gc8 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I'm considering applying to a new PA program which just admitted it's first students this year. Because it's a new program, I am a bit worried about the quality of the classes and the clinical learning opportunities. In order to get a better feel for what the school offers, I have an appointment this week to have an informal meeting with the staff and to observe a class or two. I'm preparing some questions to ask the staff. I'm sure I'm overlooking some obvious ones, so what sort of questions do you believe I should ask the staff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 15, 2014 Moderator Share Posted September 15, 2014 where are the rotations? are there other pa/np/md students present at those sites? are there enough peds and obgyn rotation sites for all students to do one? where are the elective rotation sites for things like trauma surgery and infectious disease? what are the affiliated hospitals and will the students be taught only by pa faculty or by physicians from these affiliated hospitals as well( that would be a good thing) who teaches pharmacology? is it a pharmacist? it should be. are there cadavers in the anatomy lab? there should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I was in the third class in my school's program. What impressed me was that the people who had started it had experience running other successful PA programs and that they had a solid philosophy in place. They also had the various requisites EMEDPA talks about. Programs may be new, but the people who run them had to come from somewhere. Find out where and what their philosophy is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arosswoods Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 where are the rotations? are there other pa/np/md students present at those sites? are there enough peds and obgyn rotation sites for all students to do one? where are the elective rotation sites for things like trauma surgery and infectious disease? what are the affiliated hospitals and will the students be taught only by pa faculty or by physicians from these affiliated hospitals as well( that would be a good thing) who teaches pharmacology? is it a pharmacist? it should be. are there cadavers in the anatomy lab? there should be. What do you think of asking any program these questions? But not to come off as interrogating during the interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 15, 2014 Moderator Share Posted September 15, 2014 if you get a chance to meet with some current students they might be able to give this info as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 You should be interrogating them during the interview day. You don't need to grill one person on all this stuff, but if they're going to ask you for $80k in tuition, they should be able to answer your questions. And they should expect you to ask them. I think the key, with a new program, is not sounding like a pessimist or an staunch skeptic all day long, question after question. I'd imagine one could be overlooked for this, but, overall, it's really important you be able to ask the important questions. And if they feel offended when you ask a question that's hard for them to answer, that reveals insecurity and weakness in their program--indicating a poor match for you. That said, there are some awesome new programs out there. Just because they don't have 5-years of excellent PANCE results doesn't mean they're not going to very soon. The key is finding those diamonds in the rough, and we do that by asking good questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Davenport Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Just be careful so as to not come across smug. Ok to ask. Good to ask. But ask like you want the answer instead of waiting to hear what you think the answer should be. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I have been counseling a prospective PA who aggressively interviewed a program that subsequently rejected him. Don't be rude; keep the spin off of your questions (like Detective Columbo would!). Be respectful and not overly direct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakingpatience Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I think its in the phrasing of the questions, instead of "do you have enough rotation sites", ask "can you tell me a bit about your planned rotation sites." I interviewed at a new program, and while talking about their rotations during one of the interviews I was able to get a lot of those questions answered, but in a more conversational manner stemming from that question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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