Upenn srna 2017 (c/o 2020)

semrad · Apr 2, 2017

Awesome! I would like Cooper, Penn and CHOP, though am not familiar with all clinical sites. Are you attending this May or applying for next year? Any key takeaways from the Open House?

Spine_CRNA, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2017

Awesome! I would like Cooper, Penn and CHOP, though am not familiar with all clinical sites. Are you attending this May or applying for next year? Any key takeaways from the Open House?

I hear Cooper is amazing from a graduating MSN student who spoke. She accepted a job therebecause she felt so well-taken care of, loved, and had many clinical experiences considering it's the only Level 1 trauma in the area. I'll be applying next year hopefully. A practical takeaway is that you can save $80 by attending because they wave the app fee . I'd have more for you, but I lost my notes from the session.

The students just kept on raving about the Primary site model. The speaker also said how prospective students should get used to writing reasearch because that's a large part of the Docorate program.

bonek77, DNP, APN, CRNA · Apr 19, 2017

Hello All,

I have completed my application for the Summer '18 program on March 11th and I have received an email on March 21st from the admission office saying that my application is now moving to review process. Should I have the privilege to be invited to the interview, when should I expect that phone call?

Any input is highly appreciated. Thanks.

wjsb · Apr 19, 2017

Hello All, I got a letter about a week ago and I've been accepted! I'm BEYOND excited it's seriously my biggest dream come true! Now I was hoping to create or join a thread for the Summer 2018 Penn DNP-NA applicants/students so that we can get a grasp on the upcoming year. One of my biggest questions is the official start date, from what I've read it seems to be May 22nd, but I wanted to be absolutely sure. The students in this thread will likely be our mentors, and I'm extremely excited to work, study and learn beside all of you! Best of luck to everyone regardless of which stage you are in of this journey.

Ldv119 · Apr 21, 2017

Hey bonek77, once my application went under review it took about 3 weeks or so for me to receive a phone call, hope that helps, good luck !

Ldv119 · Apr 21, 2017

Wjsb - congratulations !! I'm also in for joining a thread so let me know :) thanks !

bonek77, DNP, APN, CRNA · Apr 22, 2017

Hi Leslie119,

Thank you for the input. I really hope I'll get the phone call. I hope you won't mind if I am asking about your GPA and how many years of ICU experience do you have? I only have a little over CTICU experience to date, although I will have more than two years by summer next year. My GPA isn't the best either. I only have 3.65. A lot of my friends said that UPenn is pretty hard to get in.

Thanks again in advance for any advise that you may have.

Ldv119 · May 5, 2017

Hey bonek77,

Sorry for the delayed response. Any updates? Believe me, I know it's hard but try not to stress yourself out with stats and what other people say. I did the same exact thing and drove myself crazy and the next thing I kno I got in, so be positive, you work in a great icu and your Gpa is very good.

As far as my experience I did home care for a year, I had 2 med surg/tele jobs over the next 2 years, and now I'm at Jefferson hospital for neuroscience in the neuro icu since March 2015 where I'm on unit council and another committee. I have bls obviously and have had acls and pals since I graduated and I took the FCCS course back in 2011 at penn. My bsn gpa was 3.43 and science 3.81, did not take the GREs. I have the med/surg board certification and my CCRN and SCRN and NIHSS. I took a trauma nurse course offered at Jefferson and have been a member of the AACN since 2011. I was a daisy award recipient and some other Jefferson based awards ...

If you have any other questions just let me know :)

Good luck !!!

Ldv119 · May 5, 2017

I also shadowed, and would highly recommend doing that before any interview ...

wjsb · May 5, 2017

Hey Bonek77! I'm also sorry for the delayed response i never got an e-mail that there even was a response until the last comment by Ldv119. I think all of her advice was spot on, especially the do your best not to compare yourselves to others. We ALL have our own weaknesses. My overall GPA was a 3.74 and your GPA is great so don't worry there. Some key things that I want to reemphasize from Ldv's comments are 1) CCRN I think that's a really important exam to take and pass because it kind of proves you have advanced knowledge in critical care 2) Although I took my GRE I don't believe it's necessary to have an amazing GRE score when your GPA, CCRN, experience and interview can prove your ability to critically think and understand in-depth A&P and pertinent medical/nursing material, so don't let it discourage you from applying somewhere if you take it and realize you forgot a lot of your high school math like I did. Haha 3) Shadow someone in anesthesia which I think may be a requirement due to the fact they require a letter of rec from a CRNA and 4) In the interview be yourself. I was so incredibly nervous, but I answered all their questions completely honestly and although I did my absolute best to answer their questions intelligently, if I didn't know something I simply admitted I didn't know it and hoped I had answered enough for them to believe I was ready. I believe they don't miss the forest for the trees, meaning they take all things into consideration when trying to see if an applicant is ready for the long haul to becoming a CRNA. So whatever weakness you feel you have whether it's GPA, experience, GRE, whatever it is just do your best to better yourself however you can and prove yourself prepared to succeed in the DNP-NA program. I really hope you get in and we can call each other classmates in 2018.

P.S. there's a specific thread to DNP-NA 2018 in case you want to ask questions to some people who may not be following this thread

bonek77, DNP, APN, CRNA · May 19, 2017

Hi Ldv119 and wjsb,

Thank you for all of your advices. I got the interview invite. I really hope, like you said, that I can convince Dr. Lord and Ms. Winner that I am ready for the program. I am hoping that I can be part of the group in 2018 :).

I will keep you guys updated. Please keep me in your thoughts.

Ldv119 · May 22, 2017

good luck !!!