Going from Management Consulting to being a PA- Please Help!

[FutureNYPA]

I finished my undergraduate degree last year with a B.S. in Accounting and Information Systems (May 2014). I am currently 23 years old and turning 24 end of this calendar year. I am working with a Big 4 accounting firm for nearly a year now doing management consulting and am quite unhappy with this line of work. My undergraduate GPA in Accounting and MIS was about a 3.4 from a top public university in the northeastern US.

 

I would ideally like to go into PA school and work towards becoming a Physician Assistant. I have had years of clinical experience as an EMT on an ambulance and as a hospital volunteer in the ER- several thousand hours. However, while my B.S. is in Accounting and IT, my only 2 prereq's are General Biology and Statistics, both taken at a community college (both were A's). To take the remaining 8-10 prereq's (since it depends on the PA school itself), I would have to really do this at a community college due to time constraints while working FT. With this being said, if I completed ALL of my prereq's at a community college, would this impact negatively when applying to PA school? There are no good universities near me and I can't take on the expense of going away somewhere for only a few prerequisite classes.

[Glorious_Ignoramus]

Welcome!

 

The best way to answer this question is this:

 

1) Use the PAEA directory to find which schools you would apply to.

 

2) Contact each school's respective admissions department via email and ask them each yourself.

 

 

We can generally give you some advice...some of us know what we are talking about and some just like to talk for the sake of talking.  I tend to be both.  Generally, from reading many, many PA admissions page FAQs, I have seen that cc pre-reqs are just fine.  However, the people who make the decision about your application will be the only people qualified to give you the answer you are looking for.

 

Best of luck to you.

[UGoLong]

I was an engineer and a management consultant when I started my prereqs. All but one was done in community college (the easiest way to do it if you hold a day job, in my opinion, at least in our part of the country). I had no issues when I applied to schools. This is a doable path.

 

Good luck!

[AliB]

Pretty much same here -- working in business and IT with a bachelors in business administration (MIS) and masters in comp science, took all my PA pre-reqs at community colleges.  No issues getting interviews or acceptances; it was never questioned or even mentioned.  

 

That being said, do research the schools in which you are interested.  There are a few schools that have preferences (no prohibitions against comm colleges, but stated preferences), or they may require certain upper level course(s), which are generally not offered through community colleges.  

[sig194]

Same boat here (ex-consultant) - I committed 1.5 years to gaining HCE as a Nurse Tech, shadowing our PAs, and paying for my pre-reqs out of pocket at a CC since it was 1/3 of the cost.  It's very hard to get decent loans (and grants at all) when you already have a Master's degree.