USAGPAN 2017

Specialties Government

Published

Specializes in Anesthesia.

Hey everybody! I'm getting ready to apply to USAGPAN for the 2017 start date, and I just wanted to start a thread to connect with others who are applying. I'm sure that I wont receive many responses until closer to the application deadline, but I wanted to use this thread as a means of tracking my progress throughout the application process as well.

This program is my #1 choice, but I am requesting that MEPS grant a medical waiver (I had a football-related injury 10 years ago, but my recruiter said I should be good to go since waivers are much easier for medical personnel to obtain), and I still need to take the GRE, so there is some uncertainty there. I recently began studying for the GRE, and have been doing okay on the practice tests. However, I keep putting the exam off because I didn't apply myself in high school and focused pretty much on sports and good times. I'm currently reteaching myself high school math (ha)! I'm rocking the verbal portion though, so I plan on taking it next month.

I will be applying to a couple of back-up schools as well, but the military is something I've always wanted to do, and I'm not getting any younger (I'm in my late twenties). I actually almost joined the marines after high school, but ended up opting for college instead. The thought of getting paid to fulfill both life and career goals without having to pay tuition is enticing. I think that for me personally, the stress of having $0 in loans from CRNA school, serving my country, not having to worry about living expenses while matriculating, and the top notch education(DNP) I would receive far outweigh, "making 150k/year in the private sector." ..and hey...I wouldn't mind getting some cool trauma experience overseas from a tour or two!

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I'm sort of in the same boat... Planning on applying to USAGPAN for a 2018 start, also not getting any younger. I have to take either a biochem or organic chem class the year so I can apply. I'll be really interested to hear how your application process goes. Good luck with everything! Including the GRE!!! I took it over 10 years ago for a non-nursing grad program. Definitely not looking forward to another go at it.

Just curious... What back-up CRNA programs are you planning to apply to?

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As someone who had over 100k in debt for my undergraduate education the USAGPAN is very enticing. I know I want a Doctorate over a Masters but I want to know what are my chances of getting in this program. What are they looking at on an application? Will I be too old? (I will be over 30 when I have met pre-reqs) I just want whats best for my education and situation (who doesn't?), but want to make sure this would be a good fit too...

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
As someone who had over 100k in debt for my undergraduate education the USAGPAN is very enticing. I know I want a Doctorate over a Masters but I want to know what are my chances of getting in this program. What are they looking at on an application? Will I be too old? (I will be over 30 when I have met pre-reqs) I just want whats best for my education and situation (who doesn't?), but want to make sure this would be a good fit too...

Requirements - USAGPAN — there is the easy answer. But you would also be an officer in the Army, where officers are soldiers first and we do whatever is required to satisfy the needs of the Army. You would be expected to be a leader and function as such in addition to anything clinical. With that being said, USAGPAN turns out great CRNAs.

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I am applying for USAGPAN 2017 as well, just passed my CCRN last week and plan on taking GRE by March so that I can retake in May if I want a more competitive score. I've been moving this direction since 2012 (EMT-P-->ADN--->BSN-->CCRN) and I am psyched that I am finally knocking on USAGPAN's door.

I want to have my app in for the June deadline but technically the cutoff isn't until November.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I'm taking the GRE in a couple of weeks. CCRN two weeks after. I figure taking the GRE so soon allows me to retake it if I don't do as well as I want to. I'm doing well on practice tests, so it will be interesting to see how that translates over to the real thing. I took the LVN(nursing home/medsurg)-->ADN(tele/stepdown)-->BSN(ICU at a large teaching trauma center) -->soon to take CCRN route as well. I definitely could have been more succinct with the route that I took to get where I am, but that's just the way everything worked out while working and trying to minimize debt while in school!

Good thing about the GRE is you can take it every 21 days and with scoreselect you can send programs whatever scores you want. At least telling myself that makes me feel more relaxed about the exam, haha. I definitely plan to start the application process as soon as I get the GRE score that I need. My recruiter wants me to start the NEU app now, but I want to make sure I get at least a 297 on the GRE before I let my manager in on the fact that I'm applying to CRNA school.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

Just took the GRE and scored > 297. Just waiting on the writing results. Glad that's over with.

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Good job man! I just took my second practice test today and got a 151 and 153 or something near that. I kind of want to get a little closer to 160s to be competitive, but I'm not gonna stress too much about it. I figure if I meet the requirements then I'll just cross my fingers for my interviews to get me in. Anyways, all of this is slowly becoming a reality. Good luck with CCRN

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

My recruiter said anything > 300 and 3.5 w is competitive, which I got. I studied about 10 solid hours total for the exam, and probably could have done better, but I just wasn't into it, so I'm sticking with the score I got. I suggest brushing up on basic high school math because the verbal is really just a guessing game. I studied a couple hundred of the magoosh vocab words and seriously saw like 2 of them. Surprisingly enough I scored higher on the verbal. Never been great at math, but I exceeded the target score listed on the USAGPAN website. I used an ETS book just to read about how the test is administered. It also brushed up on the basic math concepts that I had not used for years. Anyways, I got a 5.0 on the writing. I think that they just look overall structure, flow, and length of your essays.

Anyways, my recruiter is insisting that I turn in my NEU app stat to get my name on the list for phase 2 interviews before July. Hoping I can get her to foot the bill for the travel expenses, haha. He said CCRN isn't really necessary, and a lot of people get in without it. From what I've gathered, it seems that some years they will have a ton of applicants and don't know who to choose from, and then other years they can't fill slots because there aren't enough qualified applicants, or people don't meet the physical requirements, etc. It just varies. Hope this year is the latter for our sake haha.

Anyways, good luck man. Study hard. I'm scheduled for CCRN pretty soon, which I'm actually studying for because I find the info interesting haha. Let us know how you do on the GRE.

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5.0 on the writing haha, very nice man. Yea I am not too stressed about it overall, I believe I can his the 300 mark, not sure about getting a 5.0 on writing though lol I can ramble sometimes. I've done a few practice writings and they give you a rubric type scale to judge your writing with but it is hard to be unbiased when grading my own writing haha, so anyways, I think I am about to schedule my GRE for March 16th and get it over with so I can just focus on the app process.

And yeah, hopefully the recruiters will foot the bill for traveling to the interviews, I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that they do cover all the expenses or at least a large portion for the interview process but I am also in Memphis (which is a Phase 2 location) so maybe I can just interview with someone locally.

Yea everything appears to be on course right now for June application. Have you looked into shadowing a CRNA locally? I think that may be one requirement for admission or something.

Anyways thanks for all of the input.

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I have been planning on applying for start in June 2018. However I recently noticed that the deadline for application to Northeastern University for civilians is December 15th (rather than Nov.1). I will have a year of ICU experience by Xmas 2016 so I thought maybe I could give it a shot and apply this year. I have yet to take GRE and organic chem (which also I should have done by mid Dec.). I probably won't get the CCRN by Dec 15th though. Anyway, I was wondering whether it may be too late to start the process. I haven't even contacted the healthcare recruiter and I don't know what's involved in the whole process of military/army application/commission. I just wonder if it would be too much to do and too little time. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I suggest contacting a recruiter asap in order to ask if you will be eligible. I recently started the paperwork process, and it is gargantuan to say the least. You may have a shot if you take the GRE ASAP, but the biggest hurdle is hands down passing the GRE. Study for it and contact a recruiter asap!

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