Most common reasons NEW PA students drop out

[paproof]

I'm curious to know why new PA students end up dropping out of PA programs.  Granted, life happens and sometimes people have to deal with unforeseen circumstances, but for those in school/familiar with the education process, what have you witnessed as reasons why students drop out?  Is it the workload?  Not what they expected?  

[PACdan]

Lost two students in didactic year. One was family related. The other was "personal health". For the latter I suspect it was a way to leave and still get their money back. I think some people do underestimate the time commitment and need to restructure their life.

 

I have yet to see someone forced out for academic reasons. Our program informed us that in the rare event they do let someone go, it is most often related to professional behavior or lack there of on rotations, excessive absenteeism, etc. PA programs seem to have no tolerance for shenanigans on rotations and for good reason. We need to be good stewards of the profession early on, as we'll be out and practicing medicine in short order.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Had one drop out 2 days after starting saying it wasn't what they expected. Really no clue what happened there. One later due to syncope. One failed a UDS. One chronically late for everything. The rest for academic reasons. Didn't lose anyone in rotations I think.

[pavlovacloud]

We lost a few in our class, mostly due to academic reasons.

 

1. One wasn't use to the rigor and was a mother. Her GPA was fine but I guess she rather take care of family.

2. One was in his 60's and just didn't have the right mind set. 

3. One missed her family a ton and would get anxiety occasionally without them. However, she was accepted to another program a year later and is doing great.

[True Anomaly]

We lost two for purely academic reasons. Both came back with the next year class- one finished, and one washed out again for a final time

[Timon]

Our class started with 62 students. We ended with 57 at graduation. We lost 2 on our 3rd week of class.

 

The first one left because she decided she didn't want to be a provider in medicine but rather in healthcare administration.

 

The 2nd one was accepted off the wait list to the D.O. Program our PA program was affiliated with.

 

The 3rd one decided that she had too much personal baggage going on that she decided to handle her affairs and cone back with the next class (while repeating session 1 all over again). This student is now in her 2nd month of clinical rotations now.

 

The 4th one found out her father had terminal cancer with weeks to love during her 3rd session of school. She took the year off and resumed with the class behind us once they entered session 3. She is also in her 2nd month of clinical rotations now as well.

 

The last one got pregnant during rotations and had complications during pregnancy that required a leave of absence and they took 6 months off and returned with the class behind us.

[Skraemer]

We are just about to finish our second (and some argue hardest) semester and we haven't lost anyone yet. One of my professors said one of the main reasons people drop out is because they're newly married and on the brink of divorce because of school. My program rarely loses anyone for academic reasons but has kicked people out for professional misconduct and forging paperwork.