A little help here pls

[nanpa]

I'm a pre med/ undecided student. I'm a junior. I have about 45hrs left of school work to do this includes courses for my bio degree and prereqs for pa school if i decided to follow that route.

The fact is I do want to go to med school and become a doc, but i am aware of the cons: high school debt, time, commitment to study etc.
I also have a some what average GPA mainly as a result of several doc appointments after my chemotherapy treatments from cancer, or maybe i just being lazy.
Long story short, I have an average gpa Im getting off school in fall 08, and I don't know if I want to go to pa school or not
The pro's for me are a shorter time in school, no school debt, they can deal with my average gpa, and i can work in something i enjoy in say three yrs and have an okay salary.
But I guess the cons is the whole supervision thing, and some docs have no respect whatsoever for pas.

So I was wondering if there was a route where I can get out of school next year with my bachelors degree, get into pa school, do that and if i don't like it, do some residency stuff as med students, take some exams and be a doc if i want.

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[deleted6669]

"So I was wondering if there was a route where I can get out of school next year with my bachelors degree, get into pa school, do that and if i don't like it, do some residency stuff as med students, take some exams and be a doc if i want"

short answer...nope.
also an avg gpa will probably not get you into pa school.
many programs have 50-100 applicants/seat and most applicants have prior medical experience. also pa school ain't cheap, it's 2-3 yrs of grad school tuition so although cheaper than medschool many folks are still 75-100 k in debt.
also in pa school you have a "committment to study"and must stay abreast of changes in medicine. you have to retake your boards every 6 yrs and do 100 hrs of cme every 2 yrs.

if you want to go to medschool after pa at the present time you have to do all 4 yrs.

 

[nanpa]

I currently have a 3.0 gpa, I'm hoping that I can bring it up somewhat with my last 45hrs.
The min GPA to get into pa school in Texas is 3.0. I am aware of the clinical experience, and other requirements etc..

Where did you get the 70,000 to 100,000 in debt. The avg tuition is about 30,000 in Tx. Did you include housing and other personal expenses?

 

[deleted6669]

I currently have a 3.0 gpa, I'm hoping that I can bring it up somewhat with my last 45hrs.
The min GPA to get into pa school in Texas is 3.0. I am aware of the clinical experience, and other requirements etc..

Where did you get the 70,000 to 100,000 in debt. The avg tuition is about 30,000 in Tx. Did you include housing and other personal expenses?

"the min gpa" means you can apply, it doesn't mean you will even make the cut for an interview. the avg for accepted applicants last yr was 3.2 gpa with >1000 hrs of direct pt care experience.
yes, I was including all debt acquired over 2 years in that figure.I guess if you live with your parents or something that you could keep it to 30k if they pay your rent, food, car related expenses, textbooks, lab fees, etc
go over to the pa forum at www.physicianassistant.net and do a search. I think there was a thread over there a while ago about pa school related debt. the range was 0 to around 150k.....

 

[nanpa]

"the avg for accepted applicants last yr was 3.2 gpa with >1000 hrs of direct pt care experience"

wat kind of pt care experience. Is working as a CNA enough experience? And shadowing a Pa?

To emepa, how do u like u job as a pa. You work in EM? How busy are you, what is the job outlook? How is your salary like etc...pls fill me in

 

[deleted6669]

"the avg for accepted applicants last yr was 3.2 gpa with >1000 hrs of direct pt care experience"

wat kind of pt care experience. Is working as a CNA enough experience? And shadowing a Pa?

To emepa, how do u like u job as a pa. You work in EM? How busy are you, what is the job outlook? How is your salary like etc...pls fill me in

experience requirements vary by program. some will accept cna.some will not.
shadowing a pa is a good idea but does not count as experience.
I work 3 jobs at 4 different facilities(by choice for variety) including a busy trauma center( e.d. + obs unit), a community hospital, a rural/critical access hospital and a solo gig working nights at a smaller emergency dept. in a busy urban area. I like the solo gig and the rural hospital the most as I have the broadest scope of practice there. unfortunately those jobs pay the least.
I work 180-230 hrs/mo.
pa is in the top 5 jobs for job growth over the next 15 yrs in several govt surveys.
there are 12 pa's at my primary place of employment. the salary range for the group is 110k to 160k/yr with all benefits paid and a very generous retirement package(same as the docs).

 

[brightness]

If you really want to go to medical school, you may want to go for it. PA school is honestly just as competitive as medical school, and PA programs require way more clinical experience, too. With a 3.0, good letters of recommendation, volunteer/clinical experience, and geographical flexibility, I would think you have a shot, parcticularly at an osteopathic school.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think most applications to medical school give you an opportunity to discuss situations which might have held you back academically- and I certainly think that cancer and chemo fit that bill.
Finally, I think that if deep down you have an itch to go to medical school, PA school may never fill that desire. People who want to be PAs should be PAs; those who want to be doctors should be doctors! But if after researach you discover that you do want to be a PA, then more power to you!! Its a kickass job.

 

[Yourmother]

I'm a split decision at times. However, my wife is a nurse so I get front line information on a daily basis.

I'm really envious of the lifestyle of PAs. Physician pay seems to be decreasing, while allied health seems to be increasing. And even if docs net more per year, I bet PAs and NPs give them a pretty close run for their money on an hourly basis.

 

[core0]

I'm a split decision at times. However, my wife is a nurse so I get front line information on a daily basis.

I'm really envious of the lifestyle of PAs. Physician pay seems to be decreasing, while allied health seems to be increasing. And even if docs net more per year, I bet PAs and NPs give them a pretty close run for their money on an hourly basis.

The PA lifestyle can be nice or it can be just as demanding as the physicians. Generally the more the PA makes the greater the difference between the PA and MD salary. In primary care the PA may make 50% or more of what the physician makes. For example the average FP salary for a PA is $80k. For a new grad $70k. I don't have great information on FP physician salary but salary.com says it is around $150k.

Now take any of the super competitive specialties (GI, Derm, cardiology). The average PA salary for Derm is $103k with $72k for new grads. However according to salary.com (which seems low) the average physician salary is around $220k. CV surgery has a greater average salary ($104k) but the 90th% is lower ($140k vs $180k for derm). On the other hand CV surgeons earn around $500k depending on the source.

If you want money then for PAs derm is the way to go. There are however, other advantages to being a PA. For me the biggest is mobility. I don't want to run a practice or be tied down. This means that I don't make as much money, but I can work wherever I want in the field that interests me. The mobility is the biggest advantage that I see over physicians. It comes down to whether you want to be the captain of the ship or are willing to work as the first mate on any ship that is going to an interesting port. If you want to be the captain then PA is probably not for you. If you are really only interested in the journey then PA is a great lifestyle.

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[deleted6669]

"The mobility is the biggest advantage that I see over physicians. It comes down to whether you want to be the captain of the ship or are willing to work as the first mate on any ship that is going to an interesting port. If you want to be the captain then PA is probably not for you. If you are really only interested in the journey then PA is a great lifestyle."

excellent summary david, best I have heard in a long time.....
I would substitute 1st officer or executive officer for 1st mate though.....
also if one works as "1st officer" for a while and you want to run the ship when the captain is away you can do that in some settings.....for star trek fans think commander riker.....

 

[core0]

"The mobility is the biggest advantage that I see over physicians. It comes down to whether you want to be the captain of the ship or are willing to work as the first mate on any ship that is going to an interesting port. If you want to be the captain then PA is probably not for you. If you are really only interested in the journey then PA is a great lifestyle."

excellent summary david, best I have heard in a long time.....
I would substitute 1st officer or executive officer for 1st mate though.....
also if one works as "1st officer" for a while and you want to run the ship when the captain is away you can do that in some settings.....for star trek fans think commander riker.....

As long as I'm not a red shirt.

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[nanpa]

thanx guys for your replies. I think I'm more interested in the journey not being a captain, really.
I guess I'm just bothered about the disrespect thing from residents, and other docs.
I still waiting on more comments on this topics, so feel free to write a comment..