greenmood

You are misunderstanding the question. The goal of a question like that is to assess your insight into your own strengths and weaknesses, to see if you can identify “big picture” challenges and devise ways of overcoming them. I really think you will be missing the point if you talk about academics the way you’re describing, and honestly I think it will put your application at risk. So, think about your daily life as a PA student. Are you going to be juggling family commitments? Are your study or time management skills rusty? Are you shy or do you have difficulty articulating your strongly held beliefs? Those kind of struggles. Everyone has a hard time memorizing pharmacology. It’s part of life.

That was the first thing I looked at and they were $8K. I want one so badly.

Any fun equipment/devices out there for a hospitalist? I have about $900 of CME funds leftover this year. I have a serviceable stethoscope I bought in April and can’t buy another one til next year (or I would spring for something fancy). I could always find some books, but I’d rather find gadgets. I have pretty wide leeway in using the funds. I can also use the money for iPhone apps, if anyone has favorites.

I dunno if I really see the big deal here. They should have offered you several dates and let you choose the one that worked best in your schedule. That's about the only thing I see "wrong" here, and I bet if you just called them back and said their date didn't work they would figure out a better one with you. Long interview days are super common, as I'm sure you've seen from the varied responses above. Where I work we do whole interview days that include a full morning of shadowing followed by lunch with members of the department, a formal interview, and meetings with various department figures. They want a good fit and for prospective employees to have interactions with as many staff as possible. For out of town interviewees, the department also hosts a dinner out at a local restaurant. Is it a long day? Yes. It's hard to be "on" for that length of time, but it helps both sides figure out if it's really a good match or not. Probably reduces staff turnover, although I don't have data to back that up. As for the restaurant, unless you have anaphylactic level allergies to basic food ingredients, I would say suck it up.

Email.

When I applied (2010) I had about 8000 hours as a physical therapy aide. I had been working in that role since my junior year of high school, part time through college, and then full time for several years prior to my application. I was in a hospital setting for most of it though - and working in an ICU as an aide is much different than working at Athletico. It was excellent experience. You need to be able to articulate WHY it's so great, though. It taught me how to communicate with patients and be comfortable with the uncomfortable. That's difficult to teach in a classroom.

I've been in practice five years with the same company. I get 264 hours of PTO per year, which working 12 hour shifts is 22 days. No separate sick time. I also have 7 days of CME per calendar year.

Upper Midwest here. Tattoos (even large ones) are fine where I work unless they contain profanity or other adult content, in which case they must be covered.

Better shoes exist, just keep looking. Invest in some good quality socks - I like the ones with a little pad at the Achilles area.

Dress code at my hospital is business attire. Men wear suits with jacket and tie (I’ve seen some bow ties which honestly just look pretentious) or can wear a white coat. Women wear dresses or suits, and can wear a white coat. Khakis, jeans, etc are expressly forbidden. Until about 2 years ago all the women were required to wear pantyhose. You get used to it and I do think it sets a tone for the interaction.

I work 12s as a hospitalist. Which days they fall on would depend on the size of your group and practice needs, I imagine. I don't work the same days every week, but there is a rhythm to it if you look at the schedule over a quarter or half-year.

I assume PCE stands for Patient Care Experience? I don't recall that being a category when I submitted CASPA (2010). I just remember there was HCE. Maybe something has changed? I haven't looked at CASPA recently. I had about 8000 hours or so as a PT aide and it was direct patient care experience.

It looks fine. I was a physical therapy aide (not a PTA) for years prior to PA school and there were no issues. Be ready to explain why you like your job and why you want to switch to PA. I don't know much about ortho tech, but I'll bet your program director is trying to get you into something faster to help you reach your goal. Many, many people view PTA as their career and not as a stepping stone to another career. I guess I'm saying there are faster ways to get HCE that don't involve as much school/time/money.

Good for you! We're also doing a modified Dave Ramsey plan (due to the length of expected pay off, we are keeping more than 1K in emergency funds) and have signed up for PSLF as a backup in case something happens. Good luck! Stay focused!

No, we are about 50/50 where I work. NPs definitely have more bodies in upper upper management and leadership, but even our supervisors are about split between PAs and NPs. You should check out the job boards at a local PA school. They usually have leads.