What do you need to know to become a CRNA in 2024 and beyond? The landscape has shifted post-COVID, and the competition for CRNA school has intensified. Despite misconceptions of saturation, the CRNA market is booming, offering lucrative career opportunities. However, with the increased competition, it’s more crucial than ever to understand what sets you apart from the CRNA school competition. Join our host Jenny Finnell as we explore strategies to navigate this competitive field and secure success in your CRNA journey.
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What You Need To Know To Become A CRNA In 2024? The Playing Field Has Shifted
Welcome back to the show. I am so excited to be back. For those of you who have followed the show, I have taken a little bit of a hiatus from the show. For those of you who are new, welcome. I have taken about six months off the show. However, I did leave you an excellent company. We have had SRNAs on the show, and I hope you have enjoyed the valuable insights they have shared. We will be bringing more SRNAs on the show as well as faculty members on the show to do some higher-level education. I hope you’re excited about that. That is to come later this year in 2024.
I wanted to come back to an episode and kick this off with what you need to know to become a CRNA in 2024. The playing field has shifted a little bit. We’re in this post-COVID era. I have noticed a lot of changes within the CRNA realm when it comes to being competitive for CRNA school. I wanted to make sure I bring this episode to you in a timely manner as we work our way into 2024 so that way, you are successful in your CRNA journey.
Let’s go ahead and get into the show. I’m going to start this episode off by talking about competition. I know the dreaded word competitive. I know you know it’s competitive to become a CRNA. I know that is the standard mindset everyone goes into becoming A CRNA. It’s like, “Am I competitive enough?” Let’s talk about what that looks like in 2024.
Back when the pandemic hit, I predicted wrong that people would not apply to CRNA school because they’d be too distracted with everything going on. Maybe they would dive into the travel industry, which happened. We saw the opposite, which is that we saw record numbers of applicants coming into CRNA programs. That trend has continued. People are still in record numbers applying to CRNA school. Why that is, is maybe they’re burnout at bedside. Maybe they’re realizing they’re itching for a career change. There could be a lot of factors going into this.
With what is going on with the economic situation, people are looking for a way to earn more income. In CRNA, we do earn a much higher income than a bedside nurse. There could be a lot of different factors going on. Maybe it is the fact that it’s a very interesting career path that has a high growth potential, so a lot of job availability.
I’ve heard people tell me a false rumor that the job market has saturated. That’s the opposite. We are booming. The CRNA market is at the highest peak that it has been since I’ve been in the profession which is coming up on ten years. This would be my ten-year anniversary of being a CRNA. I’ve been a CRNA for ten years and, by far, we’ve hit what I have seen to be the peak. I thought back when I got into this profession that we are surging. It has grown and has not slowed down. It’s a great profession and career path for nurses to choose to go into if they’re seeking growth opportunities both with practice and income potential.
The CRNA School Competition
The competition is hot. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t think that it’s going to decrease anytime soon. What does that mean for you? It means that you have to understand what you bring to the table. You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and push yourself to do things that you maybe don’t want to do, like taking extra science courses, going to conferences, or taking different leadership roles. It’s going to mean that you’re going to have to step out of that comfort zone of wherever you may currently be in your ICU setting and do something different.
You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and push yourself to do things that you maybe don't want to do. Click To TweetI’ve heard a lot of faculty tell me, “A lot of these applicants look the same on paper.” How do you take all these applicants who look practically the same and differentiate between who is going to make it and who’s not? It’s a very hard thing to do, but we’re going to break down some other avenues so that you can differentiate yourself and stand out amongst the competition.
Number one, as far as how to stand amongst the competition, is evaluating your grades. I feel like I say this all the time, but I really can’t say it enough. This is by far the most common reason I see people not even get an interview as far as their CRNA application goes and they don’t understand why. They think their grades are okay. They think their grades are fine.
When you dig into the nitty-gritty, breaking down a transcript, you realize you’re not fine. Have you figured out your science GPA? Even though your overall GP is a 3.5, your science GPA is not even a 3.0. If that’s the case, you’re going to be hard-pressed to even get an interview. You’re going to feel stumped. You’re going to like, “I’m a 3.5 student. What’s going on?” You really have to look at all of your transcripts.
Sometimes, you have a lot of science under your belt. You have tons of chemistry and biology because maybe you were a pre-med major or something like that. You have 30 or 40, sometimes I’ve seen, science courses. It’s so hard when you have that much under your belt already to make a dent in a lower science GPA.
You didn’t know you wanted to pursue CRNA. You didn’t think you needed to get good grades in those courses. You wanted to pass them. That is the story that I hear over and over again. Unfortunately, they’re not going to sway because you didn’t know what you wanted to do or because you thought you needed a C to get by. They’re not going to say, “We’ll give you a shot now.” It doesn’t work like that.
W hen I say low GPA, what does that mean? The average CRNA acceptance for a GPA, you’re looking at 3.7. That is the average. A couple of years ago, I probably would’ve said a 3.5. The majority of schools are getting so many applicants that that benchmark has gotten higher. They don’t have to let in a 3.2 student because they have so many 3.5 or 3.7 students to pick from. They’re still getting enough candidates to not have to even give the lower GPA student a shot.
What does that mean for you? I’m not trying to be Debbie Downer or discourage you from trying because I don’t want that to be the case, but you do have to do something about it. You can’t sit still and think, “It will be okay,” because it won’t be okay. You have to take action and do something about having a GPA, especially a science GPA that is on the lower side. You want a 3.4 or higher for a science GPA. If you have a 3.2, a 3.3, a 3.1, or a 3.0, you should be thinking, “Can I do something to boost that?”
If you have done the standard nursing courses and have the standard science courses that go with a nursing degree, which would be things like chemistry, biology, anatomy, pathophysiology, and maybe a math course like algebra, that may be all you have. That leaves you room to take an additional graduate-level science course like graduate statistics, graduate A&P, or graduate pharmacology, and help boost your overall science GPA. That is something that’s very realistic for you to achieve. Especially if you only have 3 or 4 science courses in your undergraduate career, you can boost that GPA pretty easily.
The students that struggle more are the ones who have a lot of sciences and a lot of them are low. If you’re filling the pot with more low grades, then it’s harder to get that pot to boil if you keep putting ice cubes in it. The low grades are the ice cubes and you can’t get that pot to boil because you have so much ice in there. If you’re in that situation, my recommendation is you still have to take advanced science courses or graduate-level science courses to prove you can get an A. However, know that you’re still going to face more rejection than not.
There are other pathways such as the LEAP Program, which I often send students to. I’m not saying don’t apply to regular schools. You should always give yourself that shot but know that based on this GPA that’s not even a 3.0 science GPA, you may not ever be able to get that interview that you need even though I know you’d shine if you got that interview. That’s unfortunate.
There’s a pathway called the LEAP Program. It’s through Case Western. I often recommend students to do that if I feel that they would be a good fit. You have to have above a 2.7 GPA to apply to that program. It is also competitive. It’s not like you’re a shoe-in if you have a 2.7 for that program. It’s still very competitive. A lot of times, they’re accepting students with a 3.0 or a 3.1. It’s still a competitive program. You still can’t stand still even if you think you’re going for the LEAP because that’s still competitive.
Take Action
The biggest takeaway here is you have to take action. You have to show these programs that you’re capable of getting As in hard science courses where you’re retaking old science courses. If you got a D especially, a C, or gosh forbid you got an F, you need to be retaking these courses and you need to be getting an A.
I often see two students who are like, “I took a graduate-level pathophysiology course and I got a B.” I’m like, “That’s really heartbreaking because I feel like you need that A.” Why? B is not a bad grade. I know it’s not. However, if you look at the grading scale for these programs, if you get 82%, sometimes 84% or lower, you’re out of the program in a core anesthesia course.
A B- is considered failing, so getting a B is barely above failing. That’s why it’s such a heartbreaking experience to have a student try to take these graduate-level courses and only get a B. Gosh forbid you get a C. You really need to be getting that A. That’s going to show them that you’re capable of achieving that grade that you’re going to need to be successful in their program.
Grades are one of the most common things a CRNA hopeful struggles with. It is possible. I’ve seen 2.9 students go on to be successful. Usually, when I see a student who has a lower GPA, it’s usually an overall lower GPA. Meaning, their overall GPA is closer to 3.0. Their science GPA is usually higher. If that’s your case, you have a much better shot because they care a lot about your science GPA. If you have a 3.6 science GPA or 3.7 science GPA but maybe only a 3.1 overall, you’re in a better position than if you were that student who had a 3.7 overall and a 3.1 science GPA.
Take this very seriously. You have to take action if your science GPA is low. We will have a free GPA calculator on our new website. If you go to CRNASchoolPrepAcademy.com, we will have a free GPA calculator. You can get the results sent to your phone. You can come back to the application if you take courses to add new courses in there to keep it updated to see where you fall.
If you want to go take a few sciences and come back, you can come back to our website and re-enter those grades to see, “What is my science GPA now that I’ve taken these courses and I’ve gotten an A?” We made that tool free to use. I really can’t stand this being a problem point for our students who don’t know what they have. Knowledge is power. Know what you have as far as your GPA. You should know how your GPA breaks down.
If you’re still struggling with your GPA, I have students who have transcripts from overseas or whatever it is. You need to go the extra mile to have those transcripts evaluated for equivalency for the States. I also highly recommend that if you need some personal guidance on what courses to take that with Teach RN, there are sometimes opportunities to get transcript reviews. I know Dr. B who works as an expert contributor with CSPA. She often does transcript audits through TeachRN.com. That’s also an option for you. First and foremost, visit our website. Do it for free, GPA calculator on the website, and see where you stand.
That’s enough on grades. That was a lot. I have one last thing on grades though because I get asked this a lot as a follow-up question. They’re like, “What courses?” Number one, you should reach out to your schools because you don’t want to take courses just to take courses. It’s expensive and time-consuming. If you mess up or make a mistake in a course, you can hurt your chances.
You have to be very strategic when you pick what courses you want to take. Don’t sign up for three science courses if you’re working full-time and taking your CCRN and your GRE. Put all your effort into that one course you take at a time to make sure you get that A. In things like advanced pathophysiology, you would enroll in these graduate programs as a non-matriculated student and take these courses.
If you’re part of CSPA, on the resource page there is a spreadsheet that you can utilize that will give you a list of different colleges, online options for you to take, and then the reviews of those courses from students that we’ve heard from within our communities.
Next is ICU experience and travel. This was something that I used to coach on pre-pandemic that was like, “Be cautious with travel.” Usually, you don’t get the highest acuity assignments and they know that. They don’t tend to look at travel as having opportunities for leadership and things of that nature. Things shifted in the pandemic because everybody started traveling for the most part and it became very apparent that you were still getting high acuity patients as a traveler.
Things are going back the other way. I’m not saying travel is off the table. You can still travel and still be successful at getting into CRNA school, but be very sure on your resume and be able to speak to your experience as a traveler. How did it make you a better ICU nurse? You have to be able to speak to that experience and be able to show that you have quality experience on your travel assignments. You didn’t take the low-acuity assignments. You were able to do CVV, HD, or ECMO as a traveler. You were able to do some leadership roles as a traveler. What was that? What were those leadership roles?
The majority of people that I see travel are doing something very similar that I always recommend, which is to travel and make the money or get the money. Travel, but find a unit you resonate with that you really like, and then stay put for a little while. That way, you’re going to build up the ability to get a good reference letter. You’re going to build up the ability to have some charge nurse experience or some different leadership experience with committee work.
Stay put for a while before you apply to CRNA school. That’s my biggest piece of recommendation. The other thing you can do, which works as well, is you can travel but stay contingent at your home base. You really should be building up a good base of experience prior to traveling anyway because if you don’t get trained on CVV, HD, or ECMO as a staff nurse, they’re not going to train you as a traveler. Why would they waste money and resources on a twelve-week contract to train you on ECMO? They won’t.
The only way you’re going to be able to take those critical assignments as a traveler is if you were doing it prior as a staff nurse. Making sure that you’re getting that good experience as a staff nurse before you travel is key. Keeping your home base as a contingent position, a PRN, a moonlighting position, or whatever so when you get off your twelve-week contract, you can come back home and work a shift or two keeps your foot in the door.
It keeps that position current with a longstanding manager. That is how I’ve also seen students get around asking a current manager for a recommendation letter. If you travel every 12 weeks or every 3 months, how are you supposed to ever build up enough rapport to be able to ask someone for a reference? They stay contingent at their home base. That way, technically, it’s an active manager that can give you a letter of recommendation. Those are things to keep in mind if you’re going to be traveling.
ICU Experience For CRNA School
Make sure you’re taking high-acuity assignments. Make sure that you can speak to that. If your patients are talking to you, if they’re swallowing pills, if you don’t see vasoactive drips, or if they’re getting on the toilet, they’re probably not sick enough. You need to be taking care of patients who are ventilated on vasopressors or very sick, acute patients. That’s why they always say level 1 trauma because it’s a guarantee you’re going to see sick patients at level 1. I’m not saying community hospitals don’t see sick patients. Make sure that you can highlight that in your resume and speak to it as well. That’s an ICU experience, things like leadership, looking for different ways you can get leadership, and being creative.
If you are traveling, join the AACN and get some leadership roles there. There are other ways other than unit involvement to get leadership roles. Getting involved in your community and taking charge of some type of community project is another great way to show leadership.
I had someone I talked to when I went to the last NTI conference, which I’m going to again this 2024. It’s in Colorado. Be there, I hope to see you there. Give me a high five. She said that she was a passionate gardener and she would donate all these fresh fruits and vegetables to the local food bank. That’s great. You should for sure highlight that. That shows that you are passionate about giving back to your community. That’s a leadership role that shows your compassion. That’s a great thing to highlight.
Don’t ever downplay what you think is important to you or what’s in your background. Highlight it. Make sure you’re highlighting it because they’d rather you pick what you can speak to passionately than saying, “I volunteered at the Red Cross and I took people’s blood.” Maybe you are passionate about taking people’s blood because you had to receive blood once or because your family member received blood once. Do that because it sparks your passion as to why you think this is an important thing to do. That’s all I’m saying. Pick something volunteer-wise or leadership-wise that you feel passionate about or you have a reason as to why you think this is important for you to spend your time doing. It will come off way more authentic in an interview when they ask you about it.
Don't ever downplay what you think is important to you. Click To TweetAutonomous practice is a new thing that you need to consider in 2024. The future of being a CRNA is the promotion of autonomous practice. A lot of schools are seeking out the ability for you to practice at these types of centers during your training. It is having an understanding of what a CRNA can really do and how we can practice autonomously in our own practice. You need to get your toes wet with this and understand what that looks like for you. It is being able to speak to that and why you would be a good fit for that type of role.
I even read an admission essay that I was like, “Ouch.” It not only called CRNA a mid-level provider, which is a big no-no and you shouldn’t do that, but they said something about a physician and how as a nurse, you’re practicing medicine. These are things that you clearly don’t understand the role of a CRNA or how we practice.
Stop right there if that was your essay and go read Watchful Care. There’s volume 1 and volume 2. Read them both. Understand the history of nurse anesthesia and how all of this started. That will give you a lot of insight and help you understand this profession and why we are doing what we’re doing to promote autonomous practice. It is to be able to spread our services to rural populations who otherwise would have to travel an hour away to get anesthesia.
It’s really important that as a CRNA, you’re able to practice autonomously and that you’re practicing to the highest ability for your certification. That way, we can provide more anesthesia for more people. Make sure you understand that and own it. Be proud of that. Be excited about that. Make sure that that’s being displayed in your essay versus playing more of a role of, “I’m an assistant.” That shows that you don’t clearly understand the role of a CRNA. I’ve even seen this from people who have shadowed. Shadow more and read Watchful Care. Dive into this community and understand what a CRNA can do and will be doing. This is the future of being a CRNA.
I don’t know if you’re reading this if you attended the AANA conference that we did with them. It was wonderful. We went over the history of anesthesia. It was a really great conference. Things like that, take those opportunities when they come to get involved. I know they’re going to be launching their RN membership, the AANA. Get involved. I don’t think it’s going to be a large investment for you, but it’s going to pay dividends.
As far as getting involved in our community, they’re saying, “We’re opening our arms to you. We’re taking you in. Come in. We want to educate you and support you throughout your CRNA journey. Even as a nurse, even if you haven’t gained acceptance yet, we’re here to help you.” Things like that. Take advantage of the AANA offering an RN membership. That’s going to be airing by the time this episode airs.
“Why Do I Want To Become A CRNA?”
The next is understanding your why. Why do you want to be a CRNA? This goes back to understanding what a CRNA really does, knowing about the profession and the history of the profession, how you will fit into the profession, and owning the autonomous practice that we are working hard to achieve across the entire United States.
You have to understand that diving into this profession, not just surface-level on Google, but talking to several CRNAs at different conferences, faculty members, AANA leaders, and current students, and understanding the politics of this profession before you even interview is going to be important for you to understand your why and how you would be a good fit for this profession. We’re talking about how the playing field has shifted and how this is all competition. The more you work on understanding your why and how you’d be a good fit for this profession, the more competitive you’re going to be as an applicant.
One thing I want to stress home here, too, is what schools are really looking for. I want to make sure that we’re paving the path for your success. You have to take ownership of your own success always. No one’s going to do anything for you. You have to do it yourself. We can give you the tools and the resources, but you still have to do the work. It will always be the case.
There’s nothing in life that comes and is handed to you. What’s worth it in life takes work, dedication, and perseverance. Sometimes, it takes failure. Sometimes, it takes the pivot. You have to be willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears to become a CRNA even before you even get into school. You have to take ownership of your own failures. You have to take ownership for not doing the thing. You have to do the thing.
Create your own success. Schools will give you the tools to be successful, but they’re not going to hold your hand and make you do it. They will expect you to do it to the fullest extent of your ability, and then they equally expect you to ask for help when you need it. Don’t let a problem occur knowing you’re struggling. They can’t help you once a problem has happened. If something bad has already occurred and it’s done, that event lives in stone. You can’t erase it. The only thing you can do is pick up what’s left and try to move forward.
Create Your Own Success
If you’re proactive and you’re like, “I’m really struggling. Something’s not going well. I need to seek out help,” that takes a lot of emotional intelligence to say, “I’m raising my hand. I need help. I can’t do it all. Something’s happening.” Reach out and let them know. If you are proactive in your own success, you’re going to be more successful overall. Make sure you’re creating your own success and that you’re holding yourself accountable to do the actions. It’s hard. It’s going to always be hard. It’s hard to get into school. It’s hard to get through school. Think about getting into school as building that grit and discipline because you’re going to also equally need that strength when you’re in school too.
The last I want to leave you with is the fact that there are lots of new programs popping up all over the place. There are lots of opportunities out there. I have people say, “I don’t know if I want to apply to a new program.” Why not? If they get accredited, go. Don’t go blindly, but research the program, get to know the faculty, and see if it’s a good fit.
If they’re accredited, they’re accredited to get you through school. A lot of these faculty who are starting programs have been program directors before. It’s not their first rodeo. A lot of them are very seasoned and experienced. They know what they need to do to make sure that you’re going to get the education you need to be successful.
Don’t be afraid to try the new programs. I hear that a lot. There are a lot of them popping up. Bellarmine, Ursuline, and Ohio State. There is another school in Michigan that I can’t mention yet because it’s relatively new. It hasn’t been announced yet. New Mexico has a new program. Louisville has a new program. Loyola has a new program. There are other new programs too. I didn’t make a list, but pay attention and start seeking those types of programs out. I’m sure they would love to have you apply to their first, second, or third cohort. Spread your net.
If you’re having issues getting to school, reflect on what you can do to improve. Look in the mirror. Maybe it’s your interview. Maybe you’re coming off as defensive. Maybe you’re coming off as a know-it-all and, “You can’t teach me anything because I already know it all.” That’s not going to work out very well. Sometimes, it’s hard to look in the mirror and say, “Maybe I’m the problem. Maybe something’s wrong with me.” It’s okay. We all have problems. It’s a matter of, “Am I willing to swallow that and do something about it?”
The CRNA School Interview
The interview is really the last piece of this. I know I said the last piece was applying to new programs, but I didn’t want to miss the important interview stage. If you’re lucky enough to get an interview, take a deep breath. I know you’re like, “I’m going to be so freaking nervous,” but you have to learn how to calm your nerves.
Try the breathing exercises where you take a deep breath in for 2 to 3 seconds, hold it, and breathe it out. Practice that multiple times a day. I do that routinely. You don’t do it when you feel anxious. You do it all the time. You’ll get used to doing it throughout your day. It makes you feel so good. You know it’s switching on your parasympathetic nervous system when you start to yawn.
Practice that multiple times a day, deep breathing. You take a deep breath in for 2, 3, or 4 seconds and you hold it for 2 to 3 seconds, and then you let it go. If you do that about 4 to 5 times in a row, you’re going to yawn and you’re going to feel your body come down a notch or two. Practice that because you will need that skill when you go into the interview.
It’s so unfortunate when I see students who are really good candidates blow the interview because they’re so nervous that they can’t even function. You have to think about, “What if it happens in the OR?” Don’t get me wrong. I personally know that when you’re under pressure in the OR or when someone else in front of you is circling the toilet, that’s a different type of pressure than when the spotlight is on you. It’s a different type of pressure. You can react really well under the pressure that maybe is on saving someone’s life because you’re very accustomed to doing it. You’re used to doing it.
Having the spotlight on you is a very uncomfortable feeling that maybe you don’t have a lot of experience with, so you have to learn how to shut off that nervous system and try to take a deep breath. Also, bring a water bottle with you. Take that pause and drink some water. It’s enough to give your brain time to relax and then answer the question.
Be okay with pauses. Don’t worry about having to talk the entire time. It’s okay to answer the question and stop. Don’t keep talking. That’s usually how you get yourself in trouble. Know when to zip it. Answer the question. Don’t give them a surface-level answer. They’re going to think that’s all you know. Tell them as much as you can on a very deep level, but then be okay with stopping when you start to feel like you can’t go any further.
Be okay with pauses in the CRNA school interview. Don't worry about having to talk the entire time. Click To TweetThe interview is really important that you take them seriously. Don’t wait to start preparing for the interview until you get asked to come to the interview. That is a huge mistake. That happens all the time and I don’t understand it. If you apply to CRNA school, you should already be preparing for the interview. Don’t assume you’re not going to get an interview.
You applied to CRNA school. The whole point is to get an interview. Assume you’re going to get an interview and be prepared so when you get asked to come to an interview, you’re like, “I got this. I’m ready,” versus like, “What do I do now? They’re going to freaking talk to me. I had no idea.” Don’t do that to yourself. That’s putting yourself in a bad situation.
Lastly, I want to leave you guys with an eight-step guide. It’s an eight-step comprehensive guide. We revamped it, which is why I want to bring it up again. You may already have it. Download it again because I revamped it. I feel like we improved it quite a bit, so I want to make sure you grab it. It’s pretty comprehensive. It gives you a lot more in-depth help as far as how to be a competitive candidate. Make sure you grab that freebie down below.
You all have a wonderful day. It’s so nice to be back. I hope you enjoyed the show. We’re always happy to hear from you. Please leave us a review. That really helps other people find our show. If you find this helpful, make sure you share it with another CRNA hopeful. We appreciate that as well. Until next time, take care. Bye.
Important Link
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