Age

[Elise123456789]

Hello -

Anyone out there applying in their 30s-40s? What is your experience like so far?  Any PAs who got a late start? I am very interested in going to PA school.  I am turning 37 in October, and need to do at least 1yr of pre-requisites.  I Already have done a lot of them, but they are 12 years old, which would make me uncomfortable as a professional (Because no way can I really remember all of that info), and probably wouldn’t make me very competitive (I have an MA SLP, but do not practice).  I am also a single mom with no family nearby to help out.  I am looking to apply to schools near family, but it would not work for pre-requisites.  Is it worth putting in the time and money to become a PA at 41?  I, personally, think yes, but I see how young most people are in the incoming classes, I wonder if I am at a disadvantage.  My science GPA is 3.9, my MA is from Northwestern, I have been working with adults with disabilities for 7 years, and I graduated in the top 5% of my class at NYU for undergrad.  I think I am pretty competitive, as long as my pre-requisite GPA is good and I can get a handle on the GRE once again (I took it 13 years ago). Any advice?

[UGoLong]

I feel there was a benefit to being older and you are not all that old. I decided to become a PA when I was 51. Taking some time off for medic school and to take prereqs old and new (I had to retake chem 40 years from when I took it as an undergrad), I was 57 when I applied to PA school and 58 when I started. I'm 74 now and still working (2 days in practice and 2 as a PA professor) because I enjoy it.

The big question is what do YOU want to do next in your life and are you willing to pay the price in money and time.  If you're not sure, spend some more time shadowing and talking to PAs and decide if it's for you. And start your prereqs with a single class if only to see how that feels to you.

You are definitely not going to be too old!

Edited September 6, 2020 by UGoLong

[statusupdate123]

On 9/5/2020 at 7:50 PM, Elise123456789 said:

Hello -

Anyone out there applying in their 30s-40s? What is your experience like so far?  Any PAs who got a late start? I am very interested in going to PA school.  I am turning 37 in October, and need to do at least 1yr of pre-requisites.  I Already have done a lot of them, but they are 12 years old, which would make me uncomfortable as a professional (Because no way can I really remember all of that info), and probably wouldn’t make me very competitive (I have an MA SLP, but do not practice).  I am also a single mom with no family nearby to help out.  I am looking to apply to schools near family, but it would not work for pre-requisites.  Is it worth putting in the time and money to become a PA at 41?  I, personally, think yes, but I see how young most people are in the incoming classes, I wonder if I am at a disadvantage.  My science GPA is 3.9, my MA is from Northwestern, I have been working with adults with disabilities for 7 years, and I graduated in the top 5% of my class at NYU for undergrad.  I think I am pretty competitive, as long as my pre-requisite GPA is good and I can get a handle on the GRE once again (I took it 13 years ago). Any advice?

Hi! I think your awesome! And yes, most schools require GRE within 5 years. Order vocab flashcards and rent the 2020 math book by Kaplan at the library! I took it once, studied the math for maybe 10 hours and did a little vocab daily for about 4 weeks and got a 310. Super pleased with such little studying   

I am 33 and have an 11 year and 1 year old. I have been a social worker/therapist/supervisor for 8 years in mental health and addiction. I am the addictions guru at our agency and hold separate indepentent licensures in social work and chemical dependency counseling. I have a bachelor's in addiction counseling and masters in social work. My 11 year old was born when I was 28 weeks regnant and he has been through the medical ringer, doing well now. If I hadn't had all this life experience, exposure to the PA profession, and 10,000 hours of patient care hours, I wouldn't had no idea about the PA profession! I have taken almost all of the science pre reqs in the last months include o chem 1 & 2, biochem, A&P 1&2, and gen bio and micro. Even with working full-time, parenting a newborn, and home schooling a 4th grader once covid hit, I ended up with a 3.8 science GPA and a 310 on the GRE. If you want this and put in the work, it definitely doesn't matter how old you are! There aren't many of us in our mid to late 30s applying, but we may be some of the strongest candidates out there! I supervise a unit 40 licensed mental health counselors and unlicensed case managers on a unit of 1700 clients. But becoming a PA is what I want to do, so I'm going for it!!! Good luck to you! 

Edited September 9, 2020 by statusupdate123

[jamierah]

  40 here and I'm starting my program in January so I certainly hope you're not too old. I was getting pretty discouraged looking around at the people in the program informational meetings and realizing I was older than some of the parents that were there with their kids but all of the programs said they like some students with more "life experience" to balance out the program. I think as a people with thousands of hours of work experience and a solid history career advancement and professional development us more experienced people are very competitive candidates.

@Elise123456789 Check out Yale University PA Online you sound like you fit right into their demographic. Their application cycle is closed for this year but that will give you time to finish up the pre-reqs

[Juliac]

Hello!

I'm 36 and completing prerequisites. By the time I get into PA school (knock on wood), I'll be 37.  I'd like to think that 30's and 40's isn't old.  Not by any stretch.  Similar to some of the other comments, I've been a LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) in the medical field for 11 years, which equals to over 22,000 Patient Care/Healthcare Hours.  I also have a 4.0 in my Master's Program and so far doing well in the science prerequisites.  I do work full time and handling about 10-11 units of courses simultaneously.  I guess this is good practice for PA school because from what I've been told, it doesn't get ANY easier in PA school.  Become a PA around 40, you still have 30+ years to practice.  They say that 70 is the new 50  .  Also, TBH age is just a number and it really doesn't matter when we get started. We all have our own life path.  Some were meant to dive into the PA profession fresh out of undergrad, others are meant to take some detours along the way, gleaning other experiences. Honestly, when I went to undergrad, I had no idea what a PA was.   I feel that all the years as a Medical Social Worker will just make me a better PA.  I believe that we're not meant to do only ONE thing in this life.  Shoot for the stars.  We only get one life- make it a good one!

Edited September 9, 2020 by JuliaC

[nhpilot]

To second jamierah (congrats on Yale jamierah!) You sound like a great candidate for Yale Online.  I will be in my late 50's when I apply, and if I remember correctly, the 2020 cohort has a student who is 62.  Heck, you're still a kid....

[DomRRTtoPA]

I turn 40 this year and am applying. Based on the interviews I have been to so far, there seems to be a good mix of age groups represented, including a good number of candidates in their mid 30s. One of the students on the student panel was actually older then me by a few years. A good number of applicants also spoke about their spouses and children. 

Always remember that your life experience is an asset. 

For the GRE I would recommend studying on Magoosh and to take the exam as soon as possible to allow for a retake if you are not happy with your scores. 

Edited September 14, 2020 by DomRRTtoPA

[nikki386]

I am 34 and began PA school this past January. I would say about 20% of my class are in their 30s and several in their 40s. A few of my prerequisite courses were expired (had to retake) or nearing expiration, and my clinical experience was limited to being an MA and scribe for a few years. I haven’t found any of that, including my age, to be a hindrance to success during PA school. I am keeping up just fine with my younger classmates. I think a lot of success has to do with your own personal drive and motivation, nothing more. I guess it is program dependent, but I believe the expiration dates for prerequisites to be a silly hoop you must jump through to prove your interest and also a way for them to limit their application pool because you do seem to just relearn the material again, and again...and again. With that said, I would definitely suggest you apply to programs nearby family who can help support you. I spend a lot of my free time studying and can imagine it is more difficult to study as a PA student with kiddos. My best piece of advice is to shadow a PA first (if you haven’t already - or if you can, I‘ve heard COVID-19 has interfered with this aspect of the application process) before retaking your prerequisites and then if your heart is still set on it, go for it! 

Edited September 15, 2020 by nikki386

[DelaneyR44]

It's so great to see some older PA students in this group. I'm only 30, but I definitely echo the sentiments of others in this post when I felt as though I was "too old" to start a new career (and I was successful in my past career - journalism - which made the switch very hard to explain). I think if this is what you want to do and you are ready, you should do it. 

You asked about prereqs and location specifically. I took most of my prerequisites online. Most schools say they don't prefer it, but I've had three interviews and two acceptances so far, so I really think if you're a good candidate, they don't care that much. I also have an MA which I think really helped show my aptitude. I'd recommend retaking your prereqs online and not moving just for that. I took most of mine through SUNY Empire State College - you can do at-home labs through them too, which EVERY school I applied to accepted. (There was only one I would have applied to, Quinnipiac, which specifically doesn't accept at-home labs.)

One thing you can research is the average age of the students at the schools where you're applying. In the schools where I've been accepted, there are usually only one or two "older" students (30's-40's) and maybe one other student will have a family (I'm married with two dogs and want a family, which is very different from being in my 30's but single and able to live with other PA students). So you will be a little different, but you won't be the only one.

I also retook the GRE again and the super interesting thing about standardized tests like that is they are designed to test your intelligence so theoretically you should get the same score every time. I got a very similar score, which was great! So if you did ok before, I wouldn't worry about it at all. 

I hope that helps, please let me know if you have questions about specifics related to anything I mentioned. And good luck!