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2017 Application

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sheasmith

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It was great meeting the first round of applicants the other night at the student meet & greet and yesterday at your interviews!

Yes there was a very shocking PANCE pass rate from the most recent graduating class. We had a meeting where we spoke with the administration about it and they assured us it was an anomaly.

I do not know what went wrong. I can only speak to my experience and my initial fears about that score have been dispelled. Everything I am learning now in my courses is aligning with the PANCE Prep Pearls book – this is the gold standard for preparing for the PANCE.

We also have free access to Exam Masters, which is a PANCE-focused review system. I have been using this to study for my tests and the questions we receive on our tests are formulated very similarly to the PANCE type questions that Exam Masters uses. All tests are also on a computer, which also gets you more comfortable with the format in which you will be taking the PANCE.

I had lots of options (some of the top ranked schools in the country) and I chose Davis. Here is why:

  •  9 extremely diverse student run clinics that you have access to every weekend. In your first year you are also able to sign up for leadership roles within the clinics. 
    • We have an Asian & Pacific Islander clinic, IV drug user clinic, African American clinic, Muslim clinic, Latino clinic, homeless clinic, rural farm workers clinic, Filipino clinic, Vietnamese Cancer clinic, and a Gender Health clinic for those transitioning. By end of first quarter you can take your own patients. This is invaluable experience where you get to put everything you’re learning into action.
  •  A brand new building that you have 24/7 access to with state of the art study rooms.
  • We are housed on a huge medical campus, giving us so many opportunities – shadowing, Grand Rounds, expert speakers, and last week we hosted a Senator, who talked about Medicare and the changes we may face.
  • Student Interests Groups – If the program doesn’t offer it, you can almost guarantee that there is a SIG that is working hard to make sure you have every opportunity to get out of this experience what you want – Global Health, SAAAPA, Skills, Medical Spanish, etc. Also if they don’t have what you want you can start your own SIG.
  • Culture – this was the most welcoming interview for me. Everyone here has continued that vibe and they really selected a fantastic cohort for my class. Medicine is rough and it is going to break you down some days. The culture here makes it so much more bearable because you are surrounded with people that truly want to see you succeed.

Good luck to everyone in their search. It really is about finding the right fit for you and I am excited to meet the new class that they choose this year. 

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Terrified

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it was very concerning last year when several UC Davis PA students claimed the the lectures were incredibly disorganized, poorly taught.  Additionally, now that the PA program is held within the nursing school it is concerning that possibly they don't know how to teach within the diagnostic model that is required for PA's and MD's. an anomaly would be a pass rate of 85%, not 67%.

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UCDHopeful2017

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3 hours ago, Terrified said:

it was very concerning last year when several UC Davis PA students claimed the the lectures were incredibly disorganized, poorly taught.  Additionally, now that the PA program is held within the nursing school it is concerning that possibly they don't know how to teach within the diagnostic model that is required for PA's and MD's. an anomaly would be a pass rate of 85%, not 67%.

2

As a current student, I want to echo what my classmate above mentioned about the UC Davis program.

Yes, it was shocking for us to learn about the low pass rate, and it was and has been a concern for many of the current students. However, administration and faculty have been working diligently to address this issue by changing the curriculum in areas that prior cohorts felt were areas of weakness. No program is perfect, but I really appreciate the transparency and support the faculty has provided us at this institution.

Lastly, as mentioned above, the program curriculum does align with what is expected on the PANCE. In addition, our curriculum does incorporate the diagnostic model, where we are presented with the disease and its pathophysiology in which we learn the clinical findings, develop a differential, and learn evidence-based treatment courses. On top of this, our program fosters team-based learning in weekly cases in both our medicine and pharmacology courses. 

Your comment about our program being housed in the nursing school actually saddens me. Whether or not this program is housed under the school of medicine or the school of nursing is not the concern. Rather than further create a divide between our professions, nursing vs PA vs MD/DO, we should be fostering interprofessional learning and discussion that accurately depicts real clinical practice. To be honest, nursing school should NOT be given the reputation you implied, "they don't know how to teach within the diagnostic model that is required for PA's and MD's." The nurses in our cohort are some of the smartest and sincerest people I have ever met. I have learned an invaluable amount of clinical, diagnostic, and practical knowledge from each and every one of them, and the program would be so different without their presence.

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Emyc63

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I cannot agree more with my classmates above. UC Davis is the most unique advanced practitioner institution in the country. I am honored to attend this school. The faculty are a group of kind individuals who value diversity and really emphasize helping the underserved, which I think is very important. Our 9 student run clinics that we attend have already taught me so much and I'm only into the second quarter of the program. We are very much being prepared to be competent practitioners with an excellent bedside manner. 

The past PANCE scores were surprising to me as well, but as my friends mentioned, our program is really working hard to adjust the curriculum for our success in mind. We even have focus groups that take our suggestions for improvement into consideration. I can say with 100% certainty that we will all be well prepared for the PANCE when that day comes. We are provided with all of tools to be successful. As cliche as it sounds, your education is truly what you make it. No PA program is going to hold your hand when you take the PANCE. You have to be your own facilitator in being successful. We certainly are taught by the PANCE blueprint and are given tools such as Exam Master to prepare us. There are so many other tools such as PANCE Prep Pearls, Smarty PANCE, Hippo and in-person prep programs. There are so many ways to study and be successful. 

Please know that no program is perfect. I have friends at many other programs (Cal Baptist, Samuel Merritt, and Loma Linda to name a few) that have complaints and/or issues with their program. At the end of the day, every school is going to have its kinks to wrinkle out. Every program has its own advantages too. The ARC-PA sets very high standards for each school. I have even heard of more than one program losing its accreditation. UC Davis is good to go for another ten years last I heard as far as accreditation goes. I would say that speaks volumes. 

To address our program being in the school of nursing, I think it is only beneficial to my learning experience. The nurses are brilliant in our cohort. Their pharmacology knowledge and patient care skills only support my education. The interpersonal integration is really relevant to how medicine truly is, a team effort. 

Overall, UC Davis is an amazing program and I have zero regrets choosing this institution. In fact, it's a great honor to go here. 

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Emyc63

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2 hours ago, jothescrub said:

See everyone at the meet and greet tonight! I just checked into my hotel (Hotel Med), and am having one of those “Holy crap I’m here, it’s happening!” moments. ;) Would love to get together with a few folks and share an Uber over to the meeting place tonight! 

You're here for a reason dear :] but i totally know the feels lol. See you in a few 

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cbb4autigers

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2 hours ago, laurenszaraz said:

Hey guys! Any last minute suggestions for the speech? For those of you who already went, any insights or things you would’ve done differently? Interviewing this Tuesday, any helpful advice is appreciated! emoji4.png


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Just be yourself...they are very interested if they invited you there. It is a pretty low-pressure situation.

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Navydoc8406

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On 10/21/2017 at 5:59 PM, laurenszaraz said:

Hey guys! Any last minute suggestions for the speech? For those of you who already went, any insights or things you would’ve done differently? Interviewing this Tuesday, any helpful advice is appreciated! emoji4.png


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Be yourself, and clearly and succinctly explain why you want to be a PA. What I noticed during the elevator speech earlier this week was that a lot of folks in the room tried cramming 2 or 3 minutes of speech or story into 1 minute. While that's cool and it was indeed a very low pressure scenario, I can imagine that trying to do that could be stressful (at least I'd be stressed out if I was trying to fit a lot more information in). I would not recommend rehearsing this at all. You applied to the program, you did the work to get there, you know why you're there -- now tell them. Get to your point quickly, shoot from the hip, knock it out in 45-60 secs and you'll be in great shape. Best of luck! UCD has such an amazing program judging by my visit there.

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