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2018-2019 Application Cycle

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Kgurl

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14 minutes ago, clarkfamof4 said:

I’m on the alternate list. Super disappointed I didn’t get in, but hoping to still make it in. This program is my top pick. Congratulations to all who are starting this summer! emoji322.pngemoji324.png


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Same boat here. Keeping my fingers crossed though. 🤞🏽

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fireman2241

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Hey guys. I'm a first year student at NAU and just finished the first semester. If you all have any questions, I can do my best to answer them for you. Full disclosure...I'm not aware of any admission status or timeline type things...but I can answer questions you may have about the program itself. Best of luck to you all...I know this process is grueling but hang in there!

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azpamkay

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On 12/22/2018 at 9:59 PM, fireman2241 said:

Hey guys. I'm a first year student at NAU and just finished the first semester. If you all have any questions, I can do my best to answer them for you. Full disclosure...I'm not aware of any admission status or timeline type things...but I can answer questions you may have about the program itself. Best of luck to you all...I know this process is grueling but hang in there!

Congratulations on finishing your first semester! We all appreciate you making yourself available to questions! I know I've got a few.

1) So far, have you actually used the textbooks that the program recommends? Or any other supplemental books?

2) What a normal weekly schedule like for you? 

3) How much time do you dedicate to studying in the evenings and on weekends? Do you feel like you're able to do well in the program while still having a life? 

4) General financial aid question that you should feel totally free to pass on if it's too personal! If you needed to take out loans and assistance, how helpful and responsive was the NAU financial aid office? Any advice on when to start getting in contact with them?

Thank you so much! Congrats again and happy holidays 🙂

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fireman2241

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On 12/24/2018 at 7:35 AM, azpamkay said:

Congratulations on finishing your first semester! We all appreciate you making yourself available to questions! I know I've got a few.

1) So far, have you actually used the textbooks that the program recommends? Or any other supplemental books?

2) What a normal weekly schedule like for you? 

3) How much time do you dedicate to studying in the evenings and on weekends? Do you feel like you're able to do well in the program while still having a life? 

4) General financial aid question that you should feel totally free to pass on if it's too personal! If you needed to take out loans and assistance, how helpful and responsive was the NAU financial aid office? Any advice on when to start getting in contact with them?

Thank you so much! Congrats again and happy holidays 🙂

1)  So the lecture slides typically have all the information needed for the exams, so most of us did not buy any of the "required" textbooks. With that being said, you'll definitely use the Bates Physical Exam book for the H&P class, so at minimum I'd recommend either the hard copy or the online copy. We had a ton of quizzes in that class that came directly from the book, and its nice to reference it quickly for learning SOAP notes and exam techniques. Other than that, the Netter's atlas for anatomy got quite a bit of use for me but you can get by without it. If you've never read EKG's before, I would say that the rapid EKG book is literally the BEST out there and would be good to reference. You'll get 1 lecture on EKG's, and be expected to interpret rhythms for the exam. I was a paramedic prior to PA school so I was familiar with them, but for other classmates that never read strips before I feel that book does the best job.

2) The schedule for first semester wasn't that bad in my opinion. Mondays and Wednesdays are anatomy days (lecture and lab). Class would start at 9 and we'd go straight thru with no break, which also meant we'd get to go home earlier. After lecture, we'd head right up to anatomy lab and start our dissections. We could leave as soon as all objectives were met, and that would vary from 2 to 4 hours worth of dissection. On the best day, we'd get out by 1pm. On the worst, we'd be out at 3pm. Fridays are similar in that we'd have clinical assesment labs in the morning, but would typically be free in the afternoon. Tues and Thurs were the brutal days. We'd go from 9 to 5 those days. They're long and science intensive days. We also had a lot of exams on those days so many times we'd start at 7am for the exam, and then get into the lectures right after. So far, it looks like next semester will be similar for us, but without the early days that we enjoyed after anatomy lab.

3) Ahhhhhh the studying question lol. First let me be transparent and real with you and say that PA school is the hardest academic thing I've ever done in my life. Just like everyone else in my class, I did very well in undergrad. But this is a whole different beast. Everyone's study routine is different and inevitably you'll have to find your own groove and what works for you. I feel like my entire first semester was a huge trial and error experiment on finding what made me successful. So typically, I would study for 4 hours each day after class. More if there was an exam coming up (theres about 2 exams a week). Saturdays I would spend about 6 hours, and I'd try to not do anything at all on sundays. The good news is you can absolutely make this what you want it to be. You dont HAVE to study all the time if you don't care about getting A's. I don't try to get A's on exams anymore because the stress of that was too much for me. Some classes are easier than others, and the anatomy class will require the most studying you've ever done in your life. You can't cram for these exams because the questions are all critical thinking, 3 and 4 level questions. So studying in PA school is just different than undergrad studying. So my advice is to plan on spending time each day after class, as well as the bulk of your weekends in the books. Remember that you must maintain a 3.0 GPA in the program and are not allowed to get a C in more than 11 credits worth of classes during didactic year. So you'll have to find your sweet spot. Make sure your family, partner, kids, pets, whoever in your life,  know thats you just wont have the time for them that they might be use to at least for the next year. Now, don't get me wrong we've had A LOT of fun together as a class and all of us are still very social. We make the time and you'll absolutely still have a life. There's just gonna be stretches of time where you won't feel that way at all.

4) I didn't have any problems with financial aid at all. The few times I've spoken with the financial aid office they've been super helpful. As long as you get your FAFSA in on time and get approvals for all of the PLUS loans, you should be disbursed on time and have everything you need. 

 

Hope that helps! Happy New Year to everyone also!

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azpamkay

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On 12/26/2018 at 8:25 AM, MarcoRD2PA said:

For those accepted, does anyone know when they will send the formal letter of acceptance? Congratulations to everyone who was accepted and best of luck to those waiting to hear back 🙂

 

Happy Holidays,

 

Marco 

I received mine about 3-4 weeks after getting the phone call! It contained the exact same information as the acceptance email from the graduate college.

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MarcoRD2PA

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7 hours ago, azpamkay said:

I received mine about 3-4 weeks after getting the phone call! It contained the exact same information as the acceptance email from the graduate college.

Thank you! 

I received my acceptance a little over a month ago, but I haven't received a formal letter yet just the acceptance confirmation. I am hoping it has to do with the holidays / winter break. 🙂 

 

Marco 

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bfairbanks

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Hello all! For those that have been accepted, have you started filling out your FAFSA? Did anyone put down parents info? I'm an independent so I didn't think I would need to... but there was a particular part that mentioned that it might be helpful if you are a "health professional student." Anyone know if this has any gauge on the actual offers? 

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sydneypaige

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21 hours ago, bfairbanks said:

Hello all! For those that have been accepted, have you started filling out your FAFSA? Did anyone put down parents info? I'm an independent so I didn't think I would need to... but there was a particular part that mentioned that it might be helpful if you are a "health professional student." Anyone know if this has any gauge on the actual offers? 

I filled out my FAFSA as an independent (I’m 24). I have not heard anything and this was maybe a month ago or earlier.

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kdrake

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On 2/26/2019 at 9:35 AM, sampsonite06 said:

Have any accepted people received additional correspondence? The last I heard was an email on Jan. 28th saying we would get a link to a detailed web page some time in Feb.

I haven't heard from them since the email on Jan. 28th! Hopefully we will soon. Excited to hear next steps! 🙂

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