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Could anyone provide some insight into why this school (and California PA schools in general) have such low ratings? I really want to relocate to the West Coast for school and thought California would be the obvious state of choice, but am finding myself resigned to the Northwest because I do not want to attend a school that is judged so poorly by its peers.

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Hi. Just curious if you could post your source regarding this. Not sure what the context is with "ratings".

 

U.S. News & World Report grad school rankings. Just google "Best PA Schools." Stanford seems to be the only one with a decent rating, and even then it's still not very high up on the list.

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Well, for one, I think it's important that despite the rankings or ratings, look at the PANCE rate for each program. UC Davis has had a great passing rate in the past. The program just transitioned into a Master's Program, so we'll get to take a look at the PANCE rate as the classes progress through the program. I'd like to mention that the PA profession originated on the East Coast and that it is still gaining popularity on the West Coast. There are a lot of incredible job opportunities here (despite what you may read elsewhere, I have found tremendous opportunities in great areas--it all comes down to how picky you are) because of the lack of saturation (again, people will say it's "a saturated" field in CA, but that is localized to big cities, SF, LA, SD, etc). So, you want to come to the West Coast to practice medicine? Look at passing rates for PANCE. I know that the name "UC Davis" carries great prestige in the medical community all around the state and have already experienced a handful of job opportunities just because I am a student here (PA-S1).

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Another thing: I love reading posts by bgdog--his dry humor is the best. But, I'd have to agree with him. If you are sincerely concerned about "rankings" then you're not understanding the concept that each program is held to standards set by the ARC-PA. If you don't like that Davis is #84 or whatever on the list, then don't go here. Students who abide by the standards and expectations of the ARC-PA are deemed practitioners--whether they are "good" or not is dependent upon the students themselves and the amount of effort they put into their own education.

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Thank you, both of your responses were helpful. However, my concern with the rankings is not because I'm seeking prestige, or misunderstanding accreditation standards; rather, it is that there may be legitimate reasons why others view the school in a negative light. Nor can PANCE pass rates be the final determinant in selecting a school for me because all of the schools I'm considering have above average pass rates, but this could be a consequence of the school's program, or despite it.

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I'm curious to know how these rankings are established. Is it popular opinion? I mean, what criteria are considered when designating this ranking or that ranking? Davis specifically needs a fair chance, as the program just moved from the SOM to the SON and has a tremendous amount of new resources and opportunities for students. We still have the same MD, PhD, DNP and PA-C professors as we did before--same professors for the med students. I have strong doubts that my future SP is going to ensure he hires PA's from programs ranked 5 or higher.

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The likely largest reason is as stated above that the use of PAs on the west coast is not near as much on the east. That said, a likely negative to west coast schools is, in my opinion, that there is also a bigger push for family medicine PA education and either a complete disregard or emphasis to deprioritize specialty PAs. One program director specifically said that if you are going to their school, you WILL be a family medicine PA as that is what they train you for, not to be a specialty PA. They further added that your elective rotations are specifically monitored and restricted to minimize specialty praciticing. That wasn't the largest reason why I pulled my application from there, but it was in the Top 3.

 

In the end, all programs lead to the PANCE, so roll with that. The reality is that some schools have better (and worse) reputations than others. So, take all rankings with a grain of salt.

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