Search the Community

Hey all, Been reading a lot about applicants who have taken a biology/health-science/etc. masters program in an effort to improve their GPA or to "show" PA schools that they can handle tough, upper level coursework. I was wondering what you'd consider the "cut-off" to be for when you should or should not pursue a masters? Anything less than 3.7? 3.6? 3.5? 3.4? Quite frankly I've been considering this myself (I'd be happy to provide my stats). I know a lot of factors obviously go into a decision like this (trends, cGPA, sGPA, pre-reqGPA, HCE, shadowing, the application as a whole, etc.), but just kinda wondering what peoples inclinations are on this. Thanks!

New thread for the 2019-2020 cycle. Best of luck everyone!

HI! I am a current student looking to gain clinical experience as a medical scribe but am not sure where to start! I have tried to do my own research but every site I find seems to offer jobs once I am certified ( which I am not) . I want to make sure I take the correct steps and having someone I could come to with questions would be extremely helpful! thanks in advance !

Hello, I graduated last year with a 2.6 GPA and my science GPA is 2.4. I have two D's, I am retaking one of those two D at a community college ( organic chemistry) the other D is in ecology in which I may not retake tbh because I didn't enjoyed the class. I registered for organic chemistry 2 to help my Sgpa but my dilemma is this.... my financial situation is starting to stress me out. I cant afford to take hard core science classes ( like I originally planned) in a degree that doesn't lead to a guaranteed career (biotechnology). so I thought of either medical laboratory technician or lpn. I thought of these because #1 cheaper and faster option, #2 mlt has always sparked my interest and #3 I'm a cna ( almost 4 years) and I work closely with a lpn. the lpn option I'm looking at is a certificate option because is only one year. my whole goal in this is to help my GPA and also have a career. I don't mind continuing to build my PA application after this but I wanna make sure if doing any of these route will help me and not become a waste of time. if you guys have any other suggestions please let me know. the biotechnology degree I can finish it in a year but what if after that I'm still not a strong applicant? then I'm stuck with another degree... no career I don't care how long it takes to become a PA! I'm 24 years old and I already have a lot of financial baggage. I want to make a smart decision

I didn't see a thread yet for the 2019-2020 cycle. Good luck to everyone applying!

Hello, I am currently struggling to decide which field I want to pursue ( Master's in Health Administration vs Physician Assistant). I want to interact with patients but I also want to focus on managing hospitals and program implementation. Do you guys have any suggestions on what I can do that could expose my to both of my interests or if one has a higher job demand than the other? Any feedback is appreciated!

HI Folks, I am currently in the second year of my contract, i have a bachelors degree in engineering but thats from asia. I am an active duty army 68W medic currently working at an army hospital. Question i have is that, i was going through lots of PA schools everywhere they say that the degree should be from an university in USA. So is it not possible to get into any of the PA programs when i get out of military in couple of years without a bachelors degree from america? What can i do to improve my chances to get into any of the PA programs? I checked these schools as a sample. University of Iowa University of Colorado To be honest i dont care about the location once i get out, but wanted to know whats the way forward ?

Hey all, I am currently a 1st year graduate student for athletic training. I am looking into become a PA. Looking to withdraw from my program to pursue PA prerequisites but not sure if this was a good idea. Or if I should complete my program then complete prerequisites. Thanks!

New program pending accreditation. Good luck to all the prospects that are applying!

New thread for the 2019-2020 cycle! Best of luck to everyone!

Volunteers from the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF SURGICAL PAs, the first PA professional organization to host Pre-PA events, will be hosting an engaging and informative PRE PA COACHING SEMINAR in TAMPA FLORIDA WHEN JAN 18 2020 4-9:30 PM WHERE: USF CAMLS center https://camls-us.org/ Faculty, students, and lecturers from Cornell University, USF, Stony Brook University, Loyola Marymount, Touro, and others are all presenting or planning to attend. Opportunities for mock interviews as well as critical CASPA essay reviews available You can not miss this seminar...amazing admission tips, mock interviews, essay reviews, cutting edge PA news, and networking, shadowing, and volunteer experiences! WOW!You will:*meet PA leaders & admission advisors*learn first hand tips and tricks to become a successful PA Program applicant.*Understand the amazing & rapidly growing PA career field. *Get new info on CASPA! *Earn a certificate of attendance, great on a CASPA application! This event is hosted by AASPA and given by Surgical PAs, PA school faculty members, and admissions experts! All volunteer their time to give this seminar. Come and learn amazing admissions tips & tricks! Understand the process from the inside and find out why PA school has become so competitive to get into and what admission committees look for.CNN, Money Magazine, US Dept of Labor list the PA profession as one of the fastest growing & highest paid careers.AASPA is proud to be THE FIRST PA organization to offer Pre-PA seminars, which have become more and more popular. *Seating is limited*Dress is casual, but not too casual (you may meet a future PA school interviewer!!)This amazing seminar will include:-Overview of the PA Profession-PA Profession news that all applicants need to know-Essentials of academic prerequisites-Health care/patient care prerequisites-How to deal with CASPA-PA-wanna-be essays-How to stand out as an applicant-Tips for the returning student-One on one and group Q & A session-and much more!Registration/donation ($25): aaspa.com Since AASPA is a non-profit and the faculty are volunteers, it makes a great tax-writeoff! **For groups of 5 or more, you save $15 on each registration, email ceo@aaspa.com for info!!**QUESTIONS?? aaspa@affinity-strategies.com or Corrine Marconi, Executive Director corrine@affinity-strategies.comHOT TIPS*On the same day, Saturday January 18, AASPA is hosting an ultrasound workshop with SPOCUS...volunteer opportunities to be an ultrasound model ...what a way to build your CASPA application. *BRING YOUR RESUME, BUSINESS CARDS, AND SAMPLE ESSAY! To volunteer to be a POCUS model: aaspa@affinity-strategies.com*Discounted hotel rates will be available for Friday and Saturday nights for those flying in and/or volunteering at the ultrasound session. AASPA.COM for info (coming soon) AASPA Pre-PA FLyer 2020.pdf

Hello, In my pre-pa club a member asked a question about surgery for PA’s. The question was “Is it true that in order to assist in surgery you need to do an extra year of schooling after your PA program? Do this require you to pay more for school? Is this included in your PA schooling years or would you need to reapply for that surgical year?” I thought it was an excellent set of questions, which I would like more answers for.

Hello, I’m currently taking a gap year and preparing to apply for PA school when CASPA opens up in April 2020. I have a question regarding direct patient care hours. I’ve been working as a home-health CNA for the past 3 years, racking up 2000+ hours. With that being said, I’ve always had this anxiety eating away at me that home-health CNA’s are looked down upon in the terms of what they’re able to do as opposed to CNA’s working in SNF, hospitals, etc. I’m often misrepresented as a home-health aide even though I have my CNA license. I’m always afraid this will hinder me when applying to PA programs simply because I’m viewed as more of a “maid” than a healthcare professional. However, I do more CNA tasks than what people assume. I have bed ridden clients I care for, I have clients that require lifts, and I have clients that are on ventilators. On the other hand, I do have my fair share of clients that are on respite care and my time is solely spent there as a comforter and person to talk to. At a recent open house for a PA school I’m interested in, I voiced my concern for this and they assured me that it’s quality over quantity and as long as I was caring for someone it would suffice them. However, that’s just one of the many schools I’m interested in. With this being said, I also have some volunteer hours working as a CNA in a free clinic in my hometown where I’m doing more of the assessing and treating PA schools are looking for. However, majority of my hours are from my CNA job. I chose home health because I knew the company I was going to work for was very flexible with hours and I needed that while I was in college. I’ve been with them for so long and grew so close to patients that I haven’t thought about leaving and going to a hospital or SNF to get more/different exposure. I guess my question for anyone reading this is: would you consider my home health CNA job direct patient care?

I just moved to NoCal (Silicon Valley) area due to my husband's new job. My attending in Florida contacted his friend at a major university here and got me my dream job. I have five years of pediatric surgery experience and have been told that I am expected to train the other NPs in the group (who all have less than or around one year of experience in the subspecialty). I am less than one week into my job and today I found out that one NP (who has just over one year of experience) is being paid slightly more than me. Apparently this institution counts nursing experience as part of their calculations in salary. She told me what her starting salary was which was about 8k lower than me. She has since received a raise and her salary is now just a hair above mine. Part of this is because she was the only one running the show for awhile so they may have been given a performance bonus of some sort. This was very deflating to me given that I have five years of experience being a provider, have an entire OR skillsket, and have been asked by the NPs to proctor them to first assist only to find out that they are being paid more than me. Anyone else run into these situations in this area? From what I have read on this forum the nursing unions are very strong here in NoCal. Does this apply to NPs as well? When I received my initial offer from HR I asked if there was any room for negotiation and was told no because it was based on a scale for my clinical background.

I'm currently a student majoring in Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) and expecting a BS and graduating from an honors program in spring 2015. I'm planning on taking my ARDMS specialty exams in Echocardiography, Abdomen, and OB/GYN. I'm contemplating about transitioning from a BS in DMS to MS-PA and was wondering whether it would be a good idea and how I would go about my route. I'm not sure whether my courses for DMS (or if any courses from Allied Health program) would be considered towards my science GPA. The courses include multiple leveled courses in Abdominal Cross Section Sonography, Abdominal Sonography (1, 2, & 3) , Echocardiography (1, 2, & 3), OB/GYN(1, 2, & 3), Non-Invasive Vascular, Superficial Structures and Neurosonography, Sonographic Physics (1 & 2) along with 1,200+ hours during clinical rotation at non-invasive cardiology, pediatric echocardiography, OB/GYN/MFM, and general abdominal ultrasound clinical sites in the metropolitan area. I have not finished all my courses yet so my GPA could be lower or higher when I graduate, but I would like a opinion on the general overview. My science GPA (assuming they don't account for my DMS courses) is a meek 3.184 from Bio 1&2, Chem 1&2, A&P 1&2, and an Introductory to Physics course. I've taken organic chemistry, but withdrew from the class due to personal reasons. I plan to take microbiology since most PA schools require it. My non-science GPA (assuming they don't account for my DMS courses with my honors liberal courses Philosophy, Literature, History, Social Science, Psychology, Speech, math courses (Precalculus, and Calculus), and a statistics class) is a 3.37 Assuming the DMS courses count in my science GPA and not my non-science GPA, my science GPA would be 3.29. Assuming the DMS courses count in my non-science GPA, my non-science GPA would be 3.37. My overall GPA currently is a 3.35. I've done 1,200+ hours during my clinical rotations at hospitals and 800+ hours as a pharmacy technician at a retail pharmacy. I'm familiar with reading and performing echocardiograms, general abdomen and OB/GYN ultrasounds and reading CT scans, X-rays, and mammograms. I'm also familiar with drug names and purpose of them. I know that I have to receive my Bachelors prior to applying to the CASPA, but I would like to know any helpful advice prior to applying (I don't plan to apply soon, but it would be helpful to be completely prepared to submit my application) and opinion about whether it would be a good idea to transition from DMS to PA. Thanks a bunch!

I am currently finishing up my didactic portion of PA school and considering the amount of loan debt I will have, I am considering enlisting into the airforce or navy after completing PA school in 12/2020. I was previously an Occupational Therapist though I am not sure if that will matter regarding pay etc. If anyone has advice regarding this process and details on loan repayment, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi everyone, I am hoping that someone will be able to point me in the direction of some hospitals or private practices that have preceptors who are willing to take PA students in the scottsdale, mesa, Glendale, chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Phoenix area of Arizona. I am currently a first year PA student at Hofstra university in New York and we are getting ready for rotations this year. For my program, we are allowed to do two rotations out of state so I hoping to go to Arizona. However, we are responsible for finding the preceptor and giving the information to Hofstra. I will be staying in Scottsdale but I am willing to drive!! Any information will be helpful as I am not really sure where to begin looking or who to contact. Thank you SO much in advance!!! Hunter

I don't really comfortable speaking this frankly to my colleagues. None of my close friends or family are in the medical field so they don't truly understand. I am still a somewhat new PA and I am already considering a new career path. I went to PA school 2 years after graduating college, so I don't have any experience in any other fields besides healthcare. But I've been having serious thoughts about quitting my job and quitting the medical field altogether. A little background about me, I am in my late 20s and I have been a practicing PA for about 4 years. During this time I have been at the same practice, a specialty and internal medicine office. There are several physicians, but I am employed by one. I see patients in the clinic, in several acute care hospitals, and at nursing homes. Although I like the variety and the types of patients I see are very interesting to me, there are downsides to the job that just become more apparent every day. I work M-F 9-5 and 2 weekends per month. I have to take round at the hospitals and take calls on those 2 weekends, plus take calls 3 weekdays out of the week. I often work 3 weekends a month, and occasionally even 4 when my contract technically says 2. My supervising physician is retirement age and he refuses to retire and instead delegates more and more tasks to me. For example, sometimes if he is too tired / lazy he will tell the staff to just transfer patient appointments to my schedule. Patients are understandably upset when they made an appointment with the doctor they've known for years and get switched to the schedule of a PA they don't know. I feel like "as the PA", and an employee of the doctor, I pretty much get saddled with all the grunt work and undesirable tasks that he doesn't want to do. I know in other settings PAs are treated with a little more respect and not just given the busy work to do. There are some upsides, I do like my SP, we work well together, and I feel like I can honestly and freely discuss patients with him without judgment. I also know that he may retire in a few years so this job won't be permanent either. I don't know if getting a new job will help. I applied for two separate jobs that I did not get. One was a family practice M-F with no call/weekends and the other was an allergy practice M-F with no call/weekends. Getting rejected for both of those jobs really discouraged me and made me feel trapped at this job. It won't be easy to find a new position. I get frustrated with patients too. It just feels like there are so many patients who are med seeking. Some providers in my area were recently sentenced to prison time for overprescribing narcotics. They were reckless with their prescribing and I am quite careful, but the fact that jail time is in the realm of possibility for our profession constantly looms over my head. Patients also often want to be on disability when they clearly do not need to. There are so many patients wanting DMV disability placards and getting irate when I tell them they don't qualify. In addition, patients whose licenses get revoked want me to sign off on them being safe to drive when there was a clear reason the licenses were revoked. Again, I am on the receiving end of the brunt of their frustration and anger when I say they need a specialist clearance. There is just so much liability in our career field and so much stress involved. Liability is always there medically too. YOUR decision can affect whether a patient LIVES or DIES and it's so much stress that I have actually developed my own health issues secondary to the stress. I have had a patient stalk me and become obsessed with me. He wrote me unhinged letters and made many calls to the office describing my car, etc. We had to get the police involved and I considered filing a legal restraining order. I know this is possible in any profession, but it feels like healthcare can be personal and intimate and patients can get the wrong idea. I again contemplated quitting the profession at this time. I have looked into other careers such as being a pharmaceutical representative, working in research, being an accountant, ANYTHING other than this. I have contemplated quitting and just living off my savings until I figure it out. I have talked to some colleagues to an extent, many are much older and have been PAs longer than me. I sometimes question if I'm just being an entitled millennial who wants life-work balance early on in their career until I realize that it's not normal or common to work 24-25 days in a row. It's not normal to only get 4 days off a month (if that. Some days I would get 2 days off a month.) I actually finally told my SP I was considering leaving because I was too burnt out. He trivialized my concerns and said "Why are you burnt out? You're young. I have been doing this for 40 years." Which is true, but this wasn't the life I envisioned for myself. After talking, he did acknowledge my concerns, and he hired an NP who can help me with the workload and guaranteed that I will only have to work the 2 weekends a month as outlined in my contract and I did get a raise. (I still feel like I'm underpaid which is a whole separate story.) Sorry for the essay, I just really needed somewhere to air out my frustrations with other people in my career field. Thanks in advance for reading.

Hi everyone! I knew that Duke's supplemental application would be a beast, but I was just curious if anyone had experience with the patient care and shadowing tabs? Here is what I am struggling with: - PATIENT CARE: can the description be the same as on my CASPA? And what exactly should I be putting for the agreeable and disagreeable aspects of my responsibilities? - Shadowing: can I put the same descriptions as my CASPA? Thanks guys! Best of luck to everyone!

Hello! I was wondering if anyone accepted into this program could share or message their application stats (gpa, HCE...), I want to know whether, if I were to apply in a later cycle I could be considered a competitive applicant. Thank you for reading this and thank you for your time, I appreciate it a lot! -Maylily7 P.S. I'll put my stats here if ya want to comment on my chances of acceptance: cGPA 3.7, sGPA 3.5, Dean's List 7/8 semesters (currently in my last semester), about 100 hours volunteering for my school's EMS. I don't have a lot of Patient care hours but I am hoping to take a gap year and work on that. I also hope to retake the GRE to improve my score as well. Again, thanks so much!

I am feeling unsure as to whether or not I will get into PA school. I have a bachelor's degree in Public Health Science. My cumulative gpa is a 3.92 and my science gpa is a 3.8 with 61 science course credits. I have 1,000 hours of patient contact currently from working as a physical therapy aide during undergrad. I am taking a gap year and working 36 hours per week as a medical assistant and also taking weekend shifts as a physical therapy aid to reach approximately 3,000 hours when I apply next year. I also have about 200 hours of other related experience through working as a medical receptionist and volunteering and have 100 hours from shadowing. I have about 500 hours of volunteer experience from a service trip for income equity, a social justice student group, volunteering with a group that works to fix low-income health disparities, an LGBTQ+ community health clinic, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the philanthropy committee for my sorority. I am doing research with a nearby medical school and will have about 300 hours of research experience at the time I apply (this is a volunteer position). I was a teaching assistant for anatomy and physiology II for two years. I served as the president of a student organization and the vice president of the same organization, a program lead for a social justice organization, and I was the chair of philanthropy for my sorority. Other extracurricular involvements included Students Engaged in Public Health, Sigma Kappa Sorority, Maryland Public Interest Research Group, Maryland Leadership Education and Development, and Ballet Company M. I am mostly concerned that I have not taken enough science credits and do not have enough patient contact. Are there other things I should work on to strengthen my profile? Should I take more science classes? Should I consider a master's in a science field? I studied public health because I am truly passionate about approaching patient care from this perspective and want to work in health administration health policy in addition to patient care, and I plan to explain this in my personal statement.

I wanted to know if anyone could add any input on this; I had requested a PA for a letter of evaluation. He was happy to agree to give one. I also had sent him a copy of my resume just because I thought that was the appropriate thing to do. last week at work him had mentioned two things... he had brought it up to me that I didn't have my GPA posted on my resume and asked if if I was planning to put it on my resume. he also started asking me things like "do you want me to just not address GPA at all then?". So, for the copy of the resume I had sent to her, I didn't put my GPA in because I didn't think it was going to be helpful (my undergrad is a 3.35 which is not competitive) The whole purpose of sending him a 1 page resume was so that he could know a little more of what I have done in undergrad; like, have a little more amount of information of who I am outside of scribing. (I've been a scribe for about 9 months; about 5 of those months have been heavily involved with this particular PA, so although we haven't had many conversations personally its not like I am a stranger to him The other thing that he requested is if I had personal statement finished. I will sincerely admit, I am quite behind on the application process as my personal statement still has work to do; I told him it's still being written. He asked if she should have a summary of it or something like that so he has more details to flesh out his evaluation letter. I told her I would email her about the GPA issue and the personal statement summary because he was asking out loud in front of the other doctors and employees in the nurses station and I was a little shy to answer. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting him to ask those questions. So here is what I was asking: 1. Should I have 3.35 on my resume at all? (I was a public health major) 2. Is giving a personal statement/summary super necessary for you LOR evaluators? Because I really have alot more to do on my PS so I'm not sure how I can make a good summary in a short amount of time to give him; as well as the other evaluators.

Hi Everyone, I am applying to PA schools this year. Here are some statistics about me 3.0-3.1 Science GPA 3.5 Cumulative GPA About 700 Volunteer Hours 60 Shadowing hours of PA (3 different specialities) 12 Hours of Shadowing a NP 2,500 Direct Patient Care Experience as a CNA 1st generation student (first to go to college) Honors student, along with being a peer mentor. How many schools do you think I should apply to? Sadly, my science GPA is low because I received a C+ in genetics, and a D in ochem, now retaking Ochem and more than likely will receive anything in the C Range. All my other pre-req's are all A's and Maybe 1 B or 2. Attended Pre-PA conference. Have not taken the GRE yet, but severely worried. Input? If you have been participating in cycles, please include some of your stats and the outcomes. THANKS EVERYONE.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone accepted into this program could share or message their application stats (gpa, HCE...), I want to know whether, if I were to apply I could be considered a competitive applicant. Thank you for reading this and thank you for your time, I appreciate it a lot! -Maylily7

I need advice on how to handle a certain advisor at my school. There is a lot to this story but here is a nutshell: I'm majoring in Cell and molecular biology and this individual is the advisor for my degree. When I express my interest in PA school he shuts me down and makes me feel stupid for wanting to go that route (he discourages people from the medical feild even though this degree was designed for pre med and pre health students). I've gone to another professor to sign up for classes and when he found out he sought me out and said he is the only one who should be advising me. He told me I'm going to graduate in a year although that won't be enough time to finish my pre recs for PA school and when I say this he flat out talks over me and doesn't listen to me. This advisor has behaved inappropriately with me before and I have recognized him as a emotional manipulator. When I stand up for my self and don't do exactly what he wants me to do or I dont let him pry into my personal life he acts like a humongous baby and treats me like I'm a bad person. This creates an immense amount of stress and anxiety for me when all I want to do is just enjoy school and do well. I have to take 3 more classes with this person plus a senior project but I have dread about it because of the way he acts. My school is so small that the way its designed, he's in charge of much of my academics because of my degree. I've even though about transfering schools because this feels so unhealthy but I don't want to run from a problem just because its hard. Any advice?