Do most people get accepted to PA school straight out of college?

[sportygirl07]

I was wondering, how hard is it to get accepted to PA school straight out of college? It seems like many PA students are like 25 or something. But I would really like to be accepted once I graduate from college. Is that still possible?

[EMEDPA]

most programs expect folks to have several thousand hrs of hce before they apply. when you get this is up to you. some folks do it while in college, some folks do it after. some do it before, during, and after.

I graduated college at 22 with several thousand hrs of experience as an er tech then went straight into paramedic school and did that for 5 yrs before becoming a PA.

[PM2016]

I was wondering, how hard is it to get accepted to PA school straight out of college? It seems like many PA students are like 25 or something. But I would really like to be accepted once I graduate from college. Is that still possible?

 

 

It is VERY possible. many students decide that they would like to become PA's early on, for example in highschool or early on in college. many of these people start getting hce early on and by the time they graduate college have accumulated many hours. I decided I wanted to become a PA my junior year and knew that i could not juggle work and school so i took a year off to gain hce.

[Maverick87]

I was 23 when I started PA school. It would say probably about 50-60% of my class was 25 or under when starting. I could only think of maybe 5 or 6 people (out of 60) that were over 30. So probably around 90% of my class was under 30 at the beginning of PA school.

[cinntsp]

It largely depends on the school. My class' average age is 29 and it ranges from fresh college grads with volunteering/shadowing to people with 15+ years of HCE.

[abry1222]

I knew early on that I wanted to be a PA and so I was able to get a part time job working for HCE while I was in my Junior and Senior years of College. I graduate tomorrow with my Bachelors and start PA school in August. So YES, it is very possible if you are willing to work and go to school at the same time.

[coolbreeze]

It is very possible! I started working my sophomore year of college and worked my butt off for two years. It was hard but well worth it. Graduated in May 2012 and started PA school in Aug :) You just have to be sure to keep up with your grades.

[marktheshark89]

Its definitely possible and probably increasingly common either with accumulating lots of hours during school, or applying to program with smaller hour requirements (several require only around 500 or less).

[daisyausoleil]

It is possible! I'm going right out of undergraduate (graduating in a couple weeks then hitting PA school in the fall). I made sure I got all my pre-reqs not included in my major done during my sophomore and junior year, volunteered and shadowed at a hospital at school and at a couple offices over the summer, and only applied to schools with low enough hour requirements I could fulfill (I only ended up with about 300). Got accepted to two schools, never heard back from one (weird..?), and got rejected from one (I did awful at the interview cause I knew when I got there I didn't like it haha). Where there is a will there is a way!