Quality of experience /admissions

[waarya]

Greetings,

 

hello there folks, I am very curious to know how important the quality of the pre-pa experience is to gaining admissions to a pa program. I am recent ucla alum who has decided to take the pa route after completing a pre-med degree. As an undergrad I had volunteered as a care-extender at the ucla Ronald regan hospital for a year and since graduation (a year ago) i have been working as a patient care tech at the USC keck hospital (cna) . I have spent the past 3 months working in icu and I have learned alot. .however, what has been incredibly deflating has been that I have meet a number of RNs who have also decided to go the pa route. I feel that they could easily transition to a pa career and that programs would prefer them for that reason. How do I compete with them? Is there any edge at all - besides the fact that their previous training has been in nursing and not medicine? What is more, my grades are not spectacular as my cumulative and science gpas are a precarious 3.3 with no repeats or f/d/ withdrawl grades.

 

Thanks

waryaa

[flashingdots]

i share the same sentiment :(

[UGoLong]

People apply to schools with a wide range of types of healthcare experience. You certainly don't have to be a nurse to get in!

 

Rather than speculate about your chances, (1) visit a program or two and talk to the clinical advisors there and (2) apply and see what happens.

[winterallsummer]

I got into several schools as a CNA. The majority of students at my school (which is fairly competitive) have experience much poorer than CNA (pharm tech, volunteer only, nutritionist, etc). We have one former nurse. I would say CNA is one of the stronger professions to apply to PA school these days. This board misrepresents the fact that a lot of pre-PAs have only volunteer experience.

 

Also not to generalize but a lot of nurses sit around and talk about furthering their careers one way or another and don't. Same is true for CNAs, even PAs, etc etc. So don't let that discourage you. Most RNs go NP anyways. Apply broadly and consider taking some community college courses to up your GPA.