nikki386

I am 34 and began PA school this past January. I would say about 20% of my class are in their 30s and several in their 40s. A few of my prerequisite courses were expired (had to retake) or nearing expiration, and my clinical experience was limited to being an MA and scribe for a few years. I haven’t found any of that, including my age, to be a hindrance to success during PA school. I am keeping up just fine with my younger classmates. I think a lot of success has to do with your own personal drive and motivation, nothing more. I guess it is program dependent, but I believe the expiration dates for prerequisites to be a silly hoop you must jump through to prove your interest and also a way for them to limit their application pool because you do seem to just relearn the material again, and again...and again. With that said, I would definitely suggest you apply to programs nearby family who can help support you. I spend a lot of my free time studying and can imagine it is more difficult to study as a PA student with kiddos. My best piece of advice is to shadow a PA first (if you haven’t already - or if you can, I‘ve heard COVID-19 has interfered with this aspect of the application process) before retaking your prerequisites and then if your heart is still set on it, go for it!

I had similar reservations reading all of it. The majority of negativity seems to come from medical students/residents, probably in an attempt to assert dominance because they have little control over anything else in their life or career. We are an easy target for abusive vitriol, online anyway. I’m sure there are some physicians out there that hold personal contempt for PAs/NPs but would never explicitly say anything. However, most physicians I’ve worked with have been easy to work with and generous with respect (and knowledge), even as a student. Interactions I’ve observed between physicians and PAs have pretty much always been friendly and professional. I don’t think that those forums are an accurate assessment of anything beyond the observation of petulant children feigning concern for patients by creating an imaginary turf war with their colleagues to bloat their self importance.

I am currently in PA school and I personally had to deactivate my Reddit account specifically because of the toxicity that would seep into the PA sub. What I surmise is that they are still very young and lack legitimate "real world" experience. Mommy and daddy probably took complete financial care of them, kissed their behinds and inflated their heads. The superiority complex is comical, really. Their entire 20s were spent in academia and they have never had the privilege of working on a team and eventually getting the sass beat out of them by upper management. You don't see that degree of hostility from working physicians with at least a few years of experience under their belt; or at least, I have not really witnessed it.

I had to cancel my interview for 11/8 due to being accepted somewhere close to home. It was very last minute so I hope somebody will be able to utilize the open slot! Good luck!

I got accepted from the 10/9 interview!

I can totally relate to this. It is painful, and sometimes frustrating, to see younger applicants whizzing right past me during the application process because their parents were able to take proper care of them in life, allowing them to succeed just a little bit more effortlessly -- like not being obligated to help pay all of their bills as soon as you turn 18. I went on one interview where there was a panel of students and professors interviewing me and was asked about the most challenging time of my life, to which I said "finishing my college education". I noticed one of the younger students had given me a 3/5 on her evaluation sheet (I saw this purely by accident)...and boy did that make me angry (inside, of course). That was the most challenging time of my life. I had to help financially support my mom and younger siblings while trying to finish college at the same time. I guess it was my fault for not going into better detail but I addressed that in my personal statement and assumed they were privy to that detail about my past being an open format interview. Lesson learned. On another note, I love my mom to death and I take great pride in having been able to help her the way that I did.

I got that same email yesterday, but I was offered an interview earlier this month. I wonder if it was some sort of clerical error because I am pretty sure that you don't have to send official transcripts to the schools individually unless you are accepted.

Thanks! I guess once November rolls around without hearing anything, my concerns will be validated, lol.

So, I applied to approximately 12 schools and was verified by mid-July, and I have heard from only 2. Those 2 sent me interview invites pretty quickly (thank goodness!), but the remaining 10 have sent me absolutely nothing beyond standard receipt of application emails. I have been keeping up with the school forums and it appears they are all sending out interview invites and acceptances. Do most schools tend to wait until later in the cycle to send out rejections? I was kind of hoping my rejections would come faster, lol. Sorry if this is a silly question, this is my first time applying.

I got the same email, maybe they just don’t want anymore applicants asking for updates.

I was verified mid-July but didn't take Casper until 7/31. I received an invite on 9/6 for an interview on 10/2.

BA in Political Communication cGPA: 3.60 sGPA: 3.65 PCE: 3,200 as an MA for an ENT, 1,080 as an ER scribe HCE: 2,560 as a patient coordinator at a cosmetic surgeon's office Volunteer: ~200 in hospice and at a food bank (I don't remember the exact number) Shadowing: 64 (16 ER PA, 16 IM PA, 42 ENT PA) LOR: ENT PA, ENT office manager, ER physician

I am a first generation student from a low income family. I was raised by a single mom who never graduated high school, and my siblings and I survived off of various forms of public assistance throughout our lives. In high school I had no idea that preparing for college was a "thing" and I used fee waivers to apply to two universities for the heck of it. I was (to my surprise) admitted into one of them, but had to turn down the acceptance because we couldn't pay for the deposits or moving expenses. Instead, I worked right after graduating high school and tried to fit in classes at the local community college. Eventually I graduated with a bachelor's degree, it just took about 3 years longer than it normally would have. Some years later and a few post-bacc classes in between, I am applying to PA school! It has been a really long, tough road, but I feel a sense of pride for having overcome obstacles that I easily could have allowed to derail my future. It is also nice to really be able to connect and understand others who have gone through similar challenges.

I received an interview invite! My application was under review as of 7/22, I selected the 11/8 interview date.

Hi, I took the course earlier this year. It is classified as an "introductory" course, so beware of that. There is an exam each week of the course, and they are not proctored. There are no midterm or final exams. There is one paper due at the end of the course. I don't have the syllabus on hand, but it was worth taking since it only took about two months to finish.