ohiovolffemtp Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 You are certainly not too old. I was 55 when I got my PA license - 53 when I started PA school. Somewhat similar background to UGoLong: 29 years corporate IT, FF/medic on the side, then did that & taught to pay bills while doing pre-reqs. In some ways it was easier: kids grown & gone; it some way's harder: found I didn't memorize near as well as I did in undergrad the 1st time 35 years before. Biggest thing I'd say is make sure you shadow providers: PA's, NP's, doc's in the areas you hope to practice. Make sure that you like the work and the lifestyle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShannonAshley Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 Hello everyone! I’m new to the board and actually came looking for this specific topic. I am 40 and just now starting my PA journey. Well I guess I should say “restarting” lol. I started out on the PA track about 10yrs ago then got discouraged (and married/pregnant) and dropped out. I do have a BA but will need to complete requirements and also obtain the necessary hands on clinical experience as I’ve been working in a totally different career field for the last 10yrs. Does anyone have a similar situation and if so what was your timeline? How long did it take you to complete prerequisites and what did you do to get clinical experience if you weren’t previously in the medical field? I’m thinking of taking a short phlebotomist course and hopefully, if I’m able to land a paying position, use that as hands on experience. Any suggestions given would be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SrTaM Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 On 10/18/2018 at 9:57 AM, ShannonAshley said: Hello everyone! I’m new to the board and actually came looking for this specific topic. I am 40 and just now starting my PA journey. Well I guess I should say “restarting” lol. I started out on the PA track about 10yrs ago then got discouraged (and married/pregnant) and dropped out. I do have a BA but will need to complete requirements and also obtain the necessary hands on clinical experience as I’ve been working in a totally different career field for the last 10yrs. Does anyone have a similar situation and if so what was your timeline? How long did it take you to complete prerequisites and what did you do to get clinical experience if you weren’t previously in the medical field? I’m thinking of taking a short phlebotomist course and hopefully, if I’m able to land a paying position, use that as hands on experience. Any suggestions given would be greatly appreciated! I was 28 when I started the process of going back to school, 30 when I applied, 31 when I started this year. My BA was in a completely different field, so I had to take a lot of courses, plus get PCE. I took 2-3 courses per quarter for prereqs, and also did a full-time Surgical Tech program (9 months), while finished prereqs. I only worked for a few months as a Tech before I applied to PA schools (not ideal, but it worked). Message me if you want more details on how I planned it all out. I did it all in two years (from starting prereqs to getting accepted to PA school), and not sure it's possible to do it in any less amount of time. If I had to go back and do it all over again, I would have really tried to get an MA job that was willing to train me on the job. This can be very difficult, and will really require you to be proactive and reach out to anyone/everyone, but I think it can be done. In my opinion, if you get a good MA position where you are really hands on with the patients, that's one of the best experiences for PA school. Where I was living (large city), there were a ton of very experienced MAs, most places wouldn't hire without a 2 year degree or certification, and many wouldn't even hire new grads. But if you can start right away with PCE (even if it's just working for a shit or two per week while you start with your prereqs), I think it'll be a huge help t you/your application. The large primary care office I shadowed PAs in had a few MAs who were very involved with taking care of patients, and they were treated so well by the PAs and MDs. The MDs in the office were basically grouped by pediatrics, family med, and geriatrics, and the PAs would be assigned to 3-5 MDs and handle all of their urgent care appointments (which turned out to be interesting for me when I was shadowing because of the diversity of patients). The MAs would work with both the PAs/NPs and MDs, and were really well integrated in to the system for patient care (and were well respected). If any of the MAs were pursuing PA or Med School, the physicians and PAs were very supportive and helped them however they could - whether by helping them study, exposing them to diverse patients and types of care, writing LORs, etc. THAT is the kind of experience I really would have liked prior to PA school. I really didn't like my surg tech program (and not surprisingly, I ended up not liking working as a surg tech either), so I wouldn't do that again (hindsight). But definitely try to get VALUABLE PCE. A lot of people just look at it as a check mark on getting your application complete, but good PCE is so, so valuable. I can't tell you how beneficial it will be for you in PA school to have valuable experience with patients and PAs/MDs. And while a lot of schools will want you to have a ton of hours, I argue that the quantity can never surpass quality. So to that point, I'd really suggest not doing phlebotomy - it'll check off the PCE requirement, sure, but think long-term, how beneficial will it be to you? Aside from trying to be an MA, I'd suggest EMT (or better yet, ER Tech), or I actually have some classmates who had incredible experiences as CNAs and Patient Care Techs - that really depends on where you get a job. Some CNAs are just glorified assistants/interns who hardly ever interact with patients (the hospital I did my surg tech internship in, the CNAs didn't do much more than restock rooms and help with administrative stuff, they hardly ever interacted with patients or even much of the staff), but some of them are really the nurse's and PA's right arm and really gain some great experience. Send me a message if you want more info on the process/timeline/etc. Don't worry about your age - PA students are all over the place (our class ranges from 21 to 50+). It's a little discouraging in the beginning to see all these students straight out of undergrad (the LOVE talking about grades, and their study habits are very well formed), but having life experience, and the drive/courage that comes from being a career-changer is huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photograph51 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I graduated at 40. A student in the year ahead of me who was in her 50's said it was weird to look around the classroom one day and realize that she could've given birth to most of the class. I figure you're only too old when you're dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packman PA Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 I'm 47 right now but will be 48 when I start and 50 when I graduate. I agree you are only as old as you feel and I feel young...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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