Stuck on the route to PA school

[Rashae]

I am now 24 years old and I been a Cna for 7 years and, about to recieve my phlebotomist license. I recently graduated with a degree in psychology but have no prerequisites for chemistry, a&p and etc. I was wondering if I should go into doing a post bacc program to apply for the next cycle or  apply for a sonography program to make my application more competitive. I have plenty of volunteer and patient care hours but, I do need some shadowing under my belt. Also, my GPA wasn’t that great due to a lot of difficulties I faced during school. What should I do?

Edited February 9 by Rashae

[SedRate]

Start with shadowing a couple PAs first. Why do you want to be a PA? 

[Rashae]

8 minutes ago, SedRate said:

Start with shadowing a couple PAs first. Why do you want to be a PA? 

My initial dream was to be a physician but that didn’t change until my senior year of college. I came to a conclusion that I didn’t want to be in one specialty forever. I’m a multifaceted person so choosing the path of a physician assistant is the best career for me due to the flexibility of being a physician assistant. Another thing is that throughout the years of experience of being a CNA, I worked with all ages and backgrounds so I’ll love to continue being able to build connections and give care to a diverse background of people.

[68WEMTto65DPAC]

3 hours ago, Rashae said:

I am now 24 years old and I been a Cna for 7 years and, about to recieve my phlebotomist license. I recently graduated with a degree in psychology but have no prerequisites for chemistry, a&p and etc. I was wondering if I should go into doing a post bacc program to apply for the next cycle or  apply for a sonography program to make my application more competitive. I have plenty of volunteer and patient care hours but, I do need some shadowing under my belt. Also, my GPA wasn’t that great do to a lot of difficulties I faced during school. What should I do?

I would also suggest you shadow PAs soon. In terms of schooling, I would not recommend another degree, even if it's a certificate unless you really can't afford to continue with your current CNA/phleb money. If you can afford it, then simply start taking prerequisites at a community college and apply to PA schools ASAP. I you need to make more money now, then I would highly recommend going to nursing school as opposed to any tech degree (sonography, xray tech, etc). Those would basically take about the same amount of time as getting an ADN but would not lead to better job outcomes. To get into an ADN you would need some of the prerequisites for PA school anyway so 2 birds one stone.

Again, I would encourage you to start working on your prerequisites instead of pursuing another degree.

Edited February 9 by 68WEMTto65DPAC

[Rashae]

1 hour ago, 68WEMTto65DPAC said:

I would also suggest you shadow PAs soon. In terms of schooling, I would not recommend another degree, even if it's a certificate unless you really can't afford to continue with your current CNA/phleb money. If you can afford it, then simply start taking prerequisites at a community college and apply to PA schools ASAP. I you need to make more money now, then I would highly recommend going to nursing school as opposed to any tech degree (sonography, xray tech, etc). Those would basically take about the same amount of time as getting an ADN but would not lead to better job outcomes. To get into an ADN you would need some of the prerequisites for PA school anyway so 2 birds one stone.

Again, I would encourage you to start working on your prerequisites instead of pursuing another degree.

That is actually smart and I never thought of doing that route. Thank you for your advice

[ohiovolffemtp]

To build on what you've already been told, several things:

• only pursue other certifications/degrees if they are something you'd actually like to do.  Sonography is highly employable, but only you can know if it's something you would like.
• being a PA is highly varied.  I have classmates who do surgery, often 10+ hour procedures, others do primary care, I do EM, solo overnight coverage.  Our lives are very different.  When you shadow, see how you feel both about the medicine and the lifestyle that goes with it.
• taking pre-reqs at a community college is an excellent idea.  However, the sciences in nursing programs typically don't meet the requirements for either PA or medical school.  You'll need to take the majors courses: the same full year courses with labs that the biology/chemistry/etc. majors take.  These are what PA and medical schools require.

[rev ronin]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:26 AM, 68WEMTto65DPAC said:

 To get into an ADN you would need some of the prerequisites for PA school anyway so 2 birds one stone.

Watch this one carefully. While this is true, there are also "hard sciences for nurses" courses that don't meet prerequisites for PA school. I intentionally took a "survey of organic and biochemistry" course in person at a local CC, with a LOT of soon-to-be RN students, which did NOT count for PA school, because I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up my UNE online OChem course. Of course, it counted towards science and BCP GPAs, which was good, but it would have been really not cool if I'd THOUGHT that counted as OChem and planned around it without realizing that it did not.

When in doubt, the "majors series" courses are going to be the ones that will count for PA school, don't be afraid to ask admissions counselors at your target PA program, or pre-med advisors (if they don't have pre-PA) at your undergrad school about whether such a course counts.

[68WEMTto65DPAC]

1 hour ago, rev ronin said:

Watch this one carefully. While this is true, there are also "hard sciences for nurses" courses that don't meet prerequisites for PA school. I intentionally took a "survey of organic and biochemistry" course in person at a local CC, with a LOT of soon-to-be RN students, which did NOT count for PA school, because I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up my UNE online OChem course. Of course, it counted towards science and BCP GPAs, which was good, but it would have been really not cool if I'd THOUGHT that counted as OChem and planned around it without realizing that it did not.

When in doubt, the "majors series" courses are going to be the ones that will count for PA school, don't be afraid to ask admissions counselors at your target PA program, or pre-med advisors (if they don't have pre-PA) at your undergrad school about whether such a course counts.

I meant more of the A&P, general chemistries, statistics, and microbio which are typical requirements for both nursing and PA schools. But yes, everyone should verify with PA schools what they count.

[Rashae]

10 hours ago, rev ronin said:

Watch this one carefully. While this is true, there are also "hard sciences for nurses" courses that don't meet prerequisites for PA school. I intentionally took a "survey of organic and biochemistry" course in person at a local CC, with a LOT of soon-to-be RN students, which did NOT count for PA school, because I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up my UNE online OChem course. Of course, it counted towards science and BCP GPAs, which was good, but it would have been really not cool if I'd THOUGHT that counted as OChem and planned around it without realizing that it did not.

When in doubt, the "majors series" courses are going to be the ones that will count for PA school, don't be afraid to ask admissions counselors at your target PA program, or pre-med advisors (if they don't have pre-PA) at your undergrad school about whether such a course counts.

Yes I did see both tracks consist of different needed science courses which will lead me back to needing those main prerequisites still

[UGoLong]

MY recommendation is to shadow PAs and sign up for even one required prerequisite course at your local community college. Both will suddenly show you your future as a PA and PA student.

One lesson I've learned in life is to take steps that put you in the environment you think you want as quickly as you can. You will either be motivated to pick up the pace and continue on the path or change directions.  As long as it's what you want, either path works.

Good luck!