Yellow24 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hello, I am in the midst of applying, interviewing, and deciding which school to go to. The school where I was hoping to go (UF) waitlisted me. I also have an interview coming up with Duke and would be thrilled to go there if they accept me. I interviewed at Nova in Ft. Lauderdale but I wasn't too happy with their facilities (specifically their exam room) and them having issues with ER rotations (which is what I would like to specialize in). I also interviewed with Chatham and I thought their facilities were better equipped, but I'm worried about the school's ranking affecting my job opportunities. If I do not get accepted into Duke or UF, should I go to Chatham or wait and apply again? I have also applied to EVMS but won't hear back until the summer for acceptance in Jan. I appreciate any and all advice! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SocialMedicine Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I would enroll at Duke not because they have a high rank but rather because the University offers alot. I do not think employers view school rank heavily. However, with your first job I think the reputation of your program will carry some weight. Keep in mind a doctor or PA may have a different concept of program reputation than US News and World Report. Alot of decent programs are not masters level or top ten, and people in hiring capacity familiar with the program will know it. WHat is it about Duke or UF that appeals to you? Is it a dual degree, outside of PA program opportunity, electives ? I think thats an important question. Also would applying next year improve your chances of acceptance? It seems each year PA school is harder to gain entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pennpac Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I personally think that you should go wherever you get in..I think no matter where you go, you will be able to get a job in the end, and there is no guarantee you will get into your top choice school next year, as it gets a lot more competitive each year and uf/duke are pretty darn hard to get into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbellin Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 If you wait for your top school you may find that your top school is not waiting for you. Go with what you get then shine where you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator True Anomaly Posted January 17, 2012 Moderator Share Posted January 17, 2012 The "Bottle o' Scotch" rankings return... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow24 Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 SocialMedicine: Both UF & Duke offer the same degree, but they have great facilities and I have heard nothing but good from previous PA students. My concern lies if I do not get into either of those and I have to pick between Chatham and Nova. I think at this point I have ruled out Nova because I was not impressed with their school tour and have heard from some disgruntled students. So that leaves Chatham. I was pretty impressed with their orientation, I'm just not familiar with the school's reputation related to jobs. The reason I am contemplating applying again if I don't get in at Duke, is because this go around I was limited with where I applied and I also applied very late. I feel that if I applied again next year I could get my application in early and also increase my school options. But applying was no picnic so I would not be looking forward to having to do it again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUnoles Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Pa school is what you make of it. Most of the time you are learning on your own. School Choice matters when it comes to location. If you choose a school in a saturated area you are going to have a harder time with job offers. Er is extremely hard to get into within the state of Florida as a new graduate. The cool thing about Florida is the population and medical facilities in the area. We get a lot of South American patients and a wide variety of conditions But given the competitive nature of pa school just go where you are accepted. Except a new program, they have issues. Nova has its issues just like any program but I don't regret my decision one bit Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow24 Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 FSU Noles: Thanks for your input! How do you feel about the resources Nova has to offer? I was really disappointed with the Physical Exam room. The other schools I visited had actual hospital beds and all the other equipment to go with it... I also didn't like that they told me most ER rotations are conducted in Urgent Care centers. Maybe for a strong ER background it would be better to be outside of Florida? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taotaox1 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 From what little I know about Florida PA laws..... I can't imagine why anyone would want to stay/go to Florida to be a PA at all. As for the ranking issue, you are making a mountain out of a molehill. This is not law school where a big name school degree is so much better it is almost like having a a different, more advanced degree in respects to getting jobs. What do you call the doc with a Caribbean med school degree that graduated lowest in his class? ................Doctor. From what I have gathered from this forum, name helps you just a little bit getting your first job, otherwise no one really cares. I think it would be crazy to turn down a spot anywhere.... there is no guarantee you will get in anywhere next semester, let alone a big name school. The number of applications and the quality of application for PA programs is increasing rapidly! OHSU went from 800 or so apps to around 2000 just this year. Plus factor in the cost of a full years PA salary (minus your current income) that you will loose. The big name school will likely never make that up for you. That being said, good luck at your Duke interview! If you get in I will see you there in august! Remember to be positive, and work with your team to make everyone look good during the group interview :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cideous Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 What do you call the doc with a Caribbean med school degree that graduated lowest in his class? ................Doctor. This is true, kind of. Some states like Texas make it VERY hard to get a license for FMG's, specifically Caribbean med schools. It just depends on what state you want to practice in, but in general you are correct. As for PA school? What matters more is not WHAT school you go to, but WHAT degree you get. I would not personally recommend going to anything less then a Masters MPAS program now, but if you did do a Bac's program, I would immediately enroll in the University of Nebraska's masters bridge program <or something similar>. Lots of jobs I see now either require or "give" preference to MPAS holders vs Bac. Try and stay clear of Cert programs. Having said that, if you get accepted to Duke and can afford it then I recommend going there. It is the Granddaddy of all PA programs and is always ranked in the top 3. Even my Alum UT Southwestern @ Dallas was number 4 this year. Edit: One last thing, if you have the choice, try to go to a PA school that is attached to a medical school and where the PA and medical school students do the same rotations with each other. At UT Southwestern we all did the same rotations as the med students at Parkland hospital and it made for an amazing learning environment. Doing your medical rotations at one of the topped ranked medical schools in the world was just flat out cool :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSUnoles Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 FSU Noles: Thanks for your input! How do you feel about the resources Nova has to offer? I was really disappointed with the Physical Exam room. The other schools I visited had actual hospital beds and all the other equipment to go with it... I also didn't like that they told me most ER rotations are conducted in Urgent Care centers. Maybe for a strong ER background it would be better to be outside of Florida? I know a lot of 2nd years who got to work in ER's (tons of stitching etc) We have a separate exam room that you didnt get to see when you went on tour. Its a mock office setting that we share with the D.O. students. Its hard for me to compare about resources considering i havent been anywhere else for PA school. They do facilitate us to get out and get patient contact though. We have a setup with a Clinic in Jupiter and just yesterday got to visit a nursing home to take a history. i also agree with the other poster about Florida's PA laws. They are completely backwards so in a environment like ER i would find it would be annoying. I know the hospital my gf works at only employs NPs within the hospital most likely because of this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow24 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Thanks, FSU Noles! That's great information. I'm glad to hear that things are better than they seem at first glance... I will definitely take this into consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow24 Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Thanks, FSU Noles! That's great information. I'm glad to hear that things are better than they seem at first glance... I will definitely take this into consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 graduate Univ of Oklahoma 1974--MS Colimbia Univ. Dont freak yourself out get into what ever school. Your PA education is in your hands anyway. The colleges I graduated from meant jack trust me. hth peter lener PA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 graduate Univ of Oklahoma 1974--MS Colimbia Univ. Dont freak yourself out get into what ever school. Your PA education is in your hands anyway. The colleges I graduated from meant jack trust me. hth peter lener PA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 hth and this is what i did 1. never ever ever took lunch--went where i was accepted in hospital--anywhere, x ray, ekg,psych ( the best) derm, er on the side find something to do involving medicine anywhere where you live-- if at all possible believe this incidentally I have worked in Bellevue ER and Bellevue Psych--here in NYC 10 years in surgery ER--that is at the OR table. you as years go by are going to slowly realize that most of what you do is psych so get really good at it , and that includes surgical patients hth peter lener pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 hth and this is what i did 1. never ever ever took lunch--went where i was accepted in hospital--anywhere, x ray, ekg,psych ( the best) derm, er on the side find something to do involving medicine anywhere where you live-- if at all possible believe this incidentally I have worked in Bellevue ER and Bellevue Psych--here in NYC 10 years in surgery ER--that is at the OR table. you as years go by are going to slowly realize that most of what you do is psych so get really good at it , and that includes surgical patients hth peter lener pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 there is no way the PA profession's going to on NP--do the best to totally ignore them and do the best you can--go where you are wanted and needed--expand your horizons. Work for eh Indian Health Service--ahve you own clinic on eh bottom of he Grand Canyon with he Havasupi--see your paients on horse back--same for Alaska--the professions foundation is to go and do what needs to be done and where. hth peter lener pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 there is no way the PA profession's going to on NP--do the best to totally ignore them and do the best you can--go where you are wanted and needed--expand your horizons. Work for eh Indian Health Service--ahve you own clinic on eh bottom of he Grand Canyon with he Havasupi--see your paients on horse back--same for Alaska--the professions foundation is to go and do what needs to be done and where. hth peter lener pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 forgot to include this in previous post. I went thru the same thing others where doing spinals inserting central lines, chest tubes etc. I was stuck in eh VA hospital in Muskogee Univ. I dont know how I did it. Except on weekends there was only me repeat only me entire hospital and one very old ent MD-- Deep inside I know that a lot of what I was going thu was for all of you--and I mean it. So did my classmates. hth peter lener pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plener Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 forgot to include this in previous post. I went thru the same thing others where doing spinals inserting central lines, chest tubes etc. I was stuck in eh VA hospital in Muskogee Univ. I dont know how I did it. Except on weekends there was only me repeat only me entire hospital and one very old ent MD-- Deep inside I know that a lot of what I was going thu was for all of you--and I mean it. So did my classmates. hth peter lener pa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febrifuge Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Dude, relax. Choice of school is not that big a deal, except as others have said, keep track of the rotations you'll get to do. I did surgery in Flint, MI and my time overlapped with that of a Duke student. Turns out my program is a top-15 school, but those rankings mean nothing in the real world. My program was great because of how I managed it, and the cliche is true: you get out of it what you put into it. I put in a crap-ton of hours and a lot of energy. Do the same, and you'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Febrifuge Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Dude, relax. Choice of school is not that big a deal, except as others have said, keep track of the rotations you'll get to do. I did surgery in Flint, MI and my time overlapped with that of a Duke student. Turns out my program is a top-15 school, but those rankings mean nothing in the real world. My program was great because of how I managed it, and the cliche is true: you get out of it what you put into it. I put in a crap-ton of hours and a lot of energy. Do the same, and you'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow24 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Thank you, plener and Febrifuge! Lots of great advice! Plener, your story sounds amazing! What great dedication! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow24 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Thank you, plener and Febrifuge! Lots of great advice! Plener, your story sounds amazing! What great dedication! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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