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There are two CRNA schools in Georgia and Augusta University is one of them.
Address: 1120 15th Street, Augusta, GA 30912
Contact: Doctor of Nursing Practice: nursinganes@augusta.edu 706-721-9558
Program Manager: Nicole Murdaugh: nmurdaugh@augusta.edu
Program Director: Shannon Broxton
The Augusta University CRNA program will take 3 years to complete and at the end of it, you’ll receive a DNP in Nurse Anesthesia. You will have to complete 112 credits over the course of 9 semesters. In the first 5 semesters, you’ll cover the didactic portion and the main DNP courses. This also includes human patient simulations in the lab where you’ll learn various anesthesia techniques before entering the clinical aspect of your training.
This school is well recognized nationally as having one of the best CRNA programs in the US. They take a cutting edge approach to teaching and have integrated high fidelity simulation throughout the degree. At the end of your studies, you would have completed over 2,000 clinical hours and administered 800+ anesthetics.
This program is hybrid and you’ll have some web based classes. The class size is usually approximately 40 students and you’ll have to attend this program on a full time basis. The current attrition rate is 7% and the average class GPA is 3.40. The first time pass rate is 69% and there are over 40 clinical sites in locations such as Tennesse, Alabama, Georgia, Florida etc.
According to the U.S. News & World Report 2016, this program is currently ranked at #100.This program is fully accredited by the COA and was granted accreditation on October 11, 2023 for a 10 year period, after which it will be evaluated again.
In-state tuition: Approximately $86,535
Out of state tuition: Approximately $167,535
Keep in mind this doesn’t include housing, food, personal expenses etc. It also doesn’t include special fees such as student health insurance etc. Augusta University’s tuition fees can be found here.
In order to qualify to enter this Augusta University’s DNP program, you will need to have either a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) or a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from a recognized and accredited university/college. If you have a BSN or MSN from a foreign university, then it will be fully evaluated to determine its US equivalence.
Your RN licence needs to be unrestricted from the state where you have been practicing when you send in your application to enter this program. However, once you’ve been enrolled into the program, you will need to have an unrestricted Georgia RN license or a multistate RN license.
Additionally, there are prerequisite coursework that you’ll need to have. This includes a 3 credit hour graduate or undergraduate statistics and chemistry course. Alternatively, a biostatistics course can work. Do note that you’ll need to have a grade of B or higher.
It is advised that you have AACN certification – adult, pediatrics, or neonatal. However, it is not necessary to have it.
You will need to have a minimum of 1 year critical care experience. However, this year of experience needs to be within the last 3 years of your application date.
Some types of acceptable critical care experience:
Do note that if you have critical care experience in other areas than the ones listed above, they may be considered. You will need to show that you have experience with handling ventilators, critical care pharmacology, dealing with patients that are unstable, invasive monitoring etc.
First, we will look at the necessary application fees. The first non-refundable fee would be $80 to submit your NursingCAS application. Once this is done, your application will need to be verified and after it is successfully verified, you will be notified by the graduate admissions office to set up your AU application portal. You will likely receive an email from graduateadmissions@augusta.edu with all the details on how to set up the portal.
When applying, it is recommended that you apply as early as possible. Augusta University doesn’t accept late applications after the stated application deadline nor do they defer admissions. However, they will continue to accept application related materials for as long as 2 weeks after the deadline.
In your application, you will need to submit official transcripts from all the universities and colleges that you’ve attended. These transcripts will need to be sent to the NursingCAS from the registrar’s office of the institution. Do note that these will need to be delivered completely sealed, stamped and signed from the institution to qualify as official. They will also accept official electronic transcripts from the issuing institution. All transcripts have to be sent directly to the NursingCAS and not to the university itself. If they aren’t sent through the NursingCAS, then they won’t be able to be verified and your application won’t go through or be considered.
Next, a very important aspect of your application would be your references. You will need 3 references. Out of the 3, one reference will need to be a supervisor such as a unit manager or charge nurse. These references should be able to talk about your professional and clinical experience and performance.
According to past interviewees, a lot of the interviews were conducted by instructors. Most of them were very kind and happy to answer any questions. You will also likely be able to chat with a current CRNA student.
You can expect a mixture of clinical, personal and emotional intelligence type of questions.
The average salary of CRNAs in Georgia according to the top career sites:
ZipRecruiter: $198,229 per year ($95 per hour)
Salary.com: $248,267 per year
Indeed: $209,023 per year
This gives an average of ~$218,506 per year.
Not sure if this is the school for you? Check out our comprehensive list here.