Hey I've noticed some trhreads about going to med school after practicing as a PA, since I just matched at my top choice for residency I decided to give you an idea of my journey.
THE DECISION
I decided to go to medical school during my clinical year in PA school, as i got the sense that being a PA would not be enough for me. I graduated, got a job at an outpatient clinic and took the pre-requisites that I needed in the evenings. My total GPA from undergrand and PA school was 3.8, science GPA was 3.6.
I took my 2 week vacation from work and studied everyday for the MCAT and got a 30P (12;10;8) and applied to 10 allopathic schools. Got interview invites to 8, ultimately was accepted at the 1st place I interviewed 2 weeks later, and decided to cancel all interviews except 3 local ones. I ended up being accepted to all 4 schools, with full scholarships to 3 of them.
The interviews all went pretty smoothly, as most of the interviewers were interested in discussing what I did as a PA (manage chronic conditions mostly, nothing exciting), so I think being a PA definitely helped during this early phase.
FIRST YEAR
First year med school was the hardest year of schooling I have ever undertaken. Forget that. COMBINE all of my years of udergrad and PA school and 1st year med school would still be harder. The amount of material I needed to learn was astronomical, and PA school did not help one iota. Even anatomy and Physiology was hard for me and I got a combination of B's and C's. I had never had a C up until that point, and rarely ever got B's so I really questioned my ability, my decision and my sanity.
I got a job with an agency that staffed emergency rooms across the state, and worked in fast track from 2pm to midnight (my school days ended at noon for the most part, with the exception of one evening of clinical medicine). Working full time MAY have played a role in my struggles, but to be honest, even if I had more time to study, I probably would have still had a hard time. I got a job offer to work in a pain practive for $75/hr the summer between 1st and 2nd year (I would have to quit med school), and almost took it...that's how hard med school was.
Second Year
Ahhh, now the PA background comes into play. Pharmacology, Pathophys, Pathology...these are courses I aced with relatively little effort. I continued to work full time, and even picked up an extra shift or two and still did *extremely* well 2nd year. I think this year was as easy for me as 1st year was hard. I literally felt like I was back in undergrad with the ease of which I killed this year.
STEP 1
I took 2 weeks off from work and studied all day for this exam. This was perhaps the worst 2 weeks of my life (no hyperbole), cuz it was study from sun-up to sundown and I managed a meager 230 (mean was 226 I think). This exam was brutal. I used First Aid, and USMLE Rx even though everyone else used USMLE World so I'm not sure if that played a role in my avg results.
THIRD YEAR
The decision on whether to tell fellow classmates, residents and attendings that you're a PA is a tough one. On my very first rotation I did...and I ended up covering twice the patients, and therefore had less time to attend educational activities. I was unale to work full time because of the unpredictable nature of clerkships, but I did manage to work 20-24 hours/week.
Basically no matter how much prior clinical experience you have, it won't help you schedule appointments, write and dictate discharge summaries, chase down labs and images, and follow up tests any faster. So if the team thinks that you can handle twice the patient load because you're a PA, then it might be a disadvantage. On subsequent rotations I just kept my mouth shut. Although this too has its disadvantages, as they might be less likely to take you seriously when you want to correct an obvious mistake (i.e. an intern trying to prescribe Keflex as a qd medication because she thought that's what the Ortho team ordered on the chart).
Basically third year had its ups and downs. I killed some rotations, and on other rotations, the attending barely noticed the students were there so it was difficult to stand out. So I had a mix of Honors and High Passes. But being a PA definitely helped as my technical skills with respect to IV placement, central line placement, and phlebotomy which garnered accolades from the team and the nursing staff. And I was able to get a VERY nice LOR from my medicine attending who knew I was a PA but was still impressed by my knowledge base and technical skils.
Fourth year
Fourth year was rough in the beginning because you're scrambling for LORs and trying to cram all of the AIs and the electives needed for your specialty in the beginning so you can have the grades in b4 the MSPE goes out. I took STEP 2 early (studied two weeks) and did really well (250/99). Being a PA probably played a huge role in how easy that exam was for me.
Interviewing was a breeze again, because basically they all wanted to talk about how I was able to work as a PA while attending medical school. I got great interview invites, basically almost everywhere I applied, and was able to rank 12 places that were all very good University programs for my specialty. I matched at my number one, which was a very competitive program in a competitive specialty (won't say what since I'm trying to maintain some anonymity).
So in conclusion I would say being a PA helps in the application to med school phase, Did NOT help me AT ALL during 1st year. Helps in making very good money during med school (I have $ 32,000 in debt...all subsidized). It helps in 2nd year tremendously, helps a little during 3rd and 4th year, but the attendings and residents you work with play a larger role in my opinion, and helps tremendously during application to residency.
The knowledge you gain going to med school is a big reason why I do not regret my decision and it really is true that you just "don't know how much you don't know" when you're a PA. I was able to work full time the 1st two yrs and at least half time my last 2 yrs, so the economic impact may not have been as great for me as it might be for some other PAs who are unable to work. My dilemma now is do I work part time as a PA during residency until I'm able to pass STEP 3 and moonlight as a physician. My starting salary as an intern is $46,000 (!), less than half of what I made in the ED.
THE DECISION
I decided to go to medical school during my clinical year in PA school, as i got the sense that being a PA would not be enough for me. I graduated, got a job at an outpatient clinic and took the pre-requisites that I needed in the evenings. My total GPA from undergrand and PA school was 3.8, science GPA was 3.6.
I took my 2 week vacation from work and studied everyday for the MCAT and got a 30P (12;10;8) and applied to 10 allopathic schools. Got interview invites to 8, ultimately was accepted at the 1st place I interviewed 2 weeks later, and decided to cancel all interviews except 3 local ones. I ended up being accepted to all 4 schools, with full scholarships to 3 of them.
The interviews all went pretty smoothly, as most of the interviewers were interested in discussing what I did as a PA (manage chronic conditions mostly, nothing exciting), so I think being a PA definitely helped during this early phase.
FIRST YEAR
First year med school was the hardest year of schooling I have ever undertaken. Forget that. COMBINE all of my years of udergrad and PA school and 1st year med school would still be harder. The amount of material I needed to learn was astronomical, and PA school did not help one iota. Even anatomy and Physiology was hard for me and I got a combination of B's and C's. I had never had a C up until that point, and rarely ever got B's so I really questioned my ability, my decision and my sanity.
I got a job with an agency that staffed emergency rooms across the state, and worked in fast track from 2pm to midnight (my school days ended at noon for the most part, with the exception of one evening of clinical medicine). Working full time MAY have played a role in my struggles, but to be honest, even if I had more time to study, I probably would have still had a hard time. I got a job offer to work in a pain practive for $75/hr the summer between 1st and 2nd year (I would have to quit med school), and almost took it...that's how hard med school was.
Second Year
Ahhh, now the PA background comes into play. Pharmacology, Pathophys, Pathology...these are courses I aced with relatively little effort. I continued to work full time, and even picked up an extra shift or two and still did *extremely* well 2nd year. I think this year was as easy for me as 1st year was hard. I literally felt like I was back in undergrad with the ease of which I killed this year.
STEP 1
I took 2 weeks off from work and studied all day for this exam. This was perhaps the worst 2 weeks of my life (no hyperbole), cuz it was study from sun-up to sundown and I managed a meager 230 (mean was 226 I think). This exam was brutal. I used First Aid, and USMLE Rx even though everyone else used USMLE World so I'm not sure if that played a role in my avg results.
THIRD YEAR
The decision on whether to tell fellow classmates, residents and attendings that you're a PA is a tough one. On my very first rotation I did...and I ended up covering twice the patients, and therefore had less time to attend educational activities. I was unale to work full time because of the unpredictable nature of clerkships, but I did manage to work 20-24 hours/week.
Basically no matter how much prior clinical experience you have, it won't help you schedule appointments, write and dictate discharge summaries, chase down labs and images, and follow up tests any faster. So if the team thinks that you can handle twice the patient load because you're a PA, then it might be a disadvantage. On subsequent rotations I just kept my mouth shut. Although this too has its disadvantages, as they might be less likely to take you seriously when you want to correct an obvious mistake (i.e. an intern trying to prescribe Keflex as a qd medication because she thought that's what the Ortho team ordered on the chart).
Basically third year had its ups and downs. I killed some rotations, and on other rotations, the attending barely noticed the students were there so it was difficult to stand out. So I had a mix of Honors and High Passes. But being a PA definitely helped as my technical skills with respect to IV placement, central line placement, and phlebotomy which garnered accolades from the team and the nursing staff. And I was able to get a VERY nice LOR from my medicine attending who knew I was a PA but was still impressed by my knowledge base and technical skils.
Fourth year
Fourth year was rough in the beginning because you're scrambling for LORs and trying to cram all of the AIs and the electives needed for your specialty in the beginning so you can have the grades in b4 the MSPE goes out. I took STEP 2 early (studied two weeks) and did really well (250/99). Being a PA probably played a huge role in how easy that exam was for me.
Interviewing was a breeze again, because basically they all wanted to talk about how I was able to work as a PA while attending medical school. I got great interview invites, basically almost everywhere I applied, and was able to rank 12 places that were all very good University programs for my specialty. I matched at my number one, which was a very competitive program in a competitive specialty (won't say what since I'm trying to maintain some anonymity).
So in conclusion I would say being a PA helps in the application to med school phase, Did NOT help me AT ALL during 1st year. Helps in making very good money during med school (I have $ 32,000 in debt...all subsidized). It helps in 2nd year tremendously, helps a little during 3rd and 4th year, but the attendings and residents you work with play a larger role in my opinion, and helps tremendously during application to residency.
The knowledge you gain going to med school is a big reason why I do not regret my decision and it really is true that you just "don't know how much you don't know" when you're a PA. I was able to work full time the 1st two yrs and at least half time my last 2 yrs, so the economic impact may not have been as great for me as it might be for some other PAs who are unable to work. My dilemma now is do I work part time as a PA during residency until I'm able to pass STEP 3 and moonlight as a physician. My starting salary as an intern is $46,000 (!), less than half of what I made in the ED.
