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Q and A with current students!


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I saw this posted on another sub-forum and thought it was a great idea! So, I thought I'd throw this out there to since it seems to be really helpful for perspective students, people interviewing, or people who are accepted and about to start! 

 

First of all I'd like to welcome all of you here, my name is Kevin and I am currently on the clinical portion of Wingate PA program (edited 10/20)! I would like to use this thread as place to answer any questions about the school, program, area and all things student life. Feel free to reach out and let me know if you have any questions. I or some of my classmates would be happy to get back to you!

 

Good luck and congratulations to everyone looking to become a PA!

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I'll give an example based on this week, as its a decent gauge for the spring semester. Just a quick note, in general, they say spring is a little "easier" than Fall and Summer. I'm an early bird when it comes to my studying, so I choose to study in the morning, and relax in the evenings (most nights).

Today's Schedule (Note: test day, so wake up a little earlier than usual)

3:30am - 4:30am - Getting up, taking dog out, driving to Wingate

4:30am - 8:00am - Studying / Studying for upcoming test (All Tests are at 8, Class starts 9) - I'm an early bird so this is when I prefer to study

 

8:00am - 9:00am - Pathophysiology Test

9:15am - 10:50am - Clinical Medicine 2 - Infectious Disease (Parasites!)

10:50am - 11:20am - Lunch

11:30am - 1:20pm - Pharmacology 2 - Antiparasitic Drugs

1:30pm - 3:30pm - Patient Assessment Lecture 

 

3:45pm - 5:00pm - Working out at School gym

5:00pm - 6:30pm - Driving home, taking dog out, eating dinner

6:30pm - 8:00pm - Little bit of studying / review (sometimes, otherwise relax)

8:00pm - 9:00pm - Relaxing/me time (video games, browsing internet)

9-10:00pm - Bed Time!

 

 

Week Schedule (Classes):

Monday-Wednesday, Friday : 9am-3:30 (4) pm 

  • Clinical Medicine 2
  • Pathophysiology 2
  • Pharmacology 2
  • Health Care issues
  • Epidemiology/Research

Thursday (lab day!) :

  • Special Topics 9:30 - 11:00 (Some weeks)
  • Patient Assessment 11:30am - 1:30pm

Test Schedule

 

Fall - 2-3 tests a week (closer to 3 on average)

Spring - 2-3 tests a week (closer to 2 on average)

Summer - 2-3 (closer to 2 on average, but with more busy work)

 

In general that's my schedule, on non-test days i usually sleep an extra hour.

 

Hope that helps!

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for posting this! I've lived in Charlotte my whole life and due to having a family I would really love to stay close to home so Wingate is my number 1 pick. I'm at UNCC now and I'm an EMT so in the next two years I should have way more than enough PCE hours and hopefully I'll do enough to be seen as a competitive candidate! I'll be 30 by the time I start the application process, so hopefully that will sort of play in my favor as well. Any tips, whatsoever, will help! I'm just now getting into the thick of my bio and chem classes

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Thanks for posting this! I've lived in Charlotte my whole life and due to having a family I would really love to stay close to home so Wingate is my number 1 pick. I'm at UNCC now and I'm an EMT so in the next two years I should have way more than enough PCE hours and hopefully I'll do enough to be seen as a competitive candidate! I'll be 30 by the time I start the application process, so hopefully that will sort of play in my favor as well. Any tips, whatsoever, will help! I'm just now getting into the thick of my bio and chem classes

Thats great, keep up the good work! Don't worry about age, I'd say 10 out of the 50 people in our class are 28+, and if i remember correctly ~6 of them are 32+. Also i'd say 2/3 of the class (maybe a little more) is from North Carolina, so not sure if that helps (could just be way more people from NC apply) but an interesting fact nonetheless!

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Hi! Thanks for doing this I love when current students do this. Im actually applying from Florida, do you think they accept a lot of students from out of state? And what was your HCE when you were applying?

I was from out of state and ~1/3 or so of the class is not from NC so thats good :D . My HCE was a mix, Athletic Training/Sports Medicine, and Exercise Physiologist (in patient, and out patient Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation. That was pretty much it. I made a post about my application (which is a little unique compared to most from my class) http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/index.php?/topic/18-pa-applicant-stats-page/page-55#entry290922

 

 

Thank you for giving us a run down of the typical day as a PA student at Wingate!

 

Can you tell me more about the process from CASPA application to receiving an interview? How would you suggest we prepare for an interview if offered one?

Alot of that information is all over the place and lots of it there. But in a nutshell:

  1. Fill out CASPA Application
  2. Enter grades, GRE(optional for some schools)
  3. Give Contact info (Email) to your letter of recommendations(this is often hardest part, cause you always have the 1 LOR thats busy so get this done ASAP)
  4. Send transcript of EVERY college class you've done to CASPA
  5. Fill out personal statement
  6. Select Schools you want to apply too
  7. Fill out CASPA supplemental application for each school (if they have one, cause they may not!)
  8. Submit CASPA application(s)/pay all the $$$$$$
  9. (depends on each school) Check to see if schools you applied to have outside supplemental application / application fee (more $$$),
  10. Check to see if school require GRE scores to be sent to them directly (or if you have pending grades/new grades, you'd do that too)
  11. Wait ~1 month for application to be verified by CASPA
  12. Wait to here back from schools (they won't look at application till its verified). Some get back to you in a week, some 3-4+ months (or never haha), but average is 2 weeks to 2 months
  13. Continue to apply to more schools if you feel the need to.
  14. Wait for contact from program for an invitation (check your email & spam folder!)

Biggest thing is to be yourself. Be calm, be confident, and show passion in what you do (did), and why you want to embark on this new journey. A person in our class was an accountant... so she took some strengths from that but then mainly put a big emphasis on why she wanted to go into the medical field.There are a lot of great resources on the questions, and types of questions they ask.

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I read your original post and oh my goodness Im pretty much in your same boat! It gives me hope haha. Question, did you research Campbell university when you were originally applying? Cant decide between applying to Wingate or Campbell

I hadn't! That is the best/worst part about applying to PA school. There are so many schools and trying to find what school fit you best. I may be a bit biased, but Wingate is a good one ;)

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  • 1 month later...

interview consists of meeting with a faculty member, sitting in on a lecture, speaking with a current student, and a tour of the facility. this is per the email i received with the invitation. two years ago i happened to be on campus during an interview day and they were doing a group exercise - they had been given an ethical situation to discuss while faculty watched and assessed 

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On 7/11/2017 at 3:43 AM, needmorecoffee said:

interview consists of meeting with a faculty member, sitting in on a lecture, speaking with a current student, and a tour of the facility. this is per the email i received with the invitation. two years ago i happened to be on campus during an interview day and they were doing a group exercise - they had been given an ethical situation to discuss while faculty watched and assessed 

Seems to be the norm for most campus interviews and across disciplines.

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On 7/11/2017 at 6:43 AM, needmorecoffee said:

interview consists of meeting with a faculty member, sitting in on a lecture, speaking with a current student, and a tour of the facility. this is per the email i received with the invitation. two years ago i happened to be on campus during an interview day and they were doing a group exercise - they had been given an ethical situation to discuss while faculty watched and assessed 

When i interviewed we did have the group ethical discussion. This past year that changed it so there wasn't a group exercise (or not like the ethics one before), and it was changed to an MMI type of thing. 

 

On 7/10/2017 at 9:59 PM, ilygurlie said:

Does anyone know how many people they pull from the waitlist? 

 

And is the interview  MMI as opposed to group interviews?

Like i said mentioned i believe its MMI now (or something similar). 

Not sure how many "usually" come off, but i was the last one accepted in my class and I waitlist #4 or 5

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  • 1 month later...
On 9/11/2017 at 0:53 PM, Kato602 said:

To any current student: What is significant about Wingate that attracted you to the program?

For about half the class, proximity to there home is a large selling point. For others: it was PANCE Pass rate (100% last class, and 5 year average at 97% or 98% if i'm not mistaken), the fact it wasn't 3 year program and you got a masters (which most programs are now).


For me it was the faculty and "Baylor lite" vibe i got. I loved my time at Baylor. No, not for a religious view, but the faculty and students were very sociable, outgoing, and caring. Not to say other schools aren't those, cause they are, but it seemed more apparent and genuine. That is the reason I applied and picked them.

 

On 9/12/2017 at 10:16 AM, Madhatter said:

Hello all! I was informed yesterday that I'm on the waitlist for the Hendersonville campus. Do any of the current students know how the waitlist is ranked? I thought I heard a current student say during my interview that the earlier you interview, the higher up you're ranked. Is this true?

I answered this in the other thread, but I'll post here for others as well. I don't believe this is the case. After my February interview, I was wait-listed. In mid/late march (after all interviews were done) they notified me they were "trimming" the list down to help give reasonable/realistic hope for those on the list (so if your #15 you weren't left waiting). So i have a feeling they meet again later and rank the wait listed people. Before then I had no specifics, but afterwards I asked and they had told me I was #5 (and I'm pretty sure i was the last accepted into my class).

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On 9/17/2017 at 6:31 PM, Madhatter said:

@KRushin thanks for your answer about the waitlist. Do you happen to know how many people were pulled off the waitlist? Were there only five and you were the last one to be pulled?

Honestly, no idea. I have a feeling the final list is about 12, and they ask anywhere between 3-7 people a year off of the waitlist. Remember some on waitlist will decline or withdraw because they were accepted elsewhere. I was #5, and to my knowledge i only know one other person that was waitlisted (who told me) so that means quite a few declined or withdrew.

Almost all schools use the wait list quite extensively because its common for people to pay a deposit at the first school that accepts them (securing atleast one spot). Then they wait and see if dream school accepts them. So all i could say is, yes, people are pulled off every year (me as an example), but not quite sure on exact numbers.

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22 minutes ago, KRushin said:

Honestly, no idea. I have a feeling the final list is about 12, and they ask anywhere between 3-7 people a year off of the waitlist. Remember some on waitlist will decline or withdraw because they were accepted elsewhere. I was #5, and to my knowledge i only know one other person that was waitlisted (who told me) so that means quite a few declined or withdrew.

Almost all schools use the wait list quite extensively because its common for people to pay a deposit at the first school that accepts them (securing atleast one spot). Then they wait and see if dream school accepts them. So all i could say is, yes, people are pulled off every year (me as an example), but not quite sure on exact numbers.

Do you know if an acceptance is based on only the interview itself?

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Just now, ilygurlie said:

Do you know if an acceptance is based on only the interview itself?

Not quite sure what you mean? They take into account everything when the faculty decide who to accept. The interview just helps to get to know people, and figure out peoples strengths, weaknesses, how they got to where they are today.

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