tunafish Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Is anyone considering this school? I'm reading and hearing excellent things about their director, vision, and prospects. The fact that they're director is a PA but the program is linked into the med school is encouraging. Any insights on the type of curriculum they use (systems based vs traditional fragmented)? Courses taken with MD students or separate? They currently have provisional accreditation, meaning that as long as they pass during their next reassessment (2016), graduates will be able to sit for PA-C licensure. Anyone been there this year? Applying? First interview invitations go out yet? I'm curious! We have updated class profile on the website if anyone is interested in stats. We have system based curriculum with complete integration of subjects. if we study GI it will be GI pathophys, pharm, anatomy, H&P and such. Very cool. Peds and OBGYN would be different of course. We do have some interactive sessions with med students (3 yr for clinical thinking for example). The bulk of med students haven't started yet. Med students in class 8-12 and we are 8-5, so our lectures are our own. We have ample medical faculty in addition to gross anatomy faculty working with us in a cadaver lab. We dissect ourselves and we have a body for 5 students. Lots of group activities in clinical medicine, anatomy and H&P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 We have updated class profile on the website if anyone is interested in stats. We have system based curriculum with complete integration of subjects. if we study GI it will be GI pathophys, pharm, anatomy, H&P and such. Very cool. Peds and OBGYN would be different of course. We do have some interactive sessions with med students (3 yr for clinical thinking for example). The bulk of med students haven't started yet. Med students in class 8-12 and we are 8-5, so our lectures are our own. We have ample medical faculty in addition to gross anatomy faculty working with us in a cadaver lab. We dissect ourselves and we have a body for 5 students. Lots of group activities in clinical medicine, anatomy and H&P. Thanks for the informative response! I realize no one has begun clinical rotations in such a new program yet, but has the school given any indication of whether the majority of rotations will be local vs distant? I know at DeSales, for example, most people don't have to move to complete the clinical year, but at Pacific, a move is expected essentially every 5-6 weeks, unless one sets up his or her own rotations. And many schools fall somewhere in between. As a person with a family, this is a consideration for me. Also, as long as I've got your ear... What do you love about the program? What do you dislike or really hope will improve? Are you concerned about being in such a new program, about pioneering brand new clinical rotations, or about the impending accreditation process? These are big questions, but any insights you'd care to share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunafish Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Thanks for the informative response! I realize no one has begun clinical rotations in such a new program yet, but has the school given any indication of whether the majority of rotations will be local vs distant? I know at DeSales, for example, most people don't have to move to complete the clinical year, but at Pacific, a move is expected essentially every 5-6 weeks, unless one sets up his or her own rotations. And many schools fall somewhere in between. As a person with a family, this is a consideration for me. Also, as long as I've got your ear... What do you love about the program? What do you dislike or really hope will improve? Are you concerned about being in such a new program, about pioneering brand new clinical rotations, or about the impending accreditation process? These are big questions, but any insights you'd care to share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! I do not think there is a single reason to be concerned about accreditation: it is a done deal. PSCOM is a well known school and PA program has a huge support from med school. People who run the program have 17 years of experience in running the 100% first pass program and they were recruited to bring PA school back to PSU. We should have all our clinical sites within an hour. I think there is an option to do every rotation on campus. PSU is merging with Pinnacle Health that would open even more possibilities. Lebanon VA is also a site for us. I think it is a rule that any rotation more than an hour away should provide housing for students. I think the only exception is your elective where it is not mandatory for a site. I think like and dislike is very personal and vary from person to person. For me the huge plus is PSCOM being within a huge academic medical center where you can see do everything there is to be done in medicine. It is not an addition to a graduate school or some other college of health sciences - it is an integrated part of college of medicine and you are taught in a team based environment from day one. I am not talking shared classes - I am talking shared learning activities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnguyenle Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Has anyone heard anything yet or know when we should start hearing from Penn State? If you can do every rotation on campus that would be pretty nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thanks, Tuna, for all the insight. I applied! But this is one hell of a supplemental application! I hope they read it all because this will take days to complete...Cnguyenle, I spoke with admissions yesterday, and they mentioned they don't even look at your application until the supplemental and additional application fee arrives. Then, you might hear back in as soon as a couple weeks or as late as December (even if you apply tomorrow). I guess more goes into it than just the date of your application. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnguyenle Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Thanks, Tuna, for all the insight. I applied! But this is one hell of a supplemental application! I hope they read it all because this will take days to complete... Cnguyenle, I spoke with admissions yesterday, and they mentioned they don't even look at your application until the supplemental and additional application fee arrives. Then, you might hear back in as soon as a couple weeks or as late as December (even if you apply tomorrow). I guess more goes into it than just the date of your application. Good luck! I received an email they have everything on june 9th. Guess its the waiting game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunafish Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Thanks, Tuna, for all the insight. I applied! But this is one hell of a supplemental application! I hope they read it all because this will take days to complete... Cnguyenle, I spoke with admissions yesterday, and they mentioned they don't even look at your application until the supplemental and additional application fee arrives. Then, you might hear back in as soon as a couple weeks or as late as December (even if you apply tomorrow). I guess more goes into it than just the date of your application. Good luck! They DO read it! Put your effort there it is so worth it! It was one of the reason I went here. This was the only place where every one I talked to that day knew stuff from my supplemental application and personal statement. Nothing generic. We also have a real patient interview as part of your day and it is a very cool experience all by itself. If you can come to info sessions where they talk about the program and their vision it could be great. Our class comes too and you can ask all the questions you want to both faculty and current students. We will be there for you during your interviews too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakingpatience Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Do y'all think it would be appropriate to use a slightly less formal tone for any of the supplemental questions? I was considering interjecting a small, unoffensive joke into one of mine (laughing at my dislike of english class and how it would have come in handy for all these essays), which would ruin the formal tone, but also show the admissions officers a little more personality. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Just wanted to toss in my two cents. I went to the information session (open house) this past Tuesday. The faculty (and the five current students there) were quite excited and the session was very informative. It looks like they use the Team Based Learning model. One interesting take away is that Penn grads can get $25K loan repayment if they take a position with Penn. I plan on applying next CASPA cycle (when I'm eligible) and this place is the top of my list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunafish Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Do y'all think it would be appropriate to use a slightly less formal tone for any of the supplemental questions? I was considering interjecting a small, unoffensive joke into one of mine (laughing at my dislike of english class and how it would have come in handy for all these essays), which would ruin the formal tone, but also show the admissions officers a little more personality. Thoughts? Just be yourself! why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehikerpa Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 I'm applying but do not have a lot of HCE. I just finished my CNA certification and have a job lined up. I'll have my required HCE by the time I matriculate. Do you think this will be okay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 You should ask admissions directly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehikerpa Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Thanks! I was just waiting for tunafish to respond because she is a current student and may know someone with the minimum..but thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunafish Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I'm applying but do not have a lot of HCE. I just finished my CNA certification and have a job lined up. I'll have my required HCE by the time I matriculate. Do you think this will be okay? Program has 500 hours minimum, I think they count even volunteer hours. As long as you have that minimum by the deadline you should be good. I know we had to submit the updated hours since caspa application. I would suggest calling admin director to confirm. They are great on the phone. From what we hear we have even more applicants this year. Good luck to all of you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehikerpa Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Program has 500 hours minimum, I think they count even volunteer hours. As long as you have that minimum by the deadline you should be good. I know we had to submit the updated hours since caspa application. I would suggest calling admin director to confirm. They are great on the phone. From what we hear we have even more applicants this year. Good luck to all of you Thank you so much! I will have them by the time the deadline ends so now I'm much more optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I guess the reason I said ask admissions is that the minimum req is a lot different from the average for matriculated students. For example, at Pacific U in Oregon, they're minimum is 1000 hours, but their average is 4500. Big difference. Only admissions can give you these statistics. Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunafish Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I guess the reason I said ask admissions is that the minimum req is a lot different from the average for matriculated students. For example, at Pacific U in Oregon, they're minimum is 1000 hours, but their average is 4500. Big difference. Only admissions can give you these statistics. Good luck!! Average will always be huge due to some seasoned people working in healthcare forever. Important thing is to make a cut for requirements then it is a fair game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehikerpa Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I guess the reason I said ask admissions is that the minimum req is a lot different from the average for matriculated students. For example, at Pacific U in Oregon, they're minimum is 1000 hours, but their average is 4500. Big difference. Only admissions can give you these statistics. Good luck!! I gotcha, no worries! I didn't mean to come off rude or anything. If I did, I'm sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 No worries! Great discussion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakingpatience Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Has anyone here heard back about interviews for this year? I got an invitation today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoopeda Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Way to go!! When is the first round of interviews? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakingpatience Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Way to go!! When is the first round of interviews? Thanks :-) Dates listed were Aug 21, Sept 5, then it said Sept 23 "forward" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSH Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Thanks :-) Dates listed were Aug 21, Sept 5, then it said Sept 23 "forward" That's so exciting ahh I've been anxiously waiting to hear back from this school! When did you submit everything?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnguyenle Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Has anyone here heard back about interviews for this year? I got an invitation today! Congratz! How did they contact you and would you be comfortable in sharing your stats too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakingpatience Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 They sent me an email. I don't mind sharing my stats. ~13,000 hours as an EMT and paramedic, cGPA 3.93, sGPA 3.94. GRE 158V 149Q 4.0W Ochem was still in progress when I applied, otherwise all my other prerecs were done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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