Pre-PA pathway, BS Emergency Medical Care.. questions

[AlmostaTexan]

Long - if you make it to the end there will be cookies.

 

A little background:

I'm an older student (36), educated overseas, served in a foreign military as a combat medic. Moved to the US, became an EMT, worked for a 911 service and a private ambulance service in Indiana for two years, then moved to Kentucky and worked in an ED as a tech. 

KY wouldn't accept my education from overseas, so, about 4 months ago I went to the local community college, sat the GED and passed (much to the shock of the clerk there who assured me I would fail since I didn't take the prep class). Then I sat the ACT. I applied to a university about an hour from me that has a pre-PA pathway and met with the advisor on this past Tuesday, discussed my options. Decided on the BS Emergency Medical Care because of my background.

 

The advisor mentioned that I need at least 1000 patient contact hours, no big deal, I have years of it, and at least 2 of relatively recent years. Only after talking to my chief from the department in Indiana, none of my data is archived, almost like I was never there. He was happy to write a statement with my start and end dates, shift type, the truck I was on. But I feel as though that leads the reader to assume contact hours and even though my truck was in downtown metro (not the busiest truck but not the slowest either) I believe that this won't be enough to satisfy the requirement.

 

I am fortunate that my husband and I had planned for me to not work during the time I need for school, as I know I'll need to dedicate a lot to the classes and shadowing. But now I feel as though I will need to get at least a part time position to be able to get those hours recorded. 

 

Advice? Thoughts? 

 

Thank you so much for reading!

[rev ronin]

Most programs do not require documentation of hours; they tend to take the applicants' word. Others verify, but usually verbally with a supervisor. Some do expect written verification, but none of the programs I looked at did.

 

Do make sure you get the science major labs with your BS.  A lot of nursing and paramedic programs have non-majors level science coursework (e.g. "Intro do organic and biochem" was a great course at my local community college... but didn't count, even though it really did help me pass online OChem later) that are not suitable for use as PA prerequisites.

[AlmostaTexan]

That is the best news I've had in a couple days! Thank you!

I have a list of the pre reqs from the two schools within two hours of our farm. The advisor at the university helped me go over them but I will go nosing around and make sure they're the right ones. I don't fancy wasting time and money.

 

Thank you again! You rock!

[fakingpatience]

I second what rev ronin said, it is very rare for a school to ask for verification of your HCE. If you were working on a truck, you count all of the time you were on shift, you don't need to divide up the time "on a call".

 

As far as the schooling goes, another option to consider is to take some of the classes at the local community college, then transfer to the university to get your bachelors. You might want to look and see if they have any transfer arrangements, it would certainly save you money, and 99% of the PA schools don't have preference on where you got your prerecs. From where you are you just need that degree and the right classes!

[AlmostaTexan]

Thank you! I looked into two local community colleges and they don't have many of the classes I need.

I am able to CLEP out of almost 10 credit hours so I'm going to do that.

 

I very much appreciate your replies!

[davidccs]

Hello,

 

Why did you decide on a BS in EMC?

The reason I ask is because PA school have pre-reqs that are not found in most college majors, and I am unsure whether a BS in EMC will do that for you. If thats the case then youll still be expected to take those classes, even if they don't count for your degree.

 

Also, be careful with community college classes, if they don't match your university classes levels then they may not count towards your upper electives/university exit requirements. So youll be wasting your time because youll still need to take those credits to fulfill your BS.

 

Ill give you an example for each other above problems:

 

1. 2 friends and I recently applied to PA schools, however they had non-science degrees and had to take pre-reqs after their bachelors. I am a Bio major and have all the pre-reqs, the recommended courses, and then some more science classes so I was able to apply to more schools than they were, as well as saving money/time by not needing to take classes outside of my course of study.

 

2. I took anatomy and physiology courses at a community college, and almost took microbiology at CC as well. When I went to my uni they told me that I couldn't use A&P since it was a lower level classes at the CC, and advised me against taking micro as well for the same reason. So I had to retake A&P...

 

Also, I never CLEPed out of classes but did see that some PA program wouldn't accept them.

 

GL with your studies, I am a 3rd year senior due to my mistakes...

[MT2PA]

Thank you! I looked into two local community colleges and they don't have many of the classes I need.

I am able to CLEP out of almost 10 credit hours so I'm going to do that.

 

I very much appreciate your replies!

Be careful with CLEP as far as PA pre-reqs go - if it's other classes you need for the degree, go for it.  

[AlmostaTexan]

Hello,

 

Why did you decide on a BS in EMC?

The reason I ask is because PA school have pre-reqs that are not found in most college majors, and I am unsure whether a BS in EMC will do that for you. If thats the case then youll still be expected to take those classes, even if they don't count for your degree.

 

Also, be careful with community college classes, if they don't match your university classes levels then they may not count towards your upper electives/university exit requirements. So youll be wasting your time because youll still need to take those credits to fulfill your BS.

 

Ill give you an example for each other above problems:

 

1. 2 friends and I recently applied to PA schools, however they had non-science degrees and had to take pre-reqs after their bachelors. I am a Bio major and have all the pre-reqs, the recommended courses, and then some more science classes so I was able to apply to more schools than they were, as well as saving money/time by not needing to take classes outside of my course of study.

 

2. I took anatomy and physiology courses at a community college, and almost took microbiology at CC as well. When I went to my uni they told me that I couldn't use A&P since it was a lower level classes at the CC, and advised me against taking micro as well for the same reason. So I had to retake A&P...

 

Also, I never CLEPed out of classes but did see that some PA program wouldn't accept them.

 

GL with your studies, I am a 3rd year senior due to my mistakes...

 

 

Ok, bear with me while I gather my thoughts (been a very long day).

 

Note: I'm going by a list of pre-reqs given to me by the four closest PA programs to me that I will apply to. 

 

Why did I choose a BS in EMC? For many reasons. 

First, because I need a bachelor degree.

Second, I have a long history in emergency medicine in both military and civilian applications. After exhaustively going over the plans for the several options given to me, I felt that taking this one would give me my best chance at higher GPA. 

Third, because at graduation I will have NREMT Paramedic license and if my life doesn't go the way I want it to (and when does it ever?) I have the ability to find decent paying (in my region) work until I can convince a PA program to take me on.

 

The pathway I've mapped does in fact give me a substantial chunk of my pre-reqs. What it doesn't give me I can use my free electives for and failing that I'll add the extra time. I have three amazing advisors at the university, one for pre-professional studies, one for emergency medicine specifically, and the third is emergency medicine and is on the boards for the PA and Med schools in my region. They have sat with me and helped explain a lot of what I don't know so far. Not to mention have been extremely patient with me because I do ask a million questions, usually more than once.

 

A lot of people have tried to persuade me to take classes at the community colleges. I did some research on my own and discovered that for the majority of them, they either don't offer anything I need or it doesn't qualify. I see that as a waste of time and money for myself, so I've been lucky that I've been able to avoid that route so far.

 

The only CLEPs I wanted to take were GenEd for the undergrad degree. I've learned so far that while I would be fine to CLEP out of two of the classes it won't really serve me too well in the long run. The advisors have actually set out several subjects (undergrad degree related not pre-req related) that I will be able to challenge, simply because of my background. I think it counts as prior learning and all that jazz. So long as I pass of course.

 

Hopefully that explains things a little better.