Am I approaching this the right way?

[CanadianDude]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, and am very glad I found this forum. I think it will be a great resource to help me achieve my goal of becoming a CRNA. We don't have CRNAs here in Canada, so I will have to move to the US. You guys have nicer weather down there too! :)

I'm a Canadian RN and have been working in an large med/surge ICU for the past 7 months. I love working in the ICU. It is a tremendous learning experience. I want to have at least 5-6 years of ICU experience before I apply to CRNA school.

I have a B.Sc in molecular microbiology and a B.ScN, both from Canadian Universities.

I did okay in my first degree (mol. bio), and managed to get a B to B+ overall. I took many tough courses like membrane biochemistry, signal transduction, advanced organic chem, etc. I also did a research project where I cloned a novel mutant gene using PCR/site directed mutagenesis. I took several graduate level courses such as cardiovascular pharmacology as well. Overall I learned a lot. Unfortunately I did not fare as well in my B.ScN.

I found it very difficult to study the material effectively, as it seemed very "airy-fairy" compared to what I was used to studying. In addition, I couldn't get my head around how to do well on nursing multiple choice exams. It didn't seem to matter whether I studied or not, I'd always get similar grades! Overall, the B.ScN was a very frustrating time for me academically.

My overall GPA was < 3.0. I took option courses in pharmacology (I love pharm!) during nursing school, and there was a sharp contrast between the grades i would get in pharm courses (A's-B's) vs. nursing courses (B's-C's) . I'm not sure how CRNA admission committees view poor grades on nursing courses.

I know most CRNA schools do not accept applicants w/ GPAs < 3.0, so my plan is to upgrade my GPA by taking graduate-level science courses and eventually get a masters w/ a strong GPA to compensate for my low nursing GPA. I've taken a handful of grad. level science courses, and generally gotten A- or better on them, so I'm confident that I can do reasonably well.

I will also need to nail the GRE. I took the MCAT in my second year of school to keep my options open and scored mid-30s and S on the writing sample. I'm generally okay when it comes to standardized tests, however, I've heard the GRE is quite tough.

I plan on accomplishing these goals while working full time at my ICU for the next few years. I would then like to move to the US, work for a year or two, gain dual citizenship and more work experience and apply to CRNA schools.

I'm not sure if this sounds like a reasonable plan of action given my circumstance, which is why I welcome your feedback.

Furthermore, my situation is somewhat complicated by residing in Canada, and having degrees from Canadian Universities. I'm not sure how CRNA schools view foreign credentials. Would it be smarter to move to the US first and do academic upgrading there?

Any feedback you can provide is greatly appreciated!

[MmacFN]

Hey man

As a Canadian Ex-Pat I think I can help a little.

here are some answers:

1) All your Canadian degrees are accepted on par here but you will go through a review process which costs a tun for them.

2) The sooner you get down here working the better off you will be. There are subtle differences (how labs are read/measured etc) which you will need to be familiar with in anesthesia school.

3) If you can, do your masters down here and do an MSN. It will only help you grade wise and 50% of the CRNA schools are MSN schools meaning you will have less MSN work to do during anesthesia school.

4) It is a long process to get a green card (permanent residency) it took my wife and I 2 years to finally get it and about 6000$. You cannot get american student loans until you are a perm. resident. Keep that in mind because you might not be eligible for Canadian student loans for a profession you cannot do in Canada AND there is a limit on Can. student loan for foreign education.


All that together should convince you to start the process of getting a job here and coming here ASAP. The best way first is to get a US job offer through a travel company and have them take care of the TN visa (temp visa that is fastest to get). You also have to write the NCLEX in the USA to work in most states as only 12 i think take the Can. Boards at par. Then, once you are here you have to find a perm employer ASAP and have them sponsor you for a Green card. This will likely take 1-2 years alone to accomplish. Then the process is another 2 years so you are looking at 4 JUST to get a green card and be eligible for American student loan.

There is alot of work to do best to start early if you know you want to be a CRNA.

[CanadianDude]

hey MmacFN,

Thanks a lot for the input/feedback! I really appreciate it. I only have just over a years worth of experience and I think most travel companies look for at least 2 years. I'll definitely look into getting down there ASAP though.

With respect to getting an MSN for upgrading, I'm kind of scared of nursing courses give my history of not doing well in them! Would admission committees look at say a M.Sc in pharmacology the same way? I just feel that I have a better chance of doing well in a science masters rather than a nursing masters.

Since I'll be up here for another 1-2 years, would it be worthwhile to do any academic upgrading while I'm up here?

Again, thanks a ton for the response, it really helped!

[MmacFN]

Hey

Well jobs down here take new grads just like anywhere else. So if you wanted to you could move sooner rather than later.

While the masters in pharm would be good (even better academically) you have to remember 2 things.

- You will likely get ZERO credit for any of that when you goto anesthesia school and so have to do a whole other masters again (and pay for it all).

- You will likely have to do an MSN anyway later ALONG with all your anesthesia stuff. This would be much easier to do separately and many schools give full credit for the MSN section making the anesthesia portion your only focus.




hey MmacFN,

Thanks a lot for the input/feedback! I really appreciate it. I only have just over a years worth of experience and I think most travel companies look for at least 2 years. I'll definitely look into getting down there ASAP though.

With respect to getting an MSN for upgrading, I'm kind of scared of nursing courses give my history of not doing well in them! Would admission committees look at say a M.Sc in pharmacology the same way? I just feel that I have a better chance of doing well in a science masters rather than a nursing masters.

Since I'll be up here for another 1-2 years, would it be worthwhile to do any academic upgrading while I'm up here?

Again, thanks a ton for the response, it really helped!

[Gino]

Just curious. If you love pharm so much, why not consider being a hospital based clinical pharmacist? They make good $$ have good hours and you still get to get out and see patients, though not as much as a nurse would.

[My_brain_hurts]

On a slightly less helpful note (or more helpful, depending. . .)

You can always find a nice U.S. citizen person of the opposite sex and get married to speed along the citizenship thing :salook:

Seriously, come on down, start a life, you never know what might happen along the way.

[CanadianDude]

Gino, I've thought about the pharmacy route, but I'm too "hands-on" for it. I have a few good buddies who are pharmacists, and they make great money, but I don't think I could handle their hours and nature of the work. I'm more into patient contact and I actually don't mind working weird hours.

I'm actually in a committed relationship, and do plan on getting married prior to moving down there, so as MmacFN said, it'll be a quite process to get a green card for both of us. I'm definitely excited to move down there though, change and new challenges excite me!

MmacFN, so you're saying by pursuing a masters in nursing, I'll be able to get credit for some of the courses that a masters in nurse anesthesia require? This is a good idea, as it will make things considerably cheaper. I guess I was under the impression that anesthesia schools did not grant transfer credit.

[MmacFN]

MmacFN, so you're saying by pursuing a masters in nursing, I'll be able to get credit for some of the courses that a masters in nurse anesthesia require? This is a good idea, as it will make things considerably cheaper. I guess I was under the impression that anesthesia schools did not grant transfer credit.

Yup. Check with the schools when you are going to apply, some give credit for the entire MSN others only for "x" number of credits. I would also take the MSN online through a US school not a Canadian one just to avoid the extra time it takes for them to compare courses.

[Sebastian24]

Erm.... I'm in CRNA school and I'm still under that impression. I believe different anesthesia programs offer differen't degree types (Nursing vs science etc) but I'm unaware of any of the programs I looked into that would accept transfer credits from a general masters in nursing program.

Maybe in parts of the country I didn't look at. Educate us both MmacFN?

[MmacFN]

I transferred in 3 MSN classes i had already taken.

I know a few ppl who were exempt from their whole MSN portion. Just have to talk to the school.

[My_brain_hurts]

Ok, well I had to at least suggest the marriage thing. hee hee.

You don't need masters level nursing courses for all CRNA programs, only ones that grant an MSN as the degree (I think). My program is through the allied health department of a medical school so it's just an MS that I'm getting. But I mean you won't have anything to lose. Get the MSN and worst case is you don't need the classes but it will sure look nice on the application. And with things transitioning to DNP, I'm not sure if at some point I will have to take those "nursing" class too. I hope not. I'm tired of school :Flush:

[MmacFN]

Yup

Right now just over 60% of schools are MSN and it is likely that more will head that way in the future with the DNP/DNAP requirement. But right now, it is about even


Ok, well I had to at least suggest the marriage thing. hee hee.

You don't need masters level nursing courses for all CRNA programs, only ones that grant an MSN as the degree (I think). My program is through the allied health department of a medical school so it's just an MS that I'm getting. But I mean you won't have anything to lose. Get the MSN and worst case is you don't need the classes but it will sure look nice on the application. And with things transitioning to DNP, I'm not sure if at some point I will have to take those "nursing" class too. I hope not. I'm tired of school :Flush: