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This university is one of five universities that offers a nurse anesthetist program in the state of Illinois.
Address: 600 S. Paulina St. Chicago, Illinois 60612
Phone: +1 312-942-7100
Contact: Elizabeth Miranda – Admissions Specialist
elizabeth_m_miranda@rush.edu
This is a full time hybrid program (remote and in-person) that will take 36 months to complete. At the end of it, you’ll receive a DNP in Nurse Anesthesia.
This program is well rounded with an excellent academic curriculum as well as lengthy clinical practice. The faculty that you’ll be learning from would be active CRNAs who work at medical centers throughout the country as well as at the RUSH University Medical Center.
You can expect to receive extensive clinical experience that will prepare you to become an excellent CRNA who is able to function seamlessly in both urban and rural areas. Also, the next great thing about this school is that they cuztomize the clinical rotation schedules for every student.
The class size is approximately 24 students and you will receive training at the Rush Center for Clinical Skills & Simulation which is their 20,000 sq ft simulation lab. The attrition rate is currently 0%, the total examination pass rate is 100%. The first time examination pass rate is 96% and the employment rate of graduates within the first 6 months of graduating is 100%.
The application deadline for the September 2025 intake is the 1st of May, 2024.
This university prides itself on teaching the most up to date nurse anesthesia techniques along with a POCUS and cadaver regional anesthesia workshop.
This program is fully accredited and was last accredited by the COA in May, 2015 for a 10 year period (the maximum). It will be up for review in May, 2025. According to the U.S. News & World Report 2024, this program is currently ranked at #22 and was previously ranked #4 in the 2016 report.
The current tuition is $1,344 per credit hour. If you are entering this program with a Bachelor’s degree, then you’ll need to complete at least 89 term hours. However, if you’re entering with a Master’s degree, then you’ll need to complete at least 77 term hours.
Rush University currently doesn’t have any undergraduate prerequisite courses in order to apply to their CRNA program.
However, you will need to have a Bachelor degree in Nursing from an accredited institution. You will need to have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, however, keep in mind that the average GPA of students that are admitted into the program is 3.56. You will require RN licensure for the United States with a minimum of one year experience (recent) in the ICU. However, this school prefers that you have 2 years experience in an intensive care unit.
In your application, you will have to submit detailed answers to personal essay questions. Some of these questions may ask you to describe your professional goals, talk about the speciality you’re interested in and the personal experiences you’ve had that have led to you being interested in this speciality.
Next, you’ll need to provide 3 letters of recommendation. You cannot use recommendations from family members, friends, or co-workers. If you submit these types of recommendation letters, your application will be denied or at the very least, delayed.
The first letter of recommendation must be from a current manager or supervisor. The other two letters must be from persons in leadership. These persons need to be able to discuss your clinical abilities, capabilities for completing the CRNA program, cognitive abilities etc. You can get a letter of recommendation from a faculty member if you last did coursework for them within the last 2 years of your application.
You’ll also need to submit your resume and CV. In your resume, be sure to include details of your work experience, leadership and educational activities, scholarly activities and community service.
All applications into this program must be made through the NursingCAS where you’ll have to pay an $80 non-refundable fee. In the NursingCAS, you will submit your application to the specific program you’re applying for and you can only apply to one RUSH program and admission term. Once you submit your CRNA application, you will be sent a RUSH supplemental application which you will have to fill out and submit as well as pay the $40 application fee.
Once you’re selected for interviews, you’ll need to do 2 interviews. The first interview will likely be a tour of the school where you can ask questions and talk to current students. The second interview will be more clinical focused with one of the directors. According to past interviewees, it’s usually informal with a lot of personality based questions. Also, once you’re familiar with ACLS and CCRN material, then you’ll be well equipped to answer the clinical questions.
The average salary for CRNAs in Illinois according to Incredible Health is $250,280. According to Salary.com it is $219,422 and ZipRecruiter it is $240,879 per year.
Not sure if this is the right CRNA school for you? Check out this list for other options.