redrider Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 I recently have been accepted into PA school and am wondering what would be the best use of my time before PA school starts up. I definitely want to work and earn some money. Would it be better to work a ton before hand or review some of the curriculum like my anat & phys book or medical terminology, etc? Or should I try to relax a little (maybe take a vacation) before I start the difficult program? Any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NathanLe Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The consensus answer is always "relax, have fun, enjoy friends and family, and don't touch a textbook." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Go on vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 17, 2014 Administrator Share Posted February 17, 2014 The consensus answer is always "relax, have fun, enjoy friends and family, and don't touch a textbook." And the consensus answer continues to be wrong. Start planning for no relaxation--fill your time with work, study, or a mix, but treat your run-up to PA school like training for an endurance event. You need emotional stamina to not see your loved ones, and to reset their expectations so they get used to not seeing as much of you. You need to get used to putting in study time every day: not because you need to master any particular material to be successful, but because you need to recalibrate your life around learning. That is the mature and professional way to approach PA school. The other, more popular school of thought is akin to saying "might as well get blind drunk before you ship out for boot camp, because you're not going to get a chance again for a long time". If you've read the book Lone Survivor (on which the current movie is based), you'll read about how Luttrell started physically training towards becoming a SEAL before he even enlisted, a characteristic that set him and his peers apart from other enlistees. You're signing up for a grueling mental challenge; the time to start training for it is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 A good question and several interesting answers. You will probably get academic vacations around the holidays during your didactic year, but with assignments hanging over your head. During my rotations, I got some time off around Christmas, but that was it. Other points: 1. For me anyway, PA school was like a consuming job; if you were careful, you could budget your time and have some me-time over most weekends. If you’ve never had a consuming job, then you will need to develop some good time management skills before attempting this. So, if you want to go anywhere and see anyone, now is the time. 2. Children over summer vacation are encouraged to read so they won’t lose their skills. I’m not so sure that that is true for adults but, if you really want to stay up to speed academically, I would encourage you to read (gently -- no Navy SEAL stuff here!) physiology and pathophysiology. You could read anatomy, but it still probably won’t prepare you for your first day with your cadaver and dissection team. You could also take a look at the texts your program uses for its first term. My school also had some homework we needed to do before the first day of class. 3. Most of us had obligations besides school. A mate, children, parents, friends, etc. Hopefully, they will not go away when school starts! An important point to remember is that you have earned the right to give them some time and attention right now, both for them and to make you feel that at least you took care of first things first before the pressures of school start. My wife and I went to Ireland and found some of her relatives. Pictures of that trip hung in my apartment during school and reminded me that there was more to me that just being a PA student. That’s a good mental place to be able to go when things get tough (and they probably will). 4. As far as working now, that’s not a bad idea either. Only you know what your money situation is going to be. If it will take some pressure off to spend some time now raking it in, then go for it. There is no one way to get ready for school. Your objective now should be to relieve as much of the other pressures in life that you can so that, when school starts, you’re ready for what happens. Having been through boot camp and PA school, I can honestly say that PA school is significantly less grueling (at least physically). It takes a person to be ready for it, some good study habits, some time management techniques, the ability to get some stress release now and then, and the willingness to try new approaches when the old ones don’t seem to be working. Good luck to all you newbies! We oldbies salute you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NathanLe Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Fact is, we're all different and need different things at different times. To the OP, you'll have to decide if you need to rev up for the academic onslaught of PA school, take a relaxing vacation, a mixture of the two, or some other approach altogether. As for me, I'm going to get blind drunk by spending as much quality time as possible with my family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyM2 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Make as much money as you can. You are going to need it. And if you don't, you can always hand it over to the 99 percent who didn't get in. (Yes, I am becoming cynical in my old age) Sent from my Kindle Fire HDX using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamo24 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I am starting in the Fall and this summer will be my first Summer break since starting school (always took summer classes). For me, I have to keep my brain limber or it turns to mush from video games, beer, baseball, and golf all summer. As an EMT-B, I plan on learning how to read EKGs and then I want to use youtube for anatomy/dissection stuff. Not to necessarily learn it but to just see it, hear it, and hopefully retain some of it. For myself, if I don't focus on continuing to learn over the Summer, the first semester will be more hellish than it sounds like it already will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlumsden Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I was accepted to the Master's Program at UW's MEDEX in September. The online portion of the program starts in March, and I am required to be onsite on June 30th. I finished out my academic quarter of undergraduate upper division biology classes (but I lightened my load and switched to pass fail, with the permission of my program -- none of the classes were prerequisites). In January, I went to Argentina to continue working on my Spanish, and was even able to take medical Spanish coursework here. I'll come home in early March. Programs can be very affordable, especially the one I did last summer in Nicaragua -- cheaper than undergraduate tuition at a public university in the US, including home stay and meals. PM me if you'd like more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redrider Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thank you all for your advice! I definitely agree you have to prepare your study habits and mindset before starting the program. Along with that it is important to spend time with loved ones before as well. This helps a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AREID Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Haha everyone has some interesting answers. Redrider are you a family man/woman or a single person in their early 20s? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redrider Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Married, mid 20's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db_pavnp Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I was accepted to the Master's Program at UW's MEDEX in September. Did you interview with the beard in your AVI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlumsden Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 My beard was somewhat shorter when I interviewed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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