PA School or Caribbean School?

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PA school by leaps and bounds. That being said, if you're looking into alternatives to getting into an MD program, PA school admissions is no walk in the park. PR med schools require ties to the island, y creo que necesitas hablar espanol.
 
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For PR you need to demonstrate strong ties, that I know. But whatever. I know this is not an option but OD > PR > some random > PA.
By the way, Caribbean and PR are not the same thing, right?
 
Medical field27 said:
So you would suggest PA over Caribbean Med schools, y se qué necesitas hablar español por eso pregunto por los ceredintals
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Yes, I would suggest PA school over a Caribbean medical school. As far as number credentials, I'm not certain. You can probably search around on the forums or Google for these kinds of numbers. I can't imagine it being too far off from continental US DO or MD schools, though.
 
Medical field27 said:
So you would suggest PA over Caribbean Med schools, y se qué necesitas hablar español por eso pregunto por los ceredintals
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Yup. Never apply to Caribbean (think it doesn't exist). I believe you could check.out the MSAR for more info on puerto rican schools.
 
You guys are talking as if PA school is a walk in the park to get into. It's quite competitive. If you have stats so low you can't get into a US M.D. or D.O., then you won't be competitive for PA programs either.
 
For puerto rico, you need 12 credits of spanish and 6 credits of english!
 
In my state we have 3 PA schools and 6 MD/DO schools. Average accepted GPA for MD/DO in my state is 3.6 (minus one top 10 outlier). The average for PA is 3.85. So... PA is actually more competitive... In my state anyway
 
BLACKMD said:
In my state we have 3 PA schools and 6 MD/DO schools. Average accepted GPA for MD/DO in my state is 3.6 (minus one top 10 outlier). The average for PA is 3.85. So... PA is actually more competitive... In my state anyway
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How the hell...
 
BLACKMD said:
In my state we have 3 PA schools and 6 MD/DO schools. Average accepted GPA for MD/DO in my state is 3.6 (minus one top 10 outlier). The average for PA is 3.85. So... PA is actually more competitive... In my state anyway
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Which PA school is that? When I was looking into PA programs Stony Brook was top ten and had an average gpa of 3.4, PA profiles tend to be different than medical school admissions though. Allot of schools require some upper level courses (microbiology, biochemistry, A & P) not required for medical school admission and prior health care experience usually a year, but you don't have to take the MCAT for PA school either. I know allot of schools that have around a 3.0 average while most MD/DO schools are around 3.5 or higher.
 
if it were me DO>PA.>Carib.
if you go to a caribbean you school you may never get into a residency.
as a DO you will likely match in the u.s. with reasonable grades and board scores.
as a pa you could also later do the PA to DO 3 yr bridge program at LECOM...
 
emedpa said:
if it were me DO>PA.>Carib.
if you go to a caribbean you school you may never get into a residency.
as a DO you will likely match in the u.s. with reasonable grades and board scores.
as a pa you could also later do the PA to DO 3 yr bridge program at LECOM...
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In 2015 D.O. and M.D. residencies are merging which I believe will help eliminate any biases in the future. If you have a poor GPA you can use grade replacement to fix your D.O. GPA if that is an issue. You can match from the Caribbean if you go to one of the big four but the attrition rate is high and you have to be willing to accept that you will likely be placed in a residency that is not as competitive as others. Personally I would rather go PA than deal with the uncertainty of carribean MD.
 
Medical field27 said:
What would be better to do PA school or Caribbean School? On a side note those anyone know what credentials you need to get into a Puerto Rico Med School
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PR schools (UCC, Ponce School of Medicine, San Juan Bautista) have an average MCAT of 20 except for University of PR, which MCAT average is 22-23 I believe... GPAs are around 3.5 for almost all of them. Someone mentions above that you need 12 credits of Spanish, which is true... I think for UCC, you only need 6 credits of Spanish. I am planning to apply to UCC and SJB...You can go to schools specific thread and ask question....
 
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Not to disrespect anyone, even though to me it doesn't seem like it, but some people here are making it look like PA school is Med school. That's just my opinion
 
Medical field27 said:
Not to disrespect anyone, even though to me it doesn't seem like it, but some people here are making it look like PA school is Med school. That's just my opinion
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They learn ~80% of what physicians know and do similar roles especially in primary care. Your not the top dog but its similar work, and you can use that experience and apply to medical school later on when your resume improves. With the way things are turning residencies are going to get tighter for IMGs and at least a PA-C can find work an unlicensed physicians job prospects are rather limited especially when you have to pay back 300,000 in loans. I choice to go the medical school route and im starting next month but I have many friends who went the PA route and are very happy. I also know people who placed in residency from the carib but the attrition rate is really high you have a 50/50 shot going down their and ive never heard of them having a good experience it was a route to MD.
 
Medical field27 said:
Not to disrespect anyone, even though to me it doesn't seem like it, but some people here are making it look like PA school is Med school. That's just my opinion
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I think people are saying that in term of GPAs... But GPAs do not mean crap these days... What differentiate MD/DO to PA in term of admission standards is the MCAT because the mcat is in a different league compared to the GRE.
 
Temperature101 said:
I think people are saying that in term of GPAs... But GPAs do not mean crap these days... What differentiate MD/DO to PA in term of admission standards is the MCAT because the mcat is in a different league compared to the GRE.
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I agree the MCAT is a beast the general GRE is a joke not sure why any programs use it for admissions. I can't believe vet schools still use it. GRE subject exams are different though.
 
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jmarkant said:
I agree the MCAT is a beast the general GRE is a joke not sure why any programs use it for admissions. I can't believe vet school still use it. GRE subject exams are different though.
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Never heard of that!
 
Temperature101 said:
Never heard of that!
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Their are GRE exams specific to certain subjects like chemistry, physics, biochemistry. etc Not sure why a person trying to enter a PhD program should be judged based on the outcome of the general GRE exam.
 
jmarkant said:
I agree the MCAT is a beast the general GRE is a joke not sure why any programs use it for admissions. I can't believe vet schools still use it. GRE subject exams are different though.
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vet schools have a test called the VCAT very similar to the mcat last time I checked...
 
emedpa said:
vet schools have a test called the VCAT very similar to the mcat last time I checked...
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Is it passage-based like the MCAT for BS/PS... I actually heard it's like the DAT.. Not sure if true though.
 
jmarkant said:
Which PA school is that? When I was looking into PA programs Stony Brook was top ten and had an average gpa of 3.4, PA profiles tend to be different than medical school admissions though. Allot of schools require some upper level courses (microbiology, biochemistry, A & P) not required for medical school admission and prior health care experience usually a year, but you don't have to take the MCAT for PA school either. I know allot of schools that have around a 3.0 average while most MD/DO schools are around 3.5 or higher.
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Grand Valley State University's PA program.
 
emedpa said:
vet schools have a test called the VCAT very similar to the mcat last time I checked...
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They don't offer the VCAT anymore. I wish they did, I would rather have taken an exam that tested what I actually learned in undergrad. The GRE is pointless, except for the Biological Science GRE's that we had to take for some schools.
 
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