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South university Richmond - 2018-2019


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17 hours ago, jinglebells0518 said:

Hey! I'm going to be driving in tomorrow afternoon. Do you have any good recommendations close to South university campus for dinner? Looking for something reasonably priced but local hole in the wall delicious food! I love Mexican, Asian, and always down for some chicken wings

Hey I highly recommend Asado’s! It’s a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant with the best chicken wings I’ve ever had. The area the campus is in is very commercialized with chain restaurants and upper class families, and so Asado’s is like 10 minutes away on 64 but it’s cheap food that can’t be beat. 

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3 hours ago, jinglebells0518 said:

Did anyone that attended the interview yesterday, 6/25, hear how long it would be before we know if we are accepted? I want to say I overheard 2-3 weeks somewhere but the first interview group appears to have found out in just a few days. I'm making myself crazy checking my email!

Hey, I was there too! Omg I definitely hope it's not 2-3 weeks, I am also refreshing my email every hour! I hope it's similar to the first group because it seems like they found out within like 5 days.

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18 hours ago, jinglebells0518 said:

Did anyone that attended the interview yesterday, 6/25, hear how long it would be before we know if we are accepted? I want to say I overheard 2-3 weeks somewhere but the first interview group appears to have found out in just a few days. I'm making myself crazy checking my email!

I’ve been checking like crazy too! I heard the ones accepted got a phone call and everyone else got an email, so every time my phone rings my heart definitely stops for a second. The last group found out on a Tuesday after interviewing on a Friday, so I’m thinking we’ll (hopefully) hear back sometime between today and Friday!

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1 hour ago, jenkinshl said:

I’ve been checking like crazy too! I heard the ones accepted got a phone call and everyone else got an email, so every time my phone rings my heart definitely stops for a second. The last group found out on a Tuesday after interviewing on a Friday, so I’m thinking we’ll (hopefully) hear back sometime between today and Friday!

My friend got in and they just emailed her the acceptance :D Checking mine every two seconds it feels like haha

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Let me start off by saying -Do your Due Diligence with this school.  I'm not saying don't go here, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.  I interviewed and was accepted but have decided to turn down my seat after learning more about the program.  The program is still in it's provisional accreditation, which is where it is suppose to be since it just started it's first class last year.  I did find  out there has been a lot of turnover with it's faculty and staff since it started while talking to some of the current students and I have a friend in the first class.  The original Program Director left last year just after the first class started and the clinical director left toward the end of last year.  The program had an interim director that was coming up from Florida from another South PA program in West Palm that was never accredited, but finally promoted someone from inside that has only been with the program for about a year, and a PA for less than 10 years and no teaching background.  The students I talked with said that another professor was leaving because of that.  Their A&P instructor is actually a retired dentist.  I also understand that the current second year students are having a hard time getting their rotations and not even knowing where they are going on rotations until a few days before they begin, and then not really getting to do anything when they are there.  I am not telling anyone not to go to South if you get accepted but $80k+ is a lot of money for what sounds like such an rocky program.  You should call and ask questions for your own sake and peace of mind.  According to the accrediting agency, if you start in a program and the program doesn't succeed, the program has  to finish you out but all the information I keep hearing makes this one to risky for me.   Good luck to all those with interviews and to all those who have been accepted and are on the waiting list.

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1 hour ago, PA2Bee2017 said:

Let me start off by saying -Do your Due Diligence with this school.  I'm not saying don't go here, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself into.  I interviewed and was accepted but have decided to turn down my seat after learning more about the program.  The program is still in it's provisional accreditation, which is where it is suppose to be since it just started it's first class last year.  I did find  out there has been a lot of turnover with it's faculty and staff since it started while talking to some of the current students and I have a friend in the first class.  The original Program Director left last year just after the first class started and the clinical director left toward the end of last year.  The program had an interim director that was coming up from Florida from another South PA program in West Palm that was never accredited, but finally promoted someone from inside that has only been with the program for about a year, and a PA for less than 10 years and no teaching background.  The students I talked with said that another professor was leaving because of that.  Their A&P instructor is actually a retired dentist.  I also understand that the current second year students are having a hard time getting their rotations and not even knowing where they are going on rotations until a few days before they begin, and then not really getting to do anything when they are there.  I am not telling anyone not to go to South if you get accepted but $80k+ is a lot of money for what sounds like such an rocky program.  You should call and ask questions for your own sake and peace of mind.  According to the accrediting agency, if you start in a program and the program doesn't succeed, the program has  to finish you out but all the information I keep hearing makes this one to risky for me.   Good luck to all those with interviews and to all those who have been accepted and are on the waiting list.

Did someone say something to you during your interview about it? Like the students? I actually got really good vibes from the school (students seemed happy, the professors/staff I interviewed with were really nice) but I'm wondering now if I'm missing something. I will say I was a little off put by being told that they wouldn't accept my one of my credits after I had applied but then I got an interview a week later. 

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52 minutes ago, jinglebells0518 said:

Okay long post coming up but I feel that I should defend my experience as well! 

I will admit the answers we got while attending interviews I'm sure are biased. However, I made point to ask at least three different faculty members about what is being done to ensure the program becomes continually accredited and I felt I was given satisfactory but not rehearsed answers to the question every time. There is always going to be a learning curve with a new program and I believe this program has a good foundation to build from by using models from both tampa and savannah campus (and even knowing what not to do from west palm campus).

Also, even if a program becomes unaccredited while you are attending, you are still allowed to sit for the PANCE when you graduate. Now if people ask about your program when you are trying to get a job, an unaccredited program may be off-putting. However, you were still required to pass the same national exam as every other PA and if you managed to do that, even if the school does not become accredited, that will count for something. That means you knew what you were expected to know nationally. 

Now we didn't hear from any students that are currently attending clinicals but Erica seemed very honest and open. She admitted that clinical locations have only just started being used by the first class In the past few months and that some of the locations required extensive information about a student and therefore took a long time to get all the paperwork setup. That is part of the learning process of having a new school and competing  with other schools for preceptors. Which if they are truly competing for preceptors, indicates that Erica is striving to provide students with quality experiences that other schools are also utilizing in their respective programs. Most of the accreditation process is based on having a strong clinical experience and I think Erica proved that she was working hard to achieve that.

The amount of interaction a student has during clinicals will depend not only on a preceptor but also on a patient. If a patient doesn't want to allow a student to do something, they have a right to refuse. I also know other programs all have a few preceptors that are more strict when it comes to patient contact than others. This is not unique to the south university of richmond campus. Besides Erica gave a pretty good example of two students in clinicals now getting to be hands deep in an ortho surgery and being trusted to perform stitches on a patient as well. And maybe that's one of a few success stories but that means not every preceptor is bad.

One of the professors I interviewed with told me they care heavily about student feedback. And I genuinely believed her. Obviously change probably hasn't taken effect yet considering the first class doesn't graduate for 9 months but I believe the entire program will be reviewed and criticized following their PANCE testing. I know that's a little late for us applying now but despite the cons and the kinks that need to be worked out, the staff at Richmond do not want us to fail! 

The current students were given ample opportunity to honest with us about the program and they all did nothing but rave. Now again, possible bias, but if I were showing other students around and I was worried the school I was attending was going to fail and at an expense of $90k, that is definitely something I would disclose in some way or at the very least try to drop a few hints about the quality of the education and I didn't get any of that. Nothing but true appreciation of the curriculum and the program with a confident "I would pick this school again if I were starting the process over"

So take what you hear with a grain of salt. Maybe a dentist teaches anatomy but who cares. If they know anatomy, which they had to learn in school, then it shouldn't matter they are teaching it. Remember, Richmond is one of not many campuses that even give you the privilege of working with cadavers in anatomy lab so they are already ahead of the game in that aspect.

As for the instructors, they seemed to be hand picked based on their specialty and their knowledge. Maybe they are new to the PA world and the teaching world, but that doesn't mean they aren't good at what they do. We are all going to be new PAs one day and expect patients to treat us like one even though we have minimal real world experience. But that doesn't mean we won't be great PAs or won't catch on very quickly. And most of us will still be learning on the job even after education, clinicals, and testing. We won't know everything but we have to start somewhere.

Now I can only speak from what I have heard and researched and personally experienced, but I was super apprehensive to accept at a school that was still provisionally accredited before I interviewed. And after my interview, I have moved south university of richmond to the top of my list. I actually heard worse things about South university of savannah than I did about Richmond's program. Do with that what you will, but I want people to try to see everything from both sides. Make a decision knowing the pros and the cons and go with your gut! When you find the right program, I think you will know.

I am interviewing with the Tampa branch in a few weeks and I can report back here with anything I hear regarding the Richmond program in comparison to the Tampa or savannah program if people are interested! 

I would agree, all of the students I spoke with told me that they loved their program. You're right, they definitely had tons of opportunities to mention things they weren't happy with. One student on my tour even mentioned that there was some sort of personal emergency with a student and the dean himself rectified the situation within a couple of days whereas at a  larger, more established, program may not have had the time to take care of so promptly and effectively. Also, Jinglebells, I'm interviewing at the Tampa branch on July 12th and won't be flying back to NC until Friday if you want to hang out afterward!!!

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1 hour ago, sarahbelle84 said:

I would agree, all of the students I spoke with told me that they loved their program. You're right, they definitely had tons of opportunities to mention things they weren't happy with. One student on my tour even mentioned that there was some sort of personal emergency with a student and the dean himself rectified the situation within a couple of days whereas at a  larger, more established, program may not have had the time to take care of so promptly and effectively. Also, Jinglebells, I'm interviewing at the Tampa branch on July 12th and won't be flying back to NC until Friday if you want to hang out afterward!!!

That's so funny! That's the same day I'm interviewing and I'm also from NC and flying out Friday. We should meet up and go to the beach or explore the area some after the interview!

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17 minutes ago, jinglebells0518 said:

That's so funny! That's the same day I'm interviewing and I'm also from NC and flying out Friday. We should meet up and go to the beach or explore the area some after the interview!

Yes definitely! Are you flying to RDU? Maybe we'll be on the same flight. I'll DM you my number

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2 hours ago, jinglebells0518 said:

That's so funny! That's the same day I'm interviewing and I'm also from NC and flying out Friday. We should meet up and go to the beach or explore the area some after the interview!

I live in Tampa! If you go to beach, I recommend St. Pete. There’s a new hot spot called Armature Works near downtown - cool place. 

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Hi! Current student here on my rotations. I can attest that my rotations have been amazing! What you are allowed to do on rotations is up to your preceptors not the school. I’ve been able to do plenty of procedures and documentation personally. My preceptors have also had students from other PA schools. I have felt prepared and confident in what i learned during my first year. I was prepared for the EOR exams and the PACKRAT. Our faculty has been incredible during these transitions (which is not uncommon in new programs btw) and would choose this school again in a heartbeat. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have to ease your mind. 

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