rfo1234

JWU PA Program, January Check In

I believe I applied back in June and it's been silence from them since yesterday. In the email it said to reply saying whether we would like to no longer be considered for interviews or confirm that we would like to be considered and to submit any additional hours or coursework that can be updated.

Did anyone else get an email from Katie asking to confirm whether or not we still want to be considered for an interview? I got an email on Monday around 12pm

I haven’t heard anything and I’m honestly not expecting anything either. I know that they over accepted in the last cycle (2018-19) and had to ask students to defer their enrollment for this year. They made it even more enticing by offering lower tuition to those that accepted the offer to start in 2020 instead of 2019. Therefore, I think they have less seats available than the usual for this year.

If you have 2 acceptances and one is cheaper than the other and location doesn't matter, go with the cheaper option. You will come out as a PA anyways. No employer will pay you a higher salary as a new grad because you have more student loans.

Sorry to hear that you won't be able to attend despite getting accepted. To answer your question, I personally did just that prior to applying and it worked for me. I completed about 2,500 hours of PCE. I worked for a year to obtain my patient care hours. An opportunity came up for me to work in another area of the hospital (mine was the same pay) but it wasn't direct patient care experience. I worked there leading up to applying to school (about 8 months). I took the chance to leave patient care which was risky but it paid off. I noticed that I had far more to talk about in my interviews compared to others. It also shows that you want to keep learning and bring forward the knowledge that you've gained outside of your pce to your patients. Since you already received prior acceptances it shows that your application and interview skills were fine so I would say go for it. You've checked all the boxes and by doing something out of the box helps you stand out even more. If the new position is something you can tie into your desire to be a PA or if you learn something about the medical field even better!

I think that if you received interviews then your application on paper was good enough. Your application gets you an interview and your interview gets you an acceptance. I would brush up on your interview skills and try to apply more broadly. Your stat's aren't "below" average but they aren't extremely above average either regarding PCE. With that said, applying to 7 programs is relatively low given that your stats aren't spectacular. I would retake those 2 courses to try and see if you can bump up your science GPA but again, you received interviews so that may not make a huge difference on your app. Do you have any volunteer experiences that you've held consistently? Schools like to see commitment to service and getting involved in the community. If not, try and get involved. Volunteering is required by some programs (not all) so that would give you more options when applying. Also, wait listed doesn't always mean rejected ! Gear up for another application cycle just in case but stay hopeful! Best of luck!

Cadaver lab is at Harvard Medical School which is also used by the MGH PA students.

Something to consider is whether or not they are rolling admissions. If they are rolling admissions, it's always better to apply early. June is still considered early for the application process. The later you apply to rolling admissions programs the chances of you getting an interview and ultimately a seat decreases. There are people that apply close to the deadline and get in just fine but it's also about maximizing your chances! If they aren't rolling admissions then I would wait until I have accrued more hours to be more competitive.

I have requested to join the group

Description > bulletin points. Be detailed ! It's really the only place you have on your application to explain your role and responsibilities aside from a resume (if they ask for one, not all programs do). Also, include what you learned if you're adding shadowing experiences.

I don’t think I came off sounding offensive but if that’s how you interpreted it then my apologies. I was stating that the internal candidates that I met and having talked to them on the interview day really did not portray themselves as mature and what they spoke on behalf of their PCE it appeared to be extremely minimal. I say this based off of my experience during my time there. I understand that your defending your undergrad institution and that it’s your alma mater and how dare someone tell you that their program isn’t impressive. I’m also not saying that every single internal candidate is the same as the ones that I came across. I’m sure there are a few that are perfectly qualified and I’m not questioning that. I may have misunderstood but how are 3rd years in college not juniors? I understand that they may take additional courses during their three years which ultimately may mean that they are “senior” according to credits but for the most part: 1st year, freshman. 2nd year: sophomore and 3rd year: Junior, 4th year: senior. The internal students that I spoke with called themselves a junior so that’s what I’ll call them. Regarding your comment on having a younger supervisor is not applicable in this scenario. I strongly believe that many people like myself aren’t a fan of 3+3 programs for this exact reason. Applicants are too young, unexperienced and being tied down to a specific profession at the age of 18 is a little crazy. Speak to any practicing PA and hear what they say. I’ve spoken to many that are actual preceptors for MCPHS PA students and they aren’t impressed, sorry to break it to you. That’s quite naïve of you to believe that they don’t reserve spots for internal candidates. Of course they do. How bad would it look on them if they’re offering a 3+3 and 0 students are admitted into the PA program. I’m sure their admittance rate for the 3+3 would plummet if incoming undergrads knew that no students were admitted. Let’s be real here. Like I said, I applied there due to location and hospital-affiliations that the program has. I think every external candidate that went through the interview sign-up process realized how unfair that process was. Additionally, the lack of organization regarding emails being sent out is in fact a reflection of their program whether you like it or not. Also, justifying that their internal candidates still have to get a minimum GPA of 3.2 and 250 PCE to qualify for an interview is setting really low standards. Getting into PA schools is challenging and the number of applicants admitted in the first try with a 3.2 and 250PCE is low, possible but low. It’s saying “We aren’t guaranteed an interview because we have to get a minimum of a 3.2 and 250 hours and take such and such course so it’s not certain” Well, honestly, how hard is it to maintain a 3.2 if your serious about your studies and be a CNA for 1 month over your summer break? Oh and btw, the school actually helps internal candidates by holding mock interviews with them. If that isn’t an advantage then I don’t know what is. I also want to be very clear here that although already being admitted to another program, I am still hoping to get admitted here so I can have options as the other program requires relocation. If admitted and I do decide to attend, the things that I mentioned will still bother me throughout my time there. Best of luck to you on your PA endeavors!

I was also excited prior to the interview because I would be able to stay local and also attend a program that is strongly affiliated with a hospital that I work for. However, I was really underwhelmed. The tour was also a downer. I know MCPHS is that one building with their undergrad dorms being there too, however, I wasn’t a fan of the little room that looks like a basement for the PA students. Did you notice that? I can’t imagine that there would be 100 of us in there at the same time for skills lab or something. Also, it seemed like the PA program isn’t something the school is proud of (compared to their pharmacy program) so it felt like they offer it for the money and the students end up getting a sub-par education for the high cost. Glad to know that I wasn't the only one that wasn't impressed with the program overall.

Did anyone else reconsider attending this program after the interview? I ended up getting waitlisted (I'm not bitter about it, I got into another program anyways) but I was kind of thrown off even from the initial interview sign-up process until the interview day. The program says that we should expect an email and we never receive them and it seems like we’re told different things. I never got an email regarding the admission decision and I never got an email to sign up for the interview. Luckily, I got a spot but there seems to be a pattern with them saying something but not doing it. Looking back, they didn’t once mention cost of attendance. All the other programs I’ve attended gave some sort of financial aid presentation or provided a power point slide regarding the cost. I know this program is out of the norm expensive which could be a reason why they didn’t mention it in their interview day. Although, that seems really sketchy to me on their end since I’ve also heard of students only knowing the true cost once they got the bill. I also really don’t know how they select candidates for admission. The questions I got asked were extremely surface level and none that were really getting to know me. The alumni that I interviewed with didn’t seem to want to be there and the other person asked me if I was an internal candidate (which I wasn’t). Personally, that came off to me as though he didn’t review my application or would’ve given me more consideration if I was an internal candidate. I was also very thrown off by one of the faculty members giving a presentation showed extreme concern for their upcoming accreditation review in 2022. She spoke very negatively about it and also came off as though she was worried. Knowing that their other campus was put on probation made me think that this may also happen to the Boston campus. I’m aware that it shouldn’t affect current students because probation is still a form of accreditation, however, I do believe that accreditation tiers are there for a reason and shouldn’t be overlooked. I was really caught off guard with the internal candidates to be completely honest. I knew that they reserve seats for their 3+3 program but the students that I met were really really lacking maturity, experience and general knowledge of patient care and life. I’m not trying to be offensive but having met those candidates in person (who are in their junior year of college btw) really put it into perspective how much they lack real-world experience. It also made me think how hard it would be to be in class and work along the young internal candidates. To think that someone may have been accepted with 200 or so hours compared to someone like myself and many others that had over 2000 PCE and over 1000 HCE is bothersome. Not sure what their selection process it but I can garuntee that they miss out on awesome students and future PAs by 1: their interview sign up system and 2: Reserving spots for 19,20 year olds with no work or real life quality experience. Am I crazy or did anyone else get this vibe on the day of the interview? Just an FYI I’m from Boston, so I wasn’t all giddy and excited about being in this city and doing rotations here as someone that may come from a different part of the country and may have overlooked the other parts of the program. * Disclaimer: I'm not lashing out on the internal candidates or trying to make the programs look bad. I was just curious if I'm the only one that observed those things or not.

I also got waitlisted. I've heard that people get on the waitlist but never hear back LOL