General questions for PA's from an undergrad

[vinnybaby]

Hi everyone, I have some general questions for everyone PA's especially..

A little about me Im still an undergrad...I started school later on in life..not that late but later...and I really only went out of curiousity as I have marketable skills that im passionate about..but anyway, I fell in love with school and learning, I also mainly focused on math/science. My first year was pre-req pretty much to get into other stuff, next two years was bouncing around but finished with a  2 associates in exercise science and science(I was looking to become a PT at one time..). Later i decided against that and decided to change my major to biology 1 because I really like it and two because I decided I wanted t be a Pa. Anyway to make this shorter...I wanna be a PA because I want to help people, Work someplace challenging and dynamic and be interested and do sciencey stuff all day. 

right now im about a year out from finishing the B.S for bio, my science GPA as I googled to calc it is 3.8 right now( i added quality points and divided by # of credits?) anyway its sound about right i get mostly A's...although Orgo is giving me a lil trouble..

anyway that leads into my direct questions

will a b-c in orgo fuck me?

I have no HCE but am an incredilby hard worker and Im looking to do pharmacy tech and probably do PT aide too this summer, If I could id do triples every day..I'm leaning towards the pharm tech because they learn a lot about drugs and dosages and side effects etc and it just seems more applicable to being a P.A. than being a CNA where ill just be wiping asses and hading out pills...is it advisable what im looking to do as far as HCE? Im open minded and will probalby end up volunteering a lot too ..

 

thats leads me to shadowing, how much and how important is it? is a LOR from a doctor/P.A. valuable to the schools or would my teachers be adequate?

 

also in general what else should I be to be more competitive..I'm a TA at the university as well as a fulltime student..do they like if I've done research etc?

 

just also any comments on what I should do next or what can I do to be more competitive..should I take the mcats? does anyone care? things like that anything anyone can think of to help me would be appreciated

 

sorry for the lengthy post all!!

[Kaylee272]

I'd say you're on the right track but I would advise a few adjustments! 

First, yes shadowing is important. If you have never shadowed a PA then the schools will question if you fully understand what a day in the life of a PA is like, and if its right for you! 

Next, each school is different, but many require a PA to write one of your LORs. CASPA allows 3-5 LORS and from what Ive seen its common for schools to want a mixture of science professors, PAs/NPs/MDs, supervisors, etc. Just BE SURE they will be GREAT letters! This is such an easy way for you to stand out to schools! 

From my experience (again varies by school) programs would rather see your time spent getting patient contact hours over research. But it would never hurt! 

Finally, direct patient care. As an adcom once told me when I called with questions, "Remember what your end goal is". You aren't trying to get into PT or Pharmacy school. Try to do something in a hospital, long term care, emergency med, etc. If you don't like CNA look into EMT! However, depending on where you work you can do much more as a CNA (pre/ post op, clinic CNAs, ect) But pharm techs dont have as much patient interaction as a cna, emt, or PT tech would. If you're adamant on pharm tech do more research into programs you are interested in and see if they accept it as patient care hours first!! 

 

Best of luck to you! 

[MT2PA]

What should you do?

A: Drop the profanity.  It's always best to maintain some semblance of professionalism because you never know who will figure out who you are and how that may impact you at any point in the future.

B:  Many of your questions have been asked and answered countless times on other threads on this forum.  Spend some time browsing here and even googling your questions or general information about applying to PA school.  You'll find numerous valuable resources.  Put in the leg work; your questions aren't new around here and information is plentiful.

[greenmood]

Hmm.

You sound really smart. HCE might help with gaining and then expressing humility and compassion. You don't have any experience touching another human being, as far as I can tell. There are lots of ways to "help people" aside from PA. I think a job where you fulfill the physical needs of another person is valuable experience and can teach you a lot about yourself. It's very difficult to teach bedside manner. You can bet all those CNAs and PT aides who will work alongside you in the future will pick up on the dismissive "wiping asses" attitude.

Anyway, I think you need some real hours shadowing PAs in a variety of specialties.

[vinnybaby]

im not dismissive, the point was being a CNA doesnt correlate to actually working as a P.A. I'm interested in expanding my knowledge, not finding out about myself, im not a child and have had a lot of real world experience...all over the world. Also im not a complete outsider to the industry, one of my best friends is a doctor, I know many nurses and cnas and a few pt's, but no i havent shadowed...

TBH if i wasnt compassionate or didnt want to work directly with people I would just get my phd and go into research, or be a doctor. I'm choosing P.A. because I want to work with people directly, lots of them. I dont care about the money which is relatively meager to what I could make if i felt like it (and already have..)

anyway, the feedback from all is appreciated, although its been a little condescending.. I know where my holes are(HCE, shadowing, profanity apparently) and the like, i probably should have been more specific and not so all over the place in my first post but im cramming for finals right now and felt like procrastinating

regardless, thank you all so far ;)

 

[boli]

Vinny, your first 3 posts to the forum do not make a great impression of your willingness to take criticism/advice, nor your humility (both are very important traits for healthcare providers). I don't think people here are trying to put you down but rather just pointing out some things for you to work on improving if you truly want to pursue this career. 

Being a CNA, while admittedly not overly glamorous, isn't about the experience of "wiping butts", it's about learning to work with patients in the real world and hopefully observing other providers while they work with patients. One of the best physicians I know was a CNA before going to med-school and she says it really helped her realize that medicine was her calling in life. EMT is another field that many pre-PA's go into, but I anticipate you'll think driving an ambulance is also not applicable to being a PA. HCE isn't necessarily required to develop some wonderful clinical skills (it can) but rather to make sure you know what it's like to work in medicine with real patients and to witness other providers. To answer some of your questions...

1) no, one B or C will not ruin your chances at PA school (assuming the school you want to apply to doesn't have a minimum pre-req grade cutoff- which some do)

2) In my opinion pharm-tech is the least applicable option for HCE you've mentioned as you will get very little time working directly with patients and TBH the basic pharm knowledge you'll gain will not really supplement your pharm classes in PA school. Suck it up, go CNA, MA, EMT or look into an RT or something else where you're directly touching and treating patients. Again, I reiterate, the goal of HCE isn't to make you into a rockstar, it's to make sure you know what you're getting into with healthcare (which includes wiping butts, cleaning up urine, handing out meds, and all the other things that I've seen even board certified MDs help with). 

3)Shadowing is absolutely CRUCIAL. How can you say you want to be a PA when you've never worked with one, observed one, or shadowed one? I can assure you that PA's do more than "helping people and doing sciencey stuff all day". LOR should be from health care providers if possible. This is where the connections you make in the clinic or hospital (while accruing your HCE) come in handy. Some schools require a certain set of letters from certain people- i.e. one medical, one educational, one work etc.

Side note- you WILL be asked: "so, why do you want to be a PA?" if you get an interview and I promise you that you'll need a better answer than what you've provided thus far. I don't need your reason, but you should REALLY do some introspection about why you chose this out of the entire spectrum of possible careers...

4) PA school admission is a complex beast and not like med-school admissions. GPA, test scores and HCE hours are very important but so is your demeanor, your compassion, your fit for the school and understanding of the profession. to make your app more competitive I recommend you get as much experience in medicine as possible. Shadow, work in clinics, volunteer, etc. 

5) Unless you're thinking of going to medical school, I wouldn't take the MCAT... most PA programs require the GRE (but not all). 

Best of luck with your research and application process

[LadyNichiavelli]

Lots of good advice here. I also wanted to chime in and say that as an inpatient PT aide for two years in a hospital mainly for geriatric patients, I had to wipe a lot of butts and that definitely humbled me.