Having second thoughts :(

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Aviator97

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Hey there! I didn't know where to post this, so I thought I would post it here. First, I would like to start off by saying I am currently a freshman in college majoring in Biology. My original plan was to obtain my biology degree and then get into a PA program and work as a Physician's Assistant. HOWEVER, I have realized I will need clinical experience to become a PA. This got me thinking. I am now thinking that maybe I should take pre-req courses to get into a D.O. program since I do want to work in the healthcare field, and then take the MCATs later on down the road obviously. I am thinking that if I do not get accepted into a D.O. program, then thats okay, I'll just take the year or two off after my bachelor's and gain healthcare experience. This will allow me the experience to get into a PA program, however I can also take that year or two to use that experience towards D.O. school. I would then apply to both PA programs and D.O. schools. Honestly, I would be perfectly fine in either one of these two professions. However, I'm having two conflicts in my head right now. The first is, I'm not sure I want to continue my biology degree, and am thinking maybe I should switch to a nursing degree since it would be a more healthcare, hands-on experience. Would having a nursing degree negatively affect my admissions to either the PA or D.O. program? The other conflict I'm having is more on a personal level, having to do with my own self-doubts. I just have self-doubts on whether I can make high enough marks to get into a D.O. or PA program. I'm a smart guy, I just have personal circumstances that cause me to do a little worse than I could actually be doing such as mental health issues of anxiety and sometimes mild depression that sprouts up as a result of my anxiety (and yes, I went to counseling and it helped tremendously).

I'm sorry its so long, but what are your opinions on this?

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I think you need to make up your mind. You don't want to do PA because it requires healthcare experience? You're going to magically get into D.O. School without it? Then, you think nursing school is more hands on? I'm sorry, but I think you need to do a little more research before you do anything. You also say you're smart, but can't score well on tests? This whole post in contradictory. PA programs usually do require clinical hours, but in the same sense so does a physician. You need to have some proof you know what your getting yourself into and almost every school requires a LOR from a physician, if not one from a DO specifically. So, what do you really want to do? Medical school isn't something you can just go after with a "meh" kind of attitude. Either you want it or you don't. What's your response?
 
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Med schools generally don't care whether your major is biology or floral management or fermentation sciences. Be good at whatever you do, and do well in the prereqs.
 
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If medical school is your top goal and PA school secondary, then concentrate on what needs to be done for medical school. The courses you need to take are universal for medical school, so you should be able to organize that rather easily. PA school requirements is more a pain in the butt since they are different here and there. To save time there just find out what courses are for the majority of schools and do them. Don't do anything beyond volunteering in a hospital or shadowing a physician, if you think it could tank your grades. Medical schools care far more about your grades than clinical experiences versus PA schools which value both. If you do decide on PA school, apply to ones that require 1000+ clinical hours (those are the quality ones). Grades are your top priority in both scenarios none the less.
 
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This is not going to completely answer your question but you need to decide. I wanted to do PA school before med school too and I feel like applying to both at the same time is not realistic due to finances unless you are rich.

& If you shadow and stuff and actually see the differences in the careers, I think one would make you unhappy.

Lastly, keep in mind PA school is extremely competitive just like med school so neither of them is a back up plan for the other. I know many smart students who had to reapply to med school and same with PA School. I know someone who has applied to PA school 4 times and is now changing her plan to med school again.
 
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If medical school is your top goal and PA school secondary, then concentrate on what needs to be done for medical school. The courses you need to take are universal for medical school, so you should be able to organize that rather easily. PA school requirements is more a pain in the butt since they are different here and there. To save time there just find out what courses are for the majority of schools and do them. Don't do anything beyond volunteering in a hospital or shadowing a physician, if you think it could tank your grades. Medical schools care far more about your grades than clinical experiences versus PA schools which value both. If you do decide on PA school, apply to ones that require 1000+ clinical hours (those are the quality ones). Grades are your top priority in both scenarios none the less.
Almost if not all PA schools require hours, right?
 
PA schools require direct, patient care experience like CNA, EMT, MA, etc. Some consider scribing as direct patient experience like NOVA but some schools do not
 
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Almost if not all PA schools require hours, right?

The majority do, but there are a few that don't. The hours they require are variable. Some have requirements of 2000 and others 500. As I have read, the more quality programs require a higher amount of hours.
 
I am currently a freshman in college

You're so early in the process. For now, just figure out what you want to do (it may not be PA or medicine). Spend a hundred hours shadowing both PAs and physicians and decide which one, if either, is right for you. Neither one cares what your degree is in. Actually, it may be of some benefit to have a 'non-traditional' degree to make you stand out from the rest.
 
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You can apply as a B.Nursing student. Just get the pre-reqs either way
 
Thank you! Firstly, the reason I say I'm smart but don't score as well as I can on exams is because I understand the material just fine when I'm studying, but I have test anxiety along with many other factors. Like I said, I have personal mental health issues that interfere with that sometimes (I have a disability on record for it, actually). I figured PA school was just slightly less competitive than D.O. school. I honestly don't know which path I definitely want to take. This is why I'm also considering changing over to nursing because if I am unable to land a spot in either one of the two programs, I'll still have a degree that is worth something in the end.
 
Nursing is smart idea if you don't have 100% confidence in your test taking ability. If it turns out you never actually solve that problem and get a string of mediocre grades, at least you'll have a nursing degree. If you go all out pre-med and get those grades, you're just about all done with nothing to fall back on. You're asking questions very early, which is great, and it gives you plenty of time to explore both paths and narrow your target as time goes by.
 
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Hey there! I didn't know where to post this, so I thought I would post it here. First, I would like to start off by saying I am currently a freshman in college majoring in Biology. My original plan was to obtain my biology degree and then get into a PA program and work as a Physician's Assistant. HOWEVER, I have realized I will need clinical experience to become a PA. This got me thinking. I am now thinking that maybe I should take pre-req courses to get into a D.O. program since I do want to work in the healthcare field, and then take the MCATs later on down the road obviously. I am thinking that if I do not get accepted into a D.O. program, then thats okay, I'll just take the year or two off after my bachelor's and gain healthcare experience. This will allow me the experience to get into a PA program, however I can also take that year or two to use that experience towards D.O. school. I would then apply to both PA programs and D.O. schools. Honestly, I would be perfectly fine in either one of these two professions. However, I'm having two conflicts in my head right now. The first is, I'm not sure I want to continue my biology degree, and am thinking maybe I should switch to a nursing degree since it would be a more healthcare, hands-on experience. Would having a nursing degree negatively affect my admissions to either the PA or D.O. program? The other conflict I'm having is more on a personal level, having to do with my own self-doubts. I just have self-doubts on whether I can make high enough marks to get into a D.O. or PA program. I'm a smart guy, I just have personal circumstances that cause me to do a little worse than I could actually be doing such as mental health issues of anxiety and sometimes mild depression that sprouts up as a result of my anxiety (and yes, I went to counseling and it helped tremendously).

I'm sorry its so long, but what are your opinions on this?
It sounds like you are choosing DO because you somehow believe it is the easy way out without you meeting some prereq number of clinical exposure hours that PA programs ask for. How do you expect to explain this to ADCOMs?
 
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its not hard to get certified as an EMT (most cc offer 1 semester course that you can take concurrently with your undergrad courses) and you can work nights/weekend as an emt prior to matriculating to PA/DO schools.

If you have doubts about DO go to PA school. You can not be torn when applying to medical school. Medical school is hard/stressful/sucks if you have any doubts at all they will be exacerbated by medschool. Making it through medschool is about compromises, what are you willing/not willing to do without. There is many times you'll ask yourself "why didn't I go to ___ school?" if you already have those doubts then I am sure you will succumb to them. Not saying that to steer you away just make sure you're 100% about whatever profession you go into and you will do great.
 
It sounds like you are choosing DO because you somehow believe it is the easy way out without you meeting some prereq number of clinical exposure hours that PA programs ask for. How do you expect to explain this to ADCOMs?

It may be the "easier" way to get into school, but once you get into school they are two different beast. It would be easier to take the year off and pad PA CV
 
I didn't mean to make D.O. school sound like the easy way out or the easier path; it isn't by any means easy. I was just curious because I've heard of many people going into D.O. schools without prior healthcare experience whereas in PA thats more of a rarity. I'm sorry if I made it sound like I was saying its the "easy way out." I'm leaning towards the PA school idea with a degree in nursing. That way I'll have a degree that I can do something in which I can enjoy even if PA school doesn't work out. My concern is indeed my grades. I'm sorry if I came off as contradictory; I just have a hard time explaining myself, especially something on a personal level that I don't wish to disclose on the internet. I'm starting to get more of an appeal towards getting the nursing degree and then working in there, then going on to PA school, if possible.
 
You'd also have to be aware of specific requirements that PA schools require. They usually require more stuff then med school (ie. year of A&P, nutrition, biochemistry-which has been required for many years whereas med schools are now just moving into requiring it). Likewise, nursing school programs have various requirements school to school such as developmental psych or medical terminoloy. Consideration of this fact means you're gonna go crazy trying to fulfill requirements for so many different things or else you'd be only able to apply to a few select programs for each of these 3 professional schools that share common pre-reqs. If like med school, applying to too few of anything, no matter what type of school, is not a good idea. There's a reason why not many people do this plan of yours. There are some health professional programs that are easier for premeds (the countless unsuccessful ones) can switch to due these programs having the same exact requirements or just requires the taking of another test like the GRE. Strong competition is still present though.
 
PA schools require direct, patient care experience like CNA, EMT, MA, etc. Some consider scribing as direct patient experience like NOVA but some schools do not

Many schools will accept those in the clinical laboratory sciences (as clinical hours) even though most CLS professionals do not have direct patient care.
 
You'd also have to be aware of specific requirements that PA schools require. They usually require more stuff then med school (ie. year of A&P, nutrition, biochemistry-which has been required for many years whereas med schools are now just moving into requiring it). Likewise, nursing school programs have various requirements school to school such as developmental psych or medical terminoloy. Consideration of this fact means you're gonna go crazy trying to fulfill requirements for so many different things or else you'd be only able to apply to a few select programs for each of these 3 professional schools that share common pre-reqs. If like med school, applying to too few of anything, no matter what type of school, is not a good idea. There's a reason why not many people do this plan of yours. There are some health professional programs that are easier for premeds (the countless unsuccessful ones) can switch to due these programs having the same exact requirements or just requires the taking of another test like the GRE. Strong competition is still present though.

What do you think about a BSN and then PA school after some healthcare experience?
 
What do you think about a BSN and then PA school after some healthcare experience?

Doable I guess. There are shorter term things you can do like CNA or EMT during your undergrad if you're truly not into the whole nursing thing. Honestly, I don't see why you could have just continued as a biology major..or any major really. As a freshman, you have ample time to get clinical hours for PA schools. Plenty of bio majors go into PA school after college. They simply work (or volunteer if such hours can be used for certain PA schools) as an EMT, CNA, patient transporter, patient care associate, phlebotomist, etc. All take little to no training and time and can be balanced with college. 1000 hours (typical of PA schools) may seem like a big number, but it's really not especially if you start early.

Before anything, I recommend you shadow a DO (or MD for sake of this purpose), PA, (maybe a nurse if they do that...?) and get a glimpse of what you will get yourself into.
 
Doable I guess. There are shorter term things you can do like CNA or EMT during your undergrad if you're truly not into the whole nursing thing. Honestly, I don't see why you could have just continued as a biology major..or any major really. As a freshman, you have ample time to get clinical hours for PA schools. Plenty of bio majors go into PA school after college. They simply work (or volunteer if such hours can be used for certain PA schools) as an EMT, CNA, patient transporter, patient care associate, phlebotomist, etc. All take little to no training and time and can be balanced with college. 1000 hours (typical of PA schools) may seem like a big number, but it's really not especially if you start early.

Before anything, I recommend you shadow a DO (or MD for sake of this purpose), PA, (maybe a nurse if they do that...?) and get a glimpse of what you will get yourself into.
Yeah I can see how that could work. I mean, the reason I say BSN is because I feel like that degree would be worth something in the end if I'm unable to make it into PA school, because I'm sure that happens. Whereas, with the Biology degree, I would be stuck with lab work or if I decide to expand on the bio degree, with research which doesn't interest me much to do research.
 
Yeah I can see how that could work. I mean, the reason I say BSN is because I feel like that degree would be worth something in the end if I'm unable to make it into PA school, because I'm sure that happens. Whereas, with the Biology degree, I would be stuck with lab work or if I decide to expand on the bio degree, with research which doesn't interest me much to do research.
The BSN is reasonable IMO and will not close any door if you decide to pursue MD/DO or PA/NP... You probably will have to take a few prereqs to fulfill whatever requirements etc... I had a BSN and it opened my eyes and made me realize that becoming a physician was the way to go. Good luck!
 
The BSN is reasonable IMO and will not close any door if you decide to pursue MD/DO or PA/NP... You probably will have to take a few prereqs to fulfill whatever requirements etc... I had a BSN and it opened my eyes and made me realize that becoming a physician was the way to go. Good luck!
Thank you! I don't mind having to take the pre-req requirements for PA school, so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
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