Slippery Rock Caution

[Guest pasintraining]

I have been debating on whether or not to post this, but I have decided to speak my mind. I attended Slippery Rock University's PA program, and had a horrible experience. I am writing this post to caution others, since I wish someone would have made a post like this for me to read prior to me deciding to attend this institution. I had lots of other interviews and options for PA school, but I accepted my seat at SRU. I wish I would have gone anywhere else. My advice for prospective students is to explore other schools even if you are accepted here because this school is, for lack of a better word, a mess.

First off, this program is now on probation. There are multiple violations of ARC-PA at this school, so I can see why. The professors do not care and often are not even knowledgable to answer questions you may have in class. They will tell you to look things up because they don't know. They pride themselves on having a high PANCE pass rate, which is true. But they fail to mention their attrition rate. When I attended this program, about 10 of the 50 starting students were dismissed from the program. This is a very poor attrition rate. You may think it will not happen to you, but this program will find ways to get rid of you if they want to. I find it interesting that they never mention this attrition rate on their website, at interviews, etc. Also, if you are dismissed from the PA program, they do not even give you a right to appeal the decision, which seems unethical. I know PA school is supposed to be tough and you are supposed to be held to high standards, but this program is unbelievable with the way they treat their students and get rid of students. And, their punishment to students never seems to fit the crime. The preceptors are not effective teachers and many of them are outdated with the treatment they provide patients, so you don't always even learn appropriately during rotations. The faculty are aware of various problems at clinical sites (preceptors jeopardizing patient safety, preceptors not double checking anything you do), but they don't do anything about it. 

Also, do yourself a favor and look into some of the lawsuits this PA school has had filed against them over the past few years. One of the lawsuits is about a student who was discriminated against because of mental illness. Yikes. Another one is about a student who reported unethical treatment of a patient at a rotation site and was retaliated against for it. And there are others as well.

Overall, I have spoken with many students from other PA schools and they were shocked at the way SRU runs their PA program and the way they treat their students. I am just writing this post to give you my perspective based off of my experience. If you are accepted and attend this institution, I wish you the best. You may make it through okay and not encounter many problems. But I have seen many students have their lives turned upside down as a result of this program. As you can see from other posts on this forum, though, there are other students that feel the same as me.

[AndrewsOkay]

I think I speak for everyone when I say thanks for posting this. It couldn't have been pleasant to write.

Obviously it's not thrilling to hear that a school you're interviewing for has made such a negative impression on a former student, but I rather hear this now than later.

I know I, personally, will now have to do a lot more research and investigation before I make a decision regarding SRU.

[mkprepa8]

Thank you for this post. Unfortunately I experienced a very similar situations and was dismissed from the program. The faculty do not care about helping their students or at least try to help before the student starts drowning. I wish someone warned me about this earlier or this post was posted earlier so that I could have avoided attending this horrible program!!!

[Justdesserts]

The same situation is happening at Thomas Jefferson's PA program in Philadelphia. Their class started with 100 students and is now down to 72. They made zero adjustments to their policies in light of covid even though multiple students asked for help. It's just sad. I hope you were able to overcome and are now in a better situation.

[sayNOtoNP]

Th

On 10/29/2021 at 9:18 PM, Justdesserts said:

The same situation is happening at Thomas Jefferson's PA program in Philadelphia. Their class started with 100 students and is now down to 72. They made zero adjustments to their policies in light of covid even though multiple students asked for help. It's just sad. I hope you were able to overcome and are now in a better situation.

Thanks for sharing this. Can I ask you which Jefferson campus you are referring to?

[FutureDermPA4]

Everything stated above is true. This program is absolute TRASH. The program is on probation and hopefully will be losing accreditation this spring. PANCE pass rates of 82% with 10+ students failing out of each class. Students cheated on EOREs during covid too. Awful professors who want to see students fail and a very poor curriculum. A very toxic learning environment. Go anywhere else!!! I would take a gap year and reapply to other schools if SRU is your only option. 

[AcceptedStillDeciding]

On 6/24/2020 at 11:29 PM, Guest pasintraining said:

I have been debating on whether or not to post this, but I have decided to speak my mind. I attended Slippery Rock University's PA program, and had a horrible experience. I am writing this post to caution others, since I wish someone would have made a post like this for me to read prior to me deciding to attend this institution. I had lots of other interviews and options for PA school, but I accepted my seat at SRU. I wish I would have gone anywhere else. My advice for prospective students is to explore other schools even if you are accepted here because this school is, for lack of a better word, a mess.

First off, this program is now on probation. There are multiple violations of ARC-PA at this school, so I can see why. The professors do not care and often are not even knowledgable to answer questions you may have in class. They will tell you to look things up because they don't know. They pride themselves on having a high PANCE pass rate, which is true. But they fail to mention their attrition rate. When I attended this program, about 10 of the 50 starting students were dismissed from the program. This is a very poor attrition rate. You may think it will not happen to you, but this program will find ways to get rid of you if they want to. I find it interesting that they never mention this attrition rate on their website, at interviews, etc. Also, if you are dismissed from the PA program, they do not even give you a right to appeal the decision, which seems unethical. I know PA school is supposed to be tough and you are supposed to be held to high standards, but this program is unbelievable with the way they treat their students and get rid of students. And, their punishment to students never seems to fit the crime. The preceptors are not effective teachers and many of them are outdated with the treatment they provide patients, so you don't always even learn appropriately during rotations. The faculty are aware of various problems at clinical sites (preceptors jeopardizing patient safety, preceptors not double checking anything you do), but they don't do anything about it. 

Also, do yourself a favor and look into some of the lawsuits this PA school has had filed against them over the past few years. One of the lawsuits is about a student who was discriminated against because of mental illness. Yikes. Another one is about a student who reported unethical treatment of a patient at a rotation site and was retaliated against for it. And there are others as well.

Overall, I have spoken with many students from other PA schools and they were shocked at the way SRU runs their PA program and the way they treat their students. I am just writing this post to give you my perspective based off of my experience. If you are accepted and attend this institution, I wish you the best. You may make it through okay and not encounter many problems. But I have seen many students have their lives turned upside down as a result of this program. As you can see from other posts on this forum, though, there are other students that feel the same as me.

Did you graduate from SRU's PA program, go elsewhere, or ?  I hope all is well for you. 

[Healthcareandheart]

I agree. The professors are terrible and do not care at all. They only care about their jobs and the program shutting down. Many people cheated in my cohort and they kept it under the rug. The program is also VERY anatomy based. You will be studying Anatomy the whole entire time and will not be able to actually study clinical medicine which is what will be tested on on the PANCE. the anatomy professor is also very rude and will make you feel stupid for asking questions. He also has favorites. Terrible program. Needs to be shut down. 

Edited May 12, 2023 by Healthcareandheart