ajohns734 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Hi all! So I have been accepted for a program and start this Fall. I am engaged and we had always planned on having the wedding after I graduate, so we aren't trying to plan a wedding between school. My question is regarding how easy it is to change the name on my license after I take the PANCE. Would it be easier to go ahead and sign a marriage license and just have the ceremony in a couple of years? Anyone have any experience with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philomena21 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Congratulations on your acceptance! My situation was a bit different, as I had been a practicing PA for six years before I got married. However, it proved to be too much of a hassle (at least in NY state) to change the last name on my license, etc, therefore I practice under my maiden name. My credit card, bank account, mortgage, student loans, etc are in my married name. However, my paychecks are all made out to my maiden name, so - to avoid issues at tax time - my legal married name is First Maiden Married, rather than First Middle Maiden, as it had been before I got married. As long as your maiden name is your new legal middle name after marriage, the fact that your paychecks are made out to your maiden name is not a problem. Hope that all makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyhoundGirl Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 You can legally change your name without getting married. Maybe you should do that now and wait on the wedding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 6, 2016 Administrator Share Posted February 6, 2016 What makes you think your relationship will survive PA school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplify Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 What makes you think your relationship will survive PA school? This is ridiculous. PA school is 2.5 years. If your relationship can't survive 2.5 years of stress it was never going to survive period. I had multiple classmates get engaged during PA school and a few who were married DURING the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 6, 2016 Administrator Share Posted February 6, 2016 This is ridiculous. PA school is 2.5 years. If your relationship can't survive 2.5 years of stress it was never going to survive period. I had multiple classmates get engaged during PA school and a few who were married DURING the program. WHY is my question ridiculous? OP is assuming the relationship is going to survive, when statistically, relationship survival is anything BUT certain. PA school is stressful, sure, but a lot of relationships won't survive 2.5 years of NO stress. It'd be interesting to see what the relationship survival percentage is for an engaged couple when one member is going through PA school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAtoBin2017 Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 WHY is my question ridiculous? OP is assuming the relationship is going to survive, when statistically, relationship survival is anything BUT certain. PA school is stressful, sure, but a lot of relationships won't survive 2.5 years of NO stress. It'd be interesting to see what the relationship survival percentage is for an engaged couple when one member is going through PA school. Ditto. My class has seen two engagements end, and at least four other long standing relationships end. No marriages ... yet, but less than 15% of the class is already married. The classes ahead of us have seen a few marriages end. We have four who have gotten engaged in the first two semesters; all are setting their wedding dates for after graduation (FWIW). I don't think any of them are particularly concerned with the name logistics. Some are likely to change names after graduation but before they take the PANCE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliz Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Do you really think getting married 3 years ahead of time to save on PAPERWORK is a good idea?!?!? It may be a pain and it may be inconvenient, but I can 100% guarantee that you are not the first person to have a wedding after a professional license has been issued. Besides that, having a ceremony 3 years after the fact is ridiculous. Instead of worrying about this issue of which you can do nothing about at this point--- enjoy your engagement! And enjoy the time before PA school to save some money and spend time with those you love! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Why not compromise the advice here? Don't do anything yet and prior to graduation/taking the PANCE, assuming your relationship is still solid, legally marry but still save the ceremony/party until after graduation. I imagine changing your name with school prior to graduating and definitely before becoming eligible/taking PANCE would be easier than changing after the fact. Just a hypothesis. That said, PA school is tough on relationships so maybe my program is the exception, but there have been no dramatic endings of marriages/engagements/relationships at all and in fact several have become engaged/married during the program. I think a big variable is how long prior to school the relationship has existed. Have you been dating 6 months? Then no, I'd say your odds aren't great. Married 10 years? I'd give you better chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaylaP707 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 I'm in a similar situation. I got engaged this past September, and start my PA program June 1st. My fiancé and I have talked a lot about our options, and decided we will be getting legally married around 6 months prior to my graduation. I want to change my name before I graduate because it really means a lot to me to take his name. We will then have our ceremony and wedding day after I graduate. June 9th. 2018! We aren't going to make a big deal of our legal marriage date/ name change. I know some people aren't fond of this, or aren't comfortable with it, but every couple is different! I won't consider myself "married" until my father gives me away in front of all my friends and family. Something to consider... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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