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2019-2020 Application Cycle

Guest thePAway

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in Stanford Univ. School of Medicine

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JKao2PA
JKao2PA

Just received an interview invite for October 25th and October 26th! SUPER EXCITED! 

stang57
stang57

I was at the Oct 25/26 interview. To be honest, I really liked the student panel because it felt real and genuine. I wasn't looking to be further convinced about why I should choose Stanford, but

sjboyce95
sjboyce95

I emailed the admissions office and they said that they received more applications than normal this year and are a bit behind. They will update those who are still waiting as soon as possible.  T

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Guest y1tenorio

Guest y1tenorio

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Got an acceptance call on 10/31!   

Anyone else concerned with the tuition cost? Each quarter is $17, 493 standard tuition  + $2,454 Fees. So for all 9 quarters, that's $179,523 just tuition and fees. This does not take into account cost of living in Palo Alto. I remember some of the current students expressing worry about the cost, and I just realized now how expensive this program is compared to others! 

Just want to make sure my math is right here or if I'm missing something?? 

http://med.stanford.edu/pa/tuition.html

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Pa98173jd

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On 11/4/2019 at 6:24 PM, y1tenorio said:

Got an acceptance call on 10/31!   

Anyone else concerned with the tuition cost? Each quarter is $17, 493 standard tuition  + $2,454 Fees. So for all 9 quarters, that's $179,523 just tuition and fees. This does not take into account cost of living in Palo Alto. I remember some of the current students expressing worry about the cost, and I just realized now how expensive this program is compared to others! 

Just want to make sure my math is right here or if I'm missing something?? 

http://med.stanford.edu/pa/tuition.html

Just pretty much expect to pay or take out about $290,000 in loans to attend this program. That will include the price of two years of off campus housing at Palo Alto and travel costs during clerkship. It is interesting when some schools are 2 years, 80k total tuition, and require no project/thesis for graduation.

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bstevenson

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On 11/5/2019 at 12:15 AM, Pa98173jd said:

Just pretty much expect to pay or take out about $290,000 in loans to attend this program. That will include the price of two years of off campus housing at Palo Alto and travel costs during clerkship. It is interesting when some schools are 2 years, 80k total tuition, and require no project/thesis for graduation.

This is so hard to justify.. I agree. I enjoyed the interview but its so hard to imagine paying 3x for the same end goal.. my mentors have all said pick the cheapest option and that it will not be worth the added debt because the school name does not matter, but I would be curious if anyone else can provide insight to justifying the cost !

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1234Ideclare

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4 minutes ago, bstevenson said:

This is so hard to justify.. I agree. I enjoyed the interview but its so hard to imagine paying 3x for the same end goal.. my mentors have all said pick the cheapest option and that it will not be worth the added debt because the school name does not matter, but I would be curious if anyone else can provide insight to justifying the cost !

I think the way I rationalize it is like this:

If I wanted to just become a PA and practice as such, then yea, this program probably isnt worth it. Go to a program that is much cheaper. Obviously still in a good area with great PANCE pass rates and great clinical rotations, there are a ton of them out there. You will graduate with the "same" degree and be able to go out, get your certification, and practice in whatever you want and be content in your life.

However, if I wanted to do something more than just practice as a PA, then I think it is hard to believe that a degree from Stanford won't go much further in fostering whatever the future goals are. That is what they are selling with their leadership tracks. To me, the ability to take multidisciplinary courses in other Stanford programs is invaluable. You have an interest in going into hospital management or healthcare funding/cost evaluations? Cool, take some courses through the number two MBA program in the country. You have an interest in building an app that targets medically disadvantaged populations with the goal of increasing basic medical understanding and decreasing stigma or health related fears? Great, take some classes through our number one rated computer sciences program. You are interested in Health Policy, Clinical Research, Health Education......Blah blah blah. Tell us what you are interested in and what you want to do and lets make it happen. That is what Stanford affords you the ability to do. (Disclaimer, during the interview, it seemed like these were possibilities, but that they were still ironing out the particulars. But what was reassuring to me is that it felt to me like they were completely open to doing whatever they could to making "it", whatever "it" is, work.) More than just taking the classes, you have the opportunity to network and rub elbows with the top individuals in basically every field of anything. Law, business, policy, education, research, computer science. They do it all, and they do it all at the next level. Not to mention, if you want to go onto something else down the road, like law school or into an MBA program, I don't care what anyone says, a Masters degree from Stanford just means more. To an admissions committee, I can't imagine a Masters from Stanford would be evenly graded to a Masters from "insert school name here". Maybe I am just biased, but I am currently heavily involved in multiple selection committees in academic medicine and previous education weighs very heavily. 

People on here and on Reddit consistently say that rankings don't matter and that the cheapest school is best. I think Stanford is building a program that will turnout the future leaders that drive the profession forward and through the challenging times ahead (future healthcare bills/congress' inability to do whats right). I also think that as the program ages and starts to graduate the post Foothill cohorts, its ranking will go up. Just my opinion though.  

TL:DR If you want to get your degree, your certification, and to practice, then Stanford isnt for you. If you have aspirations beyond the basic, Stanford can be your partner in crime, and a good one at that. 

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Agpac

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Stanford is interesting. They just went through a massive change and are stepping away from primary care and dipping their toes into specialities. The PANCE is reflective of the quality of education you get at a program and historically the Pance is primary care based. Could they be doing themselves a disfavor by getting further from primary care? Maybe, but that’s a different discussion. 

Stanford has many extra “perks” but how feasible is it to take classes outside of your PA requirements and doing well in? I’m not sure about you all but I was an ambitious undergrad I took several different classes outside of my major and let me tell you some where more difficult than I expected since I didn’t have the knowledge of some subject like engineering. This is graduate level work many of us may not fully appreciate the intensity of the coursework and paired along with how intense PA school is already! While the program is ironing that out you’re taking out loans that are expensive! You have a limit of 20,500 of federal unsubsidized loan, MD students have ~45,000.  The rest is on you with the grad plus loans that CAN come up at a whopping 7%. So yes if you want to go to a school that gives you many options to take a class in an MBA program you can, but you don’t get the degree which is what your employer may want other than the MSPA in X track? You can always go back to school and earn your MBA at a much lower cost than what your MSPA is costing you. A PA program that costs what an MD school costs is something one should consider heavily if you don’t come from a wealthy background. If it’s the only program you get into okay do it and sign up for a loan forgiveness program working for a non profit for 10 years and make those consecutive payments at INCOME BASED. It really depends on the individual you have to be honest with yourself and weight what your goals are. At the end everyone worked extremely hard to become a PA but the quality of life after school is what’s going to keep you sane. Maybe talk to a financial advisor prior to making your decision and crunch out the numbers, see the field you’re interested in and what new grads are making or if you’re planning on starting a family right after school. These are the things you should consider as well the “perks” the school will give you like is there a specialty you want to do that they have a rotation in that’s extremely unique to justify the cost? 

Everyone will have different answers and reasons why they decided or didn’t but don’t follow the herd if you are just in it for the name of the school or to take a few classes with another program. You will limit yourself in the end by not getting that financial freedom or whatever your goals are for LIFE AFTER PA school. 

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Krscherer

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I interviewed at a lot of schools and chose Stanford! Because I did my undergrad at Stanford I can tell you that what it provides as a university is simply different. My experience was so fantastic and rewarding not only because of the level of education that the school provided and the AMAZING people that attend, but also the unlimited resources you have access to. And unfortunately that costs money.

I have seen personally that having STANFORD UNIVERSITY on your resume makes a significant impact. Because it has been statistically one of the hardest schools to get into in the country, people have a lot respect for Stanford graduates and it gets your foot in the door for opportunities that you couldn't dream of.

I agree with the statement that if you want to be educated as a PA and practice solely in primary care then no, it may not be the program for you. There are AMAZING programs that can teach you exactly what you need to know and create outstanding PAs. However, if you envision yourself wanted to make global change in healthcare, then Stanford will undoubtedly give you the tools and resources to make that happen. 

I cannot place a high enough value on the PEOPLE they chose to attend the university as they will have a life long impact on you. They will inspire you and push you in ways you didn't anticipate. Finances are a serious thing to consider and something I do not take lightly. However I ultimately decided that in my 30 years of being a practicing PA I wasn't going to look back at the extra $70,000-80,000 I paid to go to school there and regret it. (almost every program is close to $100,000 unless it is in-state tuition and Stanford is $180,000)

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Guest y1tenorio

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I ended up turning down my admission to Stanford. Even though I really liked this program and loved the idea of staying in California,  I couldn't rationalize the extra cost compared to the two other programs in which I was admitted (Yale and Emory). 

My PA mentors also agreed that Stanford was not worth the extra cost. I wouldn't go as far to say to "pick the cheapest option" because not all programs prepare you to become a PA as well as others. However, there definitely are other programs that will provide you quality education at a reasonable tuition. 

This is all my personal opinion. I am just prioritizing my value for both quality education and financial stability. 

Best wishes to everyone on their journey to become a PA!

On 11/12/2019 at 10:19 AM, bstevenson said:

This is so hard to justify.. I agree. I enjoyed the interview but its so hard to imagine paying 3x for the same end goal.. my mentors have all said pick the cheapest option and that it will not be worth the added debt because the school name does not matter, but I would be curious if anyone else can provide insight to justifying the cost !

 

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prinsista

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19 hours ago, Pa98173jd said:

Wait, if you were on the waitlist and just got accepted, doesnt that hint that the class has been filled up, someone declined admissions, and they are gathering folk from the waitlist?

Yes. In my opinion that is exactly what is happening. According to the number of people on the facebook group for admitted students, the incoming class has almost been filled up. There are only a handful of spots left. 

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