skram Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 So i am currently trying to choose between two pa programs. One (we’ll call it program A) is cheaper, and has an excellent reputation, but it seems that the area is flooded with pa and med students and clinical rotations would be done with other pa students and med students in the area. The other pa program (program B) is the only program in that area, and you get more one on one attention during rotations. is it more common for programs to have multiple students in one rotation? Would it make that big of a difference in my clinical education in the long run? I want to save money by going to program A, but program B seems to have a better clinical curriculum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted October 10, 2018 Moderator Share Posted October 10, 2018 program B FTW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbum Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Go with B. Didactic education kinda is what it is, IMO, but good clinical experiences are invaluable. I've only had to share with other students a few times, but it's definitely sub-optimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Believe Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 how much cheaper is the other program? Can you schedule your own rotations if you have connections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skram Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 20 minutes ago, Believe said: how much cheaper is the other program? Can you schedule your own rotations if you have connections? Program A is $53,00 and program B is $77,000. But id also have to pay rent if i went to program B which makes it even more costly. Im not sure about scheduling my own rotations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blynn12 Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Program B. I had a couple of clinical rotations with other PA students. One place had a high pt volume so having other students wasn't really a big issue at all as there were plenty of pts to be seen. However, the other 2 rotations I had with other students resulted in less pt visits for me so less of a chance to work up/think about things on my own first and also A LOT of downtime, esp if it was a slow day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Mine was a mix - but any rotation that had other students (both MD or PA) at the same site at the same time were prepared for that (i.e multiple teams (inpatient) so we each had our own teams, EMED (we were always 1:1 with an attending), surgery (we were 1:1 with a resident and they were more involved than the surgeon anyway). I'd inquire more about program A to find out how they handle it. Obviously 4 students with one attending/team is suboptimal. But if they can pull it off like my program, I don't feel that my clinical education suffered at all - in fact I had more options available to me. OP from the wording of your post you are making assumptions - if that's the case, get more information. Just because there may be multiple students at one site, doesn't mean they aren't getting 1:1 attention. Don't rule out program A just yet. I was in an area with 3+ medical schools and 2 PA schools. There were no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skram Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 On 10/13/2018 at 7:28 AM, MT2PA said: Mine was a mix - but any rotation that had other students (both MD or PA) at the same site at the same time were prepared for that (i.e multiple teams (inpatient) so we each had our own teams, EMED (we were always 1:1 with an attending), surgery (we were 1:1 with a resident and they were more involved than the surgeon anyway). I'd inquire more about program A to find out how they handle it. Obviously 4 students with one attending/team is suboptimal. But if they can pull it off like my program, I don't feel that my clinical education suffered at all - in fact I had more options available to me. OP from the wording of your post you are making assumptions - if that's the case, get more information. Just because there may be multiple students at one site, doesn't mean they aren't getting 1:1 attention. Don't rule out program A just yet. I was in an area with 3+ medical schools and 2 PA schools. There were no issues. Okay, that's good to hear! Thanks for the feedback Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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