PA school or Post bacc nursing?

[Hefziba]

I am a third year student in University and I'm majoring in Health Sciences in the East Coast. I know I want to be in the medical field but I am torn between getting a post-bacc in Nursing or going straight to PA School. I want to achieve my highest potential but I don't know if starting with a BSN and working my way up would be more or less beneficial than going to grad school to become a PA. Any Suggestions? Please be informative and considerate.

[parnemt]

are you asking nurse practition vs. PA?

[Epangerl]

I would say it depends on your prior HCE and financial circumstances. My plan includes EMT-B, CNA, and nursing prior to PA school because I don't think I have enough high quality HCE to be a standout applicant. I'm also older (late 30's) with a family, so taking 2 1/2 years off of full-time work in an unrelated field is a significant undertaking. The financial and time commitment of PA school is high enough that I don't want to apply until I am sure of being accepted and prepared to do well, and I'm absolutely sure I can't be satisfied with a more affordable career option.

[RealWayPA]

At one point about 5 years ago, I had to make a similar decision. I was actually accepted into and went to the first orientation day of a post-bacc nursing program (one of the top 5 in the country). After going to orientation and REALLY thinking it over, I realized that doing the nursing program was adding an unnecessary lateral move to my overall goal of becoming a physician assistant. Yes, nursing will definitely make you unique as an applicant, and frankly there is probably no better HCE out there. The RN HCE is on par with paramedic and respiratory therapy HCE...those three seem to be the gold standard for HCE.

 

BUT...you also have to take the following into account. Post-bacc nursing is a fairly pricey endeavor - the program I was about to attend cost something like 50K to complete start to finish, not including living expenses, etc. For 50K, you can take a BUTTLOAD of prereqs and other undergrad classes to increase your GPA for PA school. I took the money I was going to use for nursing and invested it into every single undergrad class I could take, regardless of how irrelevant certain classes seemed to my goal of getting into PA school. Also, should you decide to go to PA school, nursing classes count as "other science" but don't count toward to BCP (bio-chem-physics) GPA that PA schools tend to take a lot of stock in. You'll end up having to take or repeat the prereqs you're missing as a result.

 

For me, the trade off of investing 50K, two years of my time, and putting an extreme amount of pressure on myself to get a 4.0 in nursing school wasn't worth the return that it would give me in HCE. At that point, I already had a competitive amount of HCE experience as an EMT and CNA, so nursing HCE wasn't necessarily going to be my golden ticket to PA school.

 

I think the overall biggest decision you need to make is whether you want to go into nursing/nurse practitioner or you want to become a physician assistant. While a lot of people say that NPs and PAs are analogous, they are educated in different models and are quite different in numerous other ways, as well. I won't go into those specifics here and that discussion has already been had in myriad other threads on this forum.

 

You said above, "...straight to PA school." As I'm sure 95+ percent of the people on here can attest, that doesn't happen. PAs are valued in large part because they have extensive prior health care experience. If you decide PA is for you, get yourself an EMT or CNA certification and work your way up from there. Chances are you're going to learn a ton along the way to PA school, and all of these experiences are going to serve as a great basis for working with patients and other health care providers. I thought I was ready to go to PA school as a 22 year old. Then I actually started working as an EMT, CNA and ER Tech and realized that it was going to be a long time and a lot of patient care hours before I felt knowledgable enough and comfortable enough to earn to the opportunity to work as a mid-level provider. 

 

Bottom line: if you want to be a PA, go after PA school. If you want to be a nurse and eventually an NP, go after that. Using one as a bridge to the other seems (to me) like a totally unnecessary step.

[db_pavnp]

Unfortunately, no one besides yourself comes close to understanding your financial situation, timeline, relationships, or living circumstances which might play a role in deciding what intermediate job to pursue before a PA/NP program.  In general, a post bacc RN does strike me as an expensive way to go if you are confident that you are going PA, however an RN does enjoy an hourly wage and scheduling flexibility unmatched by entry level HCE positions.  I think I could also add that with (an RN) and 12 hr shifts one can work serious overtime at one job or even hold down 1.5-2 jobs for some serious bank in one year.  Try making 100k in a year as an EMT-B.

[Hefziba]

Thank you all so much for your contribution to this topic. I appreciate your time and input in this. I am yet to get any HCE. I plan on taking a CNA course this winter and like RealWayPA said, "work my way up from there." 

 

Both options are expensive and with time and experience, I will be able to better determine which ROI better suits me. 

 

If I do go the BSN route, I would go on to become an APRN and if I go the PA route, well, it ends there. 

[cm7sus4]

 I am yet to get any HCE.

 

This is the only way you will know the answer to your original question.  This decision absolutely cannot be made without knowing what you are getting yourself into, either nursing, PA, MD, etc.