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Wanting to become a PA


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Hello, so I have been doing some research on the whole process and there is a lot more to it than I expected but that's OK! I did have a few questions for all of you that have already been through this process. I am 34 and I have a degree in Communication and Psychology. I graduated with a 3.49GPA. But that was 9 years ago. Since then I have had several jobs but mainly I have been a personal trainer and nutritional adviser for the past 10 years! I am very interested in Psychiatry and mental health. I was thinking about med school but I am also looking at quality of life and the fact that I want to be around my family so I have read some really interesting thing about being a PA in Psychiatry. So...

 

1.) To Post Bac or not to Post Bac? Is there a Post Bac for PA directly???

 

2.) Is there schools that will take me with out what they might consider direct medical health care experience??

 

3.) Do all programs need a GRE?

 

I know that there is answer for these questions all over the internet but I have been reading for days and was wondering if any one could give me direct answers through their experience.

 

Thank you all in advance!

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Hello, so I have been doing some research on the whole process and there is a lot more to it than I expected but that's OK! I did have a few questions for all of you that have already been through this process. I am 34 and I have a degree in Communication and Psychology. I graduated with a 3.49GPA. But that was 9 years ago. Since then I have had several jobs but mainly I have been a personal trainer and nutritional adviser for the past 10 years! I am very interested in Psychiatry and mental health. I was thinking about med school but I am also looking at quality of life and the fact that I want to be around my family so I have read some really interesting thing about being a PA in Psychiatry. So...

 

1.) To Post Bac or not to Post Bac? Is there a Post Bac for PA directly???

 

2.) Is there schools that will take me with out what they might consider direct medical health care experience??

 

3.) Do all programs need a GRE?

 

I know that there is answer for these questions all over the internet but I have been reading for days and was wondering if any one could give me direct answers through their experience.

 

Thank you all in advance!

 

Hi! My professor in our behavioral science course (which I'm in the process of taking now) is currently a PA in psych and he loves it!

To answer your questions from my knowledge/opinion:

1. I don't know if there is a Post Bac for PA directly. Some schools do have undergrad programs with a track that leads directly into the graduate PA program, so that might be an option. You MAY need a Post-bac to complete your science pre-requisites, as those are time sensitive, and even if you took some of them 9 years ago, you might have to re-take them. You could also just take all required courses separately somewhere. I would suggest looking into the PA program requirements, and then taking the route that you find works best for you and the schools you are applying to.

2. Yes, there are schools that will take you without direct medical health care experience. If you go to the PAEA website, you can search PA programs by state and then go to each individual program page for their requirements. See what you find that way/ contact individual programs and see what they say. For some programs, you may even be able to submit your application and then spend additional time logging patient contact hours, if needed; it's probably best to contact PA admissions to find out more information for each program in which you are interested.

3) No, not all programs need GRE, but you probably better your chances by taking it. (I tried to avoid the GRE at all costs, but eventually I just studied for it and took it!) If you don't take the GRE, you limit the schools that you are able to apply to, which of course reduces your chances of getting into a program! When you start your application through CASPA, you can look at the list of programs and it tells you whether or not GRE is required for application.

 

I hope this helps! Good luck in reaching your goals! :-)

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1. I was in a similar situation and I didn't go the post-bac route. I had a degree in a major that couldn't have been more unrelated to healthcare, so IMO, having that psych degree is great! What I did was look at all the schools that I was interested in (here's a great place to start: http://www.arc-pa.org/acc_programs/). I looked at just about every school I could see myself going to and figured out what classes I needed to take to meet their prereqs. The prerequs aren't standardized, so even at that point I had to choose what schools I wasn't applying to, taking every possible class was going to be very expensive. Took me three years to work through them since I was working full time, however, I could have done it quicker. I kept my grades up and got into what turned out to be my top choice.

 

2. I highly recommend that you do some sort of direct patient care experience between now and when you finish your prereqs. Your background will serve you well, so getting 500 to 1000 hours of HCE will open many doors and opportunities that wouldn't be there otherwise. I'm only in my first semester in PA school, but I'm already seeing why HCE makes a difference and I'm not in any medicine classes yet! Look at it as a way to get ahead in PA school. You'll be grateful for the extra time you have to learn the massive amount of other knowledge you have to get through.

 

3. Don't get too worried about the GRE. It does depends on the school, but most people I know did well, but they definitely didn't get perfect scores. It's a test that one can prepare for and not something you need to do until you are a bit closer to applying, so you have time.

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