the numbers have all stayed fairly low, I am still suprised. Yet I'm not overly confident either, even though I feel I will be a competitive applicant come application time. I just went to an open house today and the Director of the program there reaffirmed just how competitve it was by stating that 184 validapps last year resulted in 40 interviews for 15 spots. Thanks to everyone that posted.

Thanks for your reply. Very helpful. If you look at the responses I got both here on the pre-CRNA forum and on the CRNA forum, statistically speaking the people that replied must be the exception rather than the rule. I can only hope to be able to stand out as well as the rest of you.

Thank you all for your replies. I must admit, I am suprised. I no longer feel like the 5 apps I'm doing aren't enough. Any other posts/comments would be very appreciated also. Thanks again.

I did post this question first in the CRNA forum instead of where it more so belongs- in the pre-CRNA forum. So I re-posted it here. I read through most of the archives and have gained so much valuable information. Thank you to everyone that has contributed. I've read in the *Read first* section that Nilepoc suggests only applying to 2 or 3 CRNA schools. After doing some searches, I haven't found much other info on this topic. I have been finding while talking to physicians, that as pre-med students they would usually apply to 25+ schools, so as to better their chances. I would really like to hear from any SRNA's or CRNA's about how many schools they applied to/ how many interviews/ how may acceptance letters. Thanks

This is the first time I've posted anything. I read through most of the archives and have gained so much valuable information. Thank you to everyone that has contributed. I've read in the *Read first* section that Nilepoc suggests only applying to 2 or 3 CRNA schools. After doing some searches, I haven't found much other info on this topic. I have been finding while talking to physicians, that as pre-med student they would usually apply to 25+ schools, so as to better their chances. I would really like to hear from any SRNA's or CRNA's about how many schools they applied to/ how many interviews/ how may acceptance letters. Thanks