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I just want to encourage those of you who have a low GPA and want to become a PA. Here’s a little bit about me. I applied twice to PA school. The first time I applied, I applied to 12 schools and didn’t get an interview invite from any of them. My cGPA during the first cycle was around d 2.88 and my sGPA was around a 3.2. I had rough start to my college career. My GRE scores were horrible- less than 140 on both the quantitative and qualitative. After my rejection, I retook the GRE. I ended up getting 151 on the qualitative, 147 on the quantitative, and 3.0 writing. I retook two of my prerequisite classes, both of which I had C’s in. The grades I got in those classes was an A, and one B. I Also took another biology class just to add a little more to my GPA. Even with my improvements, I still didn’t fully believe that I could compete with the stellar applicants on this forum. I guess one of things that I had going for me as it concerned my GPA is that there was an upward trend. Over the last 100 or so credit hours, I went hard. I averaged somewhere around a 3.5 cGPA—this included the later semesters of my undergrad work as well as my post-bacc—but still my cGPA remained at below 3.0 As many of you know, low GPA’s aren’t appealing to schools. Many of you are wondering what can you do to stand out amongst the crowd of those with damn near 4.0 GPA’s. Here’s my advice, go to the open houses!!!!! Almost every school that I’ve applied to has an open house meeting. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to meet with the admission faculty. By attending, you become more than just an applicant, you become an actual person. When you go, make sure you dress and act as though you were on an actual interview. You are being watched the entire time by both the faculty and students. Make sure you speak well and look good. Buy a new suit…but not a black one. Black is a common color that people wear to the open houses and interview. Remember, your goal is to stand out, so details are important. This advice my friends is what I believe contributed to my admission into PA school. Of course, my hard work over my last 100 credit hours played a major part too. So I guess my point in all this is to push as hard as you can to help resolve the mistakes that you may have made in your earlier college days and go for the gold!! My last bit of advice is to not allow yourselves to be filled with doubt. I was disheartened to read some of the replies to the posts on this fourm where PA applicants asked if they had a chance of getting accepted to PA school with stats that were similar to mine. Some people were advised by members of this fourm that they had no chance, and I couldn't disagree more. This opportunity is yours for the taking. Don't accept someone on a blog site telling you that you don't have what it takes. Blessinga to you all.

Yes, it is worth it. I have worked in family practice for thirty years. I have some families for which I have taken care of four generations. I have experienced the joy of telling a young couple that their infertility efforts have paid-off and they are expecting a baby. I have ended fears by telling a man he does not have cancer. I have extended the lives of many people by treating their hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. I have also been a friend and support to patients with metastatic disease. I have been a comfort to an old woman with end-stage renal disease. I have been a shoulder to cry on. I have even cried with families. I served my country in the military. I have been blessed in many ways with my calling to heal. We all need to wake up every day and remember that we are here to serve, not to be served. Plumbers don't get those same rewards.

You graduated PA school in 2013 and you're now a third year medical school student. So you hardly spent two years being a PA before jumping ship. How do you know that in ~3-5 years (if you were in primary care) that you would not have reached the same knowledge and skill base as docs do (assuming of course that you studied diligently the whole time)? Why does it sound like your disagreement with PA independence is coming from you feeling like you made a mistake going to PA school so you need justification for doing the MD/DO route? Anyway, the best of luck to you. I sure hope your Step 1 knowledge will make you a better doc in residency.

1.1To your first point, isn't that all residency is, supervision for a period of time? You don't have to be board certified to practice. I've known some physicians practicing who could NOT pass their specialty board. Heck, there are still people who after finishing a transitional year and couldn't match, out there practicing at little po-dunk ERs, with all the rights and privileges afforded to a full fledged physician. Are you irritated they got an easy way out? Are you irritated at the people that got into Howard With a lesser GPA and MCAT than you? They got it easier. Are you mad at FPs that do OB without and OB fellowship? Are you mad at people who went to the Caribbean? Should the people who skated in Med school and go to a poor residency not have the same rights and pay as you? 1.2 There are a lot of things we didn't think we needed to study in medicine. We didn't study packing or antibiotics in I&D for decades, because duh. Then we did and guess what, packing and antibiotics most often isn't needed. all those science courses you mentioned aren't just debunked by PAs, but physician's as well. If it is important to clinical practice, why isn't it mandated that all practicing medicine be retested on it at some point, who have CME dedicated solely to advancements in biochemistry. You know the answer. It isn't relevant. 2.1 me personally, I don't want your money. I make plenty as it is. Keep it. I don't want to say I'm more or equally educated than a residency trained physician. What I want is to say, here is what I've been trained to do, and I should be able to do it without arbitrary rules binding me. I did a vasectomy the other day. That patient gets a hematoma or site infection, how is chart review at the end of the month (in particular for me it may not even be reviewed by a physician or at all because in the military we all only have 10 charts reviewed per month and Physicians/PAs/NPs randomly review each other without regard to educational level, I agree with this model because everyone should be reviewed for best practice not just PAs) going to help that patient? Point is, I should have a scope of practice (the breadth of which we can debate) that solely belongs to me and done without any outside approval from another profession. Floor nurses have that, why shouldn't we? 2.2 I'm sure residency will make you better. I'm sure a residency would make anyone better, though maybe not to the same degree with a new grad vs. experienced provider. Let's be clear though, step does not make you better. The step exam is a motivator for you to study, which if you had done anyway would made you equally better with or without the exam. If you feel it's only about showing a level of competency and not about the learning, how do you feel about PAs challenging the test? I imagine you think one should have to go to Med school. We come to my final point. It's not about how good someone is, how hard they work, how much experience they have. For you, it's about "It was done to me this way, so you should to." The same mentality that leds to hazing in the military and poor treatment of interns that causes them to jump off the hospital roof.

Good luck to everyone applying this round! I went through my emails and compiled my general timeline from last year's cycle, as I remember my unhealthy obsession of refreshing my inbox. Feel free to PM any questions! CASPA Received, Supplemental Link: 07/22/2016 Duke PA Application is complete: 07/26/2016 PA Application is being reviewed: 09/02/2016 Invitation to Interview: 09/13/2016 Predetermined Interview date: 10/24/2016 Offer of Admission: 10/31/2016 Deposit ($1125) and response due: 11/10/2016 Email correspondences begin: March 2017

YES! Without it, you really don't know what working in healthcare is going to feel like and what everyone else in it does for a living. Also a lot of what you'll be learning probably won't make as much sense. Don't let your first day as a PA be your first day in healthcare. There will be enough surprises! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Talked to Deborah today for you all. The first interview will be in October and the invites for that interview will go out sometime around August. Subsequent interviews will start in January from there on out.

Just back from Iraq. 34 hrs in transit. DogLovingPA was also on my team. we had 2 docs, 2 PAs, 1 NP, 3 RNs, and 1 paramedic. very intense experience. more serious trauma in 2 weeks than in my 30 year career as an EMPA, including during a 5 week trauma surgery rotation as a student. multiple GSWs and serious burns almost every day. We were 1-2km from the front lines and could hear almost constant gunfire, rockets, mortars, etc. We were colocated with an Iraqi special forces unit. we divided into 3 teams and rotated major cases 24/7 with everyone picking up the minor stuff as it came in. We had 4 acute beds and 4 minor beds, which could be used as swing beds when we had > 4 serious pts at once. The goal was to have all pts in/out in 15 min with bleeding/pain controlled, abx on board, major wounds/burns dressed,airway issues addressed, chest tubes, needle decompressions, etc we lived/worked in an abandoned house, which had previously been used by ISIS as a sniper position. our room had sandbags against the windows. trying to adjust to being home and catching up on all the stuff that has piled up over the last 18 days. Another great experience with NYCMedics. They are still recruiting for additional teams through the end of august.

In the big wide world of things it isn't a big deal. Selling your credibility is. I had a stroke patient in the nursing home who had been bed bound for a year and he asked me when he was going to be able to walk again and I had to tell him never. His wife got so mad and asked me why I told him that. My reply was simple... he has to trust I am going to tell him the truth. So doing it raises the slippery slope issue... at what point do you stop once you start this kind of thing?

By the hckyplyr logic, only cardiologists should treat hypertension, only urologists should treat pyelo, only GYN should treat irregular menses, only endocrinologists should treat diabetes, only ENT should treat sore throats and ear infections, and anyone outside a specialist should be supervised because they do not have the same level of training. The FM docs practicing EM in rural areas, what about them? FM practicing as inpatient hospitalists when IM has much more inpatient time? How about the more advance things that FM and IM does? Should they be doing vasectomies? Should FM be doing c-sections since they don't have nearly as much experience as an OB? They have way less experience doing scopes than a GI doc, should they be doing scopes? Should GI docs even do them because they have to call surgery to manage a perforation? There's no evidence to support this (the opposite as FM often has better outcomes than specialists), just like there is no evidence about poor outcomes with PAs. I won't say they are over trained, because I'm always trying to further my training and learn, doing a residency myself, but imposing unnecessary restrictions based on no evidence will lead to increase cost and poor medicine.

I don't think we are physicians or ever will be and comparing educations has always been a "play with the numbers" game. That said the one thing that interests me is your contention that PAs and NPs aren't safe to practice without supervision. I have been listening to physicians scream "people are gonna die" here in Texas for 20 years each time our scope grew grew a bit and , of course, it never happened. You mentioned studies. Where are the "unsafe" studies? We are, theoretically, scientists so where is the well written peer reviewed unbiased studies showing "unsafe" or even "worse outcomes"? There aren't any. I know because each time I testified in committee I advised that the physicians were going to claim safety issues and I asked the legislators to ask for measurable proof. They did and I think we all know the out come. Further as long as NPs have had independent practice bodies should be stacking up like cord wood. At the least there should be metastudies showing how poor outcomes are comparatively. Lastly referring to someone else's ignorance as part of your argument? Cumon.... I have learned over the years that when some either has to quote their credentials before they start or demean someone else then it means the argument doesn't stand on its own. Yes I know the definition... and the way you said it wasn't the "you can't know what you don't know" style. It was more the "I'm smarter than you" style.

Wow....look at how you pose your questions. "How far will you let it interfere with your job?" "There are others with more compassion for a patient...." I am a (deeply flawed) Catholic and my faith doesn't interfere with my job at all. On the contrary, it makes me a much better provider. Your comments about Catholic providers not prescribing medications for menometrorrhagia or acne shows your ignorance of Catholicism. Just like with giving morphine to a terminal patient, prescribing hormones for menometrorrhagia or acne is fine. The same with oopherectomy, hysterectomy or salphingectomy when done to cure a disease. It is the INTENT of the action that matters. Give heavy doses of morphine to relieve pain at the risk of unintentional death? That's okay. Intentionally giving someone a lethal dose of medications with the INTENT of ending their life - that's murder.

Couldn't agree more! I was accepted to multiple PA schools the first time I applied with a GPA of 3.15. Anyone who says it can't be done is lying to you. Grades are important but they aren't everything.

Personally, I believe medical ethics is a big deal and not something to say, "I know....ethics, blah, blah, blah, but seriously, is it a big deal in your mind?" Making up a diagnosis is fraud. Will you get caught, probably not, but that doesn't change the definition. You already know it is an ethics violation, so what's the question here? I had a patient who gave one of her lorazepam pills to her son because he was "really anxious." She thought it was ok because he was related. When I explained that she was now by definition a drug dealer she gasped and I had to explain why giving her pills (of any kind) was not only illegal but dangerous. You can twist it however you want, but if it fits the definition then that is exactly what it is. One of my "mottos:" if I feel like I have to ask whether something is ok ethically (or similar) I probably don't actually need to ask.

It may be no big deal at first, but then said friend(s) keep coming to you for BS and it may be difficult to say no. So, better not even start the trend.

I got accepted!!!!!!

One of the nicest docs I ever worked for told me he thought there was an "Arrogance 101" course somewhere in med school and some went on to the graduate program. At this late stage of my career I guess it shouldn't surprise me but it still does when a physician feels like he/she has to elevate themselves by belittling someone else. If you have superior knowledge and skills and have a little confidence to go with it what would the purpose be in talking down to someone?

I suppose my point is that we are all training everyday. Everyday we read, learn from each patient experience, do CME, take a class or go to a conference, learn from our consults. None of us are perfect, including residency trained physicians, and won't be when we retire. Everyday is about being better than before. just like physicians, PAs who aren't trying to be better everyday will get in trouble. to further erode the pharmacy tech vs the pharmacist argument, that is a poor analogy. The level of knowledge separating a pharm tech and a pharmacist is a far greater gap than a PA and a physician. The more like between the GP of the old days and residency trained docs of today.

Current PA student here. First off, to answer the OP's question, healthcare experience is essential not only in the admissions process (regardless of what the school's website says), but it is also necessary in order to succeed in PA school. If I hadn't worked in the ER between undergrad and PA school, I would be having a much harder time comprehending and applying what I'm learning in the classroom. Besides, you want to be 100% sure about your career choice, and the best way to make an informed decision is by spending time in the field. Honestly, I'm surprised more medical schools don't require some sort of clinical experience to be considered for admission for that reason alone. I also want to (respectfully) disagree with the advice above and share one of my posts from a different thread. I was a medical scribe for two years prior to PA school. If I had to do it all over, I would hands-down be a scribe again. This was the best pre-PA school job I could have ever asked for. As a scribe, you gain insight into the medical decision making of a healthcare provider that no other experience offers. Just like any other job, as a scribe, you get out of it what you put into it. I told the physicians I worked with that I wanted to learn as much as possible --- so they taught me how to interpret labs, EKG's, x-rays, etc. After the physician looked at the EKG, they would hand it to me and ask me what I thought. If a patient was wheezing, they would say, "come over here and take a listen to this person's lungs and tell me what you hear. What tests do you think I'll order?" For two years, I strived to learn something new from every patient encounter, and I never hesitated to ask questions if I didn't understand the provider's train of thought. By the time I started PA school, I already had a basic knowledge of differential diagnoses for just about any complaint. I already knew the doses and indications for common drugs. After spending literally thousands of hours attached at the hip with an ER doctor, I had already been exposed to the presentation, work-up, and treatment for a variety of diseases and injuries. Yes, I still have plenty to learn. But I have a very solid foundation on which to expand my knowledge. I am not saying that hands-on experience isn't valuable --- it certainly is. I agree that there is something to be said for "feeling the stress of taking care of patients," but you will begin learning this during your clinical year and grow more comfortable under pressure with experience. I firmly believe scribing can be outstanding preparation for PA school if you're willing to make the most out of it.

To be all that honest, I'm not entirely sure how you even know you want to be in the medical field if you haven't experienced it to even a shadowing level.. The medical field has the obvious academic and mental challenges associated with it, but even more so important, it carries a lot of hidden emotional, psychological, and personal intensities that not your everyday Joe is able to handle.. All I'm saying is, good luck explaining why you want to be a PA, let alone work in the healthcare field without ever having witnessed any part of the field.

I still like "Pretty Awesome". Good morning patient. I'm (name) and I'm Pretty Awesome.

So beyond excited to report that I just received the call to interview! August 28th and 29th. Looking forward to meeting everyone!

I have debated since the start of this thread whether I wanted to share a personal story or not. The conversation has been lively and for the most part respectful but there has been no "budge" on anyone's part including mine. It has been more passionate explanation of why each opinion is correct. I don't take issue with any of it. This isn't a subject that has a measurable quantifiable answer so beliefs and opinions well...that is really all we have. I now share this story not to draw out any sympathy but in the hope that maybe it will give folks some food for thought. At the age of 36 and after 16 years of marriage my first wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After testing and staging she was determined to have stage III of a rare type that ,almost literally, there was no data on. No known treatments and no vast data base of studies or treatments to use for a reference point. I took her to what I believe was one of the best cancer centers in the country. Some very smart caring people crafted a treatment plan. Once every 6 weeks she would be admitted for a week for chemotherapy. The week was necessary to manage the symptoms of the treatment. It didn't. She was sick and in pain every minute. Even when sleeping from all the palliative meds she was given she writhed and moaned. After a week I would take her home for 4 to 5 weeks and then return to do it again. 6 treatments total. each successive treatment was just a little worse than the one that preceeded. In the between weeks she was bed bound, sick and in pain, and even with everything bedside nursing and good doctors had to offer was nowhere close to comfortable. I had great insurance. I knew lots of people in the medical field. I had resources few had. The last day of her last treatment they were transferring her and she fell. The scanned her head because she seemed confused. She had brain metz. I checked her out and took her home. 3 weeks later she died in pain. So a few points....it is far easier to make judgments about palliative care and quality of life if you have always been on the outside looking in. I realize we are objective observers and providers and we are supposed to make our decisions objectively but this isn't a measurable scientific issue. It is opinion based on belief and value judgments and experience. Seeing my wife in that state was horrible. She was in pain every minute of every day from the start of treatment until death. Already thin at the outset she wasted away to nothing because she couldn't tolerate food or drink. No amount of medicine or resources or caring could ameliorate her pain and the side effects of treatment. Please give that some consideration when you ponder if hospice and palliatve care is good enough. The obvious question many would want to ask but won't out of good manners is would I have permitted her physician assisted death if it were available and if she asked. I don't know. I fear I am too weak and selfish to have said yes. I hope I was loving enough to have said yes.

Hi all! I applied to Duke's program last year (it was my first time applying there) and got in. I'll be starting next month and am super excited. I remember being in your shoes last year and having so many questions. Feel free to message me and I'll do my best to respond quickly! First piece of advice, don't doubt yourselves and stay positive! Best of luck! -El

Hey! I went to an info session on Monday and they said the committee hasn't met yet so we may start hearing things in about 3 weeks. Hope that helps.

Assisted suicide isn't just for the purpose of taking a life, though that is what it does, any more than giving Lisinipril is just for the purpose of lowering blood pressure. In the first case it would be to ameliorate suffering and fear and give someone some control over their life and death and dignity. In the latter it is to improve their health and by extension the quality and quantity of their lives. It sounds like a semantics argument and I guess, to a degree, it is but I think you'll get my point. It isn't something I could imagine participating in without a thoughtful long multi-diciplinary process that always left the control with the patient. I have seen to many painful, ugly deaths of people in agony and fear to not at least give the concept some real thought. It is probably moot for me because I'll be dead before it comes to Texas but it is a conversation worth having.

ACCEPTED!!!! See you all in January!

There is no law "forcing people to die long painful agonizing deaths." This is simply inaccurate. We are healers. For those we cannot heal, it is incumbent upon us to ameliorate the pain of living, and the pain of death. But we should never be the intentional cause of someone's death. If you don't want to "bankrupt your kids" as you die of a terminal illness then don't go into the ICU. Stay home with hospice and take your roxenol. You're in Texas.....Austin??

Grandma doesn't just get to choose. As physician assisted suicide is practiced in this country and many (all??) Western European countries it is a process. One that requires a terminal illness with no reasonable hope of survival, that take months from its first discussion to writing the prescription, and that requires two or more physicians to sign off on the decision after both agree that the decision is being made without duress and the patient is capable of making this decision on their own. And then, frequently the script is written for the medication and either never filled or never taken, because it isn't about dying but about having control... There is a discussion to be had on the matter: inclusion of non-terminal illness or mental health diagnoses that are treatable but miserable for the patient. Defining "terminal". The role of community or religious leaders in the process (or not). or we could play the slippery slope game and talk about eventualities that have been thought through and have no evidence supporting their position.........

wow. If you don't believe that some families might pressure Grandma into "assisted suicide" then that is naive. Ever worked an ER on a Friday before a holiday weekend? Ever heard of Grandma dumping? Bring granny to the ER on Friday night, say the magic words about weakness, chest pain, whatever, and she spends Labor Day weekend in the hospital so you can go out of town. It happens. Do most families do this? No, but a few do. And a few would pressure Grandma into assisted suicide. And I don't equate pain control with assisted suicide. Helping a person die with reduced pain is a worthy goal, even if it might hasten the end.

For me the short answer is yes..it is worth it. Becoming a PA changed my Army career and then my whole life. It opened up opportunities and let me earn a comfortable living and provide for my family.Do some days suck? Yup... Are there days when I have visions of violence in my head while patients are acting foolish? Yup... But I decided a long time ago there are way worse things in the world and the perfect, happy-to-go-to-work-every-day job is the unicorn of employment. I know so many people who hate what they do. I know people who work hard and long hours and barely get by. I know people living on $1200 a month of disability. So when I'm having one of those days I take a step back..take a deep breath...and remind myself of how lucky I am.

I am happy to announce that our most recent graduating class - 2017 - achieved a 100% pass rate on the PANCE.

In a word, no. I have a friend who is a commercial plumber. He brings home probably $250k. Has 3 employees. I wouldn't say he loves his job, but he gets home at 5 o clock every day and can vacation when he wants, runs his own roost. No student debt. I honestly look at myself as a skilled laborer of sorts. I have an education, a set of skills, and a license. I deal with the public, performing a service. What separates me from trade labor is the amount of sacrifice involved. I have massive student debt, much greater responsibility/liability, high-stakes licensing exams, and relentless pressure to make people happy in addition to doing my job right. I think for those who see this as a calling, it is worth it. For those of us who see it more as a job, it isn't. I'm neutral most days, hate some of them, and never have had a day where I was excited to come to work. If a palatable non-clinical opportunity came up I would take it in a heartbeat. If I could do it all over again (and I may one day), I'd get a 4 year bio/forestry degree and get a job with Fish and Wildlife. Government benefits, great retirement, and work that I personally would find interesting and meaningful.

Just received the call to interview on August 15th!!

I think there are too many PA schools popping up and saturation is already an issue in many regions. PAs accept bad jobs (underpaid, skut monkey work) because of saturation in some areas. It took me couple months to find the type of job and pay I wanted. I drive 30-60min out of the city I live in, because its getting saturated. I couldnt find an ER job with the autonomy and pay I wanted where I live. I'm sure this issue will spread. Kind of wish they could put a cap on the amount of schools opening..lol

I also just received an interview call for August 28th-29th! So excited to meet everyone!

I got an interview call today for August 28th and 29th. They said interviews should be done by noon on the 29th!

Just received a call to interview Aug. 28th and Aug. 30th!

meanwhile I'm over here wishing I got any kind of correspondence letting me know about my application haha

"The law" once said that slavery was swell. Did that make it right? I have no reason to believe that the Supreme Court is any wiser than the rest of the dopes that infest our government.

I wouldn't personally do it (because being a doctor is not what I want), but you should just go MD if you still have so much doubt in your mind. You don't want to be asking "what if" for the rest of your life, especially if you're young. Also, if you give up your seat in the PA program, someone else in a different situation can get the opportunity to matriculate.

See.... slippery slope. This is why slippery slope is a logical fallacy. You will always be able to find some scenario that a specific action will "inevitably lead to" and you attempt to make the other person prove a negative. No one is advocating for assisted suicide for pain 2/2 a non-terminal disease. To the best of my knowledge no law in the united states allows for it. You have to be in the terminal phase of a disease that is going to kill you, two physicians already involved in your care have to agree that you are in that phase and that you are of sound mind to make this decision, and you have to be capable of taking the medication without assistance. As for whether or not it is murder, that is a legal definition, not a moral one. If the law says "that's not murder" it isn't murder. You may morally disagree with that law, but that doesn't change the fact that it is no longer murder. All that to say, physician assisted suicide practiced in states where it is legal is not murder and calling it so is a red herring.

When this goes nationwide, it's only a matter of time until people start saying "Granny, your quality of life is not too good, and you are a bit of a burden on the family. You should think about assisted suicide."

Hello Everyone! I received an email for an interview on September 16th. I am really excited!!

The faculty here are extremely nice and want you to succeed. The facilities are amazing. For anatomy over the summer we have access to the donor labs 24/7, which is VERY helpful for studying. We also have a simulation lab and patient exam rooms, which we use for practicals. Those are a few of the things that stood out to me when I interviewed. As a class we will also put together many fundraisers, some of which go to Servolution. Servolution is a free clinic in the area, which we get the chance to see patients at during our didactic year!! As for my class profile, I don't remember all of my exact numbers. I know I had over 2000 clinical hours as a medical assistant and over 40 hours shadowing a PA. I took quite a few classes at other colleges besides where I completed my undergrad, but I believe I had around a 3.4 GPA. I scored a 301 on the GRE. I also had volunteering hours and a research internship. You can also go on to our school's website and look at the class of 2019 stats.

I've found quite a few, especially the new NP grads who realize they don't know how to read an EKG, etc.

Missed this one in the Bill of Rights. As I've stated before, medical care is also a privilege at present. Now, should it be a right? Tell me how to realistically provide it.

Two days ago I had a grandmother literally scream and call me a "f***ing a**hole" because I wouldn't prescribe her granddaughter antibiotics for her allergic rhinitis. (and I'm pretty sure "feeling warm" isn't a fever). Every day I see 25-30 people who want antibiotics for their "sinus infections", who race to the clinic an hour after their sore throat starts, but who don't do a damn thing about their blood pressure, weight, or smoking- but then they want to sue me when their face droops or they feel the chest pain they spent a life time culturing. They insist the flu shot gives them the flu, yet when the DO get the flu, they lack any sort of common sense of what to do. They can not afford thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and are more terrified of strep than cardiac arrest. The answer to your question- no, I don't think it is worth it.

Hi everyone! Good luck this year. I am a current PA1 at GWU so I was in your shoes last year. I know applications are really stressful but hang in there! I'm attaching my sequence of events so everyone has kind of a very rough timeline. July 5: GW app submitted July 8: Confirmation of received supplemental July 15: Notification app is under review October 13: Interview invitation (we were assigned a day) October 29: Interview (MMI style) December 22: Decision available online January 5: Notification of ongoing waitlist review January 11: Pull from waitlist That was my timeline last year, I don't know if it will change at all this year. As you can see, you hear almost nothing between when you submit and when you are invited to interview. That was the case for a lot of my schools so don't panic if you don't hear anything. Feel free to send me any questions you may have about the application process or the program!

I will be reapplying later this month. For those interested, the general timeline is as follows: July 15 (Application deadline) Mid-August (Confirmation that application has been received) -- the School of Nursing will not contact you before then Mid-September (Candidate visit day invitation; not really an interview, only 4 hours long) Late September to mid-October (Candidate visit days) Late October (Invitation to submit the graduate supplemental application) December 1 (Graduate supplemental application due) Mid-December (Accepted applicants emailed; waitlisted applicants emailed) -- same day (this year it will probably will be Dec 15)