karebear12892

Not sure if things have changed, but when I applied in spring 2015, I had not yet taken organic chemistry. My acceptance letter (arrived in spring 2016 after being waitlisted over the winter) said my admission was contingent upon completing organic chemistry prior to the program's start date.

Yes, we were fortunate to have a faculty that was supportive of us finding ways to get involved with the community. I'm sure the organizations and activities will vary among cohorts depending on class interest. Best of luck to you and feel free to PM me with questions! I had so much help from others on my journey to PA school and I'm always happy to pay it forward.

Thank you! Glad I could help! We participated in community outreach projects throughout the duration of the program. One of our student council positions is a community outreach chairperson, and ours did an exceptional job of finding ways for us to become involved with various local organizations. Examples include providing diabetes education, helping with local high school sports physicals, giving tours of the facility to junior high/high school students from STEM programs at local schools (designed to boost their interest in healthcare fields), hosting blood drives, working at food banks, visiting children at the local hospital during Halloween and Christmas, and helping with activities for disabled children at a local summer camp. I am not sure exactly when you will be notified, but last year interviews were held in March. I believe all of the interviews were conducted within a 2-week period. Of course, being a new program, this is subject to change. Best of luck!

I am about to graduate from FMU's PA program. I can answer any questions you may have. A few things off the top of my head that make our program unique: -Most affordable public university in South Carolina (I chose this program for the low tuition) -Focus on primary care, rural medicine, and medically underserved populations -No gross anatomy lab. People are very split on whether this is a pro vs. con, personally I am very glad we didn't have to suffer through that. There was not a single time during my clinical year where I wished we'd had this - not even during surgery. As a result, our 1st semester anatomy curriculum (at least when I took it in fall 2016) has a much stronger radiographic emphasis, which is way more clinically applicable than identifying gross anatomical structures. -Majority of clinical rotation sites are not at academic centers, which is also a plus. This means you are unlikely to be paired with a resident, intern, medical students, etc. - more often than not, it's just you and a PA or you and an attending. Generally speaking, the more rural your rotation sites are, the more you'll get to do. While I was able to log over 200 procedures over the course of my clinical year, including advanced procedures such as thoracentesis/paracentesis, hysteroscopies, intubations, etc., my friends who were PA students doing rotations at large academic/tertiary care centers were struggling to be able to even see what was going on while standing behind all of the other learners, let alone perform or first assist in many procedures. -Low cost of living. Florence, SC is very affordable. -Small class size (32 students) -Fair admissions process. Can't reveal too much but there is more to it than GPA and test scores. Admitted students from all ages have all kinds of majors, healthcare backgrounds, test scores, and long-term goals. They do give preference to students who demonstrate intent to remain in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, but beyond that there is no "typical profile" they are looking for. Hope this helps!

It doesn't matter how prestigious your school is or how highly they are ranked. All that matters is passing your boards. Avoid the huge debt burden and go to NAU. You will thank yourself later.

carotid artery dissection

Scribing isn't bad experience, it just offers something entirely different than working in the OR. Regardless, PCE is only one piece of the puzzle. It's very difficult to make sense of why admissions committees choose who they do. All that matters at the end of the day is that you got accepted!

OR clinical assistant = "too niche and specialized?" That's just ridiculous. But congratulations on receiving an acceptance to your #1 choice!

I don't enjoy science unless it is in the context of clinical medicine. My bachelor's degree is in business administration/healthcare management. I was a physiology major for about five minutes and realized immediately it was not for me. I took the bare minimum science prerequisites necessary to get into PA school. Luckily, I'm good at memorization, so flashcards and mnemonics (barely) got me through undergrad bio/chem/A&P. I did not enjoy any of these courses, but I knew I had to get through them. If it weren't for working in the ER while I was a student, I would have never been able to see the forest through the trees. I was the only non-science major in my PA class and I ended up with all A's - so yes, it can be done successfully. For me, learning science as an undergrad was monotonous and boring. But when I got to PA school, learning about science in the context of things that we see all the time (acid-base disturbances, drug interactions, and basically any anatomy as part of learning to perform a procedure) made a thousand times more sense. These concepts became far easier to commit to memory and I finally feel like I really understand some of the fundamentals of science that were so difficult for me to grasp as a college student. I still don't like science - admittedly, when I read journal articles, I tend to skip over the "understanding pathophysiology" sections and go straight to "how do I diagnose this, how do I treat this, what risk factors do I need to be aware of, what pitfalls do I need to avoid," etc. I go out of my way to read up on clinical presentations but when it comes to what's happening on a molecular level, I stick to the basics. I'm sure someone on this forum will criticize me for this post but as far as I'm concerned, my inability to recall Krebs cycle doesn't make me a bad PA and doesn't change my patients' outcomes. Bottom line: Loathing college sciences is not a big deal and she can still become a PA if that's truly what she wants. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more.

I would do the same thing all over again - choose an in-state public university in a city with low cost of living. The amount of student debt my out-of-state classmates have accumulated is outrageous.

That's insane! I've heard that Canada implemented a law stating that the losing party in a medical malpractice suit is required to pay for the other party's legal expenses in addition to their own. Supposedly the number of medical malpractice suits have dropped significantly since this began. Not sure if it's true but sure sounds like a good idea to me.

I've posted about my scribe experience in various threads. Feel free to take a look and PM me if you still have questions. Happy to help!

Major: Business Administration Minor: Spanish Certificates: Sports Management & Healthcare Management

We were not allowed to put in orders, either. One typing test and one day of EMR training is ridiculous. Just goes to show that there is a lot of variability in the role of a scribe. I've heard of scribes at other facilities taking vitals, obtaining EKG's, etc. in addition to documentation.

Are the scribes at your facility really trained in just 2 weeks? Our process (classroom training, floor training, and written exams specifically on topics in emergency medicine) usually took 8-10 weeks from start to finish.