Graduated Undergrad for Two Years Looking to PA School

[henryhuang3212]

Hey everyone!

 

Here's a brief intro to my story, what I've done, and where I'm heading and advice would be greatly appreciated!

I graduated from UCSD in June 2012 and I've been working at a pharmacy as a pharmacy technician since. At first, I had no clue what I wanted to do after graduating, but after working at a pharmacy for two years, I decided I'd love to be on the other side of the phone being the one calling in prescriptions and being the provider seeing and diagnosing the patient. After much thought the past few months, I've decided to pursue becoming a Physician Assistant. 

I'm a California resident (specifically southern California) and so my obvious choices are USC, Western, and Loma Linda. These are the only schools I've looked into so far and I do plan to look at others up north as well as out of state. I'm looking primarily into primary care / internal medicine. (Suggestions of programs would be great too)

Here are my stats and the coursework I've taken already and have left to take.

Taken:
Chem + lab - 1 year
Ochem + lab - 1 year
Writing - 1 year
Physics + lab - 1 year
Biochemistry
Cell Biology
Spanish - 1 semester
Anatomy & physiology
Psychology - 1 semester 
Speech - 1 semester
Nutrition - 1 quarter

Need:
Microbiology + lab 
Another semester of Spanish for usc
Sociology
GRE
Shadowing experience 

GPA as of now: 
UCSD: 3.4, 3.392 science gpa
Community college: 3.83, science gpa 4.0

Extracurricular:
Heavily involved with church - helped with college ministry and leading men's groups, have done administration with the church, as well as leading larger groups within the community for spiritual growth

Looking ahead:

• Undecided between EMT, MA, or Scribe for solid clinical experience
• Last option is doing an accelerated BSN and then pursue PA (or even NP at that point).
• Note: I can apply for medical school, but I'm just not willing to undergo the financial costs as well as the time for training. This is one big reason why PA is a huge appeal to me.

Challenges:

• I've been very tight on finances because my parents do not have the ability to financially support me and I also help pay for the bills as well. Because I've graduated from UCSD, I no longer qualify for FAFSA and I have to look for outside/private scholarships for additional funding as I finish up my pre-reqs. 

Questions:

• Any suggestions from those of you that are pursuing PA or are in PA school? I'd appreciate any feedback that you have for becoming a more competitive applicant.
• Is time away from undergrad a factor? I've heard different things. Some say as long as your application is well rounded and meaningful then it's good to go. Is this true?
• What are some things I'm overlooking and should look into? Things I can kill two birds with one stone with? (i.e. scribing for a physician to work with them in the future, etc.)

Thanks!

[Z PA-C]

Hi Henry,

I also graduated from UCSD in 2012 and will be starting PA school at Loma Linda in the Fall :)

I would definitely recommend getting some healthcare experience ASAP! Many programs (Loma Linda for sure) will not accept pharmacy tech experience as HCE. EMT seems to be a popular means for gaining some experience. I think getting your BSN would be the best exposure to healthcare and would provide you with a well-paying job if you decide not to go to PA school/don't get in. But you have to consider the cost of getting a second bachelor's with no financial aid.

 

2000 hours is the MINIMUM for Loma Linda. USC and Western seem to be more receptive to applicants with less HCE (especially Western since you don't need any hours at all...but they do really emphasize volunteer experience)

Are those GPAs you provided based off of how CASPA calculates them? Remember CASPA averages all of your grades and does not replace the higher grade for repeated courses when calculating GPA. Definitely ace whatever courses you plan on taking from here on out because right now it appears that you have a downward trend from CC-->UCSD. As I former student I can understand why but on paper it doesn't look very good.

 

Time for undergrad shouldn't be a factor as long as you are showing the steps you are taking to become a PA.

If you're trying to stay in SoCal look at the newer PA programs too: Marshall B. Ketchum University and Chapman University.

Good luck and feel free to message me if you have specific questions.

[henryhuang3212]

Hi Henry,

 

I also graduated from UCSD in 2012 and will be starting PA school at Loma Linda in the Fall :)

 

I would definitely recommend getting some healthcare experience ASAP! Many programs (Loma Linda for sure) will not accept pharmacy tech experience as HCE. EMT seems to be a popular means for gaining some experience. I think getting your BSN would be the best exposure to healthcare and would provide you with a well-paying job if you decide not to go to PA school/don't get in. But you have to consider the cost of getting a second bachelor's with no financial aid.

 

2000 hours is the MINIMUM for Loma Linda. USC and Western seem to be more receptive to applicants with less HCE (especially Western since you don't need any hours at all...but they do really emphasize volunteer experience)

 

Are those GPAs you provided based off of how CASPA calculates them? Remember CASPA averages all of your grades and does not replace the higher grade for repeated courses when calculating GPA. Definitely ace whatever courses you plan on taking from here on out because right now it appears that you have a downward trend from CC-->UCSD. As I former student I can understand why but on paper it doesn't look very good.

 

Time for undergrad shouldn't be a factor as long as you are showing the steps you are taking to become a PA.

 

If you're trying to stay in SoCal look at the newer PA programs too: Marshall B. Ketchum University and Chapman University.

 

Good luck and feel free to message me if you have specific questions.

Thanks for responding! Glad to know a fellow alum cares!

 

I'll keep those things in mind. The GPA's are not from the CASPA. Science GPA I calculated on my own and cumulative I got off of unofficial transcripts. 

 

I'll take your advice and look into those programs as well. 

 

& I do have some specific questions regarding HCE - I'll send you a message for that! Thanks again for the input - really appreciate it!

 

& congrats on Loma Linda!!

[Maynard]

My thoughts:

 

You list sociology as something you still need to take. Most schools don't require this. If you need this for a specific school, check to see if they'll accept CLEP credits (schools sometimes accept this for the less important prereqs). Do the same for Spanish. CLEP credits are quite cheap (80 dollars) compared to their in-class counterparts.

 

EMT and MA are much better than scribe. You'll learn a lot as a scribe, but the time is not as highly regarded and is not accepted everywhere. Get a good look at your local job market before you sign up for any certification classes. You don't want to spend a lot of time and money getting a license you can't get paid HCE with.

 

Time from classes could become a factor, in that your prereqs could start "expiring" while you're getting health care experience.  I never looked into this much since it wasn't a factor for me, but check if the schools you're interested in have a "within the last X years" requirement for prereqs and do the appropriate calculations for your situation.

 

I would seriously rethink your decision not to go to medical school. If you could get accepted to a med school right now, the time to a medical degree might very well be the same or even less than the amount of time between you and a PA degree (when you account for time getting HCE and completing prereqs). If you're young then financial burden is a bad reason to avoid medical school. Unless you plan on retiring or seriously cutting back at an early age, then your lifetime income will almost certainly be much higher as a doctor. Take a loan out and repay it when you're making six figures.

 

If you do settle for PA school, ask yourself: how important is location to you? If you could get an acceptance today at an east coast school would you want to attend or would you hold out for 1-2 years of further education and HCE so you could stay in state? Your GPA is good. You have HCE that would be acceptable at some schools. I could see you getting an acceptance this cycle if you targeted the right schools, especially if you could get yourself GRE-ready in a short amount of time.

[henryhuang3212]

My thoughts:

 

You list sociology as something you still need to take. Most schools don't require this. If you need this for a specific school, check to see if they'll accept CLEP credits (schools sometimes accept this for the less important prereqs). Do the same for Spanish. CLEP credits are quite cheap (80 dollars) compared to their in-class counterparts.

 

EMT and MA are much better than scribe. You'll learn a lot as a scribe, but the time is not as highly regarded and is not accepted everywhere. Get a good look at your local job market before you sign up for any certification classes. You don't want to spend a lot of time and money getting a license you can't get paid HCE with.

 

Time from classes could become a factor, in that your prereqs could start "expiring" while you're getting health care experience.  I never looked into this much since it wasn't a factor for me, but check if the schools you're interested in have a "within the last X years" requirement for prereqs and do the appropriate calculations for your situation.

 

I would seriously rethink your decision not to go to medical school. If you could get accepted to a med school right now, the time to a medical degree might very well be the same or even less than the amount of time between you and a PA degree (when you account for time getting HCE and completing prereqs). If you're young then financial burden is a bad reason to avoid medical school. Unless you plan on retiring or seriously cutting back at an early age, then your lifetime income will almost certainly be much higher as a doctor. Take a loan out and repay it when you're making six figures.

 

If you do settle for PA school, ask yourself: how important is location to you? If you could get an acceptance today at an east coast school would you want to attend or would you hold out for 1-2 years of further education and HCE so you could stay in state? Your GPA is good. You have HCE that would be acceptable at some schools. I could see you getting an acceptance this cycle if you targeted the right schools, especially if you could get yourself GRE-ready in a short amount of time.

 

Thanks Maynard - those are good things to think about. & thanks for the tip on CLEP credits - I've never heard of that and it does sound like a great idea if schools accept it!

 

I have thought about medical school, but I'm curious to know what your thoughts are regarding this. Can you elaborate on what you mean by cutting back at an early age? By that do you mean that age plays a role as you age as a PA?

 

 

[Maynard]

By "cutting back at an early age" I mean cutting back on hours. You list cost as a reason for not going to medical school. I'm saying that (assuming you have the means to secure a student loan), for a young person cost is not a good reason to avoid medical school. The only way that becoming a PA is more economical than becoming a physician is if you plan to work such an incredibly minuscule number of lifetime hours that you never cover the difference in student loans.

 

This is something you need to think through a little more. One day you might look back and kick yourself for not going to medical school. If nothing else, you will probably get asked, "Why PA and not MD?" at one of your interviews (it's one of the most common interview questions) and right now you do not have a good answer.

[henryhuang3212]

By "cutting back at an early age" I mean cutting back on hours. You list cost as a reason for not going to medical school. I'm saying that (assuming you have the means to secure a student loan), for a young person cost is not a good reason to avoid medical school. The only way that becoming a PA is more economical than becoming a physician is if you plan to work such an incredibly minuscule number of lifetime hours that you never cover the difference in student loans.

 

This is something you need to think through a little more. One day you might look back and kick yourself for not going to medical school. If nothing else, you will probably get asked, "Why PA and not MD?" at one of your interviews (it's one of the most common interview questions) and right now you do not have a good answer.

 

Thanks Maynard for the honest feedback - that's a question I'll definitely take some more time thinking through. I think I'll get a better idea once I shadow PA's and doctors more. I have a few upcoming opportunities lined up for that so I'm excited. 

 

In your experience and opinion, what are the major pros and cons to pursuing each? I understand where you're coming from and I'm open to med school, but I'm not leaning towards it.

 

One reason is that I think the PA field fits me a lot better. I love being second in charge and working with delegated responsibility and vision. Again, I'll confirm this when I see it more in person via shadowing, but a team based approach just seems exciting to me.