Spicoli Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 I'm an active duty Navy pilot currently on flying orders and can't find the time to go to classes with labs. If I take time off work and tell my CO it's for a medical profession I could be burning a bridge prior to getting accepted to PA school, which seems unnecessary. My question is regarding online prereq's and if they are ever accepted for entrance into PA school. I need to take Micro, Anatomy, and Physiology to complete all my prereq's. I noticed University of New England claims to be an accredited online school that offers pre-medical courses along with a few online degrees. Does anyone have any experience with legitimate online courses that were accepted for PA school entrance? Ultimately, I'll have to research each PA school I'm interested in but just thought I'd put my feelers out into the community. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 The vast majority of programs I looked into wanted labs and did not take online labs. You may have to wait till a shore rotation/ admin billet or till you get out to knock out what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spicoli Posted August 21, 2015 Author Share Posted August 21, 2015 Thanks for the response cop to pa. I found a school for others in my situation who can't take labs during the week due to work, but are able to attend class over the weekend. The locations are in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas and the website is: https://www.integratedscienceprogram.com/ . I've contacted a few PA programs in California that do accept the courses offered there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherrysher00 Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I took my general chemistry 1 & 2 and Anatomy & physio 2 online from Thomas Edison. I am applying to the PA program this year, there are many schools that will take online labs but you have to do the research and sometime its' not clear on their website so you have to email them. If you can do it face to face I would opt for that, just makes everything so much easier :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Many of the schools that offer online courses are completely accredited and legit. I found the best way to take online courses was via brick and mortar colleges that offered 'distance education' courses - there was never any question of validity of the courses because they came from schools that typically offered something similar in person. You'll have no problem finding online courses that are legit and meet accreditation standards. That said, you REALLY need to consider PA schools that will accept online courses/labs. I know that I had to completely rule out one school because they didn't accept any online pre-reqs. If you have location restrictions about where you are willing to go, that adds another level of issues in picking schools. There are schools that will accept online courses but not online labs (bc let's be honest, 'virtually' doing something is much different than getting your hands dirty). Before you jump into courses, really look at PA requirements and keep in mind that schools can change these from year to year. So even if a school accepts online courses right now, by the time you are ready to apply they could have changed their requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocksmann Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 MT2PA I agree with MT2PA. I did my online prereq's at UNE's com. http://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/ stellar classes prepared me for PA school. Your own pace it was great. Only draw back is funding. They nerfed TA a few years ago so that you need an actual plan and "commissioning" is no longer valid. Find a way to be a PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HM2toPA Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I did my prereqs through excelsior. At the time they didn't have a&p labs but they do now. I've been very pleased with the school! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger777 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I took three online courses due to time constraints with my app. To meet pre reqs for specific schools but I didn't happen to get into either for what it's worth. Committees get it that you are in a rush, there are tons of different prereqs for different programs and you want to pad your gpa but dont overdo it. I wouldn't take either bios or gen chems,orgo or micro online or even at a cc unless you are a ridiculously strong candidate ow. some classes like stats are a better fit for online and are ok. It's not a dq by any means but will often be discounted some and often for good reason--online and cc science classes are often easier and more topical and faculties know this. Some others are ok for expediency and will likely boost your caspa gpa but it seemed pretty clear at the interviews I attended that the committees really wanted to know if a prospective could handle the workload and as a first year I can see why. I'm sure it's hard on the faculty when people wash out and the programs lose money. It's important to strike the right balance between a good science gpa and demonstrating you can handle several rigorous courses simultaneously.Ideally this means taking 3 legit science classes at a name brand school per semester as the core of your pre reqs. Be strategic i.e. if there are 3 secs. Of gen chem 2 try to get into the one taught by the guy all the med students take as they tend to be more strategic and careful about this stuff. Don't be careless and take the guy who is the dreamkiller! Target med related classes like physio taught by physicians as these are often great but not graded punitively and will serve you well in pa school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger777 Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 As with my above post. It all depends on how much you feel you need to set yourself apart and how much you can do to maximize your chances. I can't really speak to your case, but every application involves a probability which you try to enhance and a final outcome in the end. To that end, there's a big difference between a school accepting online courses as a policy or an online school being legit/accr. and actually having a lot of these courses on your app. I can't say it's a dq at all schools for an ow strong candidate but it will be a handicap at some all else being equal and is not optimal. My prog. USF Ft. Wayne is no more than moderately competitive and I think all of our class and last class took heavy science loads mostly from schools like Madison, Mich. St. And Indiana. A couple have master's in bio and biochem. You can view all the bios on our homepg. That said, I'm not privy to the interview decision process. Just providing data. I would also recommend applying to as many schools as you can and go to all interviews offered. Most schools have secondary apps, often with essays and it's a time consuming process to do it right. I spent Christmas and the next day writing 2 essays for this school trying to make them awesome. I went to 9 or 10 interviews and they were great practice for other interviews. With school and all that it was off the chain for most of last fall and into winter. I went for broke, having a mediocre inconsistent lifetime gpa, but brought my deployment as a medic, solid science gpa and good apps. And interviews to the table, and got into a couple programs. That said, it's a fairly mysterious process and there's no penalty other than the time, money and effort to taking any kind of shot and it won't hurt your chances for another go round if you don't get an offer the first time. I posted at length to give the nuts and bolts of my particular experience to add to the overall picture and I hope its useful to yourself and others in making up your game plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spicoli Posted January 26, 2016 Author Share Posted January 26, 2016 Thanks for the responses everyone. Unfortunately, I am too old for the Navy's program due to being unable to complete PA school before turning 42. Talked with a few recruiters and with the program manager at PERS and she said they are not accepting any age waivers right now. Looks like I may be doing this as a civilian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UFPA824 Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 If you want the greatest amount of schools to apply to (which will increase your odds of getting in) then DO NOT take online prerequisite courses, especially labs. Maybe 1 biochem class or microbio class, but certainly not all or most of your prereqs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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