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here's the view out my window

Hey future class of 2022! Just wanted to let you know that the class of 2021 is holding a very informal get together for you guys during interview weekend. Details about location and time will be sent to your emails. It is not affiliated with the school or your interview. It is just something that we put together so you guys can talk to the current students and ask us questions about what it is like living here, being in PA school, etc. Meeting the upperclassman was actually the reason why I chose to attend EVMS in the first place, so I definitely recommend stopping by if you get a chance! It is also a good way to meet some of your possible future classmates! Hope to see you there! Please feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.

I’m a psyche NP, and have had several distinct jobs within healthcare, and can tell you that getting my workflow down was probably the hardest thing about each of my jobs. With 15 minute visits with patients, that’s barely enough time to get logged in and decent documentation entered. The thing you may need to realize is that everyone in that kind of situation is flying by the seat of their pants. The difference between you and someone that you think is handling it ok is either you being wrong about your perception of them, or else you are more uncomfortable about flying by the seat of your pants than they are. With more patients you see, and the more cases you handle that don’t end in disaster, you’ll start to become more relaxed knowing that you didn’t send someone home to die because you made a mistake. Your ER experience that affected you so badly... no need to analyze that any further. You saw how it was, and formed a correct opinion of the place. You can sleep at night knowing that most ERs really aren’t good for a new PA unless they are supportive. You weren’t imagining that, you lived it. Get comfortable with focused assessments. FOCUSED ASSESSMENTS are what happens in urgent care. Anyone asking for more than that gets a referral to primary care. But that feeling of being an imposter follows every reasonable person into high stakes careers. It even follows people into low stakes careers. The fear of failing causes one to fail, beginning the cycle all over again.

Boats makes this note on almost all of his posts here, and I'm glad he does. It has never been more true than in the last 10 years of our profession. Living from paycheck to paycheck driving the nice car, owning the huge house, sending the kids to super expensive private school is so 1997. My wife and I are saving like crazy and have been for a while. We will be downsizing to a house half the size of the one we have, going to one car and reducing eating out by 90% in the next year. Why? Financial independence and the ability to weather a storm like the one you are unfortunately facing. I'm tired of being dependent on 29 year old admins with no clinical training threatening me and other providers because our reviews are just not high enough according to the latest target metric........

Agree with the above. We aren't midlevels. Also note the AAPA is not under the AMA. It is a independent advocacy organization. So good news! What you thought would take 5-10 years is a non-issue. At this moment, things are looking good for the PA profession. ND passed OTP and cosignature has been eliminated in many states even before the push for OTP. Things are looking great.

It's not OTP, lack of independence, or anything like that which is driving down our income. It is the explosive growth of NP and PA programs churning out new grads who will take these jobs, and the adminiscritters who would rather pay a new grad NP $45/hr versus an experienced PA $85/hr.

Hi @John999Rogers and other applicants for the USJ PA program! I am a 2019 graduate of USJ's PA Program and was curious about what new applicants had to say about the current interview and application process. I wanted to start off by saying that yes, USJ's PA program is challenging. It is difficult and will test you on multiple levels during your time there. To read a post that states "one quarter of the cohort fails" each exam and to describe the professors as "utterly unsupportive," was shocking. My class did incredibly well during our time in the program, ultimately leading to a first time 100% pass rate on the PANCE. During the clinical year, we exceeded national averages on the EOR exams and we scored very high on each PACKRAT. Throughout my rotations, I had multiple preceptors tell me how impressed they were with the USJ PA students. We were prepared and it showed. The faculty worked hard to make sure we were ready for clinical rotations, and we were. The last time I heard, I believe that almost my entire class has been hired already, including myself, with 3 people from my class getting accepted into prestigious PA residency programs. Many of us have been hired by places we did clinical rotations at. I want to stress that yes, the program is newer and is growing and changing but that does not mean that the program is a failure or has a poor reputation. I would be happy to chat more about any questions or concerns and if I could be of help in any way. It was unfortunate to read this post and to hear such a negative description of my program, but I wanted to clarify some points for other applicants and to not discourage people from applying. Good luck to you all as you continue the application and interview process! Best, Jaclyn Neveu, MSPAS, PA-C USJ PA C/O 2019

this thread is becoming suspect please do not attack each other nor just sling mud keeping on task on track and professional is helpful

Hi everyone, My name's Lisa, and I'm a current 1st year in Arcadia's PA program at the Delaware campus. Good luck to everyone applying! I know it's an incredibly stressful process, and there are so any things going on at once. If anyone has any questions about the Delaware campus, don't hesitate to ask. I will say that both campuses use the exact same curriculum, so I may be able to shed light on some topics for both campuses. Please reply to this message or direct message me so that I get a notification, I don't want to miss anyone's questions. Again, I wish everyone the best of luck!

Received an email tonight with an invitation to interview on July 20th! I look forward to meeting all of those who will be there to interview on that day. Hang in there everyone. I know it’s stressful, and you check your email 20 times a day with the hope of seeing some good news. It will come.

Good morning from the Big Island of our 50th state.

You are normal. Sounds like your jobs have stunk at this point. Dont get discouraged. Try primary care. You have time to read up and figure it out. Max 16 pts in a 8 hr day (otherwise it is just assembly line)

Both 1st gen immigrant, only one to graduate high school and college, as well as low socioeconomic status. My father was a janitor with a 5th grade education (retired) and my mother is a housekeeper. My GPA was never my strongest selling point but had to make everything else on my app that much stronger. I had to apply two cycles, and on the 2nd cycle got accepted to my dream school(near home) and even got an interview to University of Florida which was wayyyy unexpected. I even just got chosen (1 of 4 students) for a special ER certification rotation that my program is a part of, I had my eye on 3 years ago when it first began. Scariest feeling though is I am at a point that I dreamt about for years and it feels like it can disappear all of a sudden. As for my classmates they are younger, come from very big name universities, and most of their parents work in some highly respectable professions, so sometimes I get a little bit of that imposter syndrome. Although at times I feel proud to be grouped with such people.

Interviews are now officially over. Now we wait everyone. Great job on clearing such a big hurdle!

Oh, heck no. Those situations would have given anyone anxiety, don't take the fall for bad working conditions. However, you want to put a good spin on it, For example "Credentialing issues resulted in loss of anticipated revenue, and the practice laid me off to reduce overhead" sounds nice, but anyone who knows healthcare knows they screwed up, you paid the price, and you're being nice about it. THAT is that way I would approach gaps, reasons for quitting, etc.: honestly, yet diplomatically.

@patobe82 I want to wish you and all those interviewing Monday the best of luck. I'm sending positive vibes your way. EVMS does everything possible to make it as relaxing as an interview day can be. You'll have wonderful support from the current class and I highly recommend meeting some interviewees beforehand. I can't tell you how much it calmed my nerves having multiple familiar faces that morning! YOU HAVE GOT THIS! YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR YEARS AND NOW JUST NEED TO SHOW THEM HOW GREAT YOU ARE IN PERSON!!!

None of your damn business state medical boards...... Providers are human beings..... Stop treating us like we are not.... This job is tough enough without being shamed for struggling with the emotional pressures of it.

Good luck to all applying! I’m an entering student about to begin MBKU in August. The best piece of advice I can offer to you guys is to be authentic and be yourselves; they really are looking for a diverse class. Although they’re fairly new, because SoCal is highly populated and competitive in everything, and highly sought out in terms of places to live, MBKU has an amazing amount of applicants to choose from. I know it’s hard, but try not to compare your stats to other people because I know people in my class with 4.0s and people with much lower grades. Any questions, please fell free to message me

Hi everyone, I’ve just been notified by admissions that final interview decisions will be emailed out by the end of next week. Just thought I’d let everyone know! Out of curiosity, did anyone submit their application without a LOR from a professor? I have 2 from MDs and 2 from PAs but none from an educator.

my view does not suck either

Fascinating article. Discuss away! Pathways_to_Independent_Primary_Care_Clinical.23.pdf

This is from an email I got from the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency: Positive changes for PA's: Supervision agreements replaced by collaboration agreements. Agreements no longer need to be filed with the state agency Reduced chart review during 1st year of practice Reduced restrictions on controlled substance prescribing Important Notice Regarding Changes to Physician Assistant Licensure Effective July 1, 2019, HEA 1248 (2019) creates substantial changes to the scope of practice and licensure process for physician assistants in Indiana. You can view the text of the bill here (http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2019/bills/house/1248). Physician assistants will now enter into collaborative agreements with a collaborating physician, instead of supervisory agreements with a supervising physician. All supervisory agreements will need to be amended to reflect this change; however, you are not required to submit this amendment to the Committee for review. Updated collaborative agreement checklists and samples are available here (https://www.in.gov/pla/2587.htm). The following items are no longer required in the collaborative agreement: Refill policy for controlled substance prescriptions Restriction of 30 day aggregate supply for controlled substance prescriptions Minimum chart review for the first year of practice is now 10% instead of 25% Additionally, physician assistants do not need 1,800 hours prior to obtaining a controlled substance registration. Additionally, physician assistants are not required to have 30 hours of pharmacology prior to obtaining prescriptive authority if the physician assistant graduated from an accredited program that provided pharmacology training. The Committee encourages you to review all changes made. If you require assistance with interpreting or applying these statutes, please consult with private counsel as the Committee cannot provide legal advice. If you have questions about licensure processes or collaborative agreements please email pla3@pla.in.gov.

I don’t minimize what you do, psychiatrist do. I have called for psych to come down to see a patient and state “their is no such thing as a STAT psychiatric emergency” or “call me back when all the labs were done.” I’m sure lots of lives are saved by you, but seconds definitely don’t matter. I don’t diminish what therapy is and does. I do think that the majority of psych that clogs the system can be handled by primary care with a psychologist for CBT, they just don’t because they don’t want to take the time to learn it. your obvious lack of understanding of EM practice goes to show that you have no advice to give outside of psych. I am EM residency trained with physicians specifically so I could practice at rural positions without oversight. My hospital actually does advertise this, actually. Right by the front door, as they are happy to show that they will be cared for by a specialist in EM. I’m not proud to be a cowboy. I’m proud that I’ve spent 3.5 years outside of PA school in formal training (2 in anesthesia and 1.5 in EM) and 3 years informally (family medicine/military) to work as independently as I do today. Ive made my point that independence is not practice level issue, only an administrative one. You continue to want to be offended, so I’ll spare you any more disconcertion and walk away from this.

The president of the American College of Physicians is an MD: Robert M. McLean, MD, FACP; in fact, every single person on the council of leadership is an MD. Every member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons is an MD. There is nothing in a residency program that confers any managerial skill or even leadership skill; and the two years of basic science that medical students are so proud of do not add anything, really. I didn't look, but I'm willing to bet that every single leadership role in an RN society is an RN. What magically gives RN's and MD's to have leadership roles but PA's are "patients only"? I would like to suggest that we show the world that PA's are not the idiots they think we are, and actually have a PA in a leadership role in our own organization. We look like freaking noobs when a non-PA is in charge. I think we can rustle one up who not only is a PA but who has some other skills they can use.

I actually think OTP is one of the best stealth avenues to approach parity. PAs probably have a delicate dance to perform because of your chains to physicians, so you can delay a direct assault from physicians with incrementalism. The best argument going forward is obviously “NPs are independent, and that’s working out well! We need to be too!” Steer into that slide. Don’t talk crap about them, but say “we’ve seen how NPs have been enabled to be so much more effective because of reasonable accommodations for their practice needs, and we’d like to have that kind of freedom to reach out as well.” Once someone (NPs) has walked through the minefield in the snow, you have the roadmap to follow. I don’t think the way to look at it is that NPs have a 50 year head start, but instead, just see that they made a hole big enough for folks that follow. Change your profession’s name to the Europeanized “Practitioner-Advanced” to keep the PA acronym everyone is familiar with, (and also be able to be trademarked.... “medical practitioner” isn’t going to fly in that regard). Make the name rebranding at the AAPA an opportunity to refresh and re-introduce the career path to the public. It’s news that can be talked about all over the place. It will at least make the news in blurbs and press releases from each state chapter to local news. Merely because it would be happening, it would make some kind of headway on slow news days. Its not like an ad for the Super Bowl, but the right people hear it and it gets stored in their memory for later. Most importantly it declares intentions that the status quo is over. A formal name evolution like that is like landing in America and burning your boats so that your crew knows the only way home is to forge ahead. Lead this movement from the top down at the AAPA, and let the state chapters follow. You are going to see some rage from the physicians, but you’ll be empowered by not giving it second thought. That’s what national organizations are for... to be the radical a holes that come up with crazy ideas that you can disavow at your convenience if things get too hot. Everyone expects the national orgs to come up with bold ideas and be a little reckless. Your AAPA seems to only recently be testing the waters there. And here’s a tip you can learn from President Trump.... Whether you love him or hate him doesn’t matter to the guy. He feels like he wins when he’s in the news for whatever reason. 95% of the news can be against him (and it always has been), but when he’s talked about, he feels he wins. I can’t say that he’s wrong, either. The same thing can be true about physician rage, if it shows up. A negative response is still a response. If you see articles against your movement, it demonstrates legitimacy merely by being noticed. Embrace that as much as you’d embrace good press. The worst thing is being sidelined by obscurity. Obscurity is what destroys you, and has been destroying you all along. Time to break out of obscurity any way you can. Good press is expensive. Controversial press is cheap or free. Someone else pays the price with their time, energy, clout, or concern. As long as you get a chance to have a quote from your side in an article filled with physicians complaining about you, you win. Especially if you are like “we think it’s important to help folks like so many NPs have, and that’s the reason we pursue this.” Then your opposition looks like jerks for freaking out about you. Nobody likes “boring”. I can think of nothing more boring right now than the thought of an AAPA policy meeting the way things have been going (but I think that’s getting better over time). People on the outside don’t respect organizations like that, and people on the inside don’t support organizations like that. Think on this.... what is there to lose by going up to physician opposition and spitting on the ground in front of them and saying “darn right we want to be independent.” Are they going to side with NPs? If they were going to do that, they would have already. They won’t, because they are already concerned about NPs as it is. Are they going to quit utilizing you guys? That would cut into their cash flow. Nope... they will sit back and complain a bit, but take what you dish out because you are the lesser of two evils. Nobody has ever realized this. It’s like a child who gets away with a lot of bad stuff because he still isn’t quite as bad as his older brother. Someone just scammed the AAPA out of at least a million dollars providing advice that is far less helpful than I just gave you all for free.

Okay so the waiting is driving me insane already!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hope we hear on friday idk if i can wait 2 weeks

Get out of UC and EM. It is very hard for PAs without fantastic mentorship or a residency. Urgent Cares are meat-grinders and we see more PAs get used, abused and discarded by these than any other type of job. It's not you. You aren't incompetent. The problem nationwide is the system, not providers. It sets unreasonable standards for production, expects us to not make any significant mistakes, and on top of all that expects us to make every patient happy under penalty of our job. In no way is that fair or humane. The best advice I have is to A) find a more reasonable office-based job, or B) reduce your work hours, or both. Those are the only things that have kept me sane in this profession. I work in college health where the volumes are HIGH in the school year, but mostly super-acute sore throats, URIs, minor skin issues, minor injury, and STI checks. So it's super easy to keep my production high above the slow-poke IM docs and still be able to down-regulate enough to not get (too) burnt out. Dropping to 4 days a week was also a game-changer.

I'm late to the 2019-2020 party! Sorry about the delay in getting on the forum. As the admissions director for the Penn State PA Program, my energies have been solely on getting our secondary application live at this point. I recognize this delayed start is not ideal for applicants wanting to apply early and have tried my best to keep CASPA-verified candidates updated via email and have also sent verified candidates the secondary questions so they can be prepared to their responses expeditiously when the system does go live. Long-term gain in terms of enhancements for applicants moving forward far outweigh this short delay in getting out the secondary application. And again, I sincerely thank those of you who have continued to wait patiently for our go-live. We are grateful. Major upgrades to the entire Penn State system have successfully been completed and we are still on track for a launch the week of July 15. I am grateful ST@PSU, Sue, has been available to prospective students in my absence in this forum. THANK YOU! As Sue mentioned, all applicants must complete the secondary to be considered at Penn State. We will open our interview cycle in August and host many interview dates each month between August 2019 through February 2020. Caryn Stopper, M.Ed. Director of Admissions Penn State PA Program

UPDATE: I countered with a request to start 1.0 FTE in the next 6-12 months, and to have a $10k sign on bonus to cover me in the meantime. Their reply came in today: starting me at 1.0 FTE immediately, and a 2500 dollar sign on bonus. Signing on tonight! thanks for all the insight and tips.

My collaborating physician gave me some advice when I started that rings true after 13 years: be as fast as you can... but no faster. Know when you need to slow it down. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Nobody has ever really succeeded without failing first. Those who look like they have, havent. Btw - I'm pretty good at what I do, and I cant see 4 pph for more than an hour or two.

Application complete confirmation 5/30, interview invite yesterday evening (7/3) by email! Will be there Aug 23 - good luck everybody!

Take it. Its better to have a job that you know you will enjoy, with a good collaborating physician. The urgent care side of things will help you keep up with some procedures. Use the extra time to spend with your wife and son, its not all about the money.

I am! My mom was a single mother of 4 kids, including myself. My father is kind of a dead beat and he has never been in my life. My mom never went to college and she is making around $30,000 a year now with this new management position she just landed.... which now puts my family just a hair out of the low income range, I believe. I had to pay for my own undergrad, with the help from FAFSA.... so it was really hard. I managed a local fast food restaurant which clocked me at about 32-36 hours a week on top of being a paid RA and tutor for my university. I was taking well over 14 credit hours each semester and I somehow managed to score a 3.8 GPA. Caffeine was my best friend (Dr. Pepper... not coffee... don't know which one is worse). It was especially hard during undergrad because none of my friends really understood what I was going through or how hard I was working myself. I was the only biology graduate in my class that was working practically full time on top of my education. All of my friends had parents that refused to let them work because they wanted them to focus solely on their academics. I wish that I had that opportunity!! Anyways, there are quite a few of us out there! You're not alone!

I just got the acceptance call! Good luck everyone!!

I wouldn't dis scribing. The former scribes I've precepted as PA students have done a fabulous job of writing notes, and won me over to the value of scribing as pre-PA experience.

Hey! If anyone has any questions regarding PA school or their application please don't hesitate to let me know! I applied to 9 schools, got accepted to 1, waitlisted at 4 schools and denied to 4 schools. When I was applying there were not many resources to find other students who were accepted with low GPAs to see what they have done, so I just want to help out as much as possible. This is a very stressful part of an individual's life and having someone to relate to can definitely help out. If anyone feels uncomfortable commenting their questions on here or need a super fast response, feel free to message me on my instagram as well: Naisphan Right now, I'm a volunteer pre-pa mentor for two community colleges in my neighborhood. I don't want to make this a super long post but a quick overview of my statistics: cGPA: 3.1 sGPA: 3.01 Last 60 credit hours: 3.8 PCE: 2600 HCE: 1500 Shadowing Hours: 144 GRE: Did not take There is so so so much more than just the numbers. I really mean that. I have spoken with a whole bunch of PA admissions committee members directly at multiple schools about my application and also what they're looking for in potential applicants. I've also spoken to many students and pre-pa mentors as well to help me throughout the process. With my low GPA, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it into school but with the help of my mentors I was able to craft a great application. Don't be discouraged at all, there are so many things to do to make your application much better!!! It really is a holistic application and as long as you reach the minimums, anything is possible from there. Again, AMA either here or on my instagram page!!!

I know I can’t get over the fact that exactly one month from now we will know our future. I mean a good chunk of my life has been devoted to this and now it’s right here upon us. I know one fact we are going to be PAS!! We got the interview now let’s rock this!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Getting rid of collaboration will help equal the playing field on a administrative level, not a practice level. The picture you painted depicted that our clinical scope was affected, but it’s not affected anymore than NPs, and that’s the point I’m making. I’m not triggered, I’m attempting to clarify inaccuracies I see for the OP and future readers. I’ve not attacked or denigrated NPs because there is no evidence that they provide lower quality of care. I do know that many feel unprepared, as I did in my 3 semesters of NP training, hence why I tell the OP I’ve never regretted my decision to go PA. As far as practicing without a physician, I have practiced independently in family medicine and on deployment without a physician for thousands of miles. I practice in solo ED positions where I run codes, placed invasive lines, started pressors, intubated, all without a physician. I’ve done far more high risk things independently than up someone’s Zoloft, start zyprexa, or do a Columbia suicide assessment (done those too), so I’m not sure what you expect that to change in my perspective.

I had the same debate myself. I was accepted to both a direct-entry NP program and a PA program in the same application cycle and ultimately decided to go to PA school. The NP program to which I was accepted would have allowed me to stay in the state I was living in at the time and would have allowed me to graduate in 18 months total, whereas choosing the PA program meant that I would have to move out of state and be in school for 28 months. Although it was more inconvenient to move out of state, be in school longer, and spend more $$ on tuition, I felt that the medical model provided by PA school would better prepare me for clinical practice and have no regrets at this point. I function independently in my day-to-day care and consult my physician colleagues as needed. I am generally well respected by my patients and fellow providers and I am well-compensated for the work I do at this point in my career. I had no difficulty finding a job after graduation and the practice that I work at actually happens to have more PAs than NPs on staff. So, based on my personal experience, I don’t think PAs have a lesser job outlook than NPs. I am optimistic that OTP will continue to pass in other states. It will take time, but I think this next generation of PAs is committed to making that happen. Good luck with your decision. Either way I think you will find yourself in a fulfilling career and in a good position to make a positive impact on the health of others!

As a RN who went PA, go PA. I’ve never regretted my decision.

Having more "respect" is all relative. Be a good person, treat patients and colleagues well, work hard, know your sh!t (and admit when you don't), and you'll get respect no matter what letters you have behind your name.

1-3 lbs a week was what I was taught. There are studies showing that slow, steady weight loss stays off longer. Too many stupid, rash diet plans cause rapid, unsustainable weight loss with unrealistic diets. HCG and other snake oil causing more harm than good. I have seen too many toxic gallbladders on liquid “medical” diets and kidney stones on ketosis diets. If folks can’t learn to eat for a lifetime - efforts are wasted. The very old but reliable exchange plan has worked consistently over my career for patients and for me. Bariatrics is a lifetime of change with some huge complications and long term effects we don’t even know about yet. Slow and steady wins the race.....

Copied from the EVMS interview page: Interviews will be held in Lester Hall, Room 355. As you exit the elevator side of the parking garage, turn right and walk along Children's Lane across Olney Road (toward the water fountain outside Brickell Medical Sciences Library). Continue along Children's Lane toward Raleigh Avenue. Lester Hall is located right behind Lewis Hall, northeast of the parking garage. Enter Lester Hall through the main doors in front of the green space. Hope this helps!

I work family medicine...9 hour days. I see approximately 18-20 patients per day. Obviously isn't quite the same as strict pediatrics, but can say that I would absolutely refuse to have a schedule that allowed for more than 25 patients. Not because I don't want to work hard...but because of my sanity and quality of care. You are literally RUNNING around which is not good medicine and not good for preventing "moral injury." Your patients need more time than 5-10 minutes, but unfortunately what you describe is more and more commonplace. I never understood how he did it, but a pediatrician that was part of the practice at my old job would see 35-40 patients per 8 hour day and would lose it if his schedule wasn't full.

It's going to be okay. I've been there, working in a small rural hospital with a low-IQ CEO who ran the hospital into the ground (it didn't have far to go). Found various reasons to get rid of some of the few providers they had so he could bring in his own. Physicians pushed back but....well, physicians have given up their power in healthcare systems. I moved on, got a much better paying job (and I was paid well there!), in a much less toxic work environment. Even better, I now work with terrific nurses! Side note: THIS IS WHY you work so hard for financial independence first, THEN buy the nice car/vacations/big house. I didn't have to work. Took about 2 months off (I did work at my PRN job) as I interviewed around and I wasn't stressed about it. It's going to work out fine.

You guys, I still get asked DAILY what a PA is... so it's not like this is going to be a huge brainwashing scam with our patients. 50% of my patients have no idea what a PA is, so changing to Medical Practitioner won't be mind-boggling and actually might make them understand our role better. As a matter of fact, until I start talking to my patients about biochemistry and medication interactions or end-organ failure, yada yada yada, most of the patients I see think I'm the physician's billing person, the hospital patient advocate, the social worker, or the nurse. Very rarely do I walk into a patient room, announce myself as the PA, and the patient remarks with "oh, yes, obviously you are the provider caring for my medical needs today. please come in and let's talk treatment". LITERALLY NEVER.

Congratulations to you! I am happy to see that more of us are getting awarded

Relax, review your anatomy and physiology now, and have fun before school starts. When school starts, keep up in class, be collaborative and not competitive, bond with at least some of your classmates, treat school like a job, experiment with what study techniques work best for you (may not be the same in every class), set aside time for yourself every day, briefly celebrate after tests, exercise (even if only to take a walk), eat healthy (most of the time), have a good support structure for the tough times, and remember that many thousands of people have successfully navigated these waters. You can, too. And, surprisingly, you'll probably look back at it (most of it anyway) with fondness. Best wishes, newbie!