ItRainsItPours Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I'm a 24 year old EMT who wants to get into PA school. I'm going to paramedic school soon and will pursue a bachelors degree and pre-reqs after. I have to work fulltime to support myself and was considering getting an online degree from UMUC. Distance learning is just so much more convenient to my work schedule. I've heard that it is a decent school and regionally accredited like the traditional state universities. Do you think a degree from UMUC with a good GPA plus 6 years of full time EMS experience, four of which at the paramedic level, would make me competitive for PA school? I know the pre-reqs will require labs so I figured I could take those at a community college.I emailed the adcoms at the Towson PA program if they thought this was a good idea and they said I would be fine. But that was one school and I would like to hear a broader range of opinions. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I'm a student at Towson for undergrad and have some food for thought. The Towson allied health program is restricted to those with an associates degree in healthcare (like EMT-P). All the core classes for the degree are online and include diversity and biomedical ethics, among others (like medical terminology online). I've been able to get all my prereqs done with quite a bit of flexibility (five week summer courses, a three week winter course, evening courses, etc.). Something to bear in mind is that universities limit transfer credit, so some classes you take at the community college may not transfer over, meaning you need to take more classes at your university just to get the needed credits for a Bachelor's degree. Oh, as a side benefit from the Towson allied health program, I was in DC presenting my thesis about barriers to veterans entering the PA field to Senate staffers. It w's because my professor was the department head and had ties down here from a fellowship she did. Don't think THAT won't be coming up in interviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItRainsItPours Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 I've heard of that program before. So you would say you were pleased with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Yup. Graduate in December and pleased. I'll be more pleased when I'm accepted into a PA school, but that's a different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItRainsItPours Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 Roger that, thank you I'm definitely exploring that option. I like that itll accept my AAS and theres an online option, and Towson university I'm sure is better known than UMUC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatChecko Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Just be sure that you don't paint yourself into a corner and only meet the prerequisites for a couple of schools. I'd suggest you look across your region, or the country, and make a list of a number of schools you could see yourself going to and contact each of them to be sure your can attend them with your plan. School prerequisites, min GPAs, etc change. So you want to have some options should that happen. Really, what I'd do is make up a spreadsheet with all their prerequisites and then plan your academic career, year by year, from there. Thus, you will give yourself the highest chance of success when the time comes to apply to PA school. I would also recommend trying to figure out how to take the heavy science courses and as many of the science prerequisites, and their labs live. Many, if not most, programs will require this and it will allow you the most options when application time rolls around. It's a long road to become a PA, but it's well worth it. All the best! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatChecko Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 And yes, community college course are just fine, took a few myself. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maynard Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I have two concerns with your plan. One is that it looks like you don't plan on taking a full course load. You want to show you can do on a full-time schedule. I am convinced that colleges (not just PA schools, but colleges in general) do not give proper consideration to the time working students lose when they go to their jobs. CASPA even has a layout where adcoms really have to put in legwork just to see how jobs and courses intersect. Consider planning for at least one semester where you take a rigorous 15 credit load. My second concern is with UMUC itself. I tried to take some classes there myself. They do offer an impressive array of biology credits. However, I found the administration and support to be so spectacularly incompetent that I decided it was not worth the trouble. When you have a problem with a brick-and-mortar college you can stand in a line and refuse to leave the teller window until they help you solve your problem. When you're forced to use e-mail to take care of things they can (and in UMUC's case, they will) blow you off indefinitely. Their financial aid department is known to be particularly incompetent. Proceed with caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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