lmero Posted March 20, 2020 Share Posted March 20, 2020 My situation is that i am currently attending a program that is new and they have changed the instructor for physiology. They change the exam style from test bank to a made up test without us knowing. I will get used to a certain style of studying to find its not useful 1 or 2 weeks thereafter. Instructors do not explain anything, all they do is just read from the power points. I have failed 2 exams in microbiology so far since we started in January. I am an A student in undergrad with a 3.8 gpa and never failed an exam. The microbiology instructor gives us 4 books to study from and say study from these. His power points are useless for the exam since his questions do not correlate with the content taught in the lecture power point. I have got a call from a top tier school down where i live that i was accepted and i paid the deposit this past week. The program director told us she will be hiring 3 new part time ones for next semster. all these new instructors sound like substitutes while the main 4 instructors are just through grades at us to keep us from complaining. my grades are not that good so far and i feel like i am home studying all the time and learning USMLE and other stuff not related to PA school to cover myself for the exam. Cost wise and time wise at this point of time its the same. The program i want to go to that is close to home is 80k and the other one is 100k with math after i withdraw it will cost me the same. the program i am currently attending is 27 month compared to 24 month in the one i want to go to. My question is should i withdraw from the program i am currently at by the end of this semester and start at the other one in august. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlaPA Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 would you be able to share which program you're currently in (through private message)? im applying in april and applying to a BUUUUNCH of programs and want to stir clear of programs like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmero Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 14 hours ago, AspiringFuturePA2022 said: would you be able to share which program you're currently in (through private message)? im applying in april and applying to a BUUUUNCH of programs and want to stir clear of programs like that Its a new program that just started this january. I can tell you if you PM me. I am just unsure of what i should do. We have 20 chapters for physiology exam next week on stuff that were not taught to us. I study from the book and thats all i can do. I spoke with the director about the professor not telling us what to study from and i am still running into the same situation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimi2019 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 17 minutes ago, lmero said: Its a new program that just started this january. I can tell you if you PM me. I am just unsure of what i should do. We have 20 chapters for physiology exam next week on stuff that were not taught to us. I study from the book and thats all i can do. I spoke with the director about the professor not telling us what to study from and i am still running into the same situation If I was you and If withdrawing doesn't have an consequences, then I would definitely switch to the other program. Is there someone you could possible speak with from the admissions department of your current program? Also if you could please pm me the program or I can shoot you a dm if you prefer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 I would check with the second program in which you are interested in attending to ask them if they would be OK with you withdrawing from your current program and starting at their program. I don't think you need to go into details, but it would probably be best to be transparent with the fact that you're currently enrolled elsewhere. As for your current situation, are you provided with course objectives? Sometimes these can be of help in determining what is important to study when you are given a lot of content without a lot of guidance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmero Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 15 hours ago, Bubbles said: I would check with the second program in which you are interested in attending to ask them if they would be OK with you withdrawing from your current program and starting at their program. I don't think you need to go into details, but it would probably be best to be transparent with the fact that you're currently enrolled elsewhere. As for your current situation, are you provided with course objectives? Sometimes these can be of help in determining what is important to study when you are given a lot of content without a lot of guidance. Content given does outline the material but many of the concepts are not in the power point. One example, we are being asked about antibiotics when we were never taught. She has 8 to 9 classes a semester and so far she pushed 2 classes to summer lol. I am doing well in my other classes so far. As for micro, I am studying USMLE Medical school stuff so i can get a 70 on her exams. I spoke with them but the issue never resolves. I was not sure if thats normal in PA school to study material from everywhere just to fail. As for withdrawing, I can withdraw from the program i am currently attending but i am worried if it will be a problem for me to inform the second program i am going to. I was not sure if anyone had an experience with switching programs. Like do i have to tell them i have attended another program Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbles Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 10 minutes ago, lmero said: Content given does outline the material but many of the concepts are not in the power point. One example, we are being asked about antibiotics when we were never taught. She has 8 to 9 classes a semester and so far she pushed 2 classes to summer lol. I am doing well in my other classes so far. As for micro, I am studying USMLE Medical school stuff so i can get a 70 on her exams. I spoke with them but the issue never resolves. I was not sure if thats normal in PA school to study material from everywhere just to fail. As for withdrawing, I can withdraw from the program i am currently attending but i am worried if it will be a problem for me to inform the second program i am going to. I was not sure if anyone had an experience with switching programs. Like do i have to tell them i have attended another program The USMLE Step 2 is similar to the content we are expected to know in PA school. I utilized various med school step 2 resources throughout didactic. If it was me, I would check with the second program to see if they will allow you to attend after withdrawing from current program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c1588 Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 I have no experience with, and know of no one that, has switched.. so take this with a grain of salt, but - I would reach out to first and second year students at the program you're trying to transfer into. I'd be willing to bet you'll find the same story there. New staff means presentations they didn't make, over material they aren't necessarily experts in, and giving you exam questions that they didn't write. Doesn't mean that their input isn't valuable, it just creates the same testing/lecture environment you're in right now. If I read what you're saying correctly, you'd be spending 20k more to go to a shorter program, so in other words, you've spent 20k these past couple months to solo-study if you do end up transferring. My guess is that in the second program, you will be spending the majority of your time self-studying/group studying/studying outside of class there too. Maybe you'll get a lecturer that fits your particular learning style better, maybe they'll give you different assigned readings (that will cover the same abx, etc.) and maybe they'll write test questions that are more in sync, and maybe you'll perform better on the exam, or maybe you'll still bomb it. At the end of didactic at either program, you're going to be responsible for the same material. If the program had the best lecturers in every topic, in every field, etc, etc, you can't retain that from lecture alone. Most of the work is done outside of class. Maybe that's just my program and I'm a cynic! Just wanted to offer a different perspective. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmero Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) d Edited April 3, 2020 by lmero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c1588 Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 Yeah I see what you're saying about being worried about how current program will respond - is there an ombudsman you could talk to? If you're worried about retaliation I think that's who you're supposed to go see. I don't know if they're the right person to know what the program's response would be, but they'd probably know who you would need to talk to instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C0r4l1n3 Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 On 3/22/2020 at 10:13 AM, lmero said: Content given does outline the material but many of the concepts are not in the power point. One example, we are being asked about antibiotics when we were never taught. She has 8 to 9 classes a semester and so far she pushed 2 classes to summer lol. I am doing well in my other classes so far. As for micro, I am studying USMLE Medical school stuff so i can get a 70 on her exams. I spoke with them but the issue never resolves. I was not sure if thats normal in PA school to study material from everywhere just to fail. As for withdrawing, I can withdraw from the program i am currently attending but i am worried if it will be a problem for me to inform the second program i am going to. I was not sure if anyone had an experience with switching programs. Like do i have to tell them i have attended another program I am currently posting all over this forum asking about switching programs as well. I’m assuming you already made a decision since this was posted in March? I’d love to know what you ended up doing because I’m so torn right now. I’d love some advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 This is why you have to know something about the faculty at a new program before you commit to it. Have they ever taught for another PA program? Has the director ever run another program? There are no current students to talk with so knowing something about the faculty is literally everything. If you go to an established program, then you need to talk with current students. They'll often open up about what they like and don't like. When I interviewed, I got most of the decision points I needed from the existing students. It is not uncommon for new program to make on-the-fly adjustments. What I didn't see in the OP to this thread was what the poster's fellow students thought and what the program is saying about the changes they are making. That would be interesting to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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