lilmems

The school I'll be attending is rolling admissions. I was interview-waitlisted at two rolling admissions schools & wonder if my chances would have been better if I'd submitted earlier, but it still worked out in the end.

I applied in August and was accepted last year. Keep your focus primarily on non-rolling admissions schools and you'll have a better shot. Like others have said it is a risk, but that's not to say you wouldn't have a chance!

There was a derm clinic in my area hiring pre-PA and pre-med MAs specifically. They trained all their applicants from scratch so no prior experience as an MA was required. It seemed like a pretty sweet gig!

Full disclosure: I waited until the end to explain "why PA". It worked for me but it does go against general consensus. It will honestly depend on how you structure your PS & whether you can be compelling in those last few paragraphs. It was probably a weakness in my own essay looking back, but hey here we are!

1. Avoid using passive voice Ex. Instead of writing "The sound of his voice will never be forgotten", try "I will never forget the sound of his voice". https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/seven-sins-of-writing/1 2. Get crafty in cutting down words & only tell the stories that need to be told It's a pain, but there's a character count to comply with. Hone in on the essential details: does the reader need to know it was a Friday evening in October? Or that your student athlete's family live in a Southern California home? Can you convey Greg's influence in fewer details? While the anecdote about the oranges is sweet, for the sake of brevity it would be best to leave it out. 3. Focus your personal statement on... you! You've given us three engaging stories, but in the end it's a little difficult to discover who you are in all of this. It seems like you learned a lot from your experiences & from Greg - if you could give an example of how you applied that knowledge in practice it would improve your statement immensely. If you can, use that example to show (not tell) your positive characteristics. 4. Cleaner transitions The transition between your first and second paragraph could be cleaner, it wasn't immediately clear to me what your new role was. Try, "Half a decade later, as an athletic trainer..." Also, rework this sentence, it makes it sound as if you are already a PA: That singular event became the starting point of my physician assistant journey, motivating me to expand my clinical knowledge and skills to practice medicine at the highest level as a physician assistant. Overall you're off to a good start! You just need to cut down on the wordiness & make sure you focus the spotlight on yourself and convey why *you* want to become a PA. Good luck to you!

We have a group chat going so I'll add you guys to it

Thank you so much for all this info! Do you happen to know anything about the Church Road Apartments? Personally I want to get as close to campus as possible, but it looks like it's that or the Oak Summit apartments.

Yeah, I noticed that

Hey, I'll be starting the dual degree program at Glenside too! Do you know if you'll be applying for graduate housing or going off campus?

It was email, it's maybe just because it's the PA/MPH program.

Scratch that, received it today!

Nope still nothing. There's at least one more interview for the PA/MPH program so maybe we can expect an email after that.

Still haven't heard back I'll keep you posted if I hear any time soon.

ditto! Everything looks like it went through, but still worried... ? I'm going to check in with them later today!

Hi all, For those of you who were accepted & completed your deposits - have you received the follow up November email they spoke about?