I spoke to my professor today, who is an MD (and has sat on acceptance committies) and told me that after i complete PA school i can apply to a MD program and go right into my second year at the medical college. I wouldnt even have to take the MCAT over. I would just have to have a 3.6 or better in PA school. Sounds to good to be true. Is it?
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Started by padap
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It sounds too good to be true because it is.
Period.
Period.
I'm sorry but clearly that guy really must not know about the way his medical school runs. As mentioned, it just doesn't happen.
If you want to be an MD just retake MCAT, boost your GPA and go. PA is not a backup nor will it give you an "in" into med school.
Discovering you'd like to be a doctor after practicing as a PA...different story.
If you want to be an MD just retake MCAT, boost your GPA and go. PA is not a backup nor will it give you an "in" into med school.
Discovering you'd like to be a doctor after practicing as a PA...different story.
Why is that deal too good to be true?
Spend 60,000 on PA school to then go to Medical School starting as a second year for 3 more ?
Why not go to Medical School first?
If anything I am against the PA to MD bridge. I feel it devalues the PA profession. I am a PA, I am a competent care giver and love what I do. I do not wish to change that all.
Spend 60,000 on PA school to then go to Medical School starting as a second year for 3 more ?
Why not go to Medical School first?
If anything I am against the PA to MD bridge. I feel it devalues the PA profession. I am a PA, I am a competent care giver and love what I do. I do not wish to change that all.
I'd say too good to be true because you've skipped much of the basic science that is covered in the first year of medical school. My impression is it is really the stuff in the first year of medical school that PA school tends to gloss over, the nity grity of the biochem pathways, what cytokines do what etc. Not to devalue PA but if anything PA programs probably cover the second year material for medical school much better than the first year material.
I think that someone who has finished PA school would do fine in the final three years of medical school. The problem is that in order to be accredited a medical school need to cover a certain amount of material. If you skip some of it you are risking the accredidation of the school. Med schools don't spend all the time that they do on cell bio and biochem because they think it's all crucial, a lot of it is to keep the accredidation people happy.
Also, if you are going to go through 3 years of med school and three-8 years of residency, I don't see a big push to save a year. Especially not on the part of medical schools.
I think that someone who has finished PA school would do fine in the final three years of medical school. The problem is that in order to be accredited a medical school need to cover a certain amount of material. If you skip some of it you are risking the accredidation of the school. Med schools don't spend all the time that they do on cell bio and biochem because they think it's all crucial, a lot of it is to keep the accredidation people happy.
Also, if you are going to go through 3 years of med school and three-8 years of residency, I don't see a big push to save a year. Especially not on the part of medical schools.
IMO - there is NO way that a doctor who has been on an admissions committee at a medical school would tell a student that.
I'm in my second (and final) year of PA school, and that sounds about right to me. There's nothing devaluing about it; the MD students spend more time and delve deeper into the nooks and crannies of the info. In theory anyway, we get the most relevant info, in an accelerated format, but anybody who says we get the same thing is misinformed.
I had a really good Medical Biochem course, and I like to imagine that the stuff that was reinforced in my PA pathophys lectures and such is what I'll need to make smart calls in a clinical setting, understand drug mechanisms, etc. But at the same time, MD schooling is meant to be the kind of basis that a resident in Pathology or Toxicology could build on. And whatever I know about clotting cascades or zero-order pharmacokinetics is meant to get me through until an expert can get involved with my patient. Apples and oranges.
Back to the original post: PAs practice medicine, with collaboration/ supervision/ backup from MDs or DOs. That's how it works. What we do is really very similar, and in a lot of cases it's indistinguishable. But it's not the same. I happen to know somebody who practiced as a PA and then decided to go back for the MD, because they really wanted to be at the top of the pyramid. This person is learning stuff in MD school they didn't learn in PA school, mostly as jbar says in the first year.
I'm sure a PA school grad could kick butt in most med school clinicals, but again it's about what is being taught as the foundation. If anything, I'd favor giving PA grads some kind of advanced standing in the clinical phase of med school, not the beginning.
N
njbmd
Not at the two medical schools on which I serve on the admissions committee. You have to take MCAT, take the pre-med coursework and apply like everyone else. By the way, a 3.6 is below the average for matriculants into medical school and quite below the average for matriculants at my two schools.
While you can use your PA studies as pre-med coursework, they are just that, pre-med coursework like any major/course of studies. Your PA studies lead to being able to sit for the PA certification exam, if you pass, to work as a physician assistant. They are not a substitute for the first year of medical school. Sorry but your professor is wrong.
