Too late to become a PA? Non-sensical?

[CastQueen]

Check its accreditation status. Ongoing issues over the years and was on probation just last summer. I heard it was admin stuff but don't have insider knowledge.

 

Yeah I know a student there currently and she tells me they have fixed the admin issue.  I hope so but still everyone is hesitant now...not good for our state.  Too bad Greenville isn't up and running yet!

[G. Davenport]

Too bad Greenville isn't up and running yet!

NGU and GHS are working on a foundation agreement to create a program. But it still has a lot to do to make that happen. PM me if you or anyone has questions about the program premise.

 

North Greenville University has applied for Accreditation - Provisional from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC–PA). North Greenville University anticipates matriculating its first class in May 2017, pending achieving Accreditation – Provisional status at the September 2016 ARC–PA meeting. Accreditation – Provisional is an accreditation status for a new PA program that, at the time of its initial accreditation review, demonstrated its preparedness to initiate a program in accordance with the accreditation Standards.

 

[primadonna22274]

Hey G. Davenport...I'm in Florence and will finish residency in 2017. I loooovvvvvveeee Greenville and almost ranked their IM program above mine but chose to stay put. I want to be a PA program medical director in addition to full-time FM work. Would love to hear from you as the program progresses.

[MHAgrad13]

Just submitted my MUSC application.  I have CASPA left.

[G. Davenport]

Primadonna. How fun. Of course we have to have a medical director long before 2017 but education is fluid. We should keep in touch. For now enjoy your changing world. I recall taking MCATs in 1992. My results were decent but my wife told me shed divorce me if I went to med school. So I relented. We divorced 8 years later :-). Yikes.

[EMEDPA]

Primadonna. How fun. Of course we have to have a medical director long before 2017 but education is fluid. We should keep in touch. For now enjoy your changing world. I recall taking MCATs in 1992. My results were decent but my wife told me shed divorce me if I went to med school. So I relented. We divorced 8 years later :-). Yikes.

you ended up doing ok anyway.....:)

[primadonna22274]

Primadonna. How fun. Of course we have to have a medical director long before 2017 but education is fluid. We should keep in touch. For now enjoy your changing world. I recall taking MCATs in 1992. My results were decent but my wife told me shed divorce me if I went to med school. So I relented. We divorced 8 years later :-). Yikes.

Sadly, my ex also threatened divorce if I went to med school. I went to PA school instead. I loved PA school and I think in hindsight it was the best decision for me at the time...but I resented him fiercely for holding me back. We divorced less than 2 yr after I graduated PA school. I wanted to go back the winter after I graduated. Once I paid off divorce, etc I started to consider it more seriously. Investigated it very seriously 5 yr into my career then talked myself out of it for another 5...but that little voice never shut up. I am glad I went back. Even though I'm working 80-hr weeks and barely sleeping and pretty much living at the hospital, and being paid 30% of my starting PA salary in 2000 (if you compare hourly rates...and I was underpaid then!) I am happier in the last month than I have been in years. This is where I belong. This is who I am.

Our recently departed Robin Williams (yes I'm still in shock and so sad) played a quirky psychiatrist in Dead Again sometime in the late 90s. One line has stuck with me: "Someone is either a smoker or a non smoker. Figure out which you are and be that."

--I think applies to any situation in which we find ourselves on the fence and don't know which way to fall. I teetered on that edge for many years then gave in and fell to the side that said "You are a physician." The PA side was a very good side too and it was very hard to leave it. But I am profoundly grateful.

Lisa

[whoRyou]

Our recently departed Robin Williams (yes I'm still in shock and so sad) played a quirky psychiatrist in Dead Again sometime in the late 90s. One line has stuck with me: "Someone is either a smoker or a non smoker. Figure out which you are and be that."

--I think applies to any situation in which we find ourselves on the fence and don't know which way to fall. I teetered on that edge for many years then gave in and fell to the side that said "You are a physician." The PA side was a very good side too and it was very hard to leave it. But I am profoundly grateful.

Lisa

It's ironic that you mentioned that particular movie Lisa. As I have been thinking also two lines from that particular movie since Williams' death ... 

The man I bought it from explained to me that, when a husband gives it to his wife, they become two halves of the same person. Nothing can separate them ... not even death. 

Hey, thumb****, I was a damn good shrink. Nineteen years I worked with a lot of people through a lot of ****. OK, I slept with a patient or two. It's not like I didn't care about them. I loved being a doctor. I used to not charge half my patients. Then the &*^#ing state comes along, they send in some +@!-+ undercover, and I'm =:'+ed'. Life isn't fair, is it?

 

[primadonna22274]

One of my favorite movies and one of my favorites of his many wonderful roles. Our world is a little bit diminished without him to lift our spirits. But I am grateful he is at peace.

I read somewhere in reference to his tragic death: what if instead of saying someone committed suicide, why don't we say he died of depression?

--That resonated with me. Have been touched by this awful illness on all sides--my brother, my mother, an aunt, 2 of my dear friends' husbands, countless wonderful patients and a few colleagues including a beloved supervising physician. Thankfully only one of them has died of depression...yet.

Sorry to derail the thread further but it was such a poignant moment.

[G. Davenport]

you ended up doing ok anyway.....:)

Yes, I did!  Thanks.  

[G. Davenport]

We divorced less than 2 yr after I graduated PA school. 

 

You are wise!  I waited 8 and have been divorced for 14.  But, it all turned out ok.  I love school and would go back, like you, if I wasn't on a different path today.  I remarried and re-invented my life.  I now have two sets of twins (all it takes is money).  Didn't want two sets of twins.  Wanted two singles but can't put them back and wouldn't.  I love being with my kids.  Watching them grow and learn.  I love being a mature parent.  And I love PA education, allowing me to continue service and have just a little more stability in my  home life.  Life is good.  

[Crystal Peterson]

Way to GO! I have a business management background as well. I'm 35 and going back to school. So you have plenty of time. And I agree with your statement about making money. I want to do something I love. And I have wanted to be a PA since I was is high school.

[UGoLong]

I admire you guys who found your way in spite of spouses (I guess "ex-spouses" would be more precise) who tried to hold you back by threatening the nuclear option -- divorce. I may have to add that to my list of red lights that should go off in your brain whenever you hear them:

 

1. There is only one way to do something

2. You only have one chance in life to do something

3. If someone threatens divorce to stop you from doing something legitimate (as opposed to drugs, alcoholism, cheating, etc), you might as well do it anyway because they're going to divorce you sooner or later anyway.

 

I am so lucky to be married to a woman who wants to figure out how to make things work whenever either or us have dreams. For those of you who aren't married yet, look for someone like that who can also make you laugh at yourself.

 

Good luck. 

[Guest Paula]

^^^^^^  I have one of those spouse gems too. 

[ssmith]

There cannot be peace where there is not trust; there cannot be freedom where there is not loyalty. Discover your strengths and passion. Talk to your spouse about your work before your PA program starts. Tell your employer your intensions, they are more likely to respect you for doing what you feel is right and you may find they will have advice and actually help you achive your goals. I should've stayed at my consulting job and done HCE/prereq courses part time until I got into PA school. But make the decision to do what you love and play to your strenghths.
On the other hand happiness in marriage and parenthood can exceed a thousand times any other happiness. If your family is your 1st priority, then learn to love using your MHA. I have felt selfish for quitting my consulting job to take a job where I earn 30% of my old paycheck just so that I can have a career that is MY choice. Make sure your family is on board. No other success can compensate for failure in the home. If you can succeed as a husband and father AND a PA then do it!