Devildog Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Greetings prospective PA students. As person who is full time faculty at a PA program and has the task of evaluating and reading PA school applicants allow me to offer an - as we say in medicine- application pearl. When you ask someone to write a letter of reference for you please educate him / her on the correct way to write the name of the profession: It should never be: Physician's Assistant Drop the 's. Have them write Physician Assistant. Physician Assistants practice medicine independently in collaboration with the physicians. Notice, I wrote, in collaboration with- the language of supervisory is no longer accurate in most states, therefore why the no "s". Needless to say if I see the dreaded "Physician's" in your essay then I will likely terminate the application process right there. Cheers Good Luck to all! Dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 1, 2015 Moderator Share Posted September 1, 2015 Greetings prospective PA students. As person who is full time faculty at a PA program and has the task of evaluating and reading PA school applicants allow me to offer an - as we say in medicine- application pearl. When you ask someone to write a letter of reference for you please educate him / her on the correct way to write the name of the profession: It should never be: Physician's Assistant Drop the 's. Have them write Physician Assistant. Physician Assistants practice medicine independently in collaboration with the physicians. Notice, I wrote, in collaboration with- the language of supervisory is no longer accurate in most states, therefore why the no "s". Needless to say if I see the dreaded "Physician's" in your essay then I will likely terminate the application process right there. Cheers Good Luck to all! Dog or worse yet, if written by the applicant in their essay: " I have always wanted to be a physician's assistant...".....round file. right there. do not pass go. do not collect 200 dollars. game over man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acebecker Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Cannot agree with this more. Two thumbs up. Emphatic nods. Jump up and down. I have seen students with the apostrophe "s" get an interview and I can't believe it each time it happens. Nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyM2 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 If you wonder why someone would be disqualified for making such a small mistake as saying physician's assistant, it's worth reflecting on the reason. Anyone who has spent any time looking at the PA profession as a possible vocation would understand that PAs make a huge investment (not just money) to pursue that goal and do not want to be treated as someone's assistant. To refer to a PA as a physician's assistant is disrespectful and it means you just don't get it. Make sure your spell checker doesn't screw you up. Chances are, no one will care. Sent from my KFAPWI using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealityCheck Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I always tell people I am not a possession - then I have to explain that an apostrophe makes a word possessive - deep sigh - basic grammar….. Anyway - I agree that someone who has researched the profession would and should know. Unfortunately, I still to this day see business cards with the 's and I see corporate medicine announcements with the 's and I cringe. Evidently, editing, copywriting and general proofreading is a thing of the past. If spell check doesn't catch it - it can't be that bad. Then, you add iPhone autocorrect and we have a whole new era of painful and unfortunate wordings that don't get caught before we hit SEND or publish the damn thing. To show how old I am - we need to go back to teaching cursive in school and how to use a typewriter….. and write a basic business letter. I fear my teenagers will write business letters in text-ease and a bigger fear that someone somewhere will think it is ok. I will go back to my rocking chair and candle and read my hardback book now…….. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiggySRNA Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 hardback book now…….. Uhhh, I need to find the charger to my hardback. ...kidding lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 2, 2015 Moderator Share Posted September 2, 2015 I always tell people I am not a possession - then I have to explain that an apostrophe makes a word possessive - deep sigh - basic grammar….. Anyway - I agree that someone who has researched the profession would and should know. Unfortunately, I still to this day see business cards with the 's and I see corporate medicine announcements with the 's and I cringe. Evidently, editing, copywriting and general proofreading is a thing of the past. If spell check doesn't catch it - it can't be that bad. Then, you add iPhone autocorrect and we have a whole new era of painful and unfortunate wordings that don't get caught before we hit SEND or publish the damn thing. To show how old I am - we need to go back to teaching cursive in school and how to use a typewriter….. and write a basic business letter. I fear my teenagers will write business letters in text-ease and a bigger fear that someone somewhere will think it is ok. I will go back to my rocking chair and candle and read my hardback book now…….. With glasses...sigh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachtopa Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 As a prospective PA student, I obviously know that it is Physician Assistant rather than Physician's Assistant. In all of my communication with my references, I used the correct spelling, but I did not specifically sit down with them and educate them on this spelling issue. How would you educate them on this without potentially insulting their intelligence? I can understand an application being thrown aside if the applicant him/herself spelt it incorrectly, but would you really throw the application aside based on a reference not knowing the correct spelling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiggySRNA Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 How would you educate them on this without potentially insulting their intelligence? Prospective here too. When I emailed my personal statement, resume, and the main things programs are looking for in a LoR, I emphasize PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT/PA. From the subject line of the email, down to the "please keep this on file because less than 5% of applicants get admitted into PA school" plea, in bold, underlined, red letters. I then hope for the best after exhausting every last option. I feel your pain though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soal2006 Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 As a prospective PA student, I obviously know that it is Physician Assistant rather than Physician's Assistant. In all of my communication with my references, I used the correct spelling, but I did not specifically sit down with them and educate them on this spelling issue. How would you educate them on this without potentially insulting their intelligence? I can understand an application being thrown aside if the applicant him/herself spelt it incorrectly, but would you really throw the application aside based on a reference not knowing the correct spelling? If they're writing you a reference then it's likely there's at least a somewhat decent relationship there. It shouldn't be any issue to just put a quick disclaimer since a lot of people don't know the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.