mwach

As the other comments show, there is definitely some difference in the sites. The clinical experiences are very different as well. The pace at which you advance in your skills also varies. A LOT of this depends on the student. I have heard of students taking THREE semesters to get good at intubating and other students taking 4 weeks to get decent at it. It took me two months. Our first three semesters we were split in half between Brooksville and TGH. I got TGH for 3 semesters and did a lot of my specialty rotations (happy to get those out of the way). They don't make you do PEDS until you're a senior or super junior. Tampa: so far I have had 3 semesters at TGH and 1 semester at Brookesville (Oak Hill Hospital). They have just added a new site at Tampa Community Hospital (TCH) and I will be the first student to go there in two weeks. TGH is big/trauma 1 and you will get most of your numbers for more critical cases there. You will also get your PEDS, OB, and cardiac there. Oak Hill is an hour away from Downtown Tampa and is a site that people generally do not like because of the way they manage your hours. Oak hill is a very comorbid population so you will get to see a lot of cases that TGH would never operate on for elective surgery. I found it a good place to be independent and create your OWN routine since at TGH the CRNAs are not encouraged to leave you. In my opinion as an observer of the other students, OHH is a difficult place to start out at. IDK if i would be where I am today if I had to start there. It's also 3-4 days a week with varying hours when TGH gives you 3 12h shifts a week typically (after the summer semester). TGH you know your schedule a month in advance, OHH you find out the night before. Just assume you're going in unless otherwise notified. Both have benefits and drawbacks. Sarasota and Moffitt typically only accept 1-2 students (Seniors only) per semester so I'm not getting my hopes up since there are 13 of us and I have 3 semesters left. I have heard good things from both hospitals. Your first 4 semesters will be spent at TGH, TCH, and OHH. You have about 5% influence on their decisions for your site lol . I let fate decide haha. Some people like to get professors to advocate for them and beg etc, but ultimately, Tampa Barry grads from the past 4 years have all told me they feel SO prepared when they graduate and they all spent drastically different times at their individual rotations and are EXCELLENT providers. If you have any questions let me know.

Haha I remember the feeling!! I had to wait 5 daysss just terrible

I think I used the Kaplan book. I did a solid 2 weeks of studying beforehand. I think the scores suffer r/t test fatigue. So do a lot of practice tests.

Yeah, I'm in Tampa, and it seems like when the class of 2018 began, orlando's numbers dropped significantly. I have my theories, but i digress. They might turn the info meeting into an interview if you meet the requirements. They really need committed people for Orlando. Very difficult site, clinically, from what I understand.

I didn't have my CCRN until after I was interviewed/accepted

I'm in Tampa and we have sim in Orlando about 2-3 times per semester. It's a pain in the butt, but ultimately, sim is not that big of a deal if you read the articles and come prepared with a good attitude. We carpool and just get it over with. It's about 1 hrs and 20 mins one way if you don't hit traffic. They even switched some times around for us so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic. Classes are online streamed from the site where the professor has decided to lecture from. Half the time there is audio issues at the beginning but they try to fix them or ultimately give up and you have to hear crappy sound for 4 hrs. oh well. :) It's kinda hilarious. I loved being in Tampa for the first year because we had two professors who were on site and they were very mentoring and supportive to us in our time of tribulation! haha

Take it from me, if you were interviewed, there is a 90% chance you will be accepted. They find their 100 ppl or so to interview but can only accept 70 (which they do). The AANA only allows Barry to start with 70 students.

I took a basic community college chemistry course ($300) in the Fall 2014 before the program spring 2015 and did great in chemistry. Highly recommend, since that was a lot of people's first C grade. You're only allowed 7 credits of Cs in the whole program.

They asked me to retake it verbally, but before i even was able to retake it, I got my formal letter of acceptance a few days later

At the end of the day, if you're a little off here or there with your GRE, they won't care that much as long as your other stuff meets their standards. They just can't have a bunch of people way below average. I was accepted with two points below their math score cutoff and i retook it but they didn't require me to on my acceptance letter list of things to complete.

Tampa is awesome! I graduate May 2017. I love this program. Major benefit of being in Tampa is the expanding clinical sites, and the fact that dr. D is on site to lecture and you get to bond with him and ask questions/complain to him about things. He is the Patho/Chem/Pham professor. He's a great listener and will advocate for you. The other campuses have faculty as well, but Tampa in the first year, you want dr. D on your side. Plus, he's teaching 90% of your classes! haha