123 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I'm currently a college senior in my last semester of undergrad. I planned on applying for the first time this summer (and I think I had a somewhat decent chance of getting in) but due to various reasons I don't think I can apply anymore. One of those reasons is that now I'll have 3 outstanding pre-reqs when I send in my application whereas before it was only going to be one. Most schools will allow 2 at the most and it just looks bad with 3 outstanding classes. So my plan now is to go home this summer, knock out those 3 classes and then start full-time work in august as a medical assistant. My question is to those who worked a couple years after college before going to PA school. If you had to do it again, would you? Would you have wanted to start sooner? Did it make PA school significantly easier? For those who pretty much went straight from college to PA school do you wish you would have worked more before? I’m currently working as an EMT so I do have some experience already but I’m just bummed that I have to push back PA school/life plans for another 2 years (or even more). Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted January 18, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2017 the more hce the better. it makes school, especially clinicals much easier. I had 5 yrs as a medic and 5 years as an er tech before becoming a pa. if I had to do it over again I would have been a medic for a few more years...really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe65D Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I second that. I had 4 years as an RT and 4 years as an Army Medic. It's sad that HCE is treated as another checkbox to fill when doing applications. Be an asset to your classmates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 the more hce the better. it makes school, especially clinicals much easier. I had 5 yrs as a medic and 5 years as an er tech before becoming a pa. if I had to do it over again I would have been a medic for a few more years...really. why did you want to be a medic longer? More experience so you could find better jobs when you graduated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsman89 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Very much agree that more HCE is better. The PA profession is evolving into somewhat of a pseudo med school situation where students are accepted with little to no HCE experience, which is what made a PA unique when the profession started. This lack of experience is sadly why I get asked by PAs/NPs, and sadly MDs, if there is a Rh included in a Type and Screen. :/ Basically, with a good amount of HCE exposure you wont look like a bafoon when you start your clinical rotations, and you will be able to better care for your patients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted January 18, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2017 gpa gets you into school. HCE makes you a quality PA your first few years in practice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted January 18, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 18, 2017 why did you want to be a medic longer? More experience so you could find better jobs when you graduated? that and more experience with really critically ill patients. more intubations, more EJs, more cardioversion, chest decompressions, use of vasoactive meds, etc did more cardioversions last month than my entire time as a medic. more intubations in the last year than in 5 years as a medic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsman89 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 To add to this as well. PA school often can bring in a diverse group of people. Prior Corpsman, Paramedics, Nurses, RTs, Lab techs, etc. What happens is that you not only get a good education via your professors, but you learn techniques, and other tips and tricks from fellow students with a lot of HCE. I was a Corpsman for 5 years and did a lot of direct pt care and was exposed to quite a bit of emergency medicine. I currently work as a lab tech and this gives me a huge advantage when it comes to lab values, and interpreting what they mean. Its this diverse background on the individual level and among your peers in PA school that really result in an outstanding PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 I can't remember where I read it but it was either some study/poll/discussion where it said that after 5 years of practice, someone with lots of hce vs. someone with only a little are pretty much the same. It also depends on the type of hce obviously but I'm not not sure how accurate this is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsman89 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I imagine there is some accuracy to that statement. After about 5 years of doing anything, you tend to get pretty knowledgeable and skilled no matter your previous skills. But, those first 5 years are going to set the stage for the rest of your career. You may suck miserably because you lack sound HCE and then you get pigeonholed into a job/specialty/position that, at first, was perfect for a new grad with no HCE, but you realize too quickly that you wish you could have taken more of an aggressive job right out of school because you would have felt comfortable doing this with more experience. Its not a hard stop by any means, you're gonna do what you need to do. Its more of a ideological thing for me. I get nervous of the PA reputation with many new grads going into the workforce with zero HCE. Yikes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 More HCE is always better. As someone who had several years of HCE (but not necessarily great PCE) I'll add this: you just have a better idea of how the world works. How healthcare works. What the dynamic of a hospital is. And honestly super basic things that I find my classmates stressing over like when/how to apply for jobs, how to negotiate, how to invest/plan for retirement, how to budget for big things like moving, cars, etc. Life experience is good. Most of your patients will have it, personally I think we as providers should, too. I can say with certainty if I had gone to PA school right after undergrad I would have missed a wealth of life experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhizopus Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Life experience is good. Most of your patients will have it, personally I think we as providers should, too. I can say with certainty if I had gone to PA school right after undergrad I would have missed a wealth of life experiences. This. However, I do know plenty of PAs who did go to school straight out of undergrad with so-so HCE and they are very competent providers. Many, however, wish that they had at least traveled somewhere or done something totally unrelated to HCE. It gives perspective. Keep in mind there are new residencies popping up all over place. If this was years ago I would have said gain some more HCE prior. Now I would say consider plowing through PA school and dive into an 18-month residency. You'll get paid better as a resident than you would at almost any other pre-PA job, and it is much better clinical experience because you already are a PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overthehorizen Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I'm surprised how many people make such an issue about the importance of "health care experience." It is grossly overrated. It frankly isn't worth the time delay to get the PA school and the lost earnings aren't justified by what you supposed learn. First, as always, I have to urge you to abandon the idea of going to PA school. If you have a genuine interest in practicing medicine, then go to medical school (allopathic). If you cannot get into allopathyic go to DO. If you cannot get into DO, go to the islands. Any of the three aforementioned choices are superior to PA school. If you cannot get into any medical school, go become an NP. No undergraduate should ever consider going to PA school. Stop wasting time on becoming a medical assistant. Start finishing relevant prerequisites for Medical school and study for a period of time to do well on the MCAT. The PA is not a career for an undergraduate when so many better opportunities exist with equal difficulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
south Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 I'm miserable having a great and relatively high paying career but would rather try to bring everyone else down than go do something else that isn't so far beneath me. Fixed a few typos there for you. As far as getting IN to school, it seems maybe like half (give or take) of the schools put an importance on HCE. A few put a pretty high absolute minimum number to apply. A few practically discourage it for whatever reason. Something like MA will help here and there, but if you can get EMT or CNA that's a bit more. Combine it with some volunteering or maybe try to become a scribe for a while also. It will help at clinicals, even if not very much health related then you have punched a clock and worked a schedule, dealt with a boss and a customer. It could make the difference. I think the best plan is go get your job, then apply to your "basket" of choices with just a few hours. Rinse and repeat next year if needed with more hours and maybe find a way to diversify your HCE. Then you'll have a better combination. Patience comes super hard, but the end result being getting into a school of your choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 I'm already an EMT so I do have some hours but I wanted to be an MA because I want to eventually focus on primary care in my career. I asked my question mainly to avoid being so negative about possibly not being able to apply sooner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted January 20, 2017 Moderator Share Posted January 20, 2017 MA is great experience for a future career in primary care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneDayAPA_Maybe Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Personally, I took a very roundabout road to getting here. Taught inner city high school for years and then made my way into public health. I know everyone advocates for health experience, but I think you should experience as much as you can. Get experience in healthcare and other facets of the world and then decide if PA is what you want. You're young and I know a lot of elders on here would say go the medical school route because of your age. Try different jobs and see if this is the career you want. If you ultimately come back to PA, it isn't a big deal if you decide later on like some of us did because it is a shorter time investment. Just make sure it is what you want. There is no real rush because worldly experience can be so much more valuable. There is always a rush on growing up and being settled into a career a young age, but I have too many friends who are stuck in their careers (not necessarily PA) that wish they could have done something else. Those are my simple two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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