BA in Psychology... PA School?

[ajorda33]

Hi all,

I hope this is the right place for this. I graduated with a BA in Psychology about 3 years ago. I have an interest in going to PA school after hearing from friends in the medical field. I currently am trying to find routes to get into PA school. I know it would not be right away of course, but does anyone have any advice or come from a similar situation and can share their experience?

 

[Alm4034]

34 minutes ago, ajorda33 said:

Hi all,

I hope this is the right place for this. I graduated with a BA in Psychology about 3 years ago. I have an interest in going to PA school after hearing from friends in the medical field. I currently am trying to find routes to get into PA school. I know it would not be right away of course, but does anyone have any advice or come from a similar situation and can share their experience?

 

I have a BA in psychology and am currently on a couple waitlists for pa school. What questions do you have or what are you wondering?

[ajorda33]

4 minutes ago, Alm4034 said:

I have a BA in psychology and am currently on a couple waitlists for pa school. What questions do you have or what are you wondering?

Hi Alm4034,

I was wondering how you got to that point of being able to apply for PA school. Did you work as a CNA, nurse, EMT, etc before applying? Did you take some pre-requisite courses to make you qualified?

In my undergraduate for my degree, I wasn't required to take an hard sciences such as chemistry and other necessary classes. 

I have been looking at routes to PA school and they all involve at least 3 years as an EMT, Medical Assistant, etc and then some type of GRE. I'm not sure if it's the smartest route to take classes for a year to get certification to be a CNA or MA and then work for 3 years as one, and then apply to PA school. I would like to get started on my own route but not sure where to begin. 

[Guest HopeToBePAC]

You already have a bachelor's degree, so that's one component of the application that's checked off. You're probably missing some prerequisites, or the hard sciences you mentioned such as chemistry that you will need to take and try to ace at a university or CC. You'll have to get your patient care experience which has several different routes (do some research and find the best for you) which doesn't have to take 3 years...you could rack up close to 1.5-2k hours by 2 years (depending on how much you work) which gives you a plethora of schools to apply. Once you check off your prerequisites and PCE, you'll take the GRE, get your LORs, write you personal statement, and be set to apply. I'd say you could have this all done by the 2021 cycle opening (so in about 2.5 years) as getting it all done by the 2020 cycle will probably be difficult. 

[Alm4034]

8 hours ago, ajorda33 said:

Hi Alm4034,

I was wondering how you got to that point of being able to apply for PA school. Did you work as a CNA, nurse, EMT, etc before applying? Did you take some pre-requisite courses to make you qualified?

In my undergraduate for my degree, I wasn't required to take an hard sciences such as chemistry and other necessary classes. 

I have been looking at routes to PA school and they all involve at least 3 years as an EMT, Medical Assistant, etc and then some type of GRE. I'm not sure if it's the smartest route to take classes for a year to get certification to be a CNA or MA and then work for 3 years as one, and then apply to PA school. I would like to get started on my own route but not sure where to begin. 

For my PCE I worked as a behavioral therapist for 3.5 years and a mental health therapist for 3 years (I also have a Masters in Counseling). Last month I finished a CNA class and plan on getting a part time job as a CNA to expand my PCE. The CNA class I took was through a local nursing home training center. In minnesota where I live it's a 70 hour course.

In regards to prerequisites I took intro chem 1&2, o chem, biochem, microbiology, a&p 1&2, and genetics. I took these courses over the last 3 years or so. I could have finished these classes in less time but I work full time and have 2 kids so I only took 2-3 class a semester and took 1 semester off when we were moving. 

I would look at the schools that you would like to apply to and see what their requirements are and start making a plan based on those requirements. 

[LAE198]

I have a BA in psych and will be starting PA school this summer.  

I got my medical assisting certification after undergrad and got my PCE doing that.  Medical assisting school takes about 12 months full-time, so if you're in a bigger hurry than that, maybe look into a CNA course instead.  There are CNA courses out there that can be finished in 4 months or so.  

Like you, I didn't take much in the way of "heavy" science during undergrad, so I went to my local community college in the evenings to get my pre-reqs.  At the bare minimum, you'll need to take anatomy & physiology I and II, microbiology, general chemistry I and II and at least one semester of organic chemistry.  Genetics and additional organic and biochemistry will open more doors and make you more competitive, but I was able to get interviews at two schools with just the six I listed plus pathophysiology.  Give yourself more time than you think you'll need to finish them all, especially if you're going to be taking them while working full-time.  It took me two attempts to get through microbiology.  Also keep in mind that schools aren't just looking for these to be completed - they're looking for them to be completed with excellent grades.

As for where to start: I would research CNA, medical assisting, EMT, phlebotomy, etc programs near you - how much they cost, how long they take, how much help they offer in finding you employment afterward, and pick one.  Then get to work.  Keep in mind, accruing your PCE is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.  40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year equals 2000 hours a year, and you're not going to be able to make time go any faster.  Use that time to be the best possible CNA/CMA/EMT/lab tech/whatever you can be.  Learn as much as you can.  Cultivate relationships with the doctors, PAs, RNs, and NPs you work with, not just because you're eventually going to need them to write glowing recommendation letters about you, but because you'll need to have an idea about how to navigate those relationships when you eventually become a PA yourself.  Take the GRE at some point.  I found the Kaplan test prep book helpful for that, because it comes with a number of full-length mock exams.  But your mileage may vary.