PA wannabe

[jc812]

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Hello All,

I've been interested in becoming a PA as a "backup" plan for not being able to get into any optometry schools. (Please hear me out).

I do understand that the two are very different in terms of.. EVERYTHiNG, but would like to get your insight.

What are some jobs that I could be involved in that PA programs look for (for only having a hs degree)? I have been working as an optometrist tech for over a year.. but I do not know if that's the sort of thing they look for.

I am interested in family medicine.

 

[MSc44]

Hello All,

I've been interested in becoming a PA as a "backup" plan for not being able to get into any optometry schools. (Please hear me out).

I do understand that the two are very different in terms of.. EVERYTHiNG, but would like to get your insight.

What are some jobs that I could be involved in that PA programs look for (for only having a hs degree)? I have been working as an optometrist tech for over a year.. but I do not know if that's the sort of thing they look for.

I am interested in family medicine.

not to knock OD school in anyway but i would say that at most institutions the level of difficulty in admissions standards is probably the same, (i know someone who got into OD school, she was a poor student) if not slightly more difficult to get into a PA program. More and more pre-meds with real high #'s are going PA b/c of how medicine is going.

anyone feel free to chime on who might know more


in my experiance if you are a strong candidate for PA school, you should be able to get into an OD school somewhere

 

[Febrifuge]

1) In terms of number of apps versus number of interviews versus number of spots, many PA programs are actually MORE competitive than many 4-year med schools. No offense to anyone, but OD schools seem to be less competitive than med schools.

2) Therefore, yeah, if you can become a good PA school candidate, it seems reasonable to assume you'd be a good OD school candidate.

3) Therefore, PA as a "backup" to OD doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[guetzow]

OD ismore the "Back up".

 

[drgregory]

and every year we ODs keep shooting ourselves in the foot by adding more OD schools. soon youll be able to get a DVD and mail in two wheaties boxes and become an OD.

 

[SarahLorraine]

Hey there! Fancy seeing you here 😉 I changed my mind from OD after spending a few weeks in Optometry forum. Anyway, sorry I have no useful information for you about PA.

 

[melcal]

what's your main desire to becoming a PA in the 1st place? should you be in the position for a PA school interview, you will be asked that question. and i certainly hope you won't have the answer of "well i didn't get into optometry school, so this was next." the adcom would definitely put your application in the trash.
anyways, to answer your question of the sort of jobs one could do to make themselves competitive: EMT, ER tech, lpn/rn, nurse tech, cna, respiratory therapist, etc. anything with some direct patient contact experience, including volunteering. also, shadowing PAs helps too. being an optometrist tech may be acceptable but you also got to pad that application with other interesting things to make you stand out, which goes back my question above. 😉

 

[jc812]

Thanks for all the replies!!

what's your main desire to becoming a PA in the 1st place?

I really don't have an absolute answer to that question yet, as I'm still exploring the possible career paths, but I'm not dumb enough to answer "BC I couldn't get into Optometry School"!!

EMT, ER tech, lpn/rn, nurse tech, cna, respiratory therapist, etc.

This was what I was looking for. I've been trying to volunteer at various locations, but it seems pretty hard to find a place where they're actually LOOKING.

Also, another question. I'm currently in school and majoring in BIO; does anyone think that another major would be more suitable for the PA program? Perhaps an interdisciplinary major?

Thanks all!

 

[melcal]

Also, another question. I'm currently in school and majoring in BIO; does anyone think that another major would be more suitable for the PA program? Perhaps an interdisciplinary major?

Thanks all!

a biology major is ok. it's the most common major that people have going into PA school. there's no right or wrong major to go with. i tell people to choose something they know they'll enjoy learning about and will get something worthwhile after 4yrs. try to think about what may happen if you didn't get into PA or optometry school or changed your mind & didn't want to do any of that after you graduate. what would you do then with a bio degree? i majored in clinical laboratory sciences (medical technology) and worked for 5yrs before PA school, and if i really wanted to i could pick up extra shifts in that. some people were in business, art, etc before PA school and got patient contact experience in various ways as well as fulfilling the prerequisite classes.

 

[anon-y-mouse]

1) In terms of number of apps versus number of interviews versus number of spots, many PA programs are actually MORE competitive than many 4-year med schools.

This is bs. Do you have numbers and examples to support this?

 

[Febrifuge]

This is bs. Do you have numbers and examples to support this?

Nope, just speculation and hearsay. From posters on SDN, from pre-med advisors, and from at least one PA program director. No, I won't say which program.

But if you're so sure it's BS, you can spend the time tracking down the numbers. Once again, it's number of applications, compared to number of interviews granted, compared to number of slots in each class. The MSAR has it for med schools, and the PA programs I've investigated have told me their numbers. Percentage-wise, many PA schools interview a smaller proportion of their applicants than many med schools. Percentage-wise, many PA programs accept a smaller proportion of applicants than many med schools.

PA classes tend to be smaller, with 15 to 25 people starting each year. Many med schools take 40 or 50 people a year; some take more. And I didn't say this was true across the board, just that many PA programs (meaning, like, more than a couple) are more "competitive" based on the above than many four-year med school programs.

Relax, I'm not impugning the four-year med school route, and I'm not saying PAs are smarter, more well-adjusted, or better-looking. I'm just pointing out that things have changed, and people who think they might want to check out PA for a lark should adjust their expectations. If you wouldn't apply to four-year med school "as a backup," then you probably shouldn't apply to PA school either.

 

[core0]

This is bs. Do you have numbers and examples to support this?

I have to agree with you here. This is apples and oranges. The national acceptance rate for medical school is quoted to be around 46%. The problem is for the most part these are two different populations. So quoting a number for a school is irrelevant. Take Duke. They had 5000 applicants for 100 slots in medical school. For PA they had 500 applicants for about 50 slots. Does this make the medical school more competitive than the PA school? Now take the fictional Bob's school of medicine and barbecue. If they have a 50% acceptance rate does that make them less competitive than the Duke PA program? Probably not. Rember if schools like Duke are taking 2% of applicants there are some that are taking a lot more to get a 46% average. I think there is a great deal of self selection in PA program applications. I am not sure if this occurs in medical school applications. Also unlike medicine PA school has only recently started to use online application for multpiple programs (something that I think contributes to the large amount of applications for some programs).

PA school is PA school and med school is med school. Direct comparison is impossible.

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[anon-y-mouse]

Nope, just speculation and hearsay. From posters on SDN, from pre-med advisors, and from at least one PA program director. No, I won't say which program.

But if you're so sure it's BS, you can spend the time tracking down the numbers. Once again, it's number of applications, compared to number of interviews granted, compared to number of slots in each class. The MSAR has it for med schools, and the PA programs I've investigated have told me their numbers. Percentage-wise, many PA schools interview a smaller proportion of their applicants than many med schools. Percentage-wise, many PA programs accept a smaller proportion of applicants than many med schools.

PA classes tend to be smaller, with 15 to 25 people starting each year. Many med schools take 40 or 50 people a year; some take more. And I didn't say this was true across the board, just that many PA programs (meaning, like, more than a couple) are more "competitive" based on the above than many four-year med school programs.

Relax, I'm not impugning the four-year med school route, and I'm not saying PAs are smarter, more well-adjusted, or better-looking. I'm just pointing out that things have changed, and people who think they might want to check out PA for a lark should adjust their expectations. If you wouldn't apply to four-year med school "as a backup," then you probably shouldn't apply to PA school either.

it's all right here:

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/start.htm

now, stop making outlandish statements because you haven't shown one PA school which is easier to get into than a med school... as a cursory test, you can use MCAT and GPA data. Percentage-wise stats are meaningless, because it could very well be a group of 500 deaf mutes applying to the PA school, where they accept only the top 50. The applicant pools are not the same.

speculation from some unknown PA program director and heresay on SDN (actually the heresay on SDN is clearly that med school is more competitive) is really circumstantial, and you shouldn't be claiming such things if you can't support it.

Also, Mr Carpenter, the reason for the disparity between the overall and single school admission rate is partly the fact that the same people are applying to 20-30 schools; it's not 8000 *different* candidates at different schools.

 

[Febrifuge]

PA school is PA school and med school is med school. Direct comparison is impossible.

That sounds like an excellent final word on the subject. Thank you.

 

[core0]

it's all right here:

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/start.htm

Also, Mr Carpenter, the reason for the disparity between the overall and single school admission rate is partly the fact that the same people are applying to 20-30 schools; it's not 8000 *different* candidates at different schools.

Actually if you look at the state data it shows 37,364 applicants and 17,004 marticulants. That equals 45.5% or about 46%. Since Duke for example took only 2% of applicants then someone must be taking above that average. To further explore this look at Missisipi which took in approximately half of its applicants (Applicants and Matriculants by School and Sex, 2005). Is the Duke PA program more competitive than the Missouri school of medicine? Of course not. These are two different populations that are applying for two types of schools.

I will note that I am impressed by the amount of data on applying to medical school. There is no such data for PA schools and only recently has there been a centralized application system. The average number of medical schools applied for by applicants was 12. The only PA data that I could find was from 2000. In this 50% applied to only one school and 14% applied to more than 4 schools. This once again speaks to the different populations and different driving forces making it impossible to compare.

David Carpenter, PA-C