Thoughts from Alumni?

[thehopefulpa]

Hey - I'm getting ready to apply to PA schools when the cycle opens up shortly and I wanted to know how those who have graduated from the program felt about the curriculum, clinical education, ease of job placement etc.?  I'm a Utah native and plan on applying to both the U's program and RMUoHP's (among others).  I know a fair amount of people who have gone to UPAP so I have their perspective but I don't know anyone who has gone to RMUoHP.  I've gotten some feedback from past and present PTs of the school that they felt that aren't as prepared in their clinical rotations compared to UofU PT students (or at least they feel that's the perception that their preceptors have of them whether true or not), and I wanted to see if any PA alumni felt the same? If so, any suggestions for what you can do to combat that perception?

 

 Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[whaaat]

On 3/16/2020 at 6:07 PM, thehopefulpa said:

Hey - I'm getting ready to apply to PA schools when the cycle opens up shortly and I wanted to know how those who have graduated from the program felt about the curriculum, clinical education, ease of job placement etc.?  I'm a Utah native and plan on applying to both the U's program and RMUoHP's (among others).  I know a fair amount of people who have gone to UPAP so I have their perspective but I don't know anyone who has gone to RMUoHP.  I've gotten some feedback from past and present PTs of the school that they felt that aren't as prepared in their clinical rotations compared to UofU PT students (or at least they feel that's the perception that their preceptors have of them whether true or not), and I wanted to see if any PA alumni felt the same? If so, any suggestions for what you can do to combat that perception?

 

 Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Have you gotten any DMed feedback?

This is one of the hard things about PA (and other competitive programs) - no one feels comfortable putting their program on blast. I've been able to get people at most programs I interviewed at or received acceptances at to say a few bad things (eg realistic - NO program is perfect and anyone who says so I won't believe much they say) about their school and others. But I had to work to find those people who would be open and honest.

[thehopefulpa]

On 4/4/2020 at 9:08 PM, whaaat said:

Have you gotten any DMed feedback?

This is one of the hard things about PA (and other competitive programs) - no one feels comfortable putting their program on blast. I've been able to get people at most programs I interviewed at or received acceptances at to say a few bad things (eg realistic - NO program is perfect and anyone who says so I won't believe much they say) about their school and others. But I had to work to find those people who would be open and honest.

No Died feedback, I knew it was a long shot asking because I think you're totally right people don't want to put their program on blast to a stranger on the internet! I certainly think it's still a program worth pursuing all things considered. 

[dna005]

On 3/16/2020 at 7:07 PM, thehopefulpa said:

Hey - I'm getting ready to apply to PA schools when the cycle opens up shortly and I wanted to know how those who have graduated from the program felt about the curriculum, clinical education, ease of job placement etc.?  I'm a Utah native and plan on applying to both the U's program and RMUoHP's (among others).  I know a fair amount of people who have gone to UPAP so I have their perspective but I don't know anyone who has gone to RMUoHP.  I've gotten some feedback from past and present PTs of the school that they felt that aren't as prepared in their clinical rotations compared to UofU PT students (or at least they feel that's the perception that their preceptors have of them whether true or not), and I wanted to see if any PA alumni felt the same? If so, any suggestions for what you can do to combat that perception?

 

 Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Hey, I'm a RMU PA Alum and wanted to give you a little insight. I will say that it's not too common anymore for practicing PAs to frequent this forum, so I'm not too surprised that there haven't been replies. I happened to come across this by chance.

I felt RMU had a very strong didactic curriculum and the faculty is great. For my class, some semesters were much harder than others, so what is great about RMU's program is that they really try to listen to the student's feedback, and they're open to make changes as they see fit. For the next cohort, they switched around a few classes to balance out the difficulty of the semesters.  

Going into rotations, I felt like I was really well prepared from the didactic education and standardized patients. There was still A LOT I learned on rotations, but I was often praised by my preceptors on the knowledge I already had. However, preparedness and performance on clinical rotations is highly dependent of the student's efforts, so measures for that should not be totally place on the program. I do know that for my class, it was some of our preceptors first time precepting a student from RMU, and in general they were quite impressed with RMU PA students. The PA and PT program are completely separate, so I cannot speak to what you had heard from PT students. 

One thing that might be a negative to some people is that RMU has rotation sites all over the country, and they cannot guarantee that they will keep you local to Utah for all of your rotations. If you don't mind traveling, then it shouldn't be an issue. And they allow you to arrange your own rotations if you know someone that will precept. 

"Ease of job placement" might be phrased oddly. It is not any PA program's responsibility to place students with a job following graduation. This is also something that's very highly dependent on the student. What most employers care about is passing the PANCE. Being a new grad in general just makes it more difficult to be considered for a job. The ease in which you'll find a job is also highly dependent on how open someone is to location and specialty. 

 

Hope this helped a bit!

Edited July 6, 2020 by dna005

[thehopefulpa]

On 7/5/2020 at 10:26 PM, dna005 said:

Hey, I'm a RMU PA Alum and wanted to give you a little insight. I will say that it's not too common anymore for practicing PAs to frequent this forum, so I'm not too surprised that there haven't been replies. I happened to come across this by chance.

I felt RMU had a very strong didactic curriculum and the faculty is great. For my class, some semesters were much harder than others, so what is great about RMU's program is that they really try to listen to the student's feedback, and they're open to make changes as they see fit. For the next cohort, they switched around a few classes to balance out the difficulty of the semesters.  

Going into rotations, I felt like I was really well prepared from the didactic education and standardized patients. There was still A LOT I learned on rotations, but I was often praised by my preceptors on the knowledge I already had. However, preparedness and performance on clinical rotations is highly dependent of the student's efforts, so measures for that should not be totally place on the program. I do know that for my class, it was some of our preceptors first time precepting a student from RMU, and in general they were quite impressed with RMU PA students. The PA and PT program are completely separate, so I cannot speak to what you had heard from PT students. 

One thing that might be a negative to some people is that RMU has rotation sites all over the country, and they cannot guarantee that they will keep you local to Utah for all of your rotations. If you don't mind traveling, then it shouldn't be an issue. And they allow you to arrange your own rotations if you know someone that will precept. 

"Ease of job placement" might be phrased oddly. It is not any PA program's responsibility to place students with a job following graduation. This is also something that's very highly dependent on the student. What most employers care about is passing the PANCE. Being a new grad in general just makes it more difficult to be considered for a job. The ease in which you'll find a job is also highly dependent on how open someone is to location and specialty. 

 

Hope this helped a bit!

Thank you for the feedback!  I definitely agree with you that the effort of the individual student has a large impact.  It's also great to hear that the program is very receptive to student feedback.

[displaynamed]

As a current student at RMU's PA program, I don't feel right letting other unsuspecting pre-PAs make the mistake of coming here. I can't give too many details for fear of being found out by the program leadership, but this feeling is shared by MANY. It doesn't get better with rotations, that's for sure.

I was warned at my interview (from current students) but chose RMU due to it's location in the mountains (Utah is sooooo pretty and there's so much to do wit all the national parks!!!) but nearly everything about the school is extremely poor quality at an extremely premium cost.

If you have an acceptance elsewhere, even if you have to move, DO IT. 

[dna005]

On 3/25/2021 at 10:27 PM, displaynamed said:

As a current student at RMU's PA program, I don't feel right letting other unsuspecting pre-PAs make the mistake of coming here. I can't give too many details for fear of being found out by the program leadership, but this feeling is shared by MANY. It doesn't get better with rotations, that's for sure.

I was warned at my interview (from current students) but chose RMU due to it's location in the mountains (Utah is sooooo pretty and there's so much to do wit all the national parks!!!) but nearly everything about the school is extremely poor quality at an extremely premium cost.

If you have an acceptance elsewhere, even if you have to move, DO IT. 

This is really unfortunate that you feel the need to write and extremely nondescript comment and attempting to phrase it in a way that is collective to include others in the program when literally no one has said anything. 

But if the unprofessionalism especially displayed in your other responses to this same comment on another thread is at all indicative of your character, I can understand why you might encounter difficulties with a PA program that especially values professionalism and integrity. 

As a graduate of this program, I can't speak on any of the changes that may have occurred since the time that I graduated, but just keep in mind that your comment is coming at a time when ALL PA programs are having difficulties with clinical rotations and hands-on learning due to COVID. 

I can absolutely say that this program set me up for success to be well prepared for the PANCE and to make an awesome PA. 

And remember, just because someone gets into PA school doesn't give any guarantees they'll be a good PA. Think about that one for a minute. 

And if you so strongly feel this way about the program to make a public comment, at least provider some reasoning and justification for it rather than only a nonconstructive, purposeless, and only negative comment. 

[thehopefulpa]

To be fair I did ask for feedback on this program. I ended up interviewing, getting accepted, and ultimately choosing another program that I hope will be a better fit for me when it starts this summer. 
 

As we head into CASPA season and interviews later this year, and as future PAs start to look at these school boards more, I think it’s important to keep in mind that if you’re invited to interview you have already demonstrated that you’re capable. (Yay you!) I think the point of the interview is not only to see if you are a good fit for the program but if the program is a good fit for you. I got the impression in my student interview that one of the students really enjoyed the program and the other was more critical. That’s ok! Not every program is a good program (not saying this one is bad), or handles challenges well, or is a good fit for every student, and not every student is a good student or handles the challenges of PA school well. One person’s good or bad experience is not indicative of a universal experience had by all.