zbritt Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 So I'm one of those pre-PA students like many of you who has struggled to find PAs in my area to shadow. I tried cold-calling, emailing, asking every academic and experiential advisor at my university I could find - with no luck at all. Feeling discouraged, I finally met with an old professor who showed me how to access my university's alumni page on LinkedIn. Using this group - which has over 20,000 professionals for my university - you can just perform a quick search for "physician assistant" or even just "physician" to view all of the alumni with that particular job title. Using this group LinkedIn feature, you can send individual messages to any professional without becoming "connected" with them, just because you are in the same alumni group. After sending about 8-10 messages to PAs in my area, I got about 5 replies within 24 hours from PAs willing to have a fellow alumni shadow them. If you were lucky enough to go to a medium-larger sized university where this is a possibility for you, DEFINITELY take advantage of this! Much better than cold-calling random strangers because you already have one similarity linking the two of you right away. Good luck, and hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm05219 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Thank you for the advice! I will definitely try this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asngu Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Hello Pre-PA's, I too had a difficult time finding PAs to shadow when I was applying to PA school. What I did out of desperation, and did not expect to work was visit the AAPA website and search for PAs in my area. I found 10 PAs in my area and emailed them about the possibility to shadow. Of the 10 PA's I emailed, 7 of them emailed me back within 24 hours and offer to have me shadow them. I also visited hospitals' websites and found PAs who specializes in certain area (ortho, peds, surgery, etc) and emailed them. They also emailed me back with offers. This is useful for those who don't have Linkedln account or feel awkward "connecting" with people on Linkedln. I hope you guys find this helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsonharris Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 @ankanguyen how exactly did you search for PAs on the AAPA website? I can't seem to find a link to search for PAs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosslyn Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I've found that this is not possible due to Linkedin wanting to charge members for sending messages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunningPAC Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I've found that this is not possible due to Linkedin wanting to charge members for sending messages. I had trouble finding a PA to shadow.. I tried sending emails, calling the medical offices, and even faxing a letter and resume. I had no luck. So I turned to LinkedIn and I ended up paying to be a "premium" member just so I can message MDs (to ask for permission to shadow their PA) and PAs. I had better luck using Linkedin. For me, it was worth paying for. I cancelled the premium membership after I found a PA to shadow. If you feel like you have tried everything, try linkedin. :) good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilsonharris Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I can already see this is going to be a difficult task. I'm going to use Brenny's method and go with the premium membership until I find a few. Hopefully I can make contact within this 30-day free trial window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajeneharris Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Premium is free for a month right now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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