To be considered for admission to the program the following criteria must be met:

• Baccalaureate degree in nursing from a program accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission or the Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education

• Have an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or greater. In addition, strong preference is given to those applicants with a GPA of 3.0 or greater in their undergraduate science courses.

• Have a combined verbal and quantitative GRE score of 1,000 or above. Unofficial GRE scores may be submitted with the application pending the forwarding of official scores to OHSU School of Nursing.

• Be eligible for Oregon and Washington registered nurse licenses. If selected for admission to the nurse anesthesia program, applicant must obtain RN licensure in Oregon PRIOR to beginning classes and obtain RN licensure in Washington before beginning clinical experience.

• Consideration for admission to the nurse anesthesia program requires that the applicant have a minimum of one year, full time critical care experience. For the purposes of establishing this criterion, critical care experience refers to full-time work experience as an RN in an adult intensive care unit such as medical, surgical, combined, cardiovascular or neurological. Due to the competitive nature of the applications process, most applicants who are admitted to nurse anesthesia programs possess between 2 and 5 years of full-time ICU experience. Applicants who have as their sole acute care experience in the ER, recovery room, operating room, or neonatal ICU will likely not be admitted to the program at OHSU. Applicants with more recent ICU experience are more competitive.

• Must have successfully passed a statistics course (undergraduate or graduate) with a grade of “B” or better within five years prior to beginning classes in the nurse anesthesia program. If this requirement has not been met, the student will be required to take a statistics course (graduate or undergraduate) before entering the Masters program. This statistics course will not count towards the Masters degree requirements in the student’s program of study.

• Completion of statement explaining the applicant’s purpose in seeking graduate nursing education and understanding of the advanced practice role, including rationale for selecting a particular specialty area of the graduate program, what is hoped will be derived from the program, the particular areas of interest and concern, and aspirations after graduation. Also explain your clinical experience which you feel prepares you for the role of nurse anesthetist, including work experiences in practice, teaching, administration, as well as evidence of independent role function, certifications and organizational responsibilities.

• Three letters of reference from sources knowledgeable of the applicant’s work experience and education such as: work supervisors and faculty.

• Successful completion of personal interview with program Admissions Committee.

Following the receipt of all completed applications as of December 1st, a review committee will assess each application and a determination will he made as to whether or not the applicant is selected for an interview.

To learn more about nurse anesthesia, visit the American Association of Nurse Anesthesia Web site or contact our admissions counselors with your questions at 503-494-7725 or proginfo@ohsu.edu.