CRNA School Requirements, Program By Program

What Every CRNA Program Requires

The Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA) accredits every program whose graduates can sit the certification exam, and its standards set the admission floor. Applicants need “a baccalaureate or graduate degree in nursing or an appropriate major.” They also need “a minimum of 1 year full-time critical care experience, or its part-time equivalent, as a registered nurse in a critical care setting.” Add the RN license the critical care year assumes, and that's the list no program can go below.

Everything else on this page is a program's own choice. That's why two schools a few miles apart can disagree about whether you need the GRE or whether your NICU year counts. And it matters which list you're on, because the NBCRNA exam is open only to graduates of a COA-accredited program. There's no route to the CRNA credential that skips these gates.

What GPA Do You Need For CRNA School?

Usually a 3.0. Of the 97 programs that publish a minimum GPA, 77 set it at 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, 19 set it higher, and one sets it lower. The lowest floor we found is Saint Mary's University of Minnesota's 2.75. The highest is Endeavor Health / DePaul University's 3.5.

Read the wording, not only the number. Programs compute GPA in different ways: cumulative, upper-division only, nursing courses only, or the last 60 credits. 33 programs also set a separate science GPA, usually 3.0, over courses such as chemistry, anatomy and physiology, and statistics. A weak science grade can sink an application that clears the overall floor.

A floor is not a target. 15 programs also name a “preferred” or “competitive” GPA, and the highest of those is 3.6. Most programs publish nothing about the GPAs of the students they actually admit, so treat 3.0 as the line for being read at all.

How Much ICU Experience Do You Need?

At least the year COA requires, and often more in practice. Of the 117 programs that state a minimum, 94 ask for exactly one year. At least 20 of those say in the same sentence that two years are preferred. 22 programs require more than a year, 17 of them two full years, including Samuel Merritt University, Georgetown University, AdventHealth University and University of Miami.

One program sets its own count a little differently. University of Alabama at Birmingham says: “At least 11 months experience as an RN in a critical care setting by the July application interview.” That's a deadline for the interview, not a lower standard; the COA year still has to be complete.

Watch the small print around the year too. Many programs exclude orientation, want the experience to be recent (within two, three or five years) and count only full-time or its part-time equivalent. The nurse anesthetist career page walks through where that year sits in the whole route.

Which ICU Units Count For CRNA School?

Adult intensive care units are the safe choice: surgical, medical, cardiac, cardiothoracic, neuro, trauma and burn ICUs appear on the accepted lists we read. Past those, programs disagree, and the biggest disagreement is the neonatal ICU.

NICU counts at nine programs whose pages say so directly: Samford University, Samuel Merritt University, Florida International University, Boston College, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, University of Southern Mississippi, Professional University Dr. Carlos J. Borrero Ríos, Medical University of South Carolina and Franciscan Healthcare School of Anesthesia.

NICU does not count at ten programs that say so just as directly: University of Arizona, Marian University, University of Kansas, Newman University, Loyola University New Orleans, Hofstra University / Northwell, Carolinas Medical Center / UNC Charlotte, University of Akron, University of Cincinnati and St. Luke's / DeSales University.

Emergency department, PACU, operating room, step-down and cath lab experience are refused far more consistently. A few programs consider them case by case if you can show you've managed ventilated, unstable patients on vasoactive drips and invasive monitoring. If your year is in a unit on the edge, apply where the page names your unit, or ask the program in writing before you count on it.

Do CRNA Schools Require The GRE?

Most don't. Of the 69 programs whose pages take a position on the GRE, 38 don't require it, 24 require it from everyone and 7 require it only below a GPA cutoff. Those that don't require it include University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Loma Linda University, UC Davis and Fairfield University.

The GPA cutoffs are worth reading closely. They run from below 3.0 to below 3.6, so the same 3.4 GPA can exempt you at one program and send you to a test center at another. Programs with a cutoff include Georgetown University, Augusta University, Endeavor Health / DePaul University and Millikin University / Decatur Memorial Hospital. Where the GRE is required, several programs set a minimum score or ask for results from the last five years, so an old score may not count.

Is CCRN Required For CRNA School?

At most programs that mention it, yes. CCRN is the critical care nursing certification from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, and 65 of the 93 programs that address it require it at application. Another 24 recommend or prefer it. Only four say outright that it isn't required, with no recommendation attached: UC Davis, University of North Dakota, University of Puerto Rico and University of South Carolina.

So if a program on your list requires it, CCRN belongs in your ICU plan from the start, not in the month before the deadline. Check whether the program wants the certification at application or only by the time the program begins.

CRNA Shadowing Requirements

Shadowing means spending a set number of hours observing a working CRNA, usually logged on a form the CRNA signs. Of the 57 programs that mention it, 39 require it and 18 recommend it. The number of hours varies by program, so check the form before you book a day.

Even where it's only recommended, shadowing is the one requirement that costs you nothing but time, and it gives you something real to say about the job when a program asks why you want it.

Easiest CRNA Schools To Get Into: The Lowest Published Bars

No program publishes an admission rate we could compare, so nobody can honestly name the easiest CRNA school. What we can show is which programs set the lowest published bars. These eleven state all four: a GPA floor of 3.0 or less, one year of ICU, no GRE requirement, and no CCRN requirement.

• Loma Linda University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN recommended.
• UC Davis: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN not required.
• Idaho State University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN recommended.
• Rush University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN recommended.
• Newman University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN recommended.
• University of Detroit Mercy: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN not stated.
• Minneapolis School of Anesthesia: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN not stated.
• St. John Fisher University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN not stated.
• Oregon Health & Science University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN recommended.
• University of Puerto Rico: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN not required.
• Vanderbilt University: 3.0 minimum GPA, GRE not required, CCRN recommended.

Low bars and an easy admission aren't the same thing. A program with a 3.0 floor can still admit a class whose average is far higher, and a short requirement list can mean the interview carries more weight. Use these as places where you'll clear the minimums, then compare them on outcomes in the nurse anesthesia program rankings, which score pass rates and attrition.

CRNA Program Requirements By Program

Every program below is COA-accredited, grouped by state. Each name links to the admissions page we read; each value was confirmed on the program's own pages, including PDFs, handbooks and FAQs where the main page was silent.

How Long Before You Can Apply To CRNA School?

Count it from a new BSN. You need the RN license, then at least one year of full-time ICU, and realistically time to sit the CCRN and do your shadowing too. Since many programs say two years of ICU are preferred, plan on about two years at the bedside before your strongest application. The program itself runs at least 36 months, and every new one awards a doctorate, which DNP vs DNAP explains.

The payoff is one of the best-paid roles in nursing: nurse anesthetists earned a median $236,590 in May 2025. The CRNA salary page breaks that down by state.

Related Pages

• DNP Nurse Anesthesia Programs 89 accredited CRNA programs ranked on the outcomes they must publish: first-time NCE pass rate, attrition and employment. DNP and DNAP programs both included.
• The Nurse Anesthetist Career How to become a CRNA: the ICU experience programs want first, the doctorate every accredited program now awards, the NBCRNA exam, and what the job pays.
• CRNA Salary, State By State CRNA and nurse anesthetist salary from federal wage data: the median, hourly pay, the full percentile spread and every state BLS publishes.
• DNP vs DNAP DNP vs DNAP: both titles lead to the same CRNA exam and license. How many programs award each, and the one accreditation difference between them.
• CRNA vs Nurse Practitioner CRNA vs nurse practitioner: only nurse anesthesia requires a doctorate. Admission, program length, clinical hours and BLS pay for both roles, compared.