PA to Med.

I've never heard of a PA bachelor's degree. Becoming a PA is a rather difficult process comparable to getting into and through med school. In fact, there is a non trad medical student who boasts of being a PA reject. He tried to get into PA school several years before trying med school.

Most Physician's Assistant programs require extensive clinical experience, in the order of a full time job for 12 months. This is much more clinical experience than the average med student has when beginning medical school.

Go to PA school if you want to be a PA. If you want to go to med school, do that. It would be ridiculous to do both (unless you initially want to be a PA and change your mind later)

Nano said:

there is a bachelors degree for PA, howard offers it. so i thought of majoring in that... i wasn't going to that as masters, and then go into med school... that's too much for me. Cuz i can't decide what to major in... and i'm also afraid of dropping out of med school... that's why i wanted to have a little taste of that by going through the PA program u see... so what do u suggest? i had other majors in mind too... i dunno if u wanna know?

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A four year program and you graduate as a physicians assistant? or is it a pre-PA program?

If its a four year program - that sounds fantastic. I would've done that in a heartbeat and not gone to med school.

My instinct is that it wouldn't be worth it to do both. I am having a hard time articulating why - other than the PA program will be very intense and I wouldn't want to do both PA school and med school back to back.

Nano said:

there is a bachelors degree for PA, howard offers it. so i thought of majoring in that... i wasn't going to that as masters, and then go into med school... that's too much for me. Cuz i can't decide what to major in... and i'm also afraid of dropping out of med school... that's why i wanted to have a little taste of that by going through the PA program u see... so what do u suggest? i had other majors in mind too... i dunno if u wanna know?

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Major in what floats your boat. The adcoms don't really care that much what you study, as long as you perform well in school and meet their academic requirements. There isn't any advantage, per se, in studying PA material. Major in PA if you like. If it provides you with undergraduate clinical opportunities, this could be fun and would be a bonus. Just don't let it distract you from your goals at hand.

I get the sense that you are wanting to test your interest in medicine. Well, the most direct way to do that is to get some clinical experience. Some ways to do that are to volunteer at a hospital/free clinic, shadow some physicians, and get some direct patient care experience through CNA/EMT-B, or other means. These are good ways to check out the profession and your interest in treating patients.

lilnoelle said:

A four year program and you graduate as a physicians assistant? or is it a pre-PA program?

If its a four year program - that sounds fantastic. I would've done that in a heartbeat and not gone to med school.

My instinct is that it wouldn't be worth it to do both. I am having a hard time articulating why - other than the PA program will be very intense and I wouldn't want to do both PA school and med school back to back.

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They do exist. More PA programs are going masters now, but they used to be predominately bachelor level degrees, and those programs are still around. I'm not sure what the clinical requirements for those are though.

To the OP, major in something that will make you marketable and that you will enjoy so that if med school doesn't work out, you have something to fall back on. If you want to do a BS in PA because you think it may something you are interested in doing, then do that. I'm not sure how closely the PA curriculum corresponds to med school but I think classes like biochem, genetics, anatomy will definitely help you with med school classes. At least for me, I found the biochem, immuno and genetics classes helpful as a med student.

Nano said:

actually i have been working in med clinics since i was 16... and i'm 21 now. Thing is, its those bio classes and all that i'm not doing well in. i go a D in genetics and will get that in cell bio. so, i see that i can't handle it... i dunno if i should quit now! i'm too stressed out with this cuz i want it! so i dunno what to do.. i'm confused!!! that's why i thought of doing PA to test myself... otherwise i was just goin to switch 180 degrees.. going into engineering (civil).. which i'm also not sure of the work load but at least i dun have to kill myself to get As cuz i'm not trying to get into anything like med school u get me? but i love medicine waaaaay more than anything out there!!!

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Hmmmm. well, if you want medicine, but you doubt you can get into (or handle) med school due to grades, then a PA program sounds like a pretty good deal to me. It definitely will make you marketable if you can't get into medicine and it keeps you in the field you desire.

My initial thought was a great big no, but now that I have more information, I think it sounds like a good plan.

NonTradMed said:

They do exist. More PA programs are going masters now, but they used to be predominately bachelor level degrees, and those programs are still around. I'm not sure what the clinical requirements for those are though.

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I wish I had attended such a UG school.... I would already have been 5 years in practice by now. I actually was seriously considering PA school in UG rather than med school because it seemed more family friendly. I would've done it too, except for the huge clinical experience requirement.

lilnoelle said:

I wish I had attended such a UG school.... I would already have been 5 years in practice by now. I actually was seriously considering PA school in UG rather than med school because it seemed more family friendly. I would've done it too, except for the huge clinical experience requirement.

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You can still do it now. Not all PA schools require years of clinical experience.

A high school friend of mine graduated from college, then spent a year working part time while finishing up his pre-PA requirements and applied and got into a masters level PA program. He wasn't even thinking medicine until his senior year (but he was a bio major), so his clinical experience is pretty slim when he applied.

I think the average PA school is seeing younger and younger students with few, if any clinical experience.

Cross-posted. I'm going to close this one, but feel free to contribute to the open one in pre-allo.