georgia_boy1 Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 I'm new to this forum but am considering applying to PA school next year. My stats are overall GPA: 3.7, science GPA 3.4. Haven't taken the GRE yet. Here are some of my extracurriculars -Patient exposure: MA work in a pulmonary critical care practice with Physicians and PA's for 2 summers; Helped start and currently volunteer at free medical clinic in my community (approx. 2 1/2 hours a week 2x a month due to lots of volunteers) -Volunteer/Community service: Medical missions trip for 2 weeks as Lab tech and scribe for physicians; Serve at my church on Saturdays for 3 hours for approx. 3 years now. Free medical clinic for the past 9 months as MA. -Leadership: Served as VP and President for club on campus. Also served as outreach coordinator for same club. Also a part of leadership development group with my church. -Research Experience: Logged approximately 400 hours in a DNA nanotech laboratory at my university. I have only shadowed physicians because I was originally going to apply to medical school but decided I would rather pursue PA school for a number of reasons. Any advice for schools and other application needs? Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidccs Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Welcome to the forums Your stats look pretty good, maybe get some more health care experience and some hours shadowing PAs. If you were pre-med im guessing that youve met most, if not all, the prereqs for PA school, right? As far as school, its up to you, you can choose out of state, instate, GRE required, GRE not required, there are even some hybrid schools that are considered long distance if that meets your fancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgia_boy1 Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Welcome to the forums Your stats look pretty good, maybe get some more health care experience and some hours shadowing PAs. If you were pre-med im guessing that youve met most, if not all, the prereqs for PA school, right? As far as school, its up to you, you can choose out of state, instate, GRE required, GRE not required, there are even some hybrid schools that are considered long distance if that meets your fancy. What constitutes as healthcare experience? Could I count training people in strength and conditioning as experience? To answer your question, yes I have almost all prereqs for PA school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 25, 2016 Administrator Share Posted February 25, 2016 What constitutes as healthcare experience? Could I count training people in strength and conditioning as experience? To answer your question, yes I have almost all prereqs for PA school. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I think someone said that once... In other words, no, probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgia_boy1 Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I think someone said that once... In other words, no, probably not. What about assisting a physical therapist with their patients? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lov2xlr8 Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Your stats look good, with some more HCE hours and PA shadowing, you should be good. Also, plenty of good schools don't require GRE (unless this has changed) so unless you're set on a school in particular, you might be OK not taking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCHW9076 Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Looks like you are lacking basic HCE,but the rest of your stats look really good. Rack up those hours, good luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidccs Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 There are different kinds of HCE, some better than others. You COULD technically count many things as HCE however the school may (and probably will) disagree with what youve listed so far. The way I (emphasis on I) see the ranking of HCE is this: Some similar HCE as yours that is not that great would be secretary of a medical office, customer service rep in the hospital, scribe, and anything that lets you interact with patients but in a very limited role. Some pretty common HCE that would give you a good foundation would be nursing assistant, emergency medical technician, EKG tech, in these roles you have an expanded role with patients, and you do procedures so this would probably put you on par with most applicants. Some great HCE would be something where you have a very intimate relationship with your patients, you do procedures, provide treatments, gather histories, do physical assessments. Some examples would be paramedic, nursing, LPN, and maybe rad tech, or nuc med. As others have stated the only thing you are lacking is mainly HCE, so doing paramedic, or RN, or LPN would be time consuming and you wouldn't get too much HCE by this up coming application cycle, I would recommend CNA, or EMT, these are quick (sometimes) courses that would get you on the ground and running sooner, and combined with your other stats would make your application very appealing, imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgia_boy1 Posted February 26, 2016 Author Share Posted February 26, 2016 There are different kinds of HCE, some better than others. You COULD technically count many things as HCE however the school may (and probably will) disagree with what youve listed so far. The way I (emphasis on I) see the ranking of HCE is this: Some similar HCE as yours that is not that great would be secretary of a medical office, customer service rep in the hospital, scribe, and anything that lets you interact with patients but in a very limited role. Some pretty common HCE that would give you a good foundation would be nursing assistant, emergency medical technician, EKG tech, in these roles you have an expanded role with patients, and you do procedures so this would probably put you on par with most applicants. Some great HCE would be something where you have a very intimate relationship with your patients, you do procedures, provide treatments, gather histories, do physical assessments. Some examples would be paramedic, nursing, LPN, and maybe rad tech, or nuc med. As others have stated the only thing you are lacking is mainly HCE, so doing paramedic, or RN, or LPN would be time consuming and you wouldn't get too much HCE by this up coming application cycle, I would recommend CNA, or EMT, these are quick (sometimes) courses that would get you on the ground and running sooner, and combined with your other stats would make your application very appealing, imho. Thank you for the advice! I definitely want to rack up as many hours as quickly as possible so EMT sounds like the way to go. I've got around 900 hours total of paid and volunteer MA experience but it sounds like I will need more to enhance my app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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