CRNA Midwestern application 2016

[RNcooley]

Hello All,

I just wanted to post about my experience this past application cycle for CRNA at Midwestern University Glendale campus. I applied as a last minute thing because of the lax requirements (e.g. no CCRN required, no GRE requirement). I will admit that it was a half ass attempt to apply to medical school, because you see I am a premed student and I applied on a whim cuz I'm having a hard time getting accepted to med school. My background I'm 30 y.o Male with extensive ICU experience, Case Management, Nuclear Medicine, etc… I have also been a traveler and signed various contacts in different specialties over the years. I always like learning new things and change it up every year. But anyways my Science GPA is 3.1, MCAT score 489 (terrible I know but I have just recently retaken as of 3/31/17 awaiting results to be posted on 5/2/17). I have research experience with the medical professors at the University of Utah collecting data on research with high dose vaso therapy in septic patient population. I also have recently graduated from the GCU Masters Program with an emphasis in healthcare informatics and my capstone was on ITA hold patients in the state of Washington. I work for an insurance company Kaiser Permanente now formal known as Group Health, we were bought out, as a case manager Kaiser Permanente. So I would say I am a pretty strong applicant. I will tell you about my experience with Midwestern for any prospective students my interview was this past November 2016.

I submitted my application as a last minute thought in October, Midwestern has rolling admission so applications are accepted year round. I received a letter in the mail saying I had been denied an interview because I didn't meet their criteria. It was vague verbiage nothing specific. I almost tossed it out but my girlfriend encouraged me to call and inquire about why my application was denied. You see she wants me to go the CRNA route b/c she doesn't want me to go to Med school because it is so much longer and she wants to settle down. So I called the admissions office and inquired, the admission office said I did not meet their GPA criteria of 3.0 they said my GPA was a 2.96 science and cumulative 3.5. I asked that they recalculate their figures because my calculation is 3.1. Turns out there was a delay in delivery of transcripts from one of my previous schools so they apologized and said they would set me up for an interview since I met criteria. I was surprised, it was easy peasy and I exerted little to no effort getting an interview.

I prepare and head to AZ for my interview in November. I arrive early dressed to impress but not as dressed up as the other prospective male candidates. The women were dressed equally well in business casual attire. I felt a little intimidated because I was underdressed in a blazer, tie and some brown pants. But whatever I thought I'd charm my way through the interview. There was a total of 6 of us 3 guys and 3 gals. We met up in the barracks building and coffee and snacks were provided. We made small talk while we waited everyone was nervous you could tell. Then the admission coordinator provided us with an itinerary that concluded at ~ 1300 and lunch was provided after the interview by the school in the cafeteria. We were split into groups of two and toured the campus while the other group was called in to be interviewed one at a time.

Before the interview process started the CRNA director came out to greet us and answer any of our questions or concerns. I didn't know what to expect because there wasn't much info on all Nurses regarding the applications cycle and I have had friends that have attended this school and they said they have a relaxed admission process and they didn't really ask too many clinical questions. One of my friends said she told them she was recently convicted of a DUI like a month before and confessed and she thought they were gonna deny her admission but they didn't and thanked her for being honest and asked her some question regarding the mg/ml concentration of propofol. So this was nice when the director of the CRNA program came out and held our hand. She was very old though has been with the school for many years and was in the military etc… I believe she was going to retire within the next year from what I gathered after our long introduction. Then she left and said good luck on your interview. She was very nice so she made me feel like this was going to be an easy process.

The interview process started out okay. A young gentlemen came out introduced himself stated he was adjunct faculty and a CRNA. He made small talk about where I was from and started talking about football and the Seattle Seahawks because I came in from Seattle to interview. I was lead into a room where there was another gentlemen seated. He was a little older and stated he was a CRNA and in charge of admissions. I do not recall his name or title but he had peppered grey hair and a bit of a belly. The conversation continued on about football and then it stopped after about a minute. They gave me their formal introductions and explained what was going to happen they were each going to ask a series of questions and I would need to follow up with my best answer, and then at the end they said I would have free time to ask them anything about the program. I thought that last bit was weird considering the director of the CRNA program was just in the lobby with us answering all of our questions??? But whatever I agreed and we got things rolling. Oh and the chubby older guy made a smart ass comment and said were basically going to make sure everything on your resume adds up. I felt like he was insinuating I was lying about my experience as if I needed to. Oh and the younger gentlemen asked me if I knew some of his previous classmates. Which I did and we discussed how they were doing because we both knew them. The questions started and I was asked some zingers. The way I felt during the interview was that the two interviewers were playing the good cop and bad cop routine. The younger guy would ask me some easy questions and then the older guy would throw some question out there like explain the difference between autonomic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system, which I choked I wasn't as specific as they wanted I was more basic like rest and digest, fight or flight type answers basic Bio 101. Then the younger one asked me what receptors were affected by levophed I mistakenly said baroreceptors, when I should of said alpha receptors, levophed can cause arrhythmias such as baroreceptor-medicated bradycardia. Anyways they didn't like the answer. Oh and the older chubby guy kept cutting me off when I was answering and would say okay that's enough, I've heard enough in a rude manor. Then the older gentlmen asked me to define SIRS from a pathophysiological standpoint. I was like okay this is easy I started listing treatment protocol and lab values that would be elevated, I also started stating that the differential diagnosis could be so braod we would need to narrow them down to find out exactly what is the cause of SIRS because it could be from sepsis, trauma, hemorrhage, necrosis, aspiration, etc… the older guy was getting annoyed with my answer because he was not wanting to discuss treatment plan with me he said. He got annoyed and said he has heard enough. Then they asked the typical clinical scenario name a critical thinking situation were you acted, I provided an example about a patient situation where they aspirated and we had to intubate. Then they asked me if I have shadowed a CRNA and I said no I have shadowed an anesthesiologist, I don't think they liked that, but hey I'm a med school applicant so I had to follow an MD. Then they concluded their interview and said that's about all the time we have for you and asked if I had any questions. I wanted to ask them why didn't you ask me any questions about my prior research or any of the good things on my resume. But I held my tongue and thanked them for their time.

Overall, I would have to say, based off my first impressions, I am not impressed with Midwestern CRNA program. I agree it has lax standards and is easy to get an interview but I should have saved my money for my med school application cycle. This experience provided me with the motivation to kick it into gear and get into medical school and not pursue CRNA. I know it's along path but in the end it will make me happy. If you have any questions about my experience I can provide you with pointers if you are planning on applying to CRNA so can be prepared.

[PresG33]

No one's gonna bite on this. Jeeze AN is getting soft. To the OP, thanks for the heads up about Midwestern. I heard it was a decent program but from what you say it seems pretty suspect. I mean, why wouldn't they immediately accept you?? Just because you have a terrible GPA and MCAT and haven't taken the time to shadow a CRNA? Because you consider them to be old, and make smart ass comments? Because you were unable to answer rudimentary questions about the ANS (hint for your next interview: parasympathetic is rest and digest), medication receptors, and SIRS? Anyway, glad you didn't end up there, Med school definitely seems like it's a better fit for you once you get your GPA and MCAT squared away.

[nurseanesthesia]

Agree completely with PresG.

And by the way, OP, levophed is mixed alpha & beta. Ever stop to think that maybe the problem is you and not an entire program or profession?