"Expiration" dates on pre-requisite courses?

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I am interested in becoming a CRNA and still have a year to go before I graduate from my undergraduate nursing program. I was previously awarded a science degree in 2010, and my course requirements for that degree included general chemistry 1 & 2 as well as organic chemistry 1 & 2.

However, I took general chemistry 1 & 2 during the fall 2006 and spring 2007 semesters, and I took organic chemistry 1 & 2 during the fall 2007 and spring 2008 semesters. Considering that it will be another year before I even start working as an ICU nurse, my chemistry courses will be pretty old by the time I'm ready to apply to CRNA programs.

So having said that, is it common for CRNA programs that require the above-mentioned chemistry courses to also have "expiration" dates on how long ago they may have been taken? Organic chemistry 1 and 2 were especially painful educational experiences for me, so if I'm going to have no choice but to re-take those courses to be eligible to apply to the schools that require them, I think I would honestly rather just apply to CRNA programs that either don't require them or which don't enforce time limits.

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Most colleges and universities, across the board, not just nursing programs, have "expiration dates" for science classes. Typically, it's five years, although some schools apparently use seven years as the cut-off. I would suggest you talk to schools you are interested in attending and find out what their specific requirements are.

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This is a very program-specific question. Research the program or programs you are interested in attending and use that as a basis for your decision-making. Some programs do not have science class expiration dates, they just want to see that you performed well!

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Thanks. Wow... if most programs have 5-7 year expiration dates, then I'm going to have no choice but to essentially re-take every pre-requisite science class that I took for my biology degree. The only exception would be biochemistry, which I took during the fall 2010 semester, but even that will be cutting it close since I won't graduate with my nursing degree until July 2014. Looks like I'll have no choice but to apply to CRNA programs with

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Some schools say that if they (the courses) are older than 10 years then you need to re-take them. I had to retake chem 1 and 2 for CRNA school. But it was really beneficial.

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HenryH,

You actually might not need to re-take any of those courses, depending on the schools you apply to.

I completed a BS in Biochem in 2005 and my BSN in 2007. Applied to schools this year, and of the dozen or so that I was considering, only one of them required an O. Chem or Biochem course within 6 years. None of the others had time limits on how long ago pre-req courses were taken.

Also, dunno if you took Statistics, but many programs require it as a pre-req.

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HenryH,

You actually might not need to re-take any of those courses, depending on the schools you apply to.

I completed a BS in Biochem in 2005 and my BSN in 2007. Applied to schools this year, and of the dozen or so that I was considering, only one of them required an O. Chem or Biochem course within 6 years. None of the others had time limits on how long ago pre-req courses were taken.

Also, dunno if you took Statistics, but many programs require it as a pre-req.

It's good to hear that most schools didn't require you to re-take your courses.

Yeah, I also took Statistics as part of my Biology degree, but it was catalogued as something like MATH1123. So hopefully most CRNA programs won't require an upper-level Statistics course to have been taken.

In your personal experience, did you find that your Biochem degree made you a more competitive applicant? Do you think you received any interview invite offers that you wouldn't have received if you hadn't had the degree?

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I only ended up applying and interviewing at 2 schools because I got accepted to my top choice. I don't know that my Biochem degree made a big difference in whether I got an interview. But I feel it contributed to the overall strength of my application.

In general, getting an interview is not about a single part of your app, as admissions committees take into account the whole package. Yet, because of the science-based nature of CRNA curricula, I'm sure most programs find a previous science degree appealing.

One of my interviewers did ask about my biochem degree, and seemed to like it. I was premed previously, so I just had to explain why I had changed routes.

And fyi, from my extensive research on programs, pretty much all of them accept a basic stats course to satisfy that pre-req.

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I only ended up applying and interviewing at 2 schools because I got accepted to my top choice. I don't know that my Biochem degree made a big difference in whether I got an interview. But I feel it contributed to the overall strength of my application.

In general, getting an interview is not about a single part of your app, as admissions committees take into account the whole package. Yet, because of the science-based nature of CRNA curricula, I'm sure most programs find a previous science degree appealing.

One of my interviewers did ask about my biochem degree, and seemed to like it. I was premed previously, so I just had to explain why I had changed routes.

And fyi, from my extensive research on programs, pretty much all of them accept a basic stats course to satisfy that pre-req.

Congratulations on getting accepted to your top choice! Can I ask what your GPA and GRE scores were, and how much ICU experience you had? Also, just out of curiosity, why did you decide to change course from your original goal of going to medical school?

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Thanks. sent u a pm

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I'm re-taking stats now while I'm still in nursing school because mine previous one was 6 years ago and one of the programs that I want to apply for has a 5 year recency rule.

It really depends on your program that you apply for.

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Each college/university has independent requirements. Research the schools that interest you. My advice is to apply only to the schools in which you've met the mandatory requirements, I would advise against taking additional classes in order to meet school-specific criteria.

That being said, in my opinion, there are only three factors that come into play in order to be granted an interview, in this order: (1) GPA (2) GRE (3) Experience.

The easiest way to gain an interview is to rock the GRE. Get a 315+ and your application will go straight to the top of the pile.

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