Please help!! ..PA or MD?? ....

[mystic river 00]

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I'm a sophomore in undergrad school, and wow, I have never been so indecisive in my life! I'm tearing my hair out trying to decide which path to go. Can you guys please help me by comparing the two fields? I'm thinking of going into peds, family practice..or possibly something else. Can you compare, for example, the years of schooling, the money involved (to give away for education and recieve). The quality of life, the hours and schedules, the difficulty of PA v.s med school. Also, I'll be completely honest, I'm not the brightest crayon in the box...I'd say that intelligence-wise, I'm an average joe...so, would that make becoming a physician pretty much difficult to reach? Does anyone know a person who went from being a PA (or being in PA school) to a physician (or going into med school) or vice-versa? I need all the help I can get. Also, I'll be volunteering in the hospital...which area do you guys feel I would benefit the most from? Gosh, what else? Do we have any doctors or PA's in the house? hehe If so, please tell me if you're satisfied with your life and job? Was there a time in the whole process that anyone has found to be the most stressful, etc?

Any additional advice/comments/questions gladly welcome!!

Please, please respond! I'd so very much appreciate it..I would..

🙂

 

[EMDream]

I am going through the same decision. Right now I am IN PA school, a bachelors program though. The problem is I can't decide to goto med school right after I graduate, because I'll be missing a few prereqs. So lately I've been trying to decide between switching to bio and being done in a year and a semester, or sticking with PA and being done in 2 years and a semester. Then after working if I still want MD taking the few pre reqs I need while I work as a PA.

I guess being a PA first is safer and I'm not losing a whole lot of time with the Bachelors. But at the same time what if I really want to be a doctor, then am I selling myself short with this? Am I just wasting time and money and risking hurting my GPA with PA school.

For the record there are a few PAs to MD or DO right on SDN. I've found quite a few of them in my career search. So if you go with PA you still can go for being a doctor as long as you keep your GPA up.

I didn't mean to rant about myself too much, it was mroe just to give you an idea of the fact that you can try for doctor later, as a current PA student who is debating STILL I've heard this a bit later. I'd say commit to medical school if you 100% know thats what you want. PA is a good way of testing it out if you aren't 100%, and I know a lot of PA's who would get angry at that statement, but honestly, I can't think of a better way to enter medical school than with a PA background.

 

[Dr Who]

My advice to you is to volunteer at a local hospital and see for yourself. Talk to any PA's and physicians and make sure to ask about the pros and cons of their work.
In regards to training medical school is more intense than any PA program, you can basically kiss away a huge chunk of your social life for a few years, but in the end the sacrifices pay huge dividends if a career in medicine is what your heart desires.
After you talk to the PA's and physicians and you had some time in a hospital environment take some time to think what would make you happiest. The important thing is to find the right fit for you!
While PA's earn less than docs, they have more free time and less responsability. Its up to you to decide whats right for you.

 

[EMDream]

My advice to you is to volunteer at a local hospital and see for yourself. Talk to any PA's and physicians and make sure to ask about the pros and cons of their work.
In regards to training medical school is more intense than any PA program, you can basically kiss away a huge chunk of your social life for a few years, but in the end the sacrifices pay huge dividends if a career in medicine is what your heart desires.
After you talk to the PA's and physicians and you had some time in a hospital environment take some time to think what would make you happiest. The important thing is to find the right fit for you!
While PA's earn less than docs, they have more free time and less responsability. Its up to you to decide whats right for you.

Didactic in PA is just as intense as medical school, but PA school is obviously shorter therefore far less stress overall. As far as free time, that depends on where you work and what area of medicine you work in. There are PA'
s that put in more hours than many doctors and of course vice versa. The average hours worked for PA's per week is around 48-50 hours I think.

I think choose being a doctor if you have a great desire to have all the gaps filled in and more or less complete autonomy, and of course if you really want big money, though PA's can get up to the low 100k's depending what area you practice in. If complete autonomy and filling in every gap isn't the main thing with you, then being a PA might be satisfactory.
I agree, shadow both a doctor and a PA and maybe that will give you a GOOD feel for which is the right choice for you.

 

[snoopy69]

Being a PA won't allow you as much autonomy as being a physician obviously. If you think this will bother you, then you should do med school. I have heard of a lot of PAs that say the lack of autonomy ends up pissing them off and have gone to medical school after becoming a PA. It really depends on your personality type? If you like being a leader, and don't like to answer to other people, and don't want to deal with people questioning your education as much, then you will enjoy being a physician more.
If you do not want as much responsibility (owning a practice can be a lot of work) and work better under someone's direction, then maybe you should become a PA. I believe physicians can have equal free time depending on the specialty they choose. I shadowed a dermatology PA, and she enjoyed it very much. She said that she liked the fact that she didn't have to do procedures that she wasn't comfortable with (such as collagen) and could look to the doc for advice on a case. By the way, the PAs seemed to be a little more busy than the physicians but I imagine the doctors were making 3x that of the PAs.

 

[monstermatch]

Don't be such a ninny - go get an MD.

 

[tupac_don]

Being a PA won't allow you as much autonomy as being a physician obviously. If you think this will bother you, then you should do med school. I have heard of a lot of PAs that say the lack of autonomy ends up pissing them off and have gone to medical school after becoming a PA. It really depends on your personality type? If you like being a leader, and don't like to answer to other people, and don't want to deal with people questioning your education as much, then you will enjoy being a physician more.
If you do not want as much responsibility (owning a practice can be a lot of work) and work better under someone's direction, then maybe you should become a PA. I believe physicians can have equal free time depending on the specialty they choose. I shadowed a dermatology PA, and she enjoyed it very much. She said that she liked the fact that she didn't have to do procedures that she wasn't comfortable with (such as collagen) and could look to the doc for advice on a case. By the way, the PAs seemed to be a little more busy than the physicians but I imagine the doctors were making 3x that of the PAs.

Well put. The bottom line is the personality type. More of a gung ho, in charge, want to have autonomy type, you will not be happy as a PA. If you however, like to have a safety net, someone to fall back on, don't mind not being the go to guy/girl, and having more free time, then for sure PA. Good luck.

 

[fang]

Go into the program that matches what you want in life, like the previous posters stated. If you decide on the PA track, please do it because you like the good hours, less stress/responsibility, primary care focus, etc. Don't go to PA school and then spend 30 years comparing yourself to an MD.

Most PA's I've met *don't* do this, but the few who do seem miserable: (I can do just as much as MD's and didn't have to go to school as long and incur as much debt and my school was harder then med school so we learned just as much as the md's only faster and we're totally underpaid since I can do the work of 3 doctors so I hate it when they have to sign off on everything and by the way I'm much more qualified than all the RN's too...)

If you want to be a doctor just go to medical school.

 

[nala]

Hey...I was in your exact same situation as an undergrad! I thought I wanted to go to PA school, so I spent a summer working as a nurse's aide at a physical rehab hospital (a lot of PA schools require at least 500 hours of pt care experience). Then as I started my senior year, I was kind of "tired" of school and didn't want to start another program right away. I ended up taking 3 years off before I started med school. The decision for me was a lot easier to make once I started working a "real job." I think all along I was kind of settling for PA school because I did not want to make the committment to med school - I thought it would take so much time and money (which it does). But after working I realized that 4 years isn't such a long time to be doing what I really wanted to do. If you go to PA school when you'd really rather be a doctor, you won't be happy as a PA in the long run and your happiness with your career choice is the most important thing. I also shadowed both MDs and PAs and would highly suggest it. I can see the postives of both careers but for me MD was the way to go. Also, please realize that you do NOT have to make this decision now. As a sophomore, you're probably about 19-20 years old and you have your whole life ahead of you. Don't feel rushed into making a decision if you're not ready. Taking time off to realize what I really wanted was the best decision I ever made. There are plenty of people in my class who took time off - anywhere between 1 and 10 years. I also know several PAs who went back to PA school after taking years off. Hope this helps.

 

[monstermatch]

There are plenty of people in my class who took time off - anywhere between 1 and 10 years. I also know several PAs who went back to PA school after taking years off. Hope this helps.

Excellent advice - If you aren't ready to make a decision, take time off to think about it & explore your options. Too many of us have that type A curse and think that if we aren't working feverishly toward a goal then we are wasting our time. The reality is that you will be a better person in the long run if you base your decision on a mature sense of your own needs rather than getting wrapped up in the competition that suffuses our academic centers.

Then after you've thought about it, go get an MD.

 

[doc05]

spend some time shadowing both MD's and PA's and see which would fit your personality better. If you're gung-ho about FP, I suggest you seriously consider PA school as you'll be able to do much of the same work with good pay, and less worries re: debt, responsibility, etc.

take some time on this one -- you're still young. best of luck.

 

[Winged Scapula]

As EMDream notes, there are a few SDN users who have done the PA to MD/Do route. IMHO, they are the only ones here qualified to answer the question as to whether PA or medical school is more difficult (how do I know? I've never been to PA school so have no idea about the curriculum.).

I will answer the only question of yours that has not been addressed: that of intelligence. You DO NOT need more than average intelligence to be a physician; hard work is more important. While many physicians have measured IQs 2 standard deviations above the mean (100 with an SD of 15), many do not. Do not let these concerns be a factor in your decision.

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

Now the only important question left to answer is who EMDream's avatar is!!! 😍