icu_rn88

Well, it's really hard to tell because you don't get any feedback when you're there. I was extremely nervous and at some point my brain just shut off. My heart was racing and I could actually feel my voice going out at some point. I really hope that they will consider my application as a whole and not just base their decision on the interview. They said 2-3 weeks so we'll see. Honestly, not feeling too good about it, definitely could have done better but at this point there is nothing more I can do.

Well everyone, I will have my interview tomorrow (Monday), any last words of advice/encouragement? I'm really nervous, have been having crazy dreams like being at the interview and going mute or breaking into song. At this point, I would just like to get it over with and receive my verdict. Thank you all for your support and help in this process.

I would say apply first to anywhere you can and see if you get interviews. Then if you don't look for another job. As you can see from posts from other members the schools really look at a whole picture, grades and experience, plus GRE, CCRN and your personal statement and recommendations. So you might not have to switch jobs and why uproot your whole life if you don't have to. I would say apply first and see, I think with a 3.6 GPA, CCRN, and if you do well on your GRE it will make up for not being in a trauma ICU, like one of the other posters on this thread said not everyone can work in a level 1 trauma center and there are other pluses to being in a community hospital because there is a lot more independence. Especially for me at night, because all we have in a hospitalist so by the time you get a hold of her you already have to have your ducks in a row. Good luck! Check back and let us know your progress.

Hi babiiphatt, don't be discouraged at all! I started working at my ICU in July 2013 and got an interview. I know that getting an interview and getting accepted are way different but at least it's something and should give you some positive feedback. My hospital is small as well and our ICU and CCU are a combined 20 beds. It's really good that you got your CCRN, I just passed mine as well. As you can see from the other posts on this thread write a good personal statement, do well on GRE, get involved in any unit councils if you have any (I'm a co-chair on a council I don't know if that helped but just saying it probably doesn't hurt). I'm in Philly so I actually don't know any programs in Texas and can't be of any help there. However, if I can tell you one thing as silly as it's going to sound, follow your dream. People will talk to you and try to discourage you, this will tell you that you're too young (or too old I don't know how old you are lol), that you haven't been a nurse long enough, so forth and so on. Don't listen to them, apply everywhere you can. Here is a link to the AANA website where you can search for programs in your state and surrounding states: Accredited Programs provided by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) Look up the programs and look at their requirements. In know in Philly you don't have to have the required years by the time you apply, just as long as you have them by the time you start school. The program I applied to requires 2 ICU years but you can apply as long as you're working in ICU at the time of your application. Good luck with everything and I hope I was encouraging. Seriously I had a lot of people discourage me, tell me things like "I don't think you'll pass CCRN working in THIS ICU" or "I don't think you'll even get an interview because you don't have enough experience". Well CCRN passed, interview obtained... Just keep going and read the positive posts, it will help! Good luck!

I found that the book published by ETS gives the most realistic questions in line with the actual test. McGraw Hill is way too easy, I didn't use the Kaplan book so I cannot say anything about it. However, I found that the ETS book's difficulty and content is the same as the actual test, especially for the math section. Good luck!

Hello AA012, Nice to meet someone from the Philly area (I read some of your previous posts, thank you for your service). I actually did not have an official study book. I have access to CE Direct from my job to get CE credits. I used their Review section that contained a CCRN review. It's basically just powerpoints on all the systems (CV, Neuro, Resp, etc) and each one contained like 100 slides. It covers A LOT of information and I basically googled things that I didn't know or needed further explanation on. I also bought a test book published by the AACN called "AACN Certification and Core Review for High Acuity and Critical Care", I think it was like 30 bucks. I did one and a half practice tests (out of three), they were really hard. You can see from my previous posts that I failed the practice test. This book doesn't give you any information, it's just questions and rationales but again, if I needed more in depth explanation I googled it. Honestly, the actual CCRN was nowhere near as hard as those practice tests. The ICU that I work at is a regular community ICU, no trauma patients, everything tremendously critical gets shipped out and I still passed with minimal studying. Walk in there, get comfortable, calm your nerves and just read each question and think it through. Honestly, I thought it would be a whole lot harder. As far as content I know that questions are chosen at random but I don't know if you use vecuronium at your ICU and have to check train of four?, review sepsis and what your hemodynamics are like with sepsis, actually review hemodynamics altogether, think through preload and afterload and how that all effects cardiac output, also review ARDS and what happens to the lungs and how vent settings have to be adjusted to accommodate for it. Basically, think of all the basic really sick patients that come to the unit (MI, stroke, ARDS, sepsis, MODS, liver failure, kidney failure, severe GI bleeds, and a little trauma was there as well), what are their labs like, what are their hemodynamics like, and what do we do with them to keep them from crashing. It helped me to think in clinical scenarios when I studied. I hope that you get an answer from Drexel and that I get to meet you there. Good luck and I'm sending positive energy your way!

Hello Everyone, Just wanted to give a quick update I passed the CCRN and I just got an email for an interview at Drexel on June 2nd. The CCRN cert was not on my application so I will be bringing it to the interview. So thanks everyone for the positive feedback and I will continue to update.

Hey Everyone, I just wanted to give a quick update that I got called in for an interview on June 2nd. Thanks for all the support.

Hello SRNA4U, I am a Drexel CRNA hopeful, graduated from Drexel with my BSN in 2012 and just applied for NA school to start January 2016. Can you tell me a little about your stats? I had a 3.3, 9 months LTAC ICU and have been in my current ICU/CCU at Lourdes since July 2013, 163 verbal/154 math. 5.0 on GRE and good solid recommendations. I just want to know what my chances are, I'm hoping being an alum will help a little. Also, how are you liking it so far?

Thank you so much for this post. It was exactly what I needed after my terrible nightshift. You post and answers my posts are really helpful and encouraging. I applied to Drexel on Sunday so now I'm just praying and waiting.

I'm in Philly and I'm applying to Drexel in March for the January 2016 start. This is my top choice because I graduated from Drexel with my BSN in 2012. It's too early to apply to other schools in my area because I want to start in 2016 , but if I don't get into Drexel I will be applying everywhere else. There are several schools in the Philly area : Upenn, Jefferson, LaSalle, Lourdes Hospital which is associated with Drexel as well for the anesthesia program (it's in Jersey but still close to Philly).

I just walked out of the GRE and my preliminary scores are Verbal - 163 and Quantitative - 154. I have a cumulative 3.3 GPA and was hoping to make up for it with my GRE scores. The minimum score for the programs I'm applying to is 300. How are my scores? Are they competitive?

Buy the book published by ETS, they are the ones who administer the test. I got the Kaplan and the ETS book and Kaplan was much easier so not a reliable way to study. ETS book is much harder and more accurate to what is on the test. I just took it and got 163 on verbal and 154 on quantitative. Get the ETS book because the types of math problems on the actual test were even harder than the ETS book but it's the closest one. The types of problems were exactly the same.

Just took the GRE - 163 verbal, 154 math, total 317. I don't know if that's good enough but I'm certainly not taking that horrendous 4 hour test again! :)

Just an update: I registered for GRE on Feb 5, PALS on Feb 17 and 18, and CCRN on March 19. All are before the application deadline so I'm hoping to pass CCRN but I have a question. The first time I took a 150 question practice test from the book endorced by AACN I got 73/150, this is before doing any studying. Just wanted to know how you guys did on your first practice tests, is 73/150 before any studying hopeless? Also, what resources did you guys use to study? Thanks everybody!