Searching and Applying for CRNA Schools

You have finally made the decision to apply to CRNA school after you have successfully met all the general admission criteria. You’re probably wondering where to start and how to find the CRNA schools that meet “your” criteria. Hopefully this post will give you some ideas about how to find a good school and where to start with your search.

SEARCHING…

My mentor, David,CRNA, told me once ” the best school is the school that accepts you”. However, let’s say you are a very strong applicant and you get accepted to three schools, then what do you do? How do you rank all three of them properly? The first step in applying to CRNA school is to establish your own criteria. Here are some factors you might want to consider:

1. MSN vs DNAP : If you haven’t already done so by now, by the time you apply to CRNA school, most programs will be at least 36 months in length and a Doctorate’s program. As of July 2019, there is only 36 out 118 schools still offering an MSN program and most are planning on starting their 1st DNP Cohort between January next year and September 2020. After those dates, only about 2-3 schools will still offer an MSN, since their first DNP cohort will start in 2022.
2. Experience: This is straight forward, if you have 1 year of experience in ICU, DO NOT apply to schools requiring 2 years of experience. Chances are that you will not be as competitive as other applicants. Filter your search, and pick only schools accepting just 1 year of experience. As of July 2019, 122/138 schools require 1 year of experience, so, you are in good shape even with 1 year of experience.
3. Cost (if you care): Programs cost range from$0 (army CRNA programs) to 211K (UPenn). You’ll have to find out the schools you want to apply to and their tuition costs. Regardless, unless you have thousands saved, you will probably pay for your school expenses and living expenses with both Sub and Unsubsidized loans, in some cases, you may have to take out Graduate PLUS loan. I’d stay away from private loans, they tend to have higher interest rates.
4. State: In-state vs. Out-of-state. I do not do well with cold weather, therefore, schools in cold states were filtered out. I’m currently in CRNA school in Florida 😉 However, you might like cold weather, maybe you like to ski or snow in general. Regardless, know where exactly you want to be and do not waste your time applying to places you know you wouldn’t enjoy.
5. FAMILY: If you have a family, you do have an extra step to find out what would be the best for your family. Expect the first 3-4 semesters to be really tough as you will have a lot of reading assignments, exams and quizzes back to back. If you’re staying or moving with your family, have a serious conversation about the high expectations. You want to start out with a strong foundation of the basic sciences.

APPLYING..

To apply, you will need to spend a lot of time researching and looking into the admission criteria and process of each school. How many schools you apply to DEPENDS ON YOU and how competitive of an applicant you are. Be honest with yourself and save your money.

How many schools to apply for: ( you may apply to less school if you have confident that you are overqualified based on their criteria)

1. Apply to <5 Schools if you are very competitive : GPA >3.8, Excellent GRE scores ( or you scored well above the score required) , Analytical >4, CCRN, No Cs on your undergraduate school transcripts and 2+ ICU experience and good letters from you superiors.
2. 5-10 Schools if you are competitive: GPA >3.5 less than 3.7, Good GRE scores (or you scored the score required) , CCRN, Analytical 3.5 -4, No Cs on your undergraduate school transcripts and 2+ ICU experience and good letters from you superiors.
3. 10-20 Schools if you are less competitive: GPA 3.3-3.5 ok GRE scores (or you scored close to the score required) , Analytical 3.5 -4, No 1-2 Cs on your undergraduate school transcripts and 1+ ICU experience
4. As many schools as you can if your GPA is less than 3.1. Compensate by having more years of experience, and take some graduate courses or retake undergrad courses ( I would recommend A&P I and II or Chem) to boost your GPA up. Make sure you take one course at a time to increase your chance of getting an A.

GOOD RESOURCES

1. allcrnaschools.com . This is the best resource as far as I know. It saves you a lot of time by listing schools by state, costs and other criteria. I personally used that resource and HIGHLY recommend it.
2. School websites. If you already have a few schools in mind, print their application requirements and highlights all of the requirements. If you do have questions, do not hesitate to email the program director, be very professional in your email, and do not ask questions about criteria already listed on their websites.
3. Allnurses.com. Best resource to speak with current students who are also applying and connect with them. It’ll also help you find out how competitive you are vs other applicants. If you cannot find the thread, start one! When I went on to allnurses.com and looked for keiser applicants I only found old threads, I read some of them but them I created a thread “Keiser (Wolford) 2019 Applicants”, and within a few days, I connected with many other applicants. The thread is actually still active and new applicants are still using it to connect with other applicants. They share stuff like interview dates, questions, acceptance letters, etc. Check them out.
4. Be Organized; Have a folder for each school you are applying to and every correspondence you have received from them. Have contact numbers and emails just in case you have questions. Being organized, it will save you time and energy.

Those are the resources that I found most useful when I was searching and applying for CRNA schools. I hope you find them helpful as well. Any questions or concerns, drop a comment!

Linsay, SRNA

Good Luck!