Hello! First off, I would like to thank anyone who took the time to read this and reply! This is a really important decision in my life and I wanted to get as much input as possible before deciding.
I am currently trying to make a decision between pre-pa two routes. My university one of the few colleges that partnered with the US Department of Defense to host the Chinese Flagship Program. Students in this program take rigorous Chinese courses (domestic and abroad) to gain a rank “superior” in the proficiency of Chinese (Mandarin). I am currently a part of this program, but I am debating if I should continue with this program.
Route 1 (not continuing): Graduate (early) after the semester of fall 2018, apply to pa grad programs during the 2019-2020 cycle. Although still lacking in many areas, I think I have a decent foundation to build off of when I apply to pa programs:
Route 2 (continuing): I would take another semester before spending my capstone (senior) year abroad in China. My capstone year is divided into 2 semesters: first semester consists of enrolling at a uni in China and the second semester consists of a full time internship in China. Students are responsible for securing their own internships during the first semester abroad. Naturally, I’d hope to find an internship that ties into health care, but the program has no guarantees for what you’ll end up with. Because most pa schools don’t do online interviews (or do you think they would if I applied and explained my situation of studying abroad?), I will probably have to apply once I get back from China and graduate (the 2020-2021 app cycle), but I am worried about getting strong LORs after a 1 yr “hiatus,” as well as not doing anything really health care related during that capstone year.
To be honest, dedicating an extra year to continue this program is something that doesn’t really benefit my career aspirations of becoming a pa, but rather is something else I am interested in (exploring more of the Chinese culture part of my Chinese-American heritage). I started college early, so I don’t mind a 1 year detour, but 2 is kind of pushing it, especially since I still want to use momentum and push through grad school too. I find it hard to justify (to myself and my family) such a long detour from my end goal-- especially since I am already pretty proficient in Mandarin and the language isn't really used in the pa profession (I would still need a translator with patients)-- unless it does make me more competitive in the application process.
I think the weakest points in my application would be not having enough (in terms of amount of hours and the variety) of health care related experiences, as well as not having good enough connections for decent LORs. Those kind of go hand in hand (i.e.: more shadowing would help me meet more pa’s that I could ask for LORs), so I definitely need to use my time wisely.
The main question I wanted to ask you guys: Do you think the capstone year would give me an edge when applying, or is the “edge” that it may give me not as good as if I took route 1 and used the extra time to directly focus on honing my application?
Again, thank you for taking the time to help me out! Also feel free to leave any other input you think might be helpful for me!!
I am currently trying to make a decision between pre-pa two routes. My university one of the few colleges that partnered with the US Department of Defense to host the Chinese Flagship Program. Students in this program take rigorous Chinese courses (domestic and abroad) to gain a rank “superior” in the proficiency of Chinese (Mandarin). I am currently a part of this program, but I am debating if I should continue with this program.
Route 1 (not continuing): Graduate (early) after the semester of fall 2018, apply to pa grad programs during the 2019-2020 cycle. Although still lacking in many areas, I think I have a decent foundation to build off of when I apply to pa programs:
- Physiology major with current GPA of 3.86
- In my university’s honors program
- Trilingual (English, Mandarin, and Cantonese)
- Healthcare experience from volunteering at a hospital and working as a PCA (I am working to obtain more health care and shadowing experiences)
- Have not taken GRE yet, but I’ve heard GRE bears some similarity to the ACT/SAT (my ACT was 32)
Route 2 (continuing): I would take another semester before spending my capstone (senior) year abroad in China. My capstone year is divided into 2 semesters: first semester consists of enrolling at a uni in China and the second semester consists of a full time internship in China. Students are responsible for securing their own internships during the first semester abroad. Naturally, I’d hope to find an internship that ties into health care, but the program has no guarantees for what you’ll end up with. Because most pa schools don’t do online interviews (or do you think they would if I applied and explained my situation of studying abroad?), I will probably have to apply once I get back from China and graduate (the 2020-2021 app cycle), but I am worried about getting strong LORs after a 1 yr “hiatus,” as well as not doing anything really health care related during that capstone year.
To be honest, dedicating an extra year to continue this program is something that doesn’t really benefit my career aspirations of becoming a pa, but rather is something else I am interested in (exploring more of the Chinese culture part of my Chinese-American heritage). I started college early, so I don’t mind a 1 year detour, but 2 is kind of pushing it, especially since I still want to use momentum and push through grad school too. I find it hard to justify (to myself and my family) such a long detour from my end goal-- especially since I am already pretty proficient in Mandarin and the language isn't really used in the pa profession (I would still need a translator with patients)-- unless it does make me more competitive in the application process.
I think the weakest points in my application would be not having enough (in terms of amount of hours and the variety) of health care related experiences, as well as not having good enough connections for decent LORs. Those kind of go hand in hand (i.e.: more shadowing would help me meet more pa’s that I could ask for LORs), so I definitely need to use my time wisely.
The main question I wanted to ask you guys: Do you think the capstone year would give me an edge when applying, or is the “edge” that it may give me not as good as if I took route 1 and used the extra time to directly focus on honing my application?
Again, thank you for taking the time to help me out! Also feel free to leave any other input you think might be helpful for me!!
