Texas Wesleyan University - thorough review

by John
(Fort Worth, TX)

The interview process
The interview will usually consist of 3 faculty ranging from the chemistry, anatomy, or pharmacology instructors. The department head also sits in on the interview. The majority of questions are clinical based and are VERY in-depth and can be VERY hard to answer. They will continue to get more detailed until you just can’t answer the question. It is definitely one of the hardest interviews according to students that interviewed at other schools.

Quality of classroom instruction
The anatomy course is VERY difficult and is known to weed out less strong students. The 2nd semester requires you to make at least a B in pharmacology and anatomy in order to continue the program. This is historically known to cause a few students to not pass. I am very happy with the quality of all the first semester classes which consisted of anatomy, pharmacology, chemistry, and medical ethics.
The 2nd semester will consist of anatomy 2, pharmacology 2, special topics, and research. The third semester will be more classes and then starting in august all of the student will begin their clinicals until dec 2013 when we graduate.

Clinical sites
I am not too familiar with all the clinical sites. I will be in Harlingen at Valley Baptist which is supposed to be a really good clinical site with a good clinical instructor. It also is known to really work the students into the ground though.

Structure of the program
It is front loaded with 3 classroom semesters then after that we will have clinicals from then on. I like this because it enables me to focus on the classroom.

Overall helpfulness of teachers
The instructors are very helpful and have a real gift for teaching especially the anatomy instructor. I was very impressed with the instructors.

What is it like to be in the program?
MWF will be about 9 hours of class and on the days off expect to study 9-12 hours each and every day you have off. It is very demanding and the most difficult course that will take up most of your time is anatomy. This is the class that most of the class has difficult with because of how in-depth he takes it. The amount of time that is devoted to school is hard on the families and students. It is physically and mentally draining.

Would you recommend this program to to a friend?
I would recommend this program for sure. TWU students are highly sought after because of the high demands of the program. Just from talking to TCU students I have found out that we are required to have a more in-depth knowledge in anatomy then they do. TWU is a good choice.

What it's like to live in Fort Worth
Fort Worth is a nice place to live. Traffic can be a problem depending on where you live. I live downtown and it takes me 10 min to get to class. The area around the school is very ghetto but the school is nice. It can be hard to find a one bedroom apartment without a waiting list, but two and three bedrooms are easier to find.

If you're planning on applying to TWU, I wrote an e-book sharing all of the steps I took to make sure I got accepted. You owe it to yourself to do a little bit of extra planning to make sure you get it. You won't regret your decision. http://www.all-crna-schools.com/crna-school-admission.html