srna2be

Arnie, I would agree with Dr. Ellis that a more traditional setting for the Physics and Biochemistry courses is better. I took both of these through Mountain State and I learned very little. Although I had taken previous courses in the subject, I thought these would refresh my memory-they didn't. The only way I would recommend taking these courses online is if you are pressed for time and have no other means of getting in a traditional classroom course. Dr. Ellis assures me that we are going to be taught how chemistry and physics applies to the practice of anesthesia within the CRNA curriculum (in fact its one of our first semester classes). The online courses that I took had nothing to do with the physics of gases, which, to my understanding, is a major component of the physics knowledge that CRNAs must posess. Where are you located? Private message me and we can correspond further.

Arnie, I am starting the program at Mountain State (orientation starts this Wednesday). I have almost the same set of circumstances as you and I feel the program will be a great fit for me. The program director assures me that I will be a well prepared practitioner when I graduate, which is ultimately the most important thing for me considering the innovative nature of this program as well as the fact that it is the first of its kind in the country. I'm sure there will be some drawbacks to this format that I will realize upon actually getting more into the course of study. I was impressed with the faculty and it sounds as though everything is in place for the students. I can let you know more about how things are going later on! One drawback that I am aware of at this point is the fact that the cost of tuition is so exhorbitant as compared to other schools in the region (total=55,000+). Good luck, hope this helps!

I have been working, as Trauma RUs correctly guessed, as an ADN nurse in critical care until the completion of my BSN. Thanks for the congrats!!!

I was notified last week that I am accepted into the new class starting at Mountain State University next month!!!! I am very excited although I will have no down time (I just finished my BSN this month). Thanks to everyone who frequents this site and offers words of wisdom or encouragement to potential applicants - I know that personally I have been helped tremendously by reading the postings here. Good luck to all others out there who aspire to get into CRNA school, this was my first opportunity to apply and it paid off for me! Keep working hard and never give up. Are there any other students out there who are going to be starting at Mountain State next month?

I have two questions to ask. First of all, I would like to know what aspects of physics and chemistry are important in the study of nurse anesthesia. Are you taught everything you need to know about how these subjects relate to the practice of anesthesia while in the anesthesia program itself, or do you need a very strong background in these subjects in order to succeed? I am asking this as I am taking both of these courses via distance education and I am retaining very little of the subject matter. Secondly, I am trying to come up with ways to finance my education. I am possibly going to get tuition paid by an anesethesia group if I get in, but I am sure that I will have to take out student loans to survive and support my family. Do you guys think that it is too much to ask the anesthesia group for some living expenses in addition to the tuition while I am in school?

Thanks for the great advice and vote of confidence, sandman. I agree that even though the school may say that they dont weigh the GRE heavily, I should probably try to do everything I can to get a decent score. If I were the program director, I definetely would favor the applicant with the higher GRE score. I am going to download the powerprep software asap per your recommendation. Any other recommendations anyone?

Hello everyone! I have been reading the forum postings for some time now and I have received a ton of useful information. My situation is this: I am a prospective applicant into a crna program that is in the process of being reviewed for accreditation (projected start date is January '05). My BSN will be finished in December of this year. I would like to know if any of you guys were accepted pending your completion of a BSN program prior to entry. The program director told me that I could be accepted even though my BSN will not be completed at the time of selection. I feel as though I will be a decent applicant; I have 9 years of critical care experience in university hospitals in various specialty areas, my undergrad GPA to this point is 4.0 and I have a good science GPA as well. The biggest problem I am facing at this point is trying to get all my prerequisites completed in time(I am taking o-chem and physics this semester along with my BSN requriements for a total of 20 credits as well as working full time). This will leave me precious little time to prepare for the GRE which I also plan to take soon with very little study (the director told me that he did not weigh the GRE scores vey heavily-but if I completely blow it when I know that I am capable of much better I will feel terrible. Should I stress myself out trying to get everything done? I guess I'm hoping that I have a legitimate shot at getting in this spring-I would hate to kill myself this fall and still not get accepted. Let me know what you guys think.