Thinking about a path to PA

[droopy1592]

I'm getting up in age (hehe, 28) and I'm doing a career change. I was in the Marine Corps for 5 years, then worked in Telecom for four, then got laid off. Fortunately, my fiance is letting me go back to school because I want to explore my potential. I like the flexibility of the PA field, and I also want to go into a healthcare profession. Right now my GPA in school is a 3.96, a 4.00 in math and sciences (Community College), and I have one year of school left before I go into a Nuclear Medicine program to get my Bachelor's. I would have done a 4 year PA program, but they seem to all be disappearing and I am one year too late as most of the last programs start this month. I want to do Nuc Med first, as a Technologist, then hopefully go to Emory to be a PA or AA (Anesthesiology Assistant) since prior medical experience is a requirement.

I'm really trying to get all the info I can about being a PA, and what specialties and subspecialties that they can enter. Any information that you guys give me, as well your opinion on my chances of getting into Emory's PA programs would help. It seems odd to me that competitive GPAs on Emory's site are 3.0-3.7 and 3.0-3.4 for the Anesthesiology program. I thought it would be higher.

Thanks for any info.

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[deleted6669]

a couple thoughts.....
why don't you do a 2 YR pa program and skip nuc med entirely?it sounds like you have about 2 yrs of classes done already so you could get into many programs.
there are lots of good certificate/as/bs level courses that can be done in 2 yrs if you have the prereqs and some prior medical experience.
emory's gpa's are posted as competitive minimums. there are many more factors than gpa that go into a pa application:
prior medical experience>sci gpa>overall gpa> volunteering/community service>gre(for ms programs)
pa's work in every specialty and subspecialty in medicine. see www.aapa.org for general info on the profession and www.appap.org for info on optional residencies.

 

[droopy1592]

That's the thing, I went straight from USMC to Bellsouth to now. I just have one year of prereqs done and no medical experience, which is why I was doing Nuc med, just in case I didn't get into a PA program.

 

[deleted6669]

you could take an emt class( 6 weeks or so) work part time for a yr while working on prereqs and apply to any # of as or bs level programs. you would also save the tuition of the nuc med program and bring in some part time income at the same time. if you want to do a longer medical program and are considering AA in the future, doing a resp therapist(rt) as or bs level program would probably set you up better than nuc med which has very little clinical exposure to pts. courses like nuc med and xray tech are not as viable as pre-pa careers as something like rt, rn, or paramedic which have a broad scope of practice and involve more than just performing diagnostic studies on pts.

 

[droopy1592]

This may be showing my ignorance, but my gf is an X-ray tech and she works with patients in OR constantly. Do you think my chances are nil to become an AA with a Nuc Med background?

 

[droopy1592]

Also, aren't they getting rid of all of the BS programs for PA?

 

[deleted6669]

This may be showing my ignorance, but my gf is an X-ray tech and she works with patients in OR constantly. Do you think my chances are nil to become an AA with a Nuc Med background?

no offense to your gf but by working with pts in the or she actually means "I wheel them in and out of the or and take xrays of them." there is very little clinical interaction with pts as an xray/ultrasound/nuc med tech. your entire job description is: transport pt to diagnostic imaging area, perform diagnoistic study(not interpret, radiologists do that), wheel pt back to original dept.
why are you so interested in nuc med?
most of the new pa programs are ms level but bs level programs still exist and it is easy to do a masters as a postgrad while working full time at your 1st job in about a year.
any clinical background is helpful getting into an aa or pa program but if you really want to do aa nuc med has almost no relevance to future practice. rt would translate directly into being ahead of the game for aa since rt's work with a lot of the same equipment(vents, etc) and also are taught how to intubate as part of their training.
also keep in mind that for AA you need a lot more prereqs than pa school and all programs require either gre or mcat. good luck whatever you decide.

 

[droopy1592]

I see your point. I'm trying to figure out what my best options are living in Atlanta. Many programs just aren't offered here.

Nuc Med is a well paying field in case I don't get into PA school, even though that's what i want to do. Medical College of GA offers a 3+3 year program for MS PA. I don't think I could afford to leave the state unless I took out massive student loans. I guess I could take an EMT course next summer. I'm taking the prereqs for AA next year. They are (at emory)


English 1 Semester
General biology 2 Semesters
General chemistry 2 Semesters
Organic chemistry 1 Semester
Biochemistry 1 Semester
General physics 2 Semesters
Calculus 1 Semester
Statistics 1 Semester

 

[deleted6669]

I see your point. I'm trying to figure out what my best options are living in Atlanta. Many programs just aren't offered here.

Nuc Med is a well paying field in case I don't get into PA school, even though that's what i want to do. Medical College of GA offers a 3+3 year program for MS PA. I don't think I could afford to leave the state unless I took out massive student loans. I guess I could take an EMT course next summer. I'm taking the prereqs for AA next year. They are (at emory)


English 1 Semester
General biology 2 Semesters
General chemistry 2 Semesters
Organic chemistry 1 Semester
Biochemistry 1 Semester
General physics 2 Semesters
Calculus 1 Semester
Statistics 1 Semester

you realize that is probably 2 yrs of coursework, right?
sem 1 eng/bio/chem
sem 2 bio/chem/stats
sem 3 ochem/physics/calc
sem 4 physics/biochem

and those are some ugly schedules....maybe break those up a bit.sem 3 looks really ugly.

 

[droopy1592]

I already did physics 1, and I complete 2 this summer. I'm finished with chem 1 and 2 as I take the final for 2 thursday. I'll be taking General Biology and Organic all next school year, starting in the fall. I already took Anatomy and Physiology (finish final monday for A&P 1) I did Calculus a long time ago (still have credit for it). So I figure in the fall, I can take Gen Bio 1, Organic 1, and then I can take Gen bio 2 and Biochem in the Spring. Statistics will be easy as long as I have a good professor. I will be done with my english 2 this summer, spanish, and siciology, so I will pretty much have all of my social sciences and humanities done before this fall. So, by the fall, I will have these classes already completed

Anthropology
American History
American Gov
Speech/Comm
English 1 and 2
Calculus 1
Gen Chem 1 and 2
A&P 1 (did this for nuc med)
Physics 1 and 2
Spanish
Sociology

So that leaves me time to focus on those Science classes and a math/stat class.

I feel down now because maybe my chances aren't so good with Nuc Med trying to be a PA. I'm already half way there.

 

[EMDream]

Also, aren't they getting rid of all of the BS programs for PA?

It seems like it.