To PA or not?

[VaderSurgeon]

I got my Bachelor's in 2013 and have been working as a CNA since March, trying to break into the job market and get better experience (like at a hospital). I'm doing my PA shadowing now and I got my rec letters in time to verify CASPA in August. I applied to 7 schools but have only 2 rejections thus far.

 

I think I can get in next year's cycle with my current GRE and grades, and I think my problem this year was I only had 500 health care hours when I verified. My concern is I don't know if I can keep up with the other students if I actually get accepted. I know these programs have like 95% graduation and PANCE pass rates, but I had kind of a weak major, never took more than 16 credit hours in a semester with my part-time lab job, and have to retake Organic Chemistry. I never really studied long into the night; instead by taking 13- or 14-hour semesters I kept a decent GPA.

 

If any current PAs are reading and think I can succeed without going on probation, I'd appreciate advice. I'm not fantastic at science but CASPA gave me a 3.42 overall (I took my anatomy I and II at community college this year because at my university you had to be a med student to take anatomy).

 

I've wanted to do minor surgery since high school, and I don't want to get really invested in this opportunity and then fail.

[PACdan]

Current 1st year student here,

 

You have to dedicate yourself to studying, but it's nothing impossible. Lots of volume, sometimes up to 5 tests a week. Moving rapidly from one subject to the next.

But people who say they are only sleeping 4 hours a night or that they study all weekend, every weekend are either lying or comically mismanaging their time. It's nothing like that.

Get another year of all the HCE you can and see if you're still interested next cycle. If you like to read/learn medicine, you can do it.

[Lemon Bars]

I am also worried about the difficulty and volume of material in PA school. But I am absolutely certain that I can interact well with patients and do a fantastic job as a PA if I can get through the training. 

[DiggySRNA]

I'm not fantastic at science but CASPA gave me a 3.42 overall (I took my anatomy I and II at community college this year because at my university you had to be a med student to take anatomy).

 

Never EVER downplay yourself. I have a similar overall GPA and I had to WORK for it. If your uni/college is anything like mine, you have to WORK for that GPA.

 

What I've read so far, is that once you're accepted into a PA program, you're part of a unique family consisting of faculty that will push you to succeed and sometimes bend over backwards for you (don't expect it though). Nothing is wrong with being worried, but you must have faith. Many others have been through this type of training, and many have made it. You're what I call a cautious student. You respect your boundaries, and that is an important part of one's character (especially a future PA). If you get in and fail...so what? Many people fail out of college, med school, nursing school, PA school, aviation school...etc, and somehow, life moves on. 

 

You just have to be thrown in the deep end before you can appreciate it. 

 

I wish you luck with your journey!!!!

[UGoLong]

The major advantages of HCE are (1) knowing from experience that you actually want to be a PA and (2) understanding how the healthcare system works. I knew a little more about cardiology because I was a paramedic, but it sure didn't with all of the kinds of connective tissue diseases, labs, and so forth, or even with all aspects of cardiology.

 

Your academic performance hopefully shows you that you can learn new stuff because, regardless of your HCE (unless, perhaps, if you were a foreign medical graduate!) you are going to have a ton of new things to learn.

 

And you will. We all did.