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Preparing for PA school coursework: what helped you the most?


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Hi...

I am still knocking off pre-reqs, getting ready to apply for PA school, and wanted to ask people who are already in it...

 

Which of your pre-req classes actually gave you pertinent background info to help you succeed in your classes as a PA student? Any that you would consider to be "must takes" to avoid being totally overwhelmed in PA school? Any that will have no correlation in PA school and are a waste of time?

 

And... how much harder (if at all) do you find your course content in PA school, compared to the classes you took at the undergrad level?

 

Any info anyone can share would be hugely appreciated! I'm really wondering what it's like out there, and if there's anything I can do ahead of time to make it a little more doable once I (hopefully!) get there.

 

Thanks! :)

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pathophysiology and pharmacology could help if it is offered at the undergraduate level

 

I don't think the material that we learn is difficult at all. I just think that issue is that there is a large volume of information you must learn within a short period of time. I felt I learned more about anatomy in PA school in less than 3 weeks than what I learned over the course of 2 semesters of anatomy in undergrad

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Agree with all of the above. The issue is not the difficulty of the material (though having a SOLID foundation in pathology, anatomy and pharm will help) - the issue is volume. And you will be overwhelmed in PA school - it's the nature of the beast.

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Thanks for your answers... yeah, I'm expecting it to be overwhelming, but still want to be as prepared ahead of time as I can.

 

So... how is PA school different from undergrad? I got that it is the sheer volume that gets people... Is it mostly exams? Lots of paper writing too? Just trying to get a bit of a picture in my head of what I'll be in for if I get accepted anywhere!

 

Thanks for any additional input. :)

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Agreed with anatomy and physiology. Pathophysiology would have been nice, but not necessary. A&P are the foundation that you need to build your clinical medicine knowledge on, so it needs to be solid. I didn't think that the level of material was harder in PA school; it was just taught at a much faster pace. I actually thought my undergrad anatomy course was more difficult, personally... but then again it was my first time seeing the information, and it was fairly fresh when I got to PA school.

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Thanks for your answers... yeah, I'm expecting it to be overwhelming, but still want to be as prepared ahead of time as I can.

 

So... how is PA school different from undergrad? I got that it is the sheer volume that gets people... Is it mostly exams? Lots of paper writing too? Just trying to get a bit of a picture in my head of what I'll be in for if I get accepted anywhere!

 

Thanks for any additional input. :)

I think micro would be beneficial to take if you haven't got an undergrad pharm class available. I took micro (didn't have a pharm class available) and it's been really helpful. Specifically for infectious diseases and antimicrobial drugs.

 

I think the biggest difference between undergrad and PA is critical thinking. You can breeze through undergrad memorizing and regurgitating info but that won't fly in medicine. You've got to understand why things work the way they do and be able to analyze and critically think your way through a case.

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Physiology, immunology, biochemistry, micro

 

Take Pharm if you can. Unless you have a photographic memory, this one is tough. Material itself isn't difficult, but remembering so many drugs and what each does can be challenging.

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Does anyone know of any good anatomy + physiology books to use to prepare before classes start?

 

The best thing to do would be to find out which book your school uses (sounds like you already got in?) and have a rough idea of what you'll be starting with - thorax, abdomen, head and neck, etc. That would give you a chance to read ahead of time. Do that if you can, and focus on the clinical application of the material.

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Take Pharm if you can. Unless you have a photographic memory, this one is tough. Material itself isn't difficult, but remembering so many drugs and what each does can be challenging.

 

Or just get a part time gig working in the pharmacy and get paid to learn pharmacology! Seriously though. I still don't understand why most programs don't accept pharm tech as HCE. Tell me it's because of the patient contact and i'll tell you that's bullhonkey. Physiology and anatomy are classes you just need to grit your teeth and plug through it; so i would advise that (esp. anatomy). Pharm just plain ol' sucks.... unless you have a background of some sort. I worked as a Pharm tech for 1 year.. got tech certified through the retail organization I worked with. Easy as pie. Worked part time while I worked as a phlebotomist. Regardless, I learned so much from my pharm experience that I may not ever learn in pharm class in undergrad. As PA's, we learn to apply. Memorizing meds gets you only so far until you need to know why you are prescribing it. You memorize in undergrad.. probably forget most of it, then memorize it again in PA school.. only this time you already memorized it before so it might be a little easier to memorize the second time. I fly through the pharm material for each module because I already know (for the most part) what's most commonly used for what... and if I dont know I can pick up on it pretty easily. Moral of the story = classes suck at teaching you application stuff which is probably why anatomy is a definite must as preparation because there is hardly any application. As a disclaimer, I am not an attorney nor do I claim to have all the answers to lifes' questions. If you choose to take my advice and quit your job tomorrow to be an aspiring pharm tech, that's on you! (I wish I was an attorney so I can write those disclaimers for real)

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