Michell Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hey Guys, My friend has shown a lot of interest in the PA profession and wants to start looking into different PA programs. Unfortunately, I do not have anything positive to say about the program that I attend right now. Please brag about your PA program if you are satisfied with it. Please explain why you like your program and the name please:) I know all PA programs has it's pros and cons. I do not want her to experience a terrible experience when she starts a program. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michell Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hey Guys, My friend has shown a lot of interest in the PA profession and wants to start looking into different PA programs. Unfortunately, I do not have anything positive to say about the program that I attend right now. Please brag about your PA program if you are satisfied with it. Please explain why you like your program and the name please:) I know all PA programs has it's pros and cons. I do not want her to experience a terrible experience when she starts a program. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michell Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hey Guys, My friend has shown a lot of interest in the PA profession and wants to start looking into different PA programs. Unfortunately, I do not have anything positive to say about the program that I attend right now. Please brag about your PA program if you are satisfied with it. Please explain why you like your program and the name please:) I know all PA programs has it's pros and cons. I do not want her to experience a terrible experience when she starts a program. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted June 14, 2012 Administrator Share Posted June 14, 2012 I love Pacific's PA program, and not just because I'm almost through with it! :-) First off, PA school is hard, period. That won't change, program to program, but the what's, the how's, and the why's of that difficulty may change from one to the next. The things I like best about Pacific's PA program is that it is collaborative, module based, and adaptive. It's collaborative in that there are no grades, no class standings, and incentives for students to work together. That has resulted in a general feeling that we're all in this together; individuals work together in small groups both as part of structured exercises--so we don't get to pick who we test with--and as self-selected study groups. From the very beginning, we're forced to work as teams of people not of our choosing, with a ton of other type-A people... Kind of like when we get to rotations. I love the module-based approach. It's hard to pick an approach to learning everything, but I found the systems-based approach better than a topic-based approach. It's still got some shortcomings, in that no matter what you choose to deal with first, you're still going to have to come back and fill in the gaps, but all of us arrive with the skeleton of our prerequisites onto which the knowledge of the individual systems would be grafted. But covering pathophys, therapy, anatomy, pharm, and the like all together is far preferable to a ton of classes which cover all of the same things... but test individually. To get a passing score on a module, you need to know that system well enough to begin treating patients. It's adaptive. No two classes going through Pacific get the same experience. The faculty are constantly taking our feedback and re-tooling things for the next class. For example, the class of 2011 got medical Spanish in every module, but there were a couple of reasons why that wasn't effective, so it was dropped for the class of 2012 program. New things are being added as well--my class was the first to experience one lecturer who took pain management and addiction to a whole new level for us; now he's invited back regularly. On top of all that, the faculty are genuinely nice people, Portland is a great place to live, rotations have a great variety and quality preceptors, international rotations are available for anyone who wants to go, financial aid was a piece of cake, and Pacific has a 67-year history of graduate health education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted June 14, 2012 Administrator Share Posted June 14, 2012 I love Pacific's PA program, and not just because I'm almost through with it! :-) First off, PA school is hard, period. That won't change, program to program, but the what's, the how's, and the why's of that difficulty may change from one to the next. The things I like best about Pacific's PA program is that it is collaborative, module based, and adaptive. It's collaborative in that there are no grades, no class standings, and incentives for students to work together. That has resulted in a general feeling that we're all in this together; individuals work together in small groups both as part of structured exercises--so we don't get to pick who we test with--and as self-selected study groups. From the very beginning, we're forced to work as teams of people not of our choosing, with a ton of other type-A people... Kind of like when we get to rotations. I love the module-based approach. It's hard to pick an approach to learning everything, but I found the systems-based approach better than a topic-based approach. It's still got some shortcomings, in that no matter what you choose to deal with first, you're still going to have to come back and fill in the gaps, but all of us arrive with the skeleton of our prerequisites onto which the knowledge of the individual systems would be grafted. But covering pathophys, therapy, anatomy, pharm, and the like all together is far preferable to a ton of classes which cover all of the same things... but test individually. To get a passing score on a module, you need to know that system well enough to begin treating patients. It's adaptive. No two classes going through Pacific get the same experience. The faculty are constantly taking our feedback and re-tooling things for the next class. For example, the class of 2011 got medical Spanish in every module, but there were a couple of reasons why that wasn't effective, so it was dropped for the class of 2012 program. New things are being added as well--my class was the first to experience one lecturer who took pain management and addiction to a whole new level for us; now he's invited back regularly. On top of all that, the faculty are genuinely nice people, Portland is a great place to live, rotations have a great variety and quality preceptors, international rotations are available for anyone who wants to go, financial aid was a piece of cake, and Pacific has a 67-year history of graduate health education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted June 14, 2012 Administrator Share Posted June 14, 2012 I love Pacific's PA program, and not just because I'm almost through with it! :-) First off, PA school is hard, period. That won't change, program to program, but the what's, the how's, and the why's of that difficulty may change from one to the next. The things I like best about Pacific's PA program is that it is collaborative, module based, and adaptive. It's collaborative in that there are no grades, no class standings, and incentives for students to work together. That has resulted in a general feeling that we're all in this together; individuals work together in small groups both as part of structured exercises--so we don't get to pick who we test with--and as self-selected study groups. From the very beginning, we're forced to work as teams of people not of our choosing, with a ton of other type-A people... Kind of like when we get to rotations. I love the module-based approach. It's hard to pick an approach to learning everything, but I found the systems-based approach better than a topic-based approach. It's still got some shortcomings, in that no matter what you choose to deal with first, you're still going to have to come back and fill in the gaps, but all of us arrive with the skeleton of our prerequisites onto which the knowledge of the individual systems would be grafted. But covering pathophys, therapy, anatomy, pharm, and the like all together is far preferable to a ton of classes which cover all of the same things... but test individually. To get a passing score on a module, you need to know that system well enough to begin treating patients. It's adaptive. No two classes going through Pacific get the same experience. The faculty are constantly taking our feedback and re-tooling things for the next class. For example, the class of 2011 got medical Spanish in every module, but there were a couple of reasons why that wasn't effective, so it was dropped for the class of 2012 program. New things are being added as well--my class was the first to experience one lecturer who took pain management and addiction to a whole new level for us; now he's invited back regularly. On top of all that, the faculty are genuinely nice people, Portland is a great place to live, rotations have a great variety and quality preceptors, international rotations are available for anyone who wants to go, financial aid was a piece of cake, and Pacific has a 67-year history of graduate health education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyrelight74 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I like the fact that our program (Moreno Valley College, Riverside CCD) has the clinical rotations at the hospital, rather than making you get your own preceptor and having your rotations based out of that office. I feel having rotations at the county hospital and its clinics for an entire year will be beneficial. I also feel so blessed with not having to pay a ton, since our program is at a community college. I also like the agreement with Saint Francis to allow us to obtain our Master's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyrelight74 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I like the fact that our program (Moreno Valley College, Riverside CCD) has the clinical rotations at the hospital, rather than making you get your own preceptor and having your rotations based out of that office. I feel having rotations at the county hospital and its clinics for an entire year will be beneficial. I also feel so blessed with not having to pay a ton, since our program is at a community college. I also like the agreement with Saint Francis to allow us to obtain our Master's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyrelight74 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I like the fact that our program (Moreno Valley College, Riverside CCD) has the clinical rotations at the hospital, rather than making you get your own preceptor and having your rotations based out of that office. I feel having rotations at the county hospital and its clinics for an entire year will be beneficial. I also feel so blessed with not having to pay a ton, since our program is at a community college. I also like the agreement with Saint Francis to allow us to obtain our Master's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Drexel-Hahnemann. Proud Alumni. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Drexel-Hahnemann. Proud Alumni. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemegroup Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Drexel-Hahnemann. Proud Alumni. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hemegroup, I am going there in the fall! Would you mind to brag some more? Also do you have a blog about your didactic year? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hemegroup, I am going there in the fall! Would you mind to brag some more? Also do you have a blog about your didactic year? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hemegroup, I am going there in the fall! Would you mind to brag some more? Also do you have a blog about your didactic year? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanna.nola Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I think PA school is mostly what you make of it. I chose my school (University of South Alabama) because it was near home and because it allows any student to change residency to pay in-state tuition (HUGE bonus--I saved at least $30K). I visited a fancy pants private "ranked" school and I don't think it had much more to offer me in the long run. The facility was nicer perhaps, but I'm not sure the faculty was any more passionate or the curriculum any better than the school I'm attending (when I visited students let me look over a lot of their curriculum and ppts). In the end it seems like all PA students complain about the same thing: being in a classroom 8 hours every week day for almost a year and a half!! I also think that drama between classmates can make for a bad experience, since you are in a room with them for those 8 hours. Fortunately, my class was relatively drama-free (unlike years before, from what I hear). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanna.nola Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I think PA school is mostly what you make of it. I chose my school (University of South Alabama) because it was near home and because it allows any student to change residency to pay in-state tuition (HUGE bonus--I saved at least $30K). I visited a fancy pants private "ranked" school and I don't think it had much more to offer me in the long run. The facility was nicer perhaps, but I'm not sure the faculty was any more passionate or the curriculum any better than the school I'm attending (when I visited students let me look over a lot of their curriculum and ppts). In the end it seems like all PA students complain about the same thing: being in a classroom 8 hours every week day for almost a year and a half!! I also think that drama between classmates can make for a bad experience, since you are in a room with them for those 8 hours. Fortunately, my class was relatively drama-free (unlike years before, from what I hear). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanna.nola Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I think PA school is mostly what you make of it. I chose my school (University of South Alabama) because it was near home and because it allows any student to change residency to pay in-state tuition (HUGE bonus--I saved at least $30K). I visited a fancy pants private "ranked" school and I don't think it had much more to offer me in the long run. The facility was nicer perhaps, but I'm not sure the faculty was any more passionate or the curriculum any better than the school I'm attending (when I visited students let me look over a lot of their curriculum and ppts). In the end it seems like all PA students complain about the same thing: being in a classroom 8 hours every week day for almost a year and a half!! I also think that drama between classmates can make for a bad experience, since you are in a room with them for those 8 hours. Fortunately, my class was relatively drama-free (unlike years before, from what I hear). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hubbardtim48 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I liked picking my own preceptor because that allowed me to picked someone I knew and trusted to ensure the best education possible. I will do my rotations in a rural clinic, 45 bed community hospital and two local nursing homes. For my OR I will be driving to the city to get my cases. Also, my program allows distance education at a very good price. The school has been around since 1970 and is well established. They have proven that distance education is possible and the PANCE scores show it. The program is primary care oriented with 35 weeks out of 47 are in family practice/internal med./ob/gyn./peds. So, if you do not want to do primary care then this program may not be for you. A few down falls is that you have to have 3 years minimum HCE in a licensed field (RN, RT, OT, PT, Chiro., etc.), which is a down fall to some, but to me the better the HCE the better off the PA is in practice, very competitive (over 2,000 applicant for 60 seats) and have to live in ND around 15 weeks total in the 24 months period. Over all I am happy with UND and would not have picked another school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hubbardtim48 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I liked picking my own preceptor because that allowed me to picked someone I knew and trusted to ensure the best education possible. I will do my rotations in a rural clinic, 45 bed community hospital and two local nursing homes. For my OR I will be driving to the city to get my cases. Also, my program allows distance education at a very good price. The school has been around since 1970 and is well established. They have proven that distance education is possible and the PANCE scores show it. The program is primary care oriented with 35 weeks out of 47 are in family practice/internal med./ob/gyn./peds. So, if you do not want to do primary care then this program may not be for you. A few down falls is that you have to have 3 years minimum HCE in a licensed field (RN, RT, OT, PT, Chiro., etc.), which is a down fall to some, but to me the better the HCE the better off the PA is in practice, very competitive (over 2,000 applicant for 60 seats) and have to live in ND around 15 weeks total in the 24 months period. Over all I am happy with UND and would not have picked another school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hubbardtim48 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I liked picking my own preceptor because that allowed me to picked someone I knew and trusted to ensure the best education possible. I will do my rotations in a rural clinic, 45 bed community hospital and two local nursing homes. For my OR I will be driving to the city to get my cases. Also, my program allows distance education at a very good price. The school has been around since 1970 and is well established. They have proven that distance education is possible and the PANCE scores show it. The program is primary care oriented with 35 weeks out of 47 are in family practice/internal med./ob/gyn./peds. So, if you do not want to do primary care then this program may not be for you. A few down falls is that you have to have 3 years minimum HCE in a licensed field (RN, RT, OT, PT, Chiro., etc.), which is a down fall to some, but to me the better the HCE the better off the PA is in practice, very competitive (over 2,000 applicant for 60 seats) and have to live in ND around 15 weeks total in the 24 months period. Over all I am happy with UND and would not have picked another school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 14, 2012 Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2012 I'm also a drexcel/hahnemann grad. loved it. great faculty and awesome rotation sites. they allowed me to focus my rotations on em by taking required courses with an em focus(trauma surgery for surgery, peds em for peds, etc). I ended up with 27 out of 54 weeks of clinicals in em, peds em, or trauma. most excellent. the director is a great guy. he was junior faculty when I was there. very smart and very reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 14, 2012 Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2012 I'm also a drexcel/hahnemann grad. loved it. great faculty and awesome rotation sites. they allowed me to focus my rotations on em by taking required courses with an em focus(trauma surgery for surgery, peds em for peds, etc). I ended up with 27 out of 54 weeks of clinicals in em, peds em, or trauma. most excellent. the director is a great guy. he was junior faculty when I was there. very smart and very reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 14, 2012 Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2012 I'm also a drexcel/hahnemann grad. loved it. great faculty and awesome rotation sites. they allowed me to focus my rotations on em by taking required courses with an em focus(trauma surgery for surgery, peds em for peds, etc). I ended up with 27 out of 54 weeks of clinicals in em, peds em, or trauma. most excellent. the director is a great guy. he was junior faculty when I was there. very smart and very reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michell Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 You guys are awesome! All of this information is very useful! I really appreciate it:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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