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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!

I also will be going on July 19th! Best of luck!

I think the future is bright. The market for PAs in this region of the country (New England) is strong. Some major hospital networks seem to prefer NPs while others seem to prefer PAs. I've haven't noticed much of a "turf war" out here. There is generally mutual respect.

Rumors of the demise of the PA profession have been circulating as long as the profession has been in existence. It is never going to happen.

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.

As the President Elect of PAFT I appreciate the kind words. CEO of AAPA is a high level administrative position and should be filled by someone who not only understands the vision of the board but has broad and deep experience running an organization this size. It is much too complicated to allow anyone to fill that chair that doesn't have that kind of organizational experience. We don't really flex. We just take the issues as they come but stay tuned...we have some interesting stuff in the hopper.

The obstacles you're facing with the GRE is a taste of the things you'll be dealing with in some of the subjects during PA school, over and over again. Because the material pertains to a career that you are "passionate" about will not make it easier to learn (i.e. Pharmacology). You're going to be learning about a 100 medications for each exam when you're only going to be using 10 of them. It sucks. The GRE is just a very tiny hurdle in this whole crazy process. What I have been hearing though, is that eventually the GRE will be replaced with a more science-based exam like the MCAT but for PA schools. It's only what I've heard so far from some of the faculty. I wish you luck.

Sounds to me like these NPs do not know how to negotiate. I make $150/hr at my 1099 job in this area.

Wow! Everyone is getting interviews already? I just submitted my application! Hoping to hear back soon (fingers crossed)!!! Good luck everyone

I meant no disrespect. My point is that, even if -- someday -- a large percentage of programs won't require the GRE, about 2/3rds of them apparently still do this year, which is presumably when you are applying. Your approach is puzzling to this old dog, but I wish you the best of luck in finding a beautiful destination.

its a mixed bag. Bigger agencies with a good track record may be the way to go. If you do enough hours they even offer benefits. There are lots and lots of fly by night agencies who will put anyone anywhere just to get a fee. It makes a bad experience for everyone. I had one try to put me in a 90 day gig with a neurosurgeon when I know nothing about the field. Some will just flat lie to you. Sometimes you are filling in for an absence like a maternity leave. Those tend to be more pleasant. Some are filling a hole where nobody wants to work. Those tend to be less pleasant. there are zillions of prison jobs out there and they are very hard to fill...for a reason. Most of the agencies have already signed a contract with an employer and know what THEY will get hourly so the agency will cry poor about what they pay you. The less they pay you the more in their pocket. "I'll have to ask the client but I don't think they will pay that much" is a common lie. The rate is already set. The only variable is your pay. Make sure you get paid enough to make up the difference in what the absence of benefits costs you.

It is very variable by state. I'd make sure you knew the nuances of yours before starting. For instance in Texas the medical board, to stop PAs from owning practices, mandate any practice must be 51% owned by a physician or physicians. basically they made a law totally outside the scope of their authority to protect the financial interests of physicians. Then they tried to make it retroactive and take away practices from more than a hundred PAs that owned their own practices. So be well versed lest you get in deep and then find a big bump in the road. On the clinical side of things your SP can't delegate a skill or privilege they don't have so any procedures you do they must have as well. Lastly if you search the forum you will see a lot of strong opinions about DOT physicals. Personally I'd rather get out of bed every morning and let a horse kick me in the testicles than do DOT physicals again.

I did it for a while and when asked told my admin/department head he didn't get to make bad policy, force us to carry it out, and then hide in his office. I almost got fired but he got promoted (after inspiring 60% of the APP staff quit in less than a year) so he didn't get the chance. Now I just tell patients "I'm sorry. I don't like it either. Please make a loud complaint to the people who write policies."

They gave me a login to access their website that provided an application checklist! No additional questions!

If you honestly think that preparing for the PANCE will be easy because you will be absolutely "passionate" about everything you are going to be taught in PA school, then you will likely be in for a surprise. They may be out there, but I've never met anyone like that. If you don't want to take the GRE, then accept the consequences and just don't, but please don't try to rationalize it the way you have. The alternative is to accept it as just another challenge, download the math primer from the GRE site, go through it, and take your best shot. A good bit of life is going to involve similar efforts. Might as well tune up for it now.

It's still early. I applied the first week of June and have not heard back yet either.

Marinejiujitsu, you feel bad for that? Ok... I'd like to know where you're working and what salary you're making because shoot, I'll move. I just wanted to chime in and say Lightspeed tore up this thread. Nice job. Said it better than I.

Hey Guys congratulations on your up coming interview!! I am a current student, and my advice for the interview (as lame as this sounds) is just be yourself. They already know that they like you on paper, and now they want to get to meet you as a person. As far as actually preparing for the interview, I would suggest preparing how you would for any other interview (look up most common question and practice answering them). Even if the questions you have practiced aren't asked at your interview it will get you in the right mind set. Something I did is I looked at each school I interviewed at's mission statements, and from there I picked 2 or 3 examples of how I was a good fit for the school based on their mission statement. This helped me get more in the right mind set at each school.

It is an online medical school also.....

You seem to be confusing regulatory bodies with advocacy groups. AAPA, AMA, ANA are advocacy groups. They have no legislative power other than to lobby legislators. PA boards, BOM, and BON are regulatory boards at the state level. They cannot completely and unilaterally set rules, for example law may say that PAs do not require cosignature, and BOM cannot overrule that. In some states the PA board is under BOM and do set requirements within the law. Some states have independent PA boards and set their own licensing and other rules. Private entities, like hospitals can set more stringent rules, but cannot be more relaxed than state law. This is why change can be slow because it has to be changed at each state and then individual hospital policies have to be changed to catch up. I don’t know where there is a single educational reference for all this. Just have to do research.

^^^ Boy are you correct. I would be punching my own ticket out the door. Having said that, I can not steal from patients and that is what they are doing. I simply refuse. I did not practice this long only to sell my professional soul now.

Use whatever part of your life that you want but don’t overshare. Use experiences to illustrate what you feel are the major lessons you’ve learned in life thus far. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

To be absolutely clear up front I completely agree with this. That being said: do this at a point where you are comfortable being fired, because that is the almost assured end to doing what is appropriate here.

We should meet up beforehand i just realized that the interview doesn't start until 11! so late! does anyone know how long the interview is supposed to last?

You can start your advocacy for the profession by stop referring to us as midlevels....

Just submitted. Good luck y'all!

Nope I haven't yet:/

No. I got an interview invite and did not complete the casper test

I got an interview!! Who is going July 19th?

I think the idea of trying to pull PAs into the nursing movement is reasonable, but that involves not only convincing them to take you on, but also begging physicians to let you go. That’s before any concessions that nursing would demand of PAs to allow for it. I don’t see any avenue that doesn’t destroy the power of your training and history. As it is, I don’t see that PAs are suffering anything more than a blow to the ego. There are inconveniences too, but I could have found a way to be really happy as a PA if I had to. But with the advantages that NPs have staring me in the face, even though they are subtle, I’d have always asked myself if I would have liked being an NP better. I honestly love it, and am proud of being my own person, if only in paper. I don’t work for myself or anything like that, but I did make at least $60k more as a new grad psyche NP than I would have as a PA. Had I been an FNP, though, I’d have made the same as my PA peers. So independence isn’t overrated, but you can’t count on it making you happy if you aren’t happy in the first place. If you are so type A that you chafe at the restrictions of being a PA, you’ll probably still find something about being an NP that bothers you. For me, I also didn’t used to think I could get along well with folks well enough to not want an avenue to be on my own if I need, but that changed over the years.

I think what you are asking is reasonable. I guess the tweak I would make to everyone’s perception is that nursing isn’t trying to necessarily strong arm anyone, they are just advocating for themselves, and also that it’s understandable that they aren’t taking anyone along for the ride. I think that’s a different way to look at it than feeling like they are out to get PAs. If you look back to the quote from the nurse that was the surgeon general, you’ll see that what she was saying was simply that nurses are going to decide their own scope of practice, and essentially their destiny, without anyone else interfering. They aren’t asking anyone for help, they are telling them what they want and what we can do. PAs could benefit from that approach. Look what it’s got us nurses... a surgeon general saying that... one that is a nurse. Incidentally, she was the second surgeon general that has a nursing background. Richard Carmona also had a nursing degree in addition to his medical training.

In California, many of the floor nurses make more money for the amount of responsibility and the hours as they would as an NP too. Go to nursing boards and see how many folks there are struggling with the choice to stay in floor nursing or follow the dream to be an NP. That market is a bit of an enigma compared to the rest of the US. The choice can be whether to go from 3 shifts per week and six figures as an RN where you don’t have to take your work home with you, or work 5 days a week and carry a pager for a job where it’s hard to take a day off without over a month or two notice, and you can’t be sick and not have it throw everyone into a tailspin. All that for maybe even a pay cut. They go to school and realize that too late. It’s almost merciful financially for the market there to be tight to break into as a new grad. PAs often have the same problem, but no sweet nursing gig to fall back on. Maybe back to the rig while they wait for an opening if they are lucky. Or in desperation they take a 1099 job with terrible (or no) benefits. A lot of those nurses you meet could get a job, but they aren’t interested in a bad job. When I had been a nurse for just a few years, I talked to a new grad PA who was making less than me while working more hours, plus call. I had well over 20 days of vacation/paid time off, and worked a better schedule, no call, no required overtime. When I did take OT (which I could pick up whenever I wanted, and on my terms), they paid through the roof to have me there.

PAs are up against the original “smash the patriarchy” type advocacy that came with being one of the only professional fields that women could go into decades ago without hitting resistance... in fact that may be the one professional field that females were encouraged to thrive in that actually turned a steady wage and clock in lifestyle like males had. Nurses had one thing to do and they did it well. Turned it from a trade into a professional degree, and into what has become indispensable part of acute healthcare management, then on to care planning and public health. They also advocated for inclusion into management as healthcare bureaucracy expanded over the years up until now. They often have no real purpose in some of the core day to day operations at the hospital level, but you can’t have a department that doesn’t have a nurse onboard. They are working behind the scenes to be the arbiters of care in ancillary departments such as imaging, lab, HR, etc. I have several nurse friends who were brought in to IT, with one becoming the director. One of the most popular second degrees of my male nurse peers is MBAs... for management. You folks know all this. The DNP is one of the most misunderstood degrees by outsiders, and even many nurses. It’s not for clinical skills, it’s for management of clinics and providers, operational activities, and patient care initiatives. All those things give them insider knowledge and tracks for advancement, as well as face time rubbing shoulders with the kingmakers and policy drivers. The people that are set up to run healthcare when it tilts over toward a nationalized system are the nurses, not the AMA. When one of my employers wanted a manager of the non-physician clinicians, they sought out and found a DNP. And the kind of provider that DNP is most familiar with when it comes to hiring for positions is going to be another nurse provider. People like you folks and people like me want to be out in patient care, but plenty of nurses want the office life, and are content to climb the ladder away from direct care, and that’s another front. I spent some time around a CNO who considered PAs to be the domain of physicians to manage, hire, and advocate for if they wanted to (of course they didn’t because that didn’t even occupy a second thought for them who the “midlevels” were). She knew all the ins and outs of NPs, so that was what she hired. No issues with supervision, co-signing, figuring out who supervised when a physician quit and moved on, or malpractice insurance that was $5000 more expensive per PA. *Another perk of NP... no recert. Yep, nurses don’t feel like they need to gouge their sisters. Just continuing ED at a resort with my spouse. I thought about that back when I decided on NP too. I don’t know what you guys do now, or if it’s changed, but I wasn’t interested in the recert aspect back in the day. In case there still is any doubt, here’s an article about an address that the surgeon general (a career nurse) previous to the current SG gave about nurses and policy: https://nursing.vanderbilt.edu/news/u-s-deputy-surgeon-general-encourages-nurses-to-be-bold-and-influence-public-policy/ One very telling quote: “We have to make sure from a policy perspective that we take control of making (nursing’s) voice heard for the nursing profession. Because we don’t need medicine, pharmacy or dentistry telling us what’s appropriate for nursing in practice, in leadership or in scope of practice,” she said.

When I wanted to be a PA, I was interviewing for admission when I got into nursing school. That presented me with the choice to pursue a career as a dependent provider, or take the path that would let me be independent. I voted with my feet to go to NP school, made the choice that I could live with for these kinds of specific reasons, and never looked back. PAs made their choice as well, while knowing the limitations that would follow. If you want to change your landscape, nobody else is going to pull you across the finish line, least of all the people that so many here try to put down whenever they feel threatened. Its our victory... we don’t need to share it, so we won’t. What’s in it for NPs to take PAs under their wings with the kind of attitudes present? I ask that with all honesty. How would I sell partnership to my state nursing advocacy organizations if I were to advocate for PAs to come along for the ride? So while I respect your training, and have good relationships with the PAs that I know and respect, there’s not much that can be done. And I’m not a nursing cool aid drinker. I think most PAs would do well independently. But NPs will forge ahead alone, just like we came into this world, and it sounds like most folks here recognize the lay of the land on this. The awakening here is starting, several years too late for me to have waited for, but the spark is there, albeit with some significant constraints.

I was pretty surprised to read this today, I wonder if they'll bring in another PAFT member as CEO. PAFT has been flexing their muscles lately, and it could be good to have that energy steering AAPA.

lots of grumbling about the survery but honestly if she has been there 8 years she has gone beyond her shelf life. AAPA is not the same from 8 years ago - or even 4 years ago out with the old, in with the new..... lead, follow or get out of the way as the saying goes.....

The future is bright

I got an email from the school today: Good afternoon, I am sorry for the confusion. We are currently working on the new system, and there may be a few glitches with the checklist. If you have provided the GRE scores, letters of recommendation, etc. thru CASPA, your application is complete. The JMU application is merely supplemental as all the pertinent information must be submitted via CASPA. So if the application is complete and verified by CASPA, then everything is good!

I will see both of you there on 08/26!

I have never been an RN so I can’t be an NP..... Plus, I like and respect the PA education more. Would never want to lose that. I would personally rather work to become an MD/DO if I were forced to make a change. At 28 yrs in..... what could I do realistically? Just my 2 cents

I thought my LORs were needed but if you look closely at the bottom of the application, it states "LOR Status Letters of Recommendation Status Complete" Just look again, they might have received them already.

Same here, good luck to everyone. First interview invite last cycle went out late July. Now we play the waiting game.

Me too, I received this email today as well!

I just got an email that my application has been received and is being processed!

Hello everyone, I recently interviewed on June 7th and am here to give you some insight into the program and interview process. Firstly, I was extremely impressed by the program. The faculty seem endearing and motivated, and the small class size coupled with the state of the art facilities exclusively for the PA students is highly desirable. Additionally, the current students were very pleasant, intelligent, and motivated. The interview was extremely relaxed in my opinion. It is based on MMI interviewing but not as "shotgun" styled as I imagined. You will have 4 group interviews with 1-2 other students and 2-3 faculty per interview room, an essay, and a "critical thinking" activity, as well as tours of the facilities. Overall, it was a pleasant experience. 42 minutes after the interview I received a phone call in which I was offered a seat in the program. My best advice I can give is to be yourself: There are no right answers. if you piggy back on your prospective classmates answers because they, "sound good" they will recognize that and it may negatively impact your scoring. Be unique, and be yourself. To prepare, I'd recommend reflecting on why you want to be a PA, what makes you unique and sets you apart from other prospective PA students, and why you want to attend NGU. Additionally, brainstorm on some other goals you have in your life outside of your career. The admissions team want to get to know you as a person. They already have your academic records, but don't know much about your personality so this is your chance to show them. Good luck to you all!

If you want to practice medicine truly independently, go to medical school. If you want to work in the role of an advanced practice provider, either PA school or NP school will get you there. Having said that, I think PA training is more standardized and more rigorous than NP school; it gives you the foundation to practice in any area of medicine, and doesn't restrict you to a particular patient population. PA school provides both inpatient and outpatient training since it requires students to rotate thorough all the core areas of medicine, so you have that foundation regardless of what specialty you choose to work in (and you have the option to switch specialties during your career). For these reasons, some specialties seem to favor PAs, including most of the surgical specialties and the ED. If you are already a practicing RN with a few years of experience then NP school is a reasonable option, but you have to be careful about where you choose to go to school -- there are online "diploma mills" where the training may not be as good. Furthermore, most NP schools require you to set up your own rotations, which can be a major headache at best and can delay graduation or provide poor rotations at worst; all PA schools set up rotations for their students. Independent practice should not be a reason to choose NP -- that's what medical school is for.

You will likely get an interview if your GRE is above 300. Please try to understand that no one can truly give you a clear idea of IF you will get accepted. You don't know who you are up against for seats. Just be yourself and let your awesomeness shine through and it will happen. I beat out people with far better statistics than myself, but they saw something in me. The best advice is apply early, apply broadly. Good luck!

dont use the word "underserved"... that will go a long way. you are right that the word is out that everyone needs to be eager to serve the "underserved", but theres ways you can break from the crowd. example: "i want to go to RMC because i understand that the rotations will take place in places that im familiar with from my time working with indian health services here in montana. i know these people... ive served these people... and i want to hit the ground running when i go back to these folks as a new PA. it makes sense for me to train in the places where i want to spend my career."