PVCCHoo

Like the above already said, get back full time in ICU right away. Schools want current ICU experience. I wouldn’t worry about old science classes and an advanced pathophys class can’t hurt. But tens years as an RN already and what I can only assume is an age range already getting towards mid to late 30’s CAN hurt in the application process. Older students and more experienced RNs just don’t do as well in school or on the boards as the younger ones. Over 40 on the NCE have a 20% lower first time pass rate than under 30.

I have to disagree with the above. You don’t go from anesthesia tech to CRNA, but you can go from CNA in the ICU, to RN in the ICU, to CRNA. Knowing how to stock the anesthesia supplies is not required to get in to CRNA school, but being a nurse in the ICU is. That CNA job can give you a head start in landing your first nursing job right in to the ICU. Nursing was a second degree for me too and I knew I wanted to wind up a CRNA eventually so I took a CNA job in the ICU I wanted to work in when I graduated while in school. I didn’t even have to interview to get my spot as an RN when graduation rolled around.

Very little benefit. Like mentioned above - you might be able to get credit for a couple classes. That was the case for me. I could have transferred in grad level nursing research and theory courses. It would have lightened my load, but tuition would have been the same, so I didn’t take them ahead of time. Now getting a whole unnecessary degree - that just seems crazy - even if it was completely free.

Fall interviews start next week. I am guessing if you were waitlisted in the spring you would have to wait til those are over and offers are extended and they see who turns down a seat, so gonna be a while still.

I would just go get my ADN and then get my future employer to pay for some online BSN down the road. Community college nursing programs are great and produce quality nurses at a fraction of the cost of a BSN. They are also more catered to regular people like yourself - someone who has to keep working while in school. You will find at community college that the majority of your classmates have jobs. Find a unit you like and want to be a nurse on. Work there while in school and you will likely have a job lined up before graduation. Yes - all hospitals prefer the BSN for new hires, but in many regions, they will take what they can get. Some even prefer ADN because those grads are local already, might have kids, etc - i.e. better potential for staff retention. You will save a ton of money in the long run. After applying for and earning scholarships, my whole community college education cost me less than $1000.

Everything you have done so far is right on track and also the same things everyone else who is applying is doing. I am sure you will shadow a CRNA if you have not already, but that is kind of a no-brainer. The one thing I would do that will really set you apart is to learn everything you can about what CRNA's actually do. I don't mean reading anesthesia books, but you should know the difference between regional and general anesthesia. You should know what an opt-out state is and what the anesthesia care team model is. This is basic stuff, but a lot of potential applicants don't really have a grasp on what exactly they are getting in to and if you do a little homework it will look good and serve you well. For example, when I was doing the little meet and greet with current students at one school, there was a current student who did not know what anesthesia assistants were and they were training at the same hospital he was. Don't let that be you. Get yourself as familiar with the practice landscape as you can now. I still don't know a lot of it myself, but I've only just started my schooling. One tip I read on here years ago was to read the book Watchful Care. It's put out by the AANA - I think - (go to their webpage and look around for a few hours while you are at it), and is a very long and somewhat boring history of the CRNA profession and the AANA. It goes over how nurses got involved in anesthesia and what they are up to these days. Not only will it give you something to talk about during an interview, but it will give you a solid history lesson on the career you are pursuing. I mentioned reading it in one of my essays and it was the FIRST question the director of a program asked during my interview! Name drop Agatha Hodgins and you are in for sure. It's an expensive book, but you can probably get it at the local health science library if you happen to have a big medical school anywhere nearby. Good luck.

OP must be too young to remember Occupy Wall Street, but this is a pretty safe bet as far as ROI. Imagine being 100k in debt with a bachelor’s degree in whatever and not being able to get a job. When it’s all said and done I’ll owe for school about what I’ll still owe for my house. Similar to ProgressiveThinking, I plan to work a little extra for a few years and pay off the mortgage and school loans within 5 years.

Yeah what BigPappa said. I am sure there are practicing CRNAs with lazy eyes. I am still in school, but the only time I have had to do anything with only one eye was looking in the eye piece of a scope, and of course you can just use your good eye for that.

I’m going to Wake Forest. As for the decision to not wait, well, I figured it couldn’t hurt to see what a couple other schools said while I was waiting to reapply and if I got in to one - I would just go ahead and attend that one. Because it would get me in to practice sooner. Also, the original program I looked at had already switched to DNP, so I was really honing in on Master’s programs to “catch up” to my original timeline that had been held up when I didn’t get in to my first choice.

I would cast a wide net and see what happens. Those stats are fine, but everyone else applying has the same ones or better. I think it is fine to have a plan for the school you really want but you need to have Plans B and C ready too. I did not get in to my first choice and was originally gonna wait a whole year and reapply cause it is a great program and the closest one to me. I scratched that plan and spread out my search and will now finish nearly a full two years sooner than if I had waited and reapplied to the school I always thought I would go to.

I know VCU will consider ER if you can prove that you actually had experience with all the stuff you see in the ICU - but it certainly just seems easier to go ahead and work in an ICU, especially based on how competitive that school is in the first place. Be hard to say you have just as much experience with a-lines, vasoactive drips, etc with 2 years of ER experience compared to the hundreds of applicants with 2 or more years in ICU you would be up against. From the VCU webpage: “Experience in areas other than an intensive care unit may be acceptable for admission if the applicant can demonstrate competence in the areas outlined in the definition of critical care experience in the COA Standards.” link: https://nrsa.chp.vcu.edu/programs/dnap-entry-to-practice/etpdnap-faqs/

Yeah. If you want a job as a CNA you need a CNA license. You can take a class for a few to several weeks for usually less than $1000 to obtain. Or if you finished a certain length of a nursing program many hospitals will hire you in to the same role without actually having the title of CNA. As it stands now, no, you can’t just walk into a hospital and show them your bachelors degree in whatever and get a job as a CNA. But yes, working as a CNA, PCA, or PCT in an ICU is certainly a great way to make it “easy” to get an ICU job right after you graduate. It’s what I did as well as plenty others on my floor.

All this information is readily available on the web, but I’ll chime in on the absolute fastest way to do it. Well since you are almost 30 and in the tech field, we will assume you hold a bachelor’s in something and any classes you may have taken that would have been prerequisites for nursing school are too old for schools to give you credit (5 years is the number you see the most). At the bare minimum, you would need a couple semesters of community college just to apply to an accelerated BSN and those are usually 12-18 months and can be pricey. So let’s say you do that and have your BSN two years from now. Then you work in ICU for at least a year and then get in to a school that starts shortly after you are accepted - realistically at least another 2 years. Then 3 years of a DNP program because by the time you apply there will certainly be no more masters programs. So maybe you could do it in about 7 years - if everything fell together perfectly and you cast a very wide net when choosing programs. I doubt you could work a full time job during an ABSN but who knows? I start CRNA school in two months and I am currently 6 and a half years in from taking my first prerequisite at community college. I am doing a two year masters and it will take me just under 9 years. I could have maybe achieved that in 7 by applying to my ADN program a year earlier and getting less ICU time (I did 3 years). Good luck. If you really want to be an MD, and are very motivated you could do it in just a little more time.

To the above question. Carefully read all their FAQs etc on the webpage. Do not just seek out the highest ranking person you can do write you a recommendation. I chose a coworker who was a charge nurse who actually sees me in practice much more than any attending or fellow would.

I can’t remember all of them. He is putting his hope in Middle Tennessee with their rather large class size. He did well on GRE and has been a nurse a while. But seriously, I did my BSN online for 11K from a state school that has a real brick and mortar nursing school as well. I am sure they have something comparable in most states. I would steer clear of WGU if this is what you want. I know he regrets going that route cause it is making it harder on him.