The Other PA Degree

[Katatonic]

I'm on the West side of the U.S. considering applying to Pathologist Assistant masters degree programs. It's a great compromise between what I'm really interested in, time spent in school, debt accrued, employment outlook, and potential salary. The problem is, when I look for jobs online I can't seem to find any? Are there any PA's here who can chime in on what the job outlook is in the Western US, or if jobs just aren't advertised? I know they're around because I can look up the average salary of the position in my town (82K) but can't find any job listenings. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[zenman]

It's probably a dead end job....

 

[235750]

Incredible, I just talked to some PAs a few hours ago (they got the slides for a practice histology practical that I took). They said they earned about 40k at a local university hospital and that the industry wasn't exactly booming. That sort of salary for a master's degree seems ridiculous. If I were you I would pass on it.

What sort of interests do you have? What else have you thought about?

 

[Katatonic]

Incredible, I just talked to some PAs a few hours ago (they got the slides for a practice histology practical that I took). They said they earned about 40k at a local university hospital and that the industry wasn't exactly booming. That sort of salary for a master's degree seems ridiculous. If I were you I would pass on it.

What sort of interests do you have? What else have you thought about?

My plan for the last year or two has been to apply to Ph.D programs. I'm supposed to be applying this Fall, so maybe I've been looking at other (shorter) career paths because I'm starting to freak out a bit. Only 40K for a master's degree does seem low. Even other jobs that I've looked that require a masters degree may start at that level, but most quickly advance to at leats the 60K level, which isn't bad at all.

 

[deleted6669]

Even other jobs that I've looked that require a masters degree may start at that level, but most quickly advance to at leats the 60K level, which isn't bad at all.

average last year for pa's(physician assistants) was 86k....and many ortho/em/surg/derm pa's make >100k. (this is the upper 10% for pa's).

 

[chman]

avrg salary for pathologist assistant:

starting 40,000

average 60,000

max 95,000

hope this helps.

They say job prospects are "great." That seems about right since there are not too many schools that offer the program. It is probably not advertised much though...As in you probably would not find it on Craig's list.

 

[UD912]

I am currently a student in the Drexel pathologist assistant program. It can be hard to find a lot of job postings if you are not an AAPA member, almost all get posted on their website. From what I have seen in the past there are a lot of jobs that come and go in the west (California, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, Hawaii, etc.). As for starting salary, my program director has told us that we will not make less than 70k straight out of school and I personally know a recent grad that started out at 85k. If you are interested in the program you will have to move to go through it since the one furthest west is in Indiana but you will be able to get a job in the area you want no problem.

 

[UD912]

Also, all those lower salary figures come from the fact that, until recently, pathology assistants could be trained through bachelor's programs or on-the-job. People that took those paths started out much lower than anyone can expect to with a master's degree which is now required (there is still one bachelor's program but I heard they are switching to a master's within a few years).

 

[RGMSU]

Jobs in pathology are few and far between, even for MDs. Glutted market.

 

[wholeheartedly]

The American Society for Clinical Pathologists www.ascp.org also lists jobs for path assts. under its free job search. That might be a good place to get some idea of the job market. Some of the larger medical centers are looking, might have to search large hospitals own websites to find postings. Where I currently work there was recently a position available starting at 77k.