Virginia Commonwealth University

frann · Dec 4, 2003

If this is the one in richmond then the crime rate is very high. little to no student housing. My nephew went to vcu. don't know anything about the anesthesia program

calgal · Dec 4, 2003

Isn't crime rate high and any city??

I have friends in Richmond who absolutely love it--they've gone to VCU from out of state and chose to stay. I guess the experience is what you make out of it.

I'm more interested in what anyone might have to say about the CRNA program itself--it's ranked #1 for a reason......

charles-thor · Dec 4, 2003

I'm a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, and I absolutely love it! I know the rankings in US News and World Report only mean so much, however I believe that they have put together one heck of a program. The faculty is second to none. Not only are they highly respected in the anesthesia community, but they are excellent teachers and they truly care about their students. I specifically choose a non-MSN program because it was (and still is) more important to me to spend all of my time building a strong science, research, and anesthesia background. Time spent on nursing theory could be time spent learning anesthesia. I do, however, understand that nursing theory has its place and there are different strokes for different folks. Take a look at the curriculum at their website http://www.sahp.vcu.edu/nrsa/

My first clinical day isn't for another two weeks, so I really can't say much about it except that they have a wide variety of clinical sites that are near by. I couldn't imagine driving 45 minutes to an hour each way to go to clinical. But again, some people do it without any problem. It's a choice you have to make when considering a program.

Danger is a relative concept. Obviously urban living is more dangerous than living in the country, however if you are mindful of your surroundings you should be fine. I lived in Baltimore for 4 years prior to moving to Richmond, and I don't think it's not nearly as bad as back home. It's also a much smaller city in comparison. I guess it's all what you're used to.

I chose to live outside of the city, and housing is plentiful in the suburbs. My commute is about 10-15 minutes with very little traffic. I did consider living in the city and had no problem locating apartments that were affordable, but my fiancé was sick of city living and she was kind enough to move here with me.

I hope this helps, and feel free to pm me with any other questions.

calgal · Dec 5, 2003

C-thor

I was wondering if you could tell me why you chose VCU over the other programs you got accepted to. I am in the process of getting my materials ready to apply for 2005.

Knowing what you know now--do you have any regrets?

BigDave · Jun 7, 2004

calgal,

I am a grad of VCU's ANP program (2001), and will be applying back to VCU for the CRNA program for 2005.

The good things about the program IMO are:

- Not associated with the nursing school at all (which is marginal)

- Meat and potatoes only...no theory of nursing, blah, blah...

- Large teaching hospital right next door (MCV)

- Simulators

- Didactic front-loaded (my best friend graduated from the Army program a couple of years ago and stated that sitting in the OR as a newbie would not reinforce knowledge that you did not yet possess??)

- Richmond is great!

- Crime? Walking down the "hill of Hell" after dark to the parking lot is slightly stressful (I'm a guy), but never had any problems, nor did I hear of any.

Hope to see you there...

Good luck,

Dave

calgal · Jun 10, 2004

Thanks for the info Dave!

I've been visiting many school websites and Virginia Commonwealth University seems to offer what I feel I need in a program. I like how it's more science-based with early and substantial exposure to simulators.

I would rather spend my time studying the sciences and pharmacology behind anesthesia than "nursing theory" per se.....

just my .02