Deciding to go the PA route late in college career.

[Chriscurls]

Hey guys,

 

I currently attend a 4-year university majoring in Sport Management, but have always had a passion for PA school that was affirmed through my recent extensive shadowing experiences with a large hospital and many PA's. I am posting here because I am concerned on how to make my goals of becoming a PA attainable if I'm so far deep into my current major. I know I need Direct Patient Care Hours and I need to get the prerequisites are done as well. Should I delay graduation and take some courses of prereqs or should I graduate and go to a community college after? If anyone has any advice, it would definitely be welcome.

 

Thanks!

[UGoLong]

There are as many paths to becoming a PA as there are people applying. If you enjoy your degree and want to finish it and get a job, do that and take prereqs in community college night school if you want. As far as patient care time, different schools have different requirements and you should get at least enough to understand the world of healthcare. Paths to that vary from full time employment to part-time, to volunteer EMS. Some schools want thousands of hours and some only require a few hundred.

 

The advise I give almost everyone who asks is to do some research by visiting a PA program that you might be interested in or is within a roadtrip distance of where you are. You will learn more in an afternoon there than in hundreds of hours spent trolling various Internet sites.

 

As you talk with people, please remember that each of us has our own opinion. I learned long ago that whenever anyone tells you that there is only one path to your goal that a big red light should go on in your brain!

 

The book cited in my signature block talks about my own strange path to PA school and beyond.

 

Good luck!

[Jorge]

I was in a similar situation in which I decided to become a PA after having just completed my undergraduate degree, but luckily it was in biology so most of the prereqs were already met. I enrolled in a community college to finish up the 3 or 4 classes I needed. As long as you complete the requirements and have a strong application I don't think you have much to worry about.