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Am I good enough for PA school?


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Hey everyone!

I am a currently as senior Biology major, getting ready to graduate this upcoming December. I'm starting to get everything together for the CAPSA application that is getting ready to open up. I'm been stressed a lot about whether or not I will be able to get into PA school so I wanted some input on if I have a chance of getting in.

 

I currently have a 3.96 GPA and if everything goes as planned I should be able to graduate with at least a 3.9. All of my prerequisite courses for PA school are done and I made A's in all of them except for 1 B (Ochem 1 lecture).

 

As far as "clinical experience" I have about 500 hours as an ER scribe but no actual hands on patient care. I am trying to volunteer at a local clinic which will allow me to take vitals etc to at least give me a little more experience. I am going to be completing a shadowing program this summer that will be around 120 hours, although I will only be shadowing physicians. If anyone has gotten into PA school with only scribing and shadowing hours please let me know!

 

I haven't been able to shadow a PA yet and I was wondering how crucial this was to the application process. I have a strong recommendation letter that I can get from one of my professors but I'm not sure what to do about the other 2.

 

Also, for those of you that have been scribes in the past have you asked the doctors you have worked with for recommendation letters or your chief scribe? I was just curious.

 

Sorry for all the details and questions. I've just been really stressed out about this lately and wanted to hear from others who have gone through or are going through the process. I am planning on applying to Methodist university, East Carolina University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and possibly South University. If anyone has any schools they know of that accept scribing hours please let me know!

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What's wrong with Med school? I assume you're 22?

 

Yes you're right, I do feel like I would be qualified to apply to medical school. However, I am married and family life is very important to me. I want to be able to devote more time to my family and start a family earlier vs. waiting until I was done with medical school to start that. I know it's possible to have a family and still be a medical doctor but I've been drawn to the PA side. Part of me wonders whether I should go the medical school route... I'm just not sure.

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 However, I am married and family life is very important to me. I want to be able to devote more time to my family and start a family earlier vs. waiting until I was done with medical school to start that. I know it's possible to have a family and still be a medical doctor but I've been drawn to the PA side.

If you want to devote time to your family, do something other than medicine.

 

Seriously, both the PA or MD/DO route will require long hours, unpredictable schedules, being emotionally drained dealing with other people's problems and THEN coming home to your family...

 

Do something else... unless you can't do anything else. And then, it really doesn't matter nearly as much between MD/DO and PA as people say it does.  Residency isn't as bad as it used to be.  PAs don't get any slack in their schedules, and the myth of more time with your patients is precisely that: myth.  It's all getting to be more and more the same, really, so if you're really wanting to do medicine so bad it hurts to think of not doing it, go for it, but if you really want a good family life above all else, then go do something else.  IT was far better on my family time, life, and energy than medicine is.  Doesn't mean I regret the choice to switch, just means that the PA route is not a guarantee of time with your kids and a happy home life.

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