Needed advice for a high school student....if you are willing...

[Mark V.]

Hi, I know these forums are filled with PAs, and college students but I really can't find one for high school students. Sorry if this is the wrong site (i'll be happy if you were to direct me to the proper site) to be using but i have some few questions for an aspiring PA whose still a junior.

 

 

What steps did you take to become a PA student/PA?

 

Is getting a bachelors then enrolling in a PA program the only option?

 

Do I have to do the pre-reqs at the university level, or can i do them at a community college then transfer?

 

What classes did you enroll in? What was your major(s) and minor(s)?

 

Any "advisable" classes to take outside of the sciences e.g. higher math classes, foreign languages?

 

Just looking for some advice...

 

Thank You,

 

Mark V.

[Hemegroup]

Mark, I'm happy to answer your questions, but can I ask you one first? Why are you interested in PA and not MD/DO?

 

And I think you meant 'who's', not "whose" ;)

[sartort]

Mark- The website is appropriate, but next time you should post in the Pre-PA section. There are associate and bachelor programs that usually require a lot of healthcare experience and lots of prerequisite hours. Most programs are at the graduate level and some states require a masters degree for practice. Most of your questions are specific to individual programs. In general you will be taking A&P (some will require 300/400 level), bio, and chem. I know of one great program that doesn't require A&P though, so you really should be looking at schools themselves to answer your questions. Try http://physician-assistant-ed.com to do a search for specific programs by region you would want to live. Many programs that don't require healthcare experience will still prefer it, so you could look into getting that (EMT is a good entry-level certification you could get when you turn 18) and shadowing hours as early as possible to see that you really want to practice medicine.

 

I spent 4 years in the army as a medic, got a bachelor of science degree in Exercise and Sport Science with a Pre-PA option which was identical to the pre-med option, and along with sciences took some spanish, medical terminology, medical ethics, medical anthropology, psych, english, philosophy, stats. If you go to a university, use your bacc core wisely and you will cover most non-science recommended courses easily except maybe language if you get a BS instead of BA.

[gbphel4828]

Since you are so young I would recommend that you shadow a PA and make sure this is in fact the route you want to go! Ask your parents family physician if you could shadow the PA there. Why do you want to be a PA?

[PAruby]

As mentioned above, most pre-reqs are school-dependent. You don't HAVE to get a Master's after a bachelors, but the field is heading in that direction, so by the time you are getting into a PA program who knows... Definitely recommend an undergrad with lots of sciences, I had to take several post-grad that weren't incorporated in my undergrad degree. I have a B.S. in emergency medicine (paramedic studies) without a minor, but that isn't a common degree at most universities. I DID get several of my pre-reqs in undergrad AND post-grad at the community college and didn't have trouble with those being accepted. It may be different if the schools you're applying to require 300/400 level courses, since these aren't typically available at community colleges.

 

Agree with the shadowing - even after much interaction with PAs as a paramedic, I took the time to shadow PAs in several fields to be sure I saw it from the inside out and knew I wanted to do it.

 

Healthcare experience, whether required for your program or not, is extremely valuable and will help you with fundamentals of interacting with people, patient interviews, and recognition of very common diseases at minimum. As mentioned above, EMT is a good option (I'm biased), and in some places you can get that training as young as 15 or 16 (I got my license when I turned 16). Others in my program have HCE as medical assistants, phlebotomists, pharmacy techs, etc. The strongest clinical students have direct, decision making, patient care (EMTs, nurses, etc) but everyone varies a lot in the academic realm - HCE is really about getting comfortable with people in my opinion, but it doesn't necessarily help you as much with the academics other than associating disease processes with patients you've met.

 

Highly recommend a foreign language. Depending on what part of the country you want to be in, this can be extremely useful, and many employers, schools, etc see it as a good asset to have bilingual abilities. I also thought my nutrition course was important. Things like Exercise physiology and in-depth A&P will REALLY help you understand the body & how it works so you can really understand the medicine you're prescribing.

 

And, of course, know why you want to be a PA rather than an MD/DO... there are disadvantages and advantages to both, so just know why you're choosing one over the other.

 

Good luck!

[rev ronin]

You should be shadowing a PA who got into the field at age 25 or less who is 20+ years into their career if you actually want to try the profession on for size.

 

Which, by the way, is a not-so-subtle redirect that you go to medical school if you know at age 16-17 that you want to practice medicine.