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Parents gave me a ultimatum to do Pre Med. What can I do to still be a PA?


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First off you're a HS student so there is no way you are 100% about which healthcare career you want to enter

 

That's odd...I was a high school senior who was and still is convinced the PA profession is the right career choice for me. I find it interesting that it's totally okay for a high school student to say they were destined to be a MD with only knowing...yeah MDs provide care and make boatloads of money, and everyone pushes them to become one.

 

Then if another individual say he/she is destined to be a PA he/she gets lectured to why he/she knows nothing about the career they want to enter and then pushed to "consider MD if you're considering PA." Let's be consistent folks. Why not tell students who are interested in MD/DO school to consider PA/NP since based on said logic that they too have no idea what health care career they want to enter? 

 

Apart from that, I agree with the shadowing part.

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That's odd...I was a high school senior who was and still is convinced the PA profession is the right career choice for me. I find it interesting that it's totally okay for a high school student to say they were destined to be a MD with only knowing...yeah MDs provide care and make boatloads of money, and everyone pushes them to become one.

 

Then if another individual say he/she is destined to be a PA he/she gets lectured to why he/she knows nothing about the career they want to enter and then pushed to "consider MD if you're considering PA." Let's be consistent folks. Why not tell students who are interested in MD/DO school to consider PA/NP since based on said logic that they too have no idea what health care career they want to enter? 

 

Apart from that, I agree with the shadowing part.

 

 

I say the same thing with MD/DO. You really cannot be 100% sure during HS about any career. Tbh I've heard of people IN med/pa/etc. schools that still weren't 100% sure.

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I know that in high school till now I've wanted to be a crime scene investigator, then a forensic scientist, then a forensic document examiner, then a wildlife biologist, then a vet, then a "screw it Ill make minimum wage for the rest of my life," followed by a long series of "maybe" careers. That's probably why I'm doing so much research on this career "decision." Making up your  mind at any stage of life is hard. Its forever. You'll change your mind a ton of times. 

 

To the OP- you have 3 options:

1. Do what your parents want, go pre-med and then apply to PA school (or whatever you've decided on at that point).

2. Convince your parents that the major that you want can be applied to MD/DO or PA when the time comes.

3. Major in whatever the heck you want and take out student loans, get scholarships, and apply for the FAFSA to pay your own way.

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There is so much in common of premed and pre-PA that you can legitimately do premed, satisfy your parents, and still finish off the pre-PA courses without much more fuss.

 

Premed is:

1 year of physics w/lab

1 year of general chemistry w/lab

1 year of organic chemistry w/lab

1 year of general biology w/lab

That's it, no more. There is no "premed major" but many premeds major in biology or biochemistry. An old roommate of mine majored in music with a minor in biology.

 

Many PA progams require all of those, except physics. PA programs also require 2 semester of A&P w/lab, microbiology w/lab, & statistics. Some other PA programs also add in biochemistry and/or genetics. All of this is definitely with the domain of a "typical premed" tho the actual premed requirements are those listed above.

 

Anyone who is applying to medical school or PA school needs to make themselves a competitive candidate. Therefore it make sense to do more than just the minimum number of pre-reqs. What you major in is not nearly as important as the actual courses you take. You can have have a degree in advanced biochemistry but if you didn't take two semesters of physics with lab you aren't eligible for medical school. With this in mind I urge you to consider why you want PA over medical school. If your parents stress you about it remind them there is a PA->DO program (at LECOM) that gives credit for being a PA.

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