Should I get accepted to a CRNA program?

Nursing Students SRNA

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I'm about to finish up my ASN in a couple of weeks with a 3.3 GPA overall, but a 2.9 in nursing school (made a C during one semester). I had a 3.8 in all pre-req courses. I have been a paramedic for 10 years and took a paramedic-RN bridge. It's a very difficult program. Learning to stop thinking like a paramedic (logically) and start thinking like a nurse (fantasy) quickly during 1 year is more difficulty than a normal nursing program. There was no A's in my class LOL. Anyway, if I make A's during my BSN program and sequential science courses required for CRNA school, I will have an over all GPA of 3.7 and a BSN and science GPA of 4.0. I plan to work at least 2 years at a university hospital (one of the best in my state) in their cardiac ICU for 2-3 years while I'm doing this. Also plan to obtain CCRN.

My question is, if I accomplish all of this, do I have good odds of getting into CRNA school?

Obviously my GPA is my biggest concern... also if anyone has any advice on the type of RN-BSN program I should do, that is greatly appreciated. I'm torn between some of the well known, easy, cheaper ones, and more highly rated ones. I don't know how much the school I attended will weigh into it. Thank you.

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5 minutes ago, MEDRN89 said:

... Learning to stop thinking like a paramedic (logically) and start thinking like a nurse (fantasy) quickly during 1 year is more difficulty than a normal nursing program. ...

I'm curious, what exactly are you trying to say here? In my 22 years as a nurse I have never engaged in "fantasy" thinking.

And, so you don't this this is paramedics bashing I was a paramedic for 10 years before I finished my ADN program.

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3 minutes ago, chare said:

I'm curious, what exactly are you trying to say here? In my 22 years as a nurse I have never engaged in "fantasy" thinking.

And, so you don't this this is paramedics bashing I was a paramedic for 10 years before I finished my ADN program.

I assume you meant to say you were a paramedic for 10 years? If so, you should know exactly what I’m talking about. “Which orange is the orangest in this perfect nursing world”.

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5 minutes ago, chare said:

I'm curious, what exactly are you trying to say here? In my 22 years as a nurse I have never engaged in "fantasy" thinking.

And, so you don't this this is paramedics bashing I was a paramedic for 10 years before I finished my ADN program.

And who cares? Why not answer my question rather than taking the time to try starting an argument.

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22 minutes ago, MEDRN89 said:

I assume you meant to say you were a paramedic for 10 years? If so, you should know exactly what I’m talking about. “Which orange is the orangest in this perfect nursing world”.

No, I was a paramedic for 22 years, 10 of them prior to becoming an RN.

20 minutes ago, MEDRN89 said:

And who cares? Why not answer my question rather than taking the time to try starting an argument.

Not trying to start an argument. Rather, I was asking you to explain an inflammatory comment you made. If you choose not to do so, that's fine.

As for your question, I can't speak to your chances of getting into a CRNA program with your GPA as I'm not a CRNA. I will say this, you would not have been competitive in my NP program with your current GPA.

As for raising your GPA to 3.7, I'm not sure how you've calculated this, but I think it will be difficult. Plus, some programs calculate your GPA based on all post secondary work that you have completed.

Best wishes.

Strikes Colors and withdraws from field of battle.

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3 minutes ago, chare said:

No, I was a paramedic for 22 years, 10 of them prior to becoming an RN.

Not trying to start an argument. Rather, I was asking you to explain an inflammatory comment you made. If you choose not to do so, that's fine.

As for your question, I can't speak to your chances of getting into a CRNA program with your GPA as I'm not a CRNA. I will say this, you would not have been competitive in my NP program with your current GPA.

As for raising your GPA to 3.7, I'm not sure how you've calculated this, but I think it will be difficult. Plus, some programs calculate your GPA based on all post secondary work that you have completed.

Best wishes.

Strikes Colors and withdraws from field of battle.

I still have around 69 credit hrs to get my BSN and Chemistry courses required for CRNA. A’s in those should bring me to a 3.69 based my calculations. Maybe I’m wrong.

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Medrn I am also quite confused by your fantasy thinking comment. You are not even an RN yet and yet already bashing the field? If you want to work in a high acuity ICU you’ll need to escape the resuscitation based mindset that paramedics have been trained to adopt and add several more facets. You will need to learn patient advocation, learning to talk to doctors, fine tuned patient assessments and monitoring, complex family dynamics, many complex ICU modalities. Having your experience as a paramedic will give you a very baseline knowledge for the field and I would suggest tucking your tail between your legs as you enter the field as veteran nurses will not be so keen on a new grad who is not maleable. These make dangerous nurses IMO.

That being said, you’ll need to bring your GPA >3.5 to be competitive for CRNA school and work at least 1 year in a high acuity preferably level 1 trauma hospital ICU. Many schools prefer adult MICU/CV/SICU as you will become familiar with various drips/vents/invasive monitoring techniques. CRNA schools will look at your core nursing curriculum heavily while applying to CRNA school and since you received poor grades in them you will need to make up for this in other ways. The fluff BSN courses will not carry much weight in the CRNA schools eye if they see you received B’s and C’s mostly in your ADN.
good luck

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On 4/26/2020 at 4:43 PM, murse1293 said:

Medrn I am also quite confused by your fantasy thinking comment. You are not even an RN yet and yet already bashing the field? If you want to work in a high acuity ICU you’ll need to escape the resuscitation based mindset that paramedics have been trained to adopt and add several more facets. You will need to learn patient advocation, learning to talk to doctors, fine tuned patient assessments and monitoring, complex family dynamics, many complex ICU modalities. Having your experience as a paramedic will give you a very baseline knowledge for the field and I would suggest tucking your tail between your legs as you enter the field as veteran nurses will not be so keen on a new grad who is not maleable. These make dangerous nurses IMO.

That being said, you’ll need to bring your GPA >3.5 to be competitive for CRNA school and work at least 1 year in a high acuity preferably level 1 trauma hospital ICU. Many schools prefer adult MICU/CV/SICU as you will become familiar with various drips/vents/invasive monitoring techniques. CRNA schools will look at your core nursing curriculum heavily while applying to CRNA school and since you received poor grades in them you will need to make up for this in other ways. The fluff BSN courses will not carry much weight in the CRNA schools eye if they see you received B’s and C’s mostly in your ADN.
good luck

When they say they mainly look at your last 60 hrs of course work, and your science GPA, Aren’t they referring to your BSN work and Chemistry courses? The websites and what not are so vague but that’s what the ones in my state have on their site.

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Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.

Eh just make sure to get that 4.0 and do well on gre and get a few years of ICU experience. Then apply. You can’t go back and fix what has happened so just do what you can do look good in the future.

I think the fantasy meaning was pointing towards garbage test questions which we can all have some empathy with.

Do the cheapest easiest BSN you can find

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Whew... did you touch a nerve with that comment! LOL! People need to get off their high horse. I am an LPN (12 years with hospital experience on peds, med-surg, and progressive care) and decided I am doing the work of an RN so I NEED to go back to school to get the correct initials. I understand your "fantasy" world comment. Welcome to learning textbook and not field. My biggest hurdle has been getting off the unit and into the book when answering questions. I am currently making an A (93 or above is an A) in my classes, but am working VERY hard for that. I have been laughed at by my instructors in remediation on my 92% exams because I am often the top performer. They tell me the only reason I am missing the questions is that I am answering like a nurse and not a nursing student. It's political B.S but it is a required step for taking the NCLEX.

I too am looking to getting into CRNA school and have the same questions as you. I hate that your simple comment seems to be taking over the feed, but hopefully, someone can add some substance to your intended question. I have looked into several CRNA programs and they do not like the BSN programs that offer a pass/fail () rather than an earned credit/GPA. It would be safer to go with one of the latter programs which is what I am planning on doing. I wish you much luck in this endeavor! It is quite the journey to be on.

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On 4/28/2020 at 9:17 AM, sASSyTXrn said:

Whew... did you touch a nerve with that comment! LOL! People need to get off their high horse. I am an LPN (12 years with hospital experience on peds, med-surg, and progressive care) and decided I am doing the work of an RN so I NEED to go back to school to get the correct initials. I understand your "fantasy" world comment. Welcome to learning textbook and not field. My biggest hurdle has been getting off the unit and into the book when answering questions. I am currently making an A (93 or above is an A) in my classes, but am working VERY hard for that. I have been laughed at by my instructors in remediation on my 92% exams because I am often the top performer. They tell me the only reason I am missing the questions is that I am answering like a nurse and not a nursing student. It's political B.S but it is a required step for taking the NCLEX.

I too am looking to getting into CRNA school and have the same questions as you. I hate that your simple comment seems to be taking over the feed, but hopefully, someone can add some substance to your intended question. I have looked into several CRNA programs and they do not like the BSN programs that offer a pass/fail (WGU) rather than an earned credit/GPA. It would be safer to go with one of the latter programs which is what I am planning on doing. I wish you much luck in this endeavor! It is quite the journey to be on.

Thank you... yeah you can’t comment anything without these babies getting their feelers hurt. As if they don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s difficult going into these RN programs with a lot of real world experience and still figuring out how to answer the unrealistic test questions. My program is a LPN/paramedic bridge and LPNs struggle as much or more than the medics so you’re doing great with a 93%. Good luck to you as well!

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What I find "fantasy" is that you do so poorly on easy, undergrad coursework, and yet you have a plan predicated on the fact that you will be getting a 4.0 in much tougher, upper division course work. And then, even have a shot at passing all the classes in CRNA school, which are multiple orders of magnitude greater than anything you have done before. Now that, is pure fantasy.

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