MBA2bPA Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I work an extremely demanding job with very unpredictable hours in the finance industry. I am a slave to the annual cycle of fiscal year start up, close out, month end close out, quarter end close out, project this, project that, arbitrary deadlines that you have to give your right arm to meet, etc. I take my scheduled lunch about 5% of the time, and I leave work on time (which means within 30 minutes of when I should actually be leaving it) about 10% of the time. I am also expected to work weekends and holidays "as needed". I had a schedule laid out for which classes I need to take to apply for PA school, and I am realizing that almost all the programs in my area require that the science courses be completed in person. Well with the lab component added in, it seems virtually impossible for me to attend 5-7 hours of class each week for EACH class with my current schedule and the times they are offered. However, if I go with the distance learning route (lecture online but lab in person) it seems that I would be eliminating two out of the three schools in this area right off the bat. This also has me concerned about how exactly I am going to gain HCE (not having time to do so). The only option would be to quit my current job and focus solely on the pre-reqs and HCE, but right now that is not an option as we need my income. Minor Background: The decision to pursue a PA degree has been a long and hard road for me. I am the primary earner in my household (out earning my husband significantly), I also have a salary that I may never see again as a PA, in addition, I've been blessed enough to go through my B.S. and MBA without incurring debt (which I will have to incur as a PA). I thought about just pursuing the accelerated BSN and then going the NP route, but honestly I am very concerned by how demoralized all of the RNs I have spoken to seemed to be, and these are from RNs across multiple states. I also frequented a popular nursing forum and I am astounded at the general (not all but many) attitudes of the "senior" RNs toward newer RNs, towards each other, and towards RNs stating they wanted to pursue being a NP or CRNA (ironically enough the NPs or CRNAs didn't seem to display the same attitude). I have always been a high achiever and throw myself into everything I do, my compassion and my desire to use my "gifts" are driving me to pursue a higher purpose in society than just crunching numbers. However at my age (31), and with the steady uphill climb ahead of me, I am questioning if this is wise, and logistically if I can even get there. Advice from those who have been in my shoes (or close to it)? Any innovative things that I am missing or should be considering as I try to work through the Pre-Reqs and get HCE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Bars Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Well, some of the pre-reqs can be completed online. The ones that don't require labs typically (but double check with the PA programs you are interested in). Phlebotomy and EMT classes can sometimes be done on weekends or intensive two week classes (or maybe a bit longer). I suppose you could use your vacation time to take an intensive EMT course. You could get a cheaper apartment, maybe, to save money. It's a lot to go through to switch careers. It might be easier to try to get a job in finance or accounting in a hospital, if that helps you feel better about contributing to people's health. Or at least it might have fewer hours and allow you time to pursue the PA. Hopsital administration and masters in public health might also be easier to get into with your background, and maybe you could get these online. It sounds like you are smart and driven enough to do anything, but it would be wise to consider all options, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Honestly, you need to find another job that is more conducive to pursuing your goals. If you say "no way" then ask yourself how you'll manage PA school, where you have to budget as you'll be living off of student loans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMarie Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 In terms of taking your pre-reqs, I'm not sure what area you live in, but have you checked with community colleges? Since CCs are typically geared toward adult learners, they often offer night and weekend classes that might work better with your schedule. I took all of my pre-reqs with the exception of Organic Chemistry and Genetics at three different community colleges while working full-time and was able to get several interviews. You would just want to make sure that the programs you apply to do not specify that the courses have to be upper division or taken at a 4-year university. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBA2bPA Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Well, some of the pre-reqs can be completed online. The ones that don't require labs typically (but double check with the PA programs you are interested in). Phlebotomy and EMT classes can sometimes be done on weekends or intensive two week classes (or maybe a bit longer). I suppose you could use your vacation time to take an intensive EMT course. You could get a cheaper apartment, maybe, to save money. It's a lot to go through to switch careers. It might be easier to try to get a job in finance or accounting in a hospital, if that helps you feel better about contributing to people's health. Or at least it might have fewer hours and allow you time to pursue the PA. Hopsital administration and masters in public health might also be easier to get into with your background, and maybe you could get these online. It sounds like you are smart and driven enough to do anything, but it would be wise to consider all options, I think. Lemon Bars - Thanks for the response! I definitely thought a lot about hospital administration but I still feel like it keeps me too far removed from patient care. I have a friend that is in this field in Florida and she hates it because she went into the field thinking she would be able to make a difference (i.e. balance patient care with the financial needs of the hospital) and says that she only feels the squeeze of the stress of managing the two with her being force to choose $s over patient health. I don't see myself doing that at all. I have considered public health, but even through my research it seems like opportunities in this field are fairly limited. Aside from being able to directly work with patients, one of the things that intrigues me about being a PA is the vast areas one can practice in. I love a challenge, and I love to learn and continue to expand my knowledge base, the thought of being able to use that knowledge to care of people makes me FEEL fulfilled (and I'm not even doing it now lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBA2bPA Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Honestly, you need to find another job that is more conducive to pursuing your goals. If you say "no way" then ask yourself how you'll manage PA school, where you have to budget as you'll be living off of student loans. I hear you on the job thing, but the timing in this economy isn't the greatest unfortunately (I had been looking). As for managing financially in PA school, that wasn't really a big concern of mine because we had a savings plan to get there. The part I did not count on was leaving my job BEFORE I had an acceptance in hand (which would also allow more time to save). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBA2bPA Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 In terms of taking your pre-reqs, I'm not sure what area you live in, but have you checked with community colleges? Since CCs are typically geared toward adult learners, they often offer night and weekend classes that might work better with your schedule. I took all of my pre-reqs with the exception of Organic Chemistry and Genetics at three different community colleges while working full-time and was able to get several interviews. You would just want to make sure that the programs you apply to do not specify that the courses have to be upper division or taken at a 4-year university. Good luck! Thanks for the info GMarie. I was actually looking into taking the classes at a CC, but unfortunately the latest class still started when I am typically still at work or trying to get home from work. I am considering taking a Saturday class, but the class and lab is from 9-3 which means I could take one class per semester. That is manageable but will probably take 2 years of Saturday classes to finish, and it doesn't factor in HCE or my weekend work. I think this week I am going to stop in a clinic nearby my job and see what their hours are and if I can volunteer there doing something related to direct patient care and shadowing the medical staff (I believe they have a NP not sure of a PA). Hopefully if they can be somewhat flexible, I can at least start to build a base for the HCE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friction Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thanks for the info GMarie. I was actually looking into taking the classes at a CC, but unfortunately the latest class still started when I am typically still at work or trying to get home from work. I am considering taking a Saturday class, but the class and lab is from 9-3 which means I could take one class per semester. That is manageable but will probably take 2 years of Saturday classes to finish, and it doesn't factor in HCE or my weekend work. I think this week I am going to stop in a clinic nearby my job and see what their hours are and if I can volunteer there doing something related to direct patient care and shadowing the medical staff (I believe they have a NP not sure of a PA). Hopefully if they can be somewhat flexible, I can at least start to build a base for the HCE. Just keep in mind that many schools require that your HCE be hands on, paid experience. I'm not sure where you plan on attending, but it might be something worth looking into before you donate a bunch of your free time. I don't think volunteering is a bad thing, I have a little over a 100 hours, but just make sure the schools you're interested in are not solely interested in paid experience as a pre-requisite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted February 19, 2013 Administrator Share Posted February 19, 2013 I got into management, and then killed my forward career progress to work on my prerequisites and EMT-B work. My work requirements weren't as absurd as how you describe yours, but I'd pulled 100-hour weeks on occasion. Then, I got assigned to manage a small team of very capable people, and life got a good bit easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyquil Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Sounds all too familiar so you have my complete empathy. Once you have those bills to pay and people who depend on you the common "go get a $10/hr health-care job for HCE" advice becomes marginal. That may work for people who are younger or unattached or have a spouse with a big salary, but not for many of us. You are in a conundrum that I can relate to....you need your current job to stay afloat but you can't get started working towards your new career while working your current job. Since you already have a degree, I am going to bet that you, like me, are eligible for zero financial aid....all they will offer you are loans. And then you'd have to borrow before even being accepted and borrow a lot more than a traditional student living with their parents. What if they don't accept you? Or you still have to borrow while in PA school and that can put you in line for some undesirable loans if you rack up too much debt while working on prereqs. There could be a solution to all this, but it isn't a popular topic or fit for discussion here. So two options come to mind... 1 - Keep working as you are and take the online classes (though do the labs in person if at all humanly possible). Sure lots of schools will not accept them (silly but hey they make the rules), but some school is bound to accept your prereqs. Try to get some sort of HCE on weekends which I know is really hard. Can't imagine any medical facility letting you do HCE without actually being their employee - I mean it is their liability. Not good for us, but I get where they are coming from. 2 - Not a popular option by any stretch, certainly for me but I am rethinking it....go to med school. Your lack of HCE will mean nothing and unlike the PA schools which average every single science class you took (including say, java programming!), they look at Bio, Chem, Physics, and Math only. Osteopath schools are friendlier towards non-traditionals as well. Your situation is like mine and honestly my chances are better for med school than PA school. Crazy, but somehow true in 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fannie501 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Have you looked at University of New England's online education courses? They are specifically geared with your type of situation in mind. The labs are also virtual, but these courses are tough! I would just ask your prospective schools first to make sure they will accept coursework from here, but I haven't had an issue so far. http://www.une.edu/com/online/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBA2bPA Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 @ Rev - Thanks for sharing your story, 100+ hour weeks are definitely not fun so I can understand the pain. @ Nyquil - You CLEARLY understand exactly what I am going through. It almost seems like it takes an extremely sacrifice for those of us looking into this field as a second career. Right now I am really thinking hard about if I want to spend time continuing with the online courses, or just looking into a different path altogether. Not sure if option 2 will work for me firstly because I think I am just too old to go down that looooooooooong path, and second because for the most part I am fairly tied to my current area because of my husband's job @ Fannie - Ironically enough I did look into their classes but the issue for me still goes back to schools in my local area not even accepting credits from online courses for science classes with labs. I am going to check and see if they'll accept classes that has the instructional portion online but the labs in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBA2bPA Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Just keep in mind that many schools require that your HCE be hands on, paid experience. I'm not sure where you plan on attending, but it might be something worth looking into before you donate a bunch of your free time. I don't think volunteering is a bad thing, I have a little over a 100 hours, but just make sure the schools you're interested in are not solely interested in paid experience as a pre-requisite. Very true. Fortunately the larger hospital in my area actually allows you to decide if you rather work directly with patients, or not (like working in the gift shop). They want me to commit to a set time each week though and I can't really do that, so I'm kind of back at square one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreatx Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 No advice but good luck out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 It's not easy taking prerequisites while you have a job. I took 7 years to get mine done. Most I took at a community college, which seemed way better suited to part-time students with real jobs. Some I did on-line -- going in at odd hours to take exams. I took organic chemistry lab all day every other Saturday. And so forth. To start something new, you first have to make at least a little room for it in your life. Maybe you will take more time to finish your classwork one class at a time. While the people at work don't need to know, you eventually start thinking about your job as a means to an end, rather than that dog-eat-dog career path it might have been. As far as healthcare experience goes, in my case I joined an emergency squad. I don't know if it would help, but I recently wrote about my life before and after PA school in "Old Man On Campus." Here are links to its Facebook and Amazon pages: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/OldManOnCampus?fref=ts http://www.amazon.com/dp/1479372099/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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