How much clinical experience is needed?

[RockHardIce]

Approximately how much and what type of clinical experience is needed to get into a PA program?

From the other threads, it seems getting into a PA program is even more involved than an MD admission in terms of clinical experience!

Whom would the admissions committee likely select,
a student with 4.0 undergraduate GPA and some clinical experience( minimum required- by volunteering)
vs.
a student with 3.5 GPA with about 5 years of clinical experience (such as RN, EMT etc)

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[deleted6669]

depends on the program- while I would rather see applicant b with the experience(as would traditional programs like u.wa/medex, etc) many of the newer masters level programs focus more on gpa/gre scores, etc so it's entirely program dependent.
the traditional pa school applicant already has worked for several yrs as a paramedic/rn/rt/etc so pa is a second medical career for them. this was the original intent of the profession; start with a solid framework and build from there. over the last decade this has changed so that folks who previously would have been universally denied admission are being accepted now.....not a trend I'm a big fan of.....

 

[foreverLaur]

http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13564
^--That site will list all the schools that require experience, recommend experience, and do not specify.

From my searching, I have seen that most schools that require experience want around 1,000 hours or so.

I'd definitely have some shadowing experience to put down. There are lots of things you could do for experience... RN, LPN, CNA, EMT, ER Tech, Scrub Tech, etc.. If you already have a bachelors degree, all these are attainable in 1 year or less (at least scrub tech and RN are).

 

[Dr 14220]

and if you have no experience and still manage to get into a program........just do it and then maybe try for a PA residency for the increased training. i would rather do that than be a EMT or nurse for a year when your planning on becoming a PA anyway