missnatalie Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Hi everyone, I am thinking about applying to PA school at RCC when my 2 year old son goes to kindergarten. I have 9 years HCE, a good GPA, and many letters of recommendation from physicians. I am just wondering how hard the program is on your family life? Obviously the program is full time and strenuous, but what are the day to day hours like in the program? 8am to 5pm? 7am to 10pm? I'm just wondering if this is even a route I should pursue being a mother, I am absolutely willing to work hard but not to sacrifice my family if the program is crazy med-school-like hours. Thanks so much for any feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mainiac Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I can't say for RCC program, but: We had some mom's/dad's in my class. I'm sure they all dealt with the stress & rigors of PA School, differently. I think they all had husbands/wives. My program was M-F 8-12; lunch 12-1; 1-5; for the most part during didactic yr. Of course that is lecture time. You still need to read & study.... Clinical yr is a whole different animal. Best of Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmostoy Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Yep I have a family two little ones when I started the program (3 y/o & 2 y/o) definitly doable . 1st year is 8-5 with 1 hr lunch & study at home. Don't do the program if your not willing to sacrifice time away from the family, there are others who will. The program is not easy if thats what you think. From what I'm told 2nd year hours will vary from 40-80 hrs/week, so you must be committed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmostoy Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Yep I have a family two little ones when I started the program (3 y/o & 2 y/o) definitly doable . 1st year is 8-5 with 1 hr lunch & study at home. Don't do the program if your not willing to sacrifice time away from the family, there are others who will. The program is not easy if thats what you think. From what I'm told 2nd year hours will vary from 40-80 hrs/week, so you must be committed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missnatalie Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 Thank you for the feedback. Those hours sound reasonable, not far off from an RN program. For some reason, I thought that the hours would be much more insane- i.e. 8am-8pm Mon-Fri for two years. I'm not afraid of hard work, but I am also not willing to go to extremes and not be able to see my child at all during the week for two years. I appreciate the information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyrelight74 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 First year is generally 8-5, but sometimes they need you to stay late or come in early on short notice. My class also had an pharmacology class on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8 (or was it 9?)... but that may be different for other class years. You also have some required community service, usually on weekends (but not every weekend). Second year is variable depending on your rotation. Clinics are 8-5 mostly, but some hospital rotation time varies. Internal med inpatient is more like Long Call every 5th day (early morning till after 9pm), Short Call every 3rd day (early morning till after 6pm), the rest of the days about 5:30am till maybe 4pm or 5pm, and only 1 day off per week.... I haven't had surgery, ortho or family, etc, but have heard some of those have overnight call, with 30 hour shifts on those call days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCMA79 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 While class may be 8-5 you must stil consider study and prep time for the next day. Also clinical rotations are not like nursing labs at all. They can run over or in some schools require a significant commute time. They can also, as mentioned above, run up to 30 hrs and you still have to be prepared for class. A significant amount of study time is also required at night and weekends to keep up. Is it doable? Yes. Are you willing to make the sacrifice? Only you can ans that. But don't make the mistake of comparing your nursing school experience to PA school. Very different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted October 30, 2012 Moderator Share Posted October 30, 2012 some of my rotations required significant time away from home. my trauma surgery rotation was alternating 24 and 12 hr days for 5 weeks with 1 day off the entire rotation. over 600 hrs/5 weeks. I lived there in residents quarters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missnatalie Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 Oh wow, that is intense! Thank you for the feedback everyone, all this information is very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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