What do you think about PA School ?

[Chodya12]

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I am 24 and thinking about changing careers . I have no science exp, which means I will have to go back to traditional college and get my basic science course done.

How is the outlook ? Is PA school very hard ?

I am not very smart in school, at least before I wans't but now I have a different motivation and I feel that I can do it if I work hard at it.

Any suggestion ?

thanks

 

[fahimaz7]

PA, DO, and MD schools are hard. If you're serious about medicine, you'll soon find out how you are going to do when you take the pre-requisites for your application.

Medicine is a long run...even getting to where you can apply takes a long time.

Best of luck on your journey.

 

[princekc]

I am 24 and thinking about changing careers . I have no science exp, which means I will have to go back to traditional college and get my basic science course done.

If you already have an undergrad degree; that's great. You would need science pre-req plus x # of clinical patient contact hours. This can be through hospital volunteer or through employment work (CNA,Medical Assistant, ER tech or nurse etc).To save time, you should contact PA sch of interest for specific.

How is the outlook ?

rated #5 best job in American in 2006 by money magazine.

http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/moneymag/bestjobs/frameset.5.exclude.html

Is PA school very hard ?

It's challenging and hard.

I am not very smart in school, at least before I wans't but now I have a different motivation and I feel that I can do it if I work hard at it.

If you put your mind to it, you can do it.

Any suggestion ?

1. shadow a PA
2. contact PA sch of your interest.
3. visit: http://www.aapa.org/
4. sign-up for PA forum:
http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/

 

[montessori2md]

I'd add that the pre-reqs for PA school are diff from those for MD -you might look for what they have in common, and start with those if/when you decide to start taking classes.

I think PA is a VERY smart thing for someone to do if they are interested in healthcare, especially if you are hesitant to dive into the time/financial commitment of an MD or DO program, and (no offense to PAs, you work hard and you're brilliant, but the stats say...) your gpa is not above that 3.5 line, and not likely to surpass it ever.

I have also had excellent experiences w/ PAs, and would have done it myself if I weren't such a type-A masochist.

 

[deleted6669]

pa school is getting a lot more competitive. a friend of mine with a 3.5 who is an er nurse for many yrs didn't even get an interview based on "low gpa".
there are lots of folks with 3.8-4.0 and honors everything applying to pa school these days....
pa school is certainly shorter than md/do but don't belive the common line that the day to day schedule is much different than md/do folks once you are in practice. many pa's work 50-70 hrs/week.
in my group the pa's do 18 ten hr shifts/mo on avg and the docs do 12-14 eight hr shifts.....

 

[billsbills]

You don't really need to make any major life decisions right now despite what you may think. Start by taking your basic pre-requisite sciences such as bio, chem, organic and physics (not sure if physics is required for every school). If you enjoy the material and do well start calling the schools you are interested in and find out what they consider a competitive candidate to be. Shadow PAs and find out what their thoughts are of the difficulty of the program.

If you find out it isn't for you, what do you really lose? If you find out you love it, think how much you gain...not a bad situation to be in.