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Moat Unusual Career Before Becoming a PA


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(should have said "Most"!)

 

I was interested to see who had/has the most unusual career before going to PA school. All of us were exposed to medicine somewhere along the line, but what else did you do?

 

I was an engineer/project management consultant for my day job. My most unusual assignment was on an inspection team, seeing if we could (with approval of the authorities!) attempt to break into a sensitive government installation.

 

Here's my story of getting to and through PA school: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1479372099/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk

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I was a Vice-President at a CD/DVD manufacturing facility that specialized in nitch products like bendable CDs and DVDs, glow in the dark printing, thermal color changing printing and scatch n sniff printing on discs. Got a patent on Braille printing on optical media as well and some other patents regarding media and packaging.

 

Prior to that I used to do cost negotiations for fortune 100 companies and before that I worked at Verizon wireless (started off as a CSR answering phone calls then worked my way into training).

 

Concurrently I was and still am a PADI scuba instructor. I also worked as a Skipper at The World Famous Jungle Cruise at Disneyland off and on for 6 years.

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Since graduating college in the 90s...a waitress, credit card bank supervisor, engineering company product manager, union organizer, clinical research coordinator, clinical research associate and a clinical research project team leader...clinical research was the last 9 years of my life before PA school.

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Late 70's to '81, EMT with a lot of exposure to medical examiner cases for a large N. Texas county (transport service). Interestingly, when co-workers have been aware of this past experience they're more interested in these stories than medical cases.

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My friend was a bartender at a strip club lol. In her defense, she worked at a hospital for a year and a half and then started working as a bartender AFTER she was accepted to PA school in order to save up more money. She would make a few thousand a night!

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My friend was a bartender at a strip club lol. In her defense, she worked at a hospital for a year and a half and then started working as a bartender AFTER she was accepted to PA school in order to save up more money. She would make a few thousand a night!

did she do more than serve drinks for that money?

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... I also worked as a Skipper at The World Famous Jungle Cruise at Disneyland off and on for 6 years.
I want to see pics LOL :heheh::;;D: I do not know if you would consider it unusual, but I am a licensed private investigator. :O_O:BTW Timon I think you won IMO. I mean being Skipper for 6 years that in itself takes patience. If you can do that, you can do anything my friend (even be a PA). LOL
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I led 5th and 6th grade schoolchildren on nature hikes for 14 years. I've led backpacking trips, told campfire stories, performed in skits, sang songs, even taught line dances. I know The Lorax story by heart and I've had many really groovy outdoorsy hippie friends. I finally decided to go back to school and to switch from leading hikes to working in the health room at camp so that I could eventually make some real money.

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I was a bush pilot north of the Arctic Circle, crashed an airplane on the Arctic Ocean then got a Masters in Spanish, taught high school then college, worked as an insurance agent on the side, then decided to go back to what I had originally studied - pre-med, and go to PA school.

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This thread is worth it if just for WhoRYou's cartoon!

 

There is an incredible set of experiences out there! What you find is that a significant amount of your non-medical experience is transferable to the PA world. You have learned how to overcome problems and deal with people in all sorts of situations. To employ the scientific method to solve problems. To work and talk with people. You'll have to learn a new set of tools and diagnoses but you'll be just fine!

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