What major did you pick for pre-PA?

[literarypa146]

Hi there! My name’s Amanda. I’m brand new on the forum so if there’s a recent thread about this, please feel free to re-direct me.

Presently I’m working full time as a CNA and attending a community college full time to get my associate of science (basically core pre reqs) before transferring to a four year university. I’m still on fence about what to major in for my bachelors degree prior to applying for PA schools, so I thought I’d seek out the masses and find out - what did you all pick (or are currently pursuing) for your major for your bachelors degree? Was/is it the standard biology/chemistry route or did you pick something outside of the sciences?

[DiggySRNA]

Hey Amanda, welcome to the PA forum

Pick something that can provide a well-paying job and high quality PCE upon graduation so when you graduate with your bachelors, you can streamline into a PA program. Kill two birds with one stone. I wish I had done this my first go around.

• Paramedicine
• Registered Nurse (ASN and BSN)
• Registered Respiratory Therapy
• Medical Laboratory Science (school dependent)
• Radiology Technology

[rpower]

I don't know if all schools offered it but I majored in microbiology and have loved it. The elective courses for my degree lined up nicely with recommended courses for the PA schools that I applied too. I also think it gives you a really strong science foundation.

[prepa1997]

The major I chose was Health Science with a focus in health administration. My university allows a majority of the classes to be online courses so it was perfect for my schedule as a medical assistant. My prereqs are in person but this allows me to have a significant amount of time for work, volunteering and shadowing with PAs. Also, my backup route is being an administrator in a hospital so it was perfect for me. I think you just need to find whatever major follow up with your back up route. PA schools don't really care unless you have all your prerequisites, shadowing, volunteer, and patient care experience.

[Ket131]

My PA cohort is has a wide variety of undergraduate degrees; Asian Languages, Spanish, Biology, Exercise Science, Kinesiology, Neuroscience, BSN, Athletic Training, Nutrition...I think some one was in business.  I majored in Biology.  Based on my experience I haven't found that these schools really care what you majored in as long as you can do those prerequisites courses and get above a B, but obviously they prefer As.  

Everyone is going to have strong points and weak points, regardless if what your focus is in.  For example, some of the biochemistry of the pathophysiology was brand new to the nurses in my cohort, but was not to me who majored in Biology and had a concentration in Chemistry.  However, I have a lack of knowledge in plenty of the areas we study, which the nurses are strong in and we work together as a team to make each other better.  So, it is going to depend and just because you choose a major, or a "strong" dPCE line of work after college doesn't really mean that much.  If it should or not is up to debate, but as of right now, that has not been my experience.  Which is good because I have learned a lot from everyone because of how much we all differ and we all have tricks to learning the material etc.  

If I were you I would just be reasonable about what you choose.  If your plans for PA school were to change, you may want a degree that can give you a job and some money.  Majoring in gender studies or something like that is going to be limiting, but hey...follow your passions.

[Ollivander]

Finance

[LadyNichiavelli]

I majored in English and minored in Spanish.

[MT2PA]

Pick something that interests you and can get you a job in case you change your mind or don't get in to PA school.  Biology is great but unless you are doing some kind of post grad program there aren't "biology jobs" so you'd have to know what you'd do with it to make a career.

You can major in absolutely anything as long as you get the pre-reqs for applying completed - which may mean extra classes if your major doesn't require them.

[Guest thePAway]

I majored in psychology and would definitely recommend. I think the background about learning about child development, abnormal psychology (all of the mental disorders), and many other aspects about psychology are very applicable to life and especially to a field where we care for a vulnerable population!

[Bat10]

Pick whatever major you want. Of course, you need to meet the pre-reqs for the program you’re applying to, so a type of science major will be more conducive to meeting that requirement. But, whatever you’re interested in learning, you should major in that, and everything else will follow.

[rev ronin]

My undergraduate was in information systems--knowing that I can handle an EMR with my eyes closed has helped me get hired and made me stand out vs. all the sea of biology majors...

[Prepaguy23]

I went health science, minor in biology. The heath science/public health field has endless opportunities if you ever needed a back up plan as compared to a biology major. 

[EMEDPA]

EMT Senior year in high school

Medical anthropology major (worked 24 -60 hrs/week as an ER tech x 4 years)

Paramedic school started 1 month after college graduation. 

[jsw59058]

If I had to do it again. I’d go to nursing school. Graduate making 60k with awesome PCE. Plus you learn all the skills I had to go to paramedic school for


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[EMEDPA]

8 minutes ago, jsw59058 said:

If I had to do it again. I’d go to nursing school. Graduate making 60k with awesome PCE. Plus you learn all the skills I had to go to paramedic school for


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a lot of the same skills like IVs, foleys, etc, but most RN programs do not teach you to cardiovert, intubate, etc

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

Business Mgmt. at UT-Austin. Thankfully, I never had to complete the degree coursework as a result of getting into PA school.

[vinnybaby]

If I could go back I'd double major biochem and biology, but that's me. If you just want a job then who cares like stated above I don't think pa schools care, I've met a few art major pa's..

And honestly the pre reqs aren't exactly difficult n could easily fit in to any major, so again if u just want a job I'd major in something easy like pre health n just get emt certrd and do that a bunch + community service hours

[AdamPAC]

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology - CU Boulder, because it was really interesting, the department faculty were much more helpful than the molecular biology or physiology folks, and I was able to graduate a semester earlier than with any other STEM degree I might have chosen. I find that I can use the evolutionary biology framework in thinking through some principles of physiology (all levels from molecular ⇨ organismal), and general biology stuff. However, I probably graduated with more hard science in that degree program than most do. Take into consideration that you can do something that interests you, and your electives can be something like biochemistry. I did this somewhat out of necessity given my many previous failed attempts at undergrad that left me with no science education, a crappy GPA, and no upper-level courses when I went back to school and finally finished. I realized I could get all the necessary stuff that would help in healthcare to fit into a degree program that fulfilled other curiosities. All that said, I was lucky enough to have school paid for with the GI Bill, but still had to work 60-70 hours/week between 3 jobs during school to support my family. So, unless your circumstances allow it, I wouldn't pick something like I did that won't be conducive to a job when you graduate.

[Hypoxicdriv3]

I have been a respiratory therapist for 5 years at a large inner city hospital with greater then 7000 hours of emergency room/intensive care hours. The field of respiratory has been crucial to my learning process as a healthcare practitioner prior to applying to PA school. I could go in to detail about how health experience like this or that of a registered nurse might be something to look into so you can get  the best hands on patient care experience to make you a hard to ignore candidate. 

[aceface]

I was a biology major. Some will say any degree is fine, but I've been in PA school for a couple of weeks now and the biology degree has helped a lot. We are doing immunology right now. All the science majors that took immunology are able to keep up with the lecture, everyone else who just did the pre-reqs are struggling with immunology. That's more time that I can focus on other subjects since I am already ok with immunology.  Now if I had to do it all over again, I would do a BSN. They get great PCE and get paid well while waiting on an acceptance. Waiting with a BS in biology with MA pay is hard to get by on. I would also take upper biology classes that would help give me a foundation for PA school like immuno, neuro, genetics, and endo.

[ecb220]

I majored in Nutrition Science and minored in Psychology. I loved my major! I initially chose it because I thought I was going to go the registered dietitian route, but ended up deciding the PA route and my pre-reqs lined up beautifully (minus I had to take an adv. anatomy and physiology and medical terminology class because I never chose those as electives in my undergrad and several programs wanted an additional anatomy/phys class and a med terminology course)

 

Though I may be a bit biased, I feel nutrition is also a great field to major in as nutrition plays such a key role in a patient's wellness overall!