Five year old bachelors degree, PA school

[Lindlar]

I think this actually belongs in the what are my chances forum. Reposting it there and reporting for deletion.




I graduated from UGA in 2011 with a bachelors in biology. 3.55 gpa, 3.75 sgpa
I proceeded to work as a roofing repair technicians until now (work available from family ties). Crawling around on roofs for the rest of my life is not exactly appealing, though I do really enjoy the nature of the work, so I want to actually pursue medicine in some form or fashion

I'm currently enrolled in a comm/tech college doing pre-reqs to enter the diagnostic sonography program (GNTC) and am also rolling the idea around of pursuing PA school instead. I don't have anywhere near a thousand hours of clinical exposure but that can change relatively quickly. My biggest concern is that my degree is so old... how useful would it even be? Anyone with some insights into PA school and the application process would be very helpful

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[Lindlar]

I graduated from UGA in 2011 with a bachelors in biology. 3.55 gpa, 3.75 sgpa
I proceeded to work as a roofing repair technicians until now (work available from family ties). Crawling around on roofs for the rest of my life is not exactly appealing, though I do really enjoy the nature of the work, so I want to actually pursue medicine in some form or fashion

I'm currently enrolled in a comm/tech college doing pre-reqs to enter the diagnostic sonography program (GNTC) and am also rolling the idea around of pursuing PA school instead. I don't have anywhere near a thousand hours of clinical exposure but that can change relatively quickly. My biggest concern is that my degree is so old... how useful would it even be? Anyone with some insights into PA school and the application process would be very helpful

 

[blacchic856]

I graduated in 2011 too. It's certainly not old. Finish the pre-reqs, take the MCAT and go from there.

I contemplated PA (it was the original plan when I started taking postbacc prereqs) but ultimately realized I want to treat extremely ill patients. Shadow PAs and Doctors before making a decision. 2 years then making money still sounds good to me but it's not worth it if 7 yrs into practicing, I'll be itching for med school.

Regardless, get started on those HCE hours now! 1,000 hours is the minimum but you'll be up against Paramedics, ER Techs, etc with thousands upon thousands of hours. I've seen stats in the 8,000-10,000 hour range. It's not as easy as one would think, especially when they also want 40+ hours of shadowing, strong ECs and stellar grades.