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NIH postbac experience before PA school


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Hi all!

 

So after graduating from undergrad I had been set on going to grad school to obtain my Ph.D. I got into a post baccalaureate program at the NIH and I've been here for almost a year now and will stay for a maximum of two years. A few months ago, I was feeling very anxious about my career path and, long story short, I realized I didn't want to continue along the route I was going. After a lot of research about the different types of careers in the science and medical fields, I decided that pursuing a career in the PA profession was best suited for me. After I finish the program, I do plan on gaining more clinical experience as a medical assistant. My question now is, will having worked at the NIH as a postbac look good at all on my application to PA school or will it not really be something they will consider? I will have a lot of experience in research, but I'm not sure if that will matter to the PA school interviewers. I've never heard of anyone in my particular type of situation before. The postbac program at the NIH is also for me to gain research experience, not so much to raise my gap like other postbac programs. If anyone has any insight on this, I would really appreciate it! Thank you!

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I think your background at the NIH will transition nicely to being considered for PA school. Just a side note, but any thought to going MD? You'll likely find more opportunities in research as a MD if you decided to pursue that later in life. With that said, there are opportunities as a PA. I've previously been the Sub-Investigator for a couple of studies when I was a Neurology PA. In regards to your question, I think your NIH background will certainly be looked upon favorably pending you spin it well in your narrative essay. I'd recommend spot-lighting it in your essay rather than having it get buried in your previous work history. Just be prepared to answer the question of "Why do you want to be a PA". I think gaining further hands-on patient contact time as a Medical Assistant or EMT is a great idea and will only make your application that much stronger.

 

All the best.

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I have a (extensive) research background, it wasn't really a factor when I applied to PA school (I was an older student, PA is 3rd career...).

 

Sure, having the prestigious NIH research experience will help your PA school application. If you were applying to med school, it would help more because (as has been pointed out), MD’s have more research opportunities than PA’s.

 

To be accepted to PA school, the two biggest factors are GPA in science prerequisites, and paid clinical experience. The PA profession is a practical one, and research doesn’t play much of a role.

 

 

Hope that was helpful.

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Thank you for your replies! The thing is (and I feel very sad to say it, although I have to be completely honest with myself) doing research has not made me happy so far. Maybe it's because the topic I've been studying isn't quite interesting to me. Right now I'm just concentrating on searching for snps in genetic sequences of different animal species. What I'd really be interested in studying would be the skin micro biome and different skin diseases, but I would truly love and be happy to physically assess and treat peoples' skin. To me, that is very fun. I think I would have loved to become a dermatologist, but I think the idea of going to medical school strictly to become a dermatologist and nothing else would be very naive of me. As PA, I love the idea of lateral mobility, because I can possibly have the opportunity to work in derm at some point, but if I happen to find out that I have another great interest of specialty, I can also have the opportunity to switch into it. I love the idea of having a diverse range of possibilities and trying new specialities! Overall, I believe I would have a much happier time working directly with people rather than continuing with research.

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