PAs are "middle class"? - Since when is making 100K middle class?
And PAs "did not get a high mcat"? - PAs don't take the MCAT, but considering they take most of the exact same pre-requisites, (8 credits Gen Chem, 8 credits O.Chem, 4 credits Biochem, PLUS Anatomy w/ Lab, Physiology w/ Lab, Medical Terminology, Microbiology, etc etc [I also took Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, and Biochethics and Nutrition]} taking the MCAT and scoring similarly to any random pre-med student or higher would be up to the level of preparedness of either of them.
I was pursuing medical school until I had a change of circumstance - mostly financially, and some having to do with my future family and other life-planning timeline - until I realized I could do a very similar job as a PA (in family practice anyhow), with the added perk (yes PERK, not disadvantage) of being a "subordinate" as you like to call us.
To you, and anyone else with the misconception that getting in to PA school is a "walk-in-the-park" breeze compared to getting into medical school: the interview and admission stats are almost identical to those of medical schools, on average. Plus you have to have patient contact hours for the overwhelming majority of them. Why PA then? Because it is only a 2 year masters degree, compared with a 4 year doctorate, and there is no residency but you get to do a similar job, help lots of people who need it, and make very decent money. It's a great choice if you have no interest in specializing.
If your heart is in the right place and you want to help others, then please explain to me the disadvantage in having the opportunity to be in a position of being able to report to a person with more training than you to double check over anything you are not completely sure about, thus maintaining optimal patient care and safety with 2 sets of eyes looking over the item in question? On the other hand, it does not really sound like your heart is in the right place, and as another poster stated "Hippocrates would be rolling in his grave". The practice of medicine is a PRIVILEGE, reserved to those who are intelligent, yes, but even more so for those who are mature and evolved enough as human beings to care for those who need it. Not "rich enough" or "important enough" as you seem to be implying. You may be smart, and I don't doubt your grades are very good and that you are capable of learning the vast amounts of knowledge required to be a competent physician, or PA for that matter, but your attitude is rotten. I'd be sad (as would most of your future patients, most of who will be so despicably "middle class" as you abhor) if the admissions council didn't see through your superiority complex and lack of understanding of todays health care team and DID let you in before you matured a great deal.
