Postbac for PA?

[cmt2013]

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Hi everyone, I was trying to find a post similar to my situation but couldn't really find one in these forums, so if there is one, I'm sorry for posting 🙂

I'm a junior majoring in psychology and I've taken some science pre-requisites for PA school. My GPA kinda sucks for several reasons and I'm already off track in terms of what pre-reqs I should be taking at this point in my undergrad.

From what I gathered from my meeting with my advisor, I could either finish out with only my psych courses and graduate then go on to a different institution for a post-bac program or...I could just stay here at UF and keep doing what I'm doing (which is getting just okay grades in my pre-reqs)

So if you were in my shoes, which would be the best option? I'm still collecting info on post-bac programs here if Florida and am not really sure if they're more geared to pre-med and not PA? Any sort of advice would be appreciated...except please don't tell me to not do PA anymore, it's been a rough road but I am very determined to get in a program 🙂

 

[indebted]

I am currently applying to post-bacc programs and not actually in one yet, but am also considering PA school, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

If I was you, I would finish my pre-reqs at the same school I was getting my bachelor's. Especially if you are an in state resident, you might as well enjoy the in-state tuition. Just try to get your grades up. I would complete my pre-reqs, graduate, and then try to find a job with patient interaction, volunteer or maybe shadow to get the patient-contact hours you need to apply to PA school.

It depends on where you go, but post-bacc programs seem very expensive. However, PA school is competitive and a post-bacc program may give you an edge. I assume you would be better off finding a post-bacc program for pre-health studies, instead of one specifically pre-med. Find programs that help career changers get into healthcare instead of a program who's main objective is medical school. E-mail the schools and find out what type of professional schools their post-baccs go to. For example, Bryn Mawr sends 98% of their post-baccs to medical school according to their website. I would assume they won't want to accept some one who's goal is PA school and throw off their statistic. But that's just my understanding of how these things work.

 

[deleted6669]

it's ok to just take courses to fulfill p[rereqs for pa school without doing a formal postbac. probably cheaper as well.
for all things pa related see www.physicianassistantforum.com for access to 40,000 pa's as opposed to the 5 who post here...good luck.