bigdude Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 What is the average number of gaduate credit hours per semester that a PA school would make you take? I want to go to CMU (central michigan university)-this is where I did my undergrad and I like the campus and the rural environment. But they seem to require the most total credit hours that I have seen, 130 total to complete the program. The third semester at CMU is 25 credit hours, and thats graduate work. How the hell can you take 25 graduate credit hours and survive? The other semsesters range from 20-25 credit hours. Most schools recognize 9 graduate credit hours as a full-time student. The course load seems outrageous to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSU2010 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 What is the average number of gaduate credit hours per semester that a PA school would make you take? I want to go to CMU (central michigan university)-this is where I did my undergrad and I like the campus and the rural environment. But they seem to require the most total credit hours that I have seen, 130 total to complete the program. The third semester at CMU is 25 credit hours, and thats graduate work. How the hell can you take 25 graduate credit hours and survive? The other semsesters range from 20-25 credit hours. Most schools recognize 9 graduate credit hours as a full-time student. The course load seems outrageous to me. Nova Southeastern University has course loads of 17, 22, 32, and 16 credit hours for the Summer, Fall, Winter, Summer semesters, respectively. I think it's a common practice for schools to have 15-30 credit hour semesters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdebord Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Welcome to PA school :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craigk Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 yup, welcome to PA school. As to your question as to how its done, not much sleep, too much coffee, couple red bulls during the day to keep moving, weekends locked in my office at home and somewhere about 4th month in, there is a mini psychotic break waiting for you lol. It's tough, no doubt but very doable. Don't plan on working and pick times during each term that you can get away from the school stuff to maintain your sanity. For me it's Friday afternoon til Saturday around 1-2pm where I don't do any school stuff just hang with girlfriend and dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magicnubs Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Most graduate students take about 9 credits a semester, but the majority of their time is occupied with research and teaching classes for tuition vouchers. So, they are busy, but in different ways. PA students (and "professional degree" grad students in general) just never leave the classroom unless they're on their way to the library (where they sleep). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted March 30, 2011 Administrator Share Posted March 30, 2011 You haven't heard the PA school mantra yet? "Two-thirds of medical school in half the time!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devildoc0311 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 yup, welcome to PA school. As to your question as to how its done, not much sleep, too much coffee, couple red bulls during the day to keep moving, weekends locked in my office at home and somewhere about 4th month in, there is a mini psychotic break waiting for you lol. It's tough, no doubt but very doable. Don't plan on working and pick times during each term that you can get away from the school stuff to maintain your sanity. For me it's Friday afternoon til Saturday around 1-2pm where I don't do any school stuff just hang with girlfriend and dogs. lololol I'll have to watch out for that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted March 30, 2011 Administrator Share Posted March 30, 2011 FWIW, I'm 10 months into PA school, zero caffeine yet. I found as a FF/EMT that sleep was the only reliable way to cure a sleep deficit, that caffeine just ended up making me tired and unable to sleep, and I've carried that on to PA school. You can do it decaffeinated... if you prioritize sleep over study when appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coloradopa Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 What is the average number of gaduate credit hours per semester that a PA school would make you take? I want to go to CMU (central michigan university)-this is where I did my undergrad and I like the campus and the rural environment. But they seem to require the most total credit hours that I have seen, 130 total to complete the program. The third semester at CMU is 25 credit hours, and thats graduate work. How the hell can you take 25 graduate credit hours and survive? The other semsesters range from 20-25 credit hours. Most schools recognize 9 graduate credit hours as a full-time student. The course load seems outrageous to me. The didactic portion of PA school typically involves 30 to 40 hours a week of classroom work. There are two ways that schools typically use to calculate credits. The first is to figure out how many hours and award you the particular credits. For example my program (circa 1999). Class M-F 8-5 with an hour for lunch. Anatomy lab 6 hours per week. Clinicals (H&P in hospital or shadowing MD/PA) 4 hours per week. One semester radiology from 6-9 on Wednesday. So if you figure 3 hours for the lab and clinicals you are left with 30 credit hours for a total of 33 credit hours (36 on the semester with radiology). The traditional summer semester is 2/3 of a fall/spring. So if you did it by hours I should have received 88 credits for my didactic year. Thats pretty typical of schools that give your credits for hours. These programs typically have a flat rate for tuition (independent of hours). My program chose to charge regular grad school tuition. So typically my schedule looked like, A&P 4 credits. PA practice 1 credit, pharmacology 3 credits, Neurology 2 credits, endocrinology 3 credits etc to add up to 18 credits. Then they multiplied that by the tuition to figure out the final tuition. If we had gotten credit for everything we did it would have been twice the tuition (which would have made it more than four years of med school). Bottom line is all the programs are roughly the same didactic and clinical wise. The difference is in how they chose to award credits, which is usually an offshoot of how they chose to charge tuition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdude Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 The didactic portion of PA school typically involves 30 to 40 hours a week of classroom work. There are two ways that schools typically use to calculate credits. The first is to figure out how many hours and award you the particular credits. For example my program (circa 1999). Class M-F 8-5 with an hour for lunch. Anatomy lab 6 hours per week. Clinicals (H&P in hospital or shadowing MD/PA) 4 hours per week. One semester radiology from 6-9 on Wednesday. So if you figure 3 hours for the lab and clinicals you are left with 30 credit hours for a total of 33 credit hours (36 on the semester with radiology). The traditional summer semester is 2/3 of a fall/spring. So if you did it by hours I should have received 88 credits for my didactic year. Thats pretty typical of schools that give your credits for hours. These programs typically have a flat rate for tuition (independent of hours). My program chose to charge regular grad school tuition. So typically my schedule looked like, A&P 4 credits. PA practice 1 credit, pharmacology 3 credits, Neurology 2 credits, endocrinology 3 credits etc to add up to 18 credits. Then they multiplied that by the tuition to figure out the final tuition. If we had gotten credit for everything we did it would have been twice the tuition (which would have made it more than four years of med school). Bottom line is all the programs are roughly the same didactic and clinical wise. The difference is in how they chose to award credits, which is usually an offshoot of how they chose to charge tuition. Ok, now I get it. Central is just awarding credits to maximize their profit. Their overall program cost is comparable to the University of Detroit, a private college that offers a PA program in Michigan as well. $60,000 for a public university PA program is a bit much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaston Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 FWIW, I'm 10 months into PA school, zero caffeine yet. I found as a FF/EMT that sleep was the only reliable way to cure a sleep deficit, that caffeine just ended up making me tired and unable to sleep, and I've carried that on to PA school. You can do it decaffeinated... if you prioritize sleep over study when appropriate. I'm 2 years in and haven't had a drop of caffeine since I started. Stopped with the Mt. Dew and it was the best thing I could have done. After a long night of studying my body would shut down at 1 a.m. EVERY TIME. If I was at the school studying I knew that I had to leave for home by 12:30 a.m. or I would have a hard time driving. My body told me exactly when to stop. And to echo what has already been said, welcome to PA school. That's how it works. Now you know why you can't have a full time job while attending :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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