Happy PA Week. I built you something.

The Pre-PA AI is free, it's available around the clock, and it's trained on my own material - the books, the podcast episodes, the videos, all of it. So when you have a question at 11pm about interviews or CASPA or a specific part of the process, you can just ask instead of scrolling through five years of episodes hoping to find the one.

It's not a replacement for talking to a real person about your specific situation. But for the questions that have straightforward answers, it's faster than waiting on me.

The rest of this episode is FAQ, with a focus on two groups. If you're waitlisted, there are things you can do rather than sitting and refreshing your email. And if you're reapplying, the work starts now - find the weakest part of your application and go fix it before the next cycle opens.

What I cover:

• What the Pre-PA AI is and how to use it
• Questions it handles well and questions it doesn't
• What to do while you're sitting on a waitlist
• Diagnosing the weak spot in your own application
• Planning a reapplication instead of repeating one
• Listener questions from PA Week

Resources:

Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to the Prepa Club Podcast and welcome to PA Week.

We are so excited to share with you our Pre PA AI that we revealed a few weeks ago and you'll get the replay from the webinar in today's episode.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

All right guys, today kicks off PA Week.

Every year from October 6th through 12th it's PA Week.

So this is a lot of fun stuff happening on social media and with all of your favorite PAs.

So I wanted to let you know that Roche Review is doing a huge giveaway so there's a great PA prize bundle.

So you've got to follow Rochreview on Instagram and we'll put the link that you can go to to enter in the description and you can win a seat at an upcoming live review course.

Any QBank so prepa pa cat didactic pants pannery, $50 for Roche review swag and a one year subscription to Scholar Pennsylvania.

You know I love Roche Review.

I love their resources and this is a huge giveaway.

So this is a great opportunity if you are looking to add Roche Review to your study plan or want to enter their giveaway.

We will share this on social media as well and watch out for all of the fun stuff happening for PA Week and it's a really fun time to just celebrate pas.

Get the word out and we're so excited to celebrate with you.

Hey guys, welcome to the podcast.

If you're new here, my name is Savannah Perry and I am a Dermatology PA and the creator of the PA platform.

If you're listening in real time, I'm currently in Baltimore at matcon.

I've been talking about this conference for the past few months and now it is finally here.

It's our first in person pretty pre health conference.

So I'm excited to meet a lot of you tonight and tomorrow and I'll be sharing a recap from the weekend in upcoming episodes.

But for today we are celebrating PA Week which is very exciting.

This happens every year from October 6th to 12th and we'll be sharing on social media all PA things like we normally do.

But there's always a lot of really fun giveaways and just kind of camaraderie in the community.

So I encourage you to get on there and follow some new PA accounts and make sure you're following the PA platform.

But a few weeks ago, we debuted our Pre PA AI.

We'll put the link in the description.

And this is such a cool tool.

You can go in and you can ask it any pre pa question 24.

7.

It's free, and it will give you an answer.

So we tested it a little bit in the webinar, and then we just did some general faq and.

And so I think this is a good time in the season to talk all things interviews and reapplying and just pre PA in general.

So we'll get into that and make sure you're following along with us so you don't miss out on any upcoming webinars or any of our fun giveaways.

And we have some really cool stuff planned for you guys.

So there are some things I wanted to tell y' all about.

Let me check my list real quick.

And there's some, like, upcoming stuff that y' all may just want to be aware of.

And then we will get to my announcement, and then we'll answer questions.

So for questions, if y' all can put them in the Q A, I think that would be most helpful.

Try to keep them there because the chat gets a little crazy, and I like for y' all to be able to talk to each other and things throughout.

So if you have questions, put them in the Q A.

We'll get to as many as possible.

Honestly, the more general they are and the more they apply to, like, more people, the better.

If you have something really specific that you want to talk about, we can also use the feature where you, like, come up and talk.

So if you want to, like, raise your hand and come and we can chat about it, let's do that tonight.

It seems like we have a fairly small group, so I think we can handle it.

Okay.

Upcoming.

What is this?

It's August.

Yeah.

So upcoming things we have.

So next month, in September, we have a couple things going on.

So first of all, if you are near Augusta, Georgia, that's where I live.

We are doing a meetup, a pre PA Pre med meetup with my friends over at Mapped and the med school headquarters.

And so if you would like to join us for that, it is on September.

Let me think.

Eighth.

It's a Friday night.

We'll cover your dinner.

We can put the registration link in the chat, or if you want to reach out to me.

I can get that for you.

We are just kind of gonna hang out and answer questions.

Just eat dinner with me and network.

This word.

I was gonna say fellowship.

I think network is a better word.

So would love to have you if you want to join us there.

And so we'd put like a five dollar thing on the tickets just so we make sure we know how many people are coming.

But like we got your dinner, we got everything and, and it'll be a lot of fun.

So we'd love to see you there, share with your pre PA or pre med friends.

And then in September as well, we are going to be doing a.

Starting a book club.

If you're already applying and interviewing, you may.

This may not apply to you.

This is, I would say.

Oh, this is my draft copy book.

I'd say this is more for, you know, we're going to talk through every part of the application process and go through this book together each month.

So that's something.

If you are early in your process, I would say this would be for you.

Or if you're planning on applying next cycle, perfect timing for us to just kind of like talk about everything.

So this is the prepa workbook.

It's on Amazon.

It really covers.

It looks like a textbook.

Sorry.

But it really covers every part of the application process.

And yeah, so we'll go kind of COVID to cover through this together and hopefully get like a good group of people working through that together.

So that starts next month.

We haven't nailed down dates or anything yet, but I'll figure all that out.

And then in October, is anyone in or near Baltimore, like raise your hand, let me know in the chat if you are near the Baltimore area.

I've talked about on social media and we sent out I think an email or two about it, but I'm speaking at matcon, which is a pre health conference.

We have come up with some really good pre PA topics.

There's going to be admissions panels, student panels.

I'm talking.

There's some other stuff about personal, personal statements and interviews.

We're doing some meetups there as well and so we would love to have you there.

The hotel block, if you aren't local and you need a hotel room, ends I think in September, like mid September.

So you want to look into that.

And we have a code for 25 off.

Oh, you're going to.

Okay, definitely let me know.

So if you're going and you want information about the meetups, we'll be sending stuff out.

But make sure you Email me so I can have your email, and we'll make sure that, you know, like, when, where, and all that good stuff because.

Because it's gonna be really fun.

I really hope we have a great pre PA turnout.

So I'm excited for this one.

I spoke at a conference, a pre PA conference in New Jersey a couple years ago, and it was.

It was just so much fun to actually get to, like, meet people and talk about stuff.

And, yeah, I loved it.

So I'll be there.

Emily and Michelle will be there.

We're all coming to kind of facilitate and help out, so it'll be a lot of fun.

All right.

Is that all my announcements, guys?

I think so, except for our big one.

So I posted on social media asking about, you know, I have this tool coming out that's so exciting, and I asked people to guess what it was, and nobody.

Nobody guessed.

So maybe y' all think this is cool.

Maybe you're be like, oh, I don't need that.

It's not cool.

But I kind of think you will.

So let me show it to you first, and then I will give y' all the links that you can check it out too.

So let me screen share here.

Oh, I, like, feel nervous.

It's like, I don't know.

Okay, so this is my website, the PA platform.

You may or may not be familiar with it.

If you're like, I don't know what that is.

I don't know how I ended up here.

Well, hello.

This is what I do, the PA platform.

So up at the top, you'll notice this new little button that we have called Pretty Prepa AI.

I don't know if any of y' all have used, like, chat, GPT or AI stuff yet, but we have developed a pre PA AI.

So this little chatbot thingy is super cool and answers all of your questions from basically my resources.

So my books, podcasts, videos, blogs.

If you have a pre PA question.

I know I get lots of emails and messages, and I try to get to as many as possible, and sometimes it can be hard to sift through everything.

This is a place that you can go.

It is free.

It is available 24 7.

I'm still happy to answer your questions, but honestly, like, I've been using this to answer your question.

So let's ask it something.

Like, what should we ask it any.

Like, what.

What should we ask?

I don't know.

If you ask it something, that's Not PA related.

It won't answer.

So like, if you say like, what is a giraffe favorite food?

It'll say like, I can't answer that.

So it is prepa specific.

So if we ask it, let's see, when should I start preparing for interviews?

So again, look at that.

We'll see if we agree.

I should agree because I did this.

So if you.

So it'll give you these references down here.

So this is from the interview guide from the book, and then this is from a YouTube video and it'll take you straight to it.

So if you need more information, want more on whatever it is you're asking about, it actually gives you those references for you to go to, which is again, super cool.

So I agree this.

Once you submit your applications, it's time to start preparing for interviews.

This is how I would answer that question.

So, yeah, really cool.

Differences between PC and hd.

Oh, that's a good one.

I haven't asked it.

What is the difference in PC?

I don't even know if it can do abbreviations.

This is a great test.

Look at that.

Every time I ask IT stuff, I'm like really impressed.

But let's see what it says.

So it tells us what PC stands for and some examples.

It tells us what HC stands for.

And then it says refer to CASPA for specific examples.

So gives you a little bit there.

I think you could ask it more about that too.

I don't know why it has my author page linked, but anyway, so I hope this is helpful to y'.

All.

This is.

I think it's so cool.

And again, I've been using it and hopefully a game changer for just getting questions answered so we can ask IT stuff during this.

I'll still just answer questions too, but we can can definitely throw some questions in there and see what it says.

Maddie says can we ask it about program specific requirements.

We.

Okay, so I'm working on that.

I don't know.

Okay.

This stuff is like over my head, the tech side of all of this.

So I actually asked that exact question last week.

And we're trying.

The problem with program specific stuff is that it gets changed and updated so much.

So right now we're trying to figure out a way that we can keep it updated enough for the information to be accurate.

And then we're seeing if we can put that in also so that you could say, like, what GPA does this school require?

Or whatever.

Because that would be amazing and incredibly helpful.

And I understand that.

Thank you.

Joshua.

Yes.

Feel free to Share.

So I would love, like, if y' all use this and get any answers, like, tag me in them.

I want to see what y' all are using it for and how you're using it.

So, yeah, feel free to, like, screenshot an answer and put it on in the Facebook group, social media, whatever.

You can do all of that.

And, yeah, so, I mean, we could just sit here and, like, plug questions in here, or I can talk to you, whatever you prefer.

But I hope y' all check it out and enjoy.

Oh, I made the link.

I put it in the offer section.

It's not really an offer.

It's just a link so that y' all could get to that easily.

But it is on the PA Platform.

It'll kind of be there, and that's where it will live.

So I think it's exciting.

Maybe I hyped it up too much and it wasn't as exciting as I made, so I made it seem.

But I hope you use it.

So that's all.

And then if you do need more help, you know, we do mock interviews and essays and stuff, so you can always find that here if you know, like, you need more help than what it's offering.

So, yeah.

And if you feel like find any glitches or issues or anything, please let me know, like, send them my way so that we can tweak.

And if it gives you, like, a wrong answer, we need to know.

And yes, it's free.

It's completely free.

It is just, you know, we.

We feel like information should be free and we put it all out there.

I mean, if you get it in, like, a book, like, where I put it all together, clearly, like, this has to be printed, and that costs a little bit of money, but yeah, it is just available on the website and as a tool for you guys to use and get more information and find resources a little bit easier.

So, yeah, hopefully that is cool for you guys.

We are very, very, very excited about it.

All right, I will unscreen share.

Unless, like, we want to go back to AI at some point and maybe we'll ask it some of these questions.

Let me look in the Q and A and see if there's anything I want to ask it.

I'm going to ask you this one from MacKenzie.

So she asked, do you think it is appropriate to follow up with schools after you apply, and if so, when is the best time to follow up?

I want to know what it thinks.

I said, interesting.

This plant is a lot of resources right now.

It's, like, not stopping.

Okay.

I don't know why I put them twice that time.

So, yeah, so here it says it's recommended to wait a couple weeks.

And.

And I think definitely I'm gonna revisit your question to you.

Yeah, so.

So after you apply.

And this is where we get into, like, different stages, too.

So after you apply, typically, you can expect that you'll get some type of confirmation, like, some type of acknowledgment that they got your application.

If you'd never get one of those.

Yeah, I would say two to four weeks, you want to just say, hey, did you get my application?

Like, make sure it's not floating out in space somewhere and that it got to where it needs to be, and then you're in the waiting period kind of after they have your application to hearing about an interview or getting a rejection or whatever.

I'm not a fan of just generally following up and being like, hey, what's my status?

I think that can become overwhelming to a program, because if you think they have, like, 2,000 applicants, if they have a bunch of people emailing them all the time just asking their status, that's just a lot of stuff and busy work and stuff.

And so I think if you have something significant to add, then it's worth contacting the program.

So if you want to say, like, hey, I started a new job as a medical assistant, and I wanted to let you know, or I got a better score in my GRE I.

What else is there?

Oh, I completed this class, and I did well in it.

That type of stuff.

That's a way of kind of, like, letting them know, like, hey, I'm still available.

I'm still working on this without just kind of bombarding them all the time.

All right.

Okay.

So Lauren thinks it's cool.

Jillian thinks it's cool.

Great.

All right, I'm gonna hang out in the Q and A and answer some questions, and y' all play with.

Play with AI again, Like, if it's.

Get something wrong, tell me.

If it's, you know, spits out something weird, I want to know for sure.

And again, if anyone wants to raise their hand.

Happy to try to answer questions, like, talk about if we need to.

All right, I'm gonna go back to the beginning of the list.

All right.

Oh, okay.

What's the best way to increase your chances of being pulled from a wait list?

Wait lists are no fun.

I would say right now we're getting the most questions about wait lists compared to anything else, like, even interviews, just because we're in that Time where a lot of people are hearing back from interviews.

So there are a lot of waitlist spots going out.

So the best way to increase your chances of being pulled off a wait list are to look at your application and see where your weaknesses are and work on them.

So my rule of thumb is until you are accepted and you have a spot in a program, keep working on your application.

Like you don't really get to sit back and relax once you submit or even after you interview.

You have to keep working until you get that acceptance and then you can slow it down.

So that could be grades, that could be experience hours, type of experience, shadowing, volunteering.

You really have to look at everything, test scores and see which parts you need to work on and then let the schools know that you're working on them.

So kind of sending those updates.

And I would also ask the school, so if you are on a wait list or you get a rejection, if like I get emails all the time, like this happened.

This is my kind of process.

I got rejected, I got a wait list.

What should I do?

Should I do a counseling session with you?

And you can, but my first recommendation is always to ask the program.

Ask them if there's anything that you could improve on that they want you to work on.

Any weaknesses that they notice.

Sometimes you're going to get a generic response.

A lot of times you will.

But if you get any one on one advice that you need to work on, you should take that advice and do it.

I was recording some videos today and talking about a story of if you've been around a while.

Taylor was my medical assistant that I worked with and she's also one of my best friends at my old office.

And she applied to PA school got waitlisted.

They told her your GRE score is a 297 and we want a 300.

Granted, this was not a listed requirement on their website, but that's another story.

And so she kind of put it off for a little while.

Like didn't really want to retake it.

Was thinking about taking organic chemistry because she hadn't taken that yet and decided, okay, I'm just gonna retake the GRE.

And so she took it and got 305.

That's a big increase.

Did well, center score in.

And then she got pretty much instantly accepted.

Like they were like, okay, great, that's what we needed.

You have a spot.

And so if a school tells you something they want you to work on, they're serious about that and they do want you to actually do that thing.

So.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

And lots of y' all in the chat about being waitlisted too.

Yeah, I guess if you have a question that you want me specifically to ask the AI, just say that in your question, and then we'll ask it.

But, like, we can also do that.

Like, you do that on your own time, so.

But it'll be fun to share.

I'm gonna see what happens if I do this, so I know that I did it.

Okay, cool.

Okay.

Okay.

Best tips for re applicants for the application.

So, similar to being in a waitlist position, definitely look for your weaknesses, figure out what those are, and work on them.

Sometimes it can be easy to feel like or to get stuck in a rut of working on what you feel is the easiest to work on.

So it's easier to get more hours than it is to go back and take a class.

But that may not serve you the best in pushing you forward towards becoming a pa.

So if you ultimately, like, your GPA is the issue or a grade is an issue, you may need to go back and do something about that, or you may be in a job that you love, but you've been there for a long time, and you need to do something else to get a higher quality of patient care or to get more experience in a different area.

So those are just some things to consider.

I would definitely take a look at your personal statement, make sure it's on track, make sure that you.

Your supplementals were on track, your letter of recommendation writers were the best choices, and all of that.

And it's hard to generalize for reapplicants because there's a difference in somebody who applied and didn't get any interviews and somebody who applied and did get interviews and how we would approach that.

So that.

That is a situation where, like, you may want to do, like, a prepaid counseling session or talk to a mentor and really look at things one on one to figure out for your situation.

What was the issue?

Was it something your application where the school's not a good fit?

There's just a lot there, and it can be a kind of a gray area.

Okay.

So somebody said, how should we report it if the AI gives us incorrect information?

Just screenshot it and send me a message on Instagram or an email, and we will check on that.

We want to make sure that it is as accurate as possible.

Okay.

I know I always feel bad in these types of webinars, the, like, general kind of Q and A ones that I can't get to everything and every question.

So we will try our best and then, yeah, definitely use the AI.

Let me know what it says.

Okay, so question is best way.

What is the best way to start prepping for interviews?

Do you recommend jumping in with a mock interview and building from there?

Okay, good question.

So for preparing for interviews, I would first start by doing some personal prep.

So kind of looking over some interview resources, whether that's stuff that we have online or YouTube, the PA School Interview Guide right here, if anybody has that is a good resource.

All that's on Amazon.

But definitely, like do a little prep, like just kind of read a little bit.

I, I mean, you could jump in with a mock interview, but to me, a mock interview is best done when you've done a little preparation and you know where you're going to be interviewing.

Because we do try to make those very personalized to where you're going to interview if we're able to.

And usually like a couple weeks before your real interview.

So then you have time to take that feedback and work on it.

Sometimes people will do one when they don't have an interview invite yet.

And that's fine if you just want to do some general preparation.

But I think you're going to get more out of it if you wait until you have an interview.

And then I would try to book out as soon as you can just because they get booked.

And then if you have a certain time you need, it may not be there.

But yeah, so I would do a little preparation.

If you have anyone willing to practice with you, family, friends, that's great.

Specifically PAs, like somebody who works as a PA, I think is important to practice with just to make sure that you're not making any, like, generalizations that aren't accurate, that you really are showing that full understanding of the profession.

Your friends and family are great for making sure that you're being yourself and being genuine and giving kind of general feedback that they may not be as familiar with the profession.

So, yeah, so I would start prepping.

You know, do some prep.

You've got to practice out loud.

You've got to say your answers.

I do recommend videoing yourself, which nobody likes to do but is important and can definitely improve your skills.

So those are some ways and some things that you can do before you do like official practice and before your real interview.

Cool.

Let's see.

Going back down.

Okay.

What is the best way to find PAS to shadow?

Oh, this will be a good one to ask AI because I wonder what resources it would show us.

Let's Try that.

Because I've done some podcast.

I've done definitely a lot of podcasts on this And I think YouTube videos too.

So yes, this is pulling mainly from the podcast, it looks like.

Cool.

Well, let me go up yet.

I'll have this really zoomed in to make it fit in the screen.

Okay.

So, yeah, networking is, is definitely a big part of finding shadowing.

If you find somebody that you know or even like connections that know a pa, they're much more likely to let you shadow than random people.

But you can find random people too.

So networking through your personal connections, getting involved with your state, society, like, so we have dapa, the Georgia PA association here.

And so I think if you can get involved there, they always need help.

And so if you start helping out, see if there's anything you can do that gets you some volunteering that really shows dedication to the profession.

And it's going to make connections with PAs that you may be able to shadow or may who have friends who you can shadow.

So that's a good thing to do.

Some hospitals will have dedicated programs for shadowing that you have to like register for and do HIPAA training.

And then they'll give you a certain amount of hours so you can go that way.

If you work with any PAs, ask them.

Even if you can't shadow them, they may know people you can shadow.

I feel like people get a little bit nervous or not nervous.

I don't know.

People don't like to ask other people to do things.

And I get that because I don't like to ask other people to do things either.

But the worst thing that can happen in this situation if somebody says no.

So you're not going to lose anything by asking somebody to shadow.

It's not a big deal.

They're not gonna be mad at you.

It's.

It's not embarrassing, it's nothing.

Just, you know, ask.

You never know.

So I think, I think definitely just putting yourself out there and then cold calling offices.

And my biggest tip there, I've done some reels and TikToks on it, but ask for the office manager.

That is typically the person you want to talk to.

The front office is really busy.

They're trying to schedule patients and check people in.

Your message to them probably will not ever get where it needs to go.

So I would ask to leave a message or talk to the office manager.

And then that person is usually the one who will kind of the in between with the PAs to see if that's an option.

And so that's a good way to kind of get in if you're trying to.

Trying to make some connections and you don't really know anybody.

All right.

Oh, LinkedIn.

That's a good idea.

Yeah.

I mean, and that's the like.

So even so I found I did some cold calling, and that got me one pa.

I called everyone in Athens, Georgia, literally everyone.

And I went through the phone book, the actual phone book, and two people called me back, and one I ended up shadowing.

And then I also reached out when I had interviews to a PA on Facebook that I found who was in the class, the current class at the school I was interviewing at.

It was just.

I was just like, hey, I got an interview there.

I would love to just talk to you about the program and get your insights.

And she messaged me back and we talked on the phone for a few minutes and she was super helpful.

And, you know, she could have just not responded or said no, and that would have been fine.

But it was helpful to me to put myself out there and just see what happened, you know?

So, yeah, definitely.

Just.

You never know.

Put it out there.

All right.

Okay, so these questions are maybe a couple questions that are kind of related.

So we'll do both of these.

What's the best option when considering what masters to take to help with your application?

MBA or something more science or healthcare related?

And then another question that kind of goes off of that is, what would you recommend boosting your GPA in terms of post grad?

Would you suggest retaking prereqs through a community college?

Okay, so if we're talking about my eyes itching.

Sorry, guys.

Okay, so if we're talking about increasing your gpa, boosting your GPA grades, my approach is typically taking classes first before doing a traditional program.

So first look at your prereqs for whatever schools you're applying to, start with prereqs.

And for those you want to really have a B or higher.

So if any of those have lower grades, I would retake those first or if they're expired or expiring.

So if you are applying to schools that have a limit, you also want to look at that so they're expiring or have a low grade, start with prereqs and retaking those and then move on to your recommended courses.

That's gonna be a lot of your, like, genetics specific psychologies, that kind of thing.

And if any schools on your list have these recommended courses, start retaking those.

And then when you have done all of that, if you're still needing to boost your gpa.

That's more when I would look at a traditional post bacc or Master's program or if you can find one that incorporates some of those classes that you need.

There are some that are just like generally you know, upper level sciences.

I know Turo Nevada has one.

I don't remember what the specific post back is but it what is happening but it if you do that postback you are actually guaranteed an interview spot as long as you do well.

So that's one option.

A Master's of Public Health.

I think if you are interested in business and you want to do an mba, that's fine.

It's probably not going to help your science GPA at all.

It's just going to help your overall.

So if that's where you need help, that's, that's okay.

And just be able to explain like why you decided to do that.

There's also like Masters of Healthcare Administration and that kind of thing.

But yeah, if you want to boost your science gpa make sure the classes that you're taking count towards that.

All right.

Okay.

So these questions also go hand in hand.

How many schools should we apply to and when should we apply?

When most programs start a different day times.

So as far as how many to apply to the average accepted or the average student who starts at a paper applies to six schools.

So that's kind of like a good benchmark.

I think if you want to be safe, you want to make sure that the schools are good fit and you're not just applying to apply around like 10 to 12 could be like is a good number.

There is one paper that shows anything over I believe 14 is here.

12 Or 14 I need to read it again.

Does not increase your chances of gaining to PA school.

So like at some point it kind of levels out like you're just applying to apply at that point and not actually like you're just like throwing sand or something.

There's some saying about that but yeah, you're not increasing your chances.

So I usually say around 10 like give or take.

There are some people who apply to one program and that's all they need and they get in.

There's some people apply to 20 and they get in.

So there's.

That's an average.

You know it's not a perfect science but yeah, I would say 10 to 12 as far as when to apply.

Even though the programs have different start times, your when you apply is kind of the same.

So if they have a rolling admissions you want to Try to apply as early as you can to get your application in.

Get it considered with rolling admissions.

They're going to look at it as soon as your application is complete, and so that can be, you know, as early.

We saw programs interviewing even in June this year, which is crazy.

But then there are some that won't interview until January.

So it just depends.

And I think you still want to get in prior to the deadline, despite when the program starts.

Okay, let me check the chat.

I love it when y' all just, like, chat in the chat.

Thank you.

Alexandra.

Yes, I got my hair done today.

Thank you for appreciating that.

Even though.

Or maybe you knew because I posted on Instagram, I was like, perfect timing.

I can never do my hair the way they do it when I get it done.

Literally never.

Like, not gonna happen.

Doesn't work.

Okay, Did that one.

Okay.

I answered that.

Do you have to obtain a master's before going into PA school?

No, you don't have to at all.

That would be really.

Only if you need to improve your application for some reason or, like, show that you can handle a graduate level program.

That.

That is another reason where you may want to take a postbac program because of these questions are disappearing.

Are y', all, like, deleting your questions?

So, I mean, I've answered them.

I don't know what's happening.

Okay.

The resume I made to submit to CASPA is two full pages.

Is this okay?

Yeah, that's fine.

I mean, I do think a resume should ideally be one page, and it's up to you.

I mean, I think if I.

It's rare that I can not get a resume to a page.

So I think if you can get to a page that's helpful.

Like, it just needs to be a really quick snapshot for programs to be able to look at really quickly and just see the highlights, because they'll have your application, so they don't need everything else.

Oh, I wonder if they're playing.

Okay, that's probably.

Okay.

Oh, this is a good question that we need to talk about.

This year's been really weird.

If you don't follow me on Instagram, you may not.

You may have seen me talk about this, or you may not have.

I don't know.

So there.

There were two questions.

Where did that other one go?

Oh, no.

Okay, so these questions go together.

How are schools on probation still allowed to take applications?

One of them says they don't even.

They don't know if they can even matriculate, but it's still active on caspa sometimes.

How?

So that's the first one.

And then this other one was similar.

Where did it go?

How are schools?

Oh, no, that was the same question.

I thought I saw another one about probation, because this is important.

I don't know if y' all have heard what is going on with this current probation situation.

Let's just talk about accreditation for a second.

So in the past, so there are three types of accreditation.

There's provisional, continued, and probation.

Those are all fully accredited statuses.

You'll also see some programs that have developing status.

A developing program is a brand new program that hasn't even gotten their provisional accreditation yet.

Developing has always been risky.

So with a developing program, you could get accepted, and then they don't get their provisional status.

And then the next site, like, they're not able to take a class, or they decide to not even make a PA program.

So that can happen.

Like, they may.

I've heard where they accept you.

They're planning to start in August, and they're like, oh, sorry, we didn't get accreditation.

We're hoping to get it the next August.

And then instead of like waiting a year, you're waiting two years and you have to decide if that's what you want to do.

And it's still a little bit risky.

So developing has always been like that.

If the school already has provisional accreditation, you're fine.

If somebody already has continued continued accreditation, you're fine.

If you start at a school that has probation, probational is on probation.

As long as you start there, you're fine.

You could finish that program, complete it, and.

And you're good to go.

What has happened this year to a couple of programs?

So I'm not even talking about Arcadia yet.

We'll get to Arcadia because that's.

They're not even in this boat yet.

So Western is one of them.

I believe Faulkner was one.

And then there was one other one that they had accepted a class.

Let's use Western, because theirs, I think, was the absolute worst.

So Western had accepted a class they usually interview up through March.

So they interviewed through March, had accepted their students to start in August.

And.

And they got an email.

I want to say it was like early July, saying that they.

Or maybe late June, it was like, right when I had my baby, saying that they were not going to be able to matriculate their class.

So that meant that the students that they had already accepted, who had given up other acceptances, moved, quit their jobs, all this stuff, and we're planning to start In August, we're unable to start.

Like, this is devastating.

Like, this is crazy.

This has not really happened before like, this.

And it was just based on when that decision for probation was made.

And I guess nobody knows exactly the circumstances.

They said it was like Pete Pants scores.

But there's a lot that goes into that.

Like, it can't just be that this would be Western in California that this affected.

So, yeah, it was just, like.

Just terrible.

Like, really bad.

And so, you know, those students are scrambling, trying to figure out what to do, reapplying all this stuff, whatever.

So that was weird.

Okay.

And so that situation has made me a little more skeptical of pro schools that are on probation.

But the problem is, like, that school, you couldn't have even predicted that because they didn't even get put on probation until, like, after all this happened.

Like, the students thought they were fine, and then they go on probation.

Like, any school.

This could happen to any school.

I think that's what is scary.

Like, any school now can be put on probation and told that they can't start their class.

And, yeah, that's scary.

So that's a problem.

So Arcadia, yes.

Recently got put on probation and was like, they're kind of in a limbo where they're like, we don't know if we're going to start a class.

We're unsure.

And I agree.

Like, that's not fair for them to let people apply and be taking money and all this stuff.

So the question of, can you ask for a refund?

So Casper does not give refunds.

CASPA is not going to refund you.

You could ask the school, maybe.

I don't know if it would work or not.

If anyone finds out or tries that, please let me know.

Because, yeah, I'm not sure.

And then, yeah, Yale Online is on probation.

But as of right now, like, they can still start a class.

They haven't been told no.

And so a lot of schools get put on probation, and a lot of times it's no big deal.

It's like something administrative or something small and not something where they are actually told.

Like, you cannot take new students.

So that's the weird part about all of this.

Another school that had an issue recently was, I'm probably gonna say this wrong.

Alderson Broadus.

I feel like we're just having, like, a chatty gossip session right now.

But this isn't gossip.

It's just facts.

They are shutting down.

They're a continued education program, one of the first PA programs in the country.

And this is Something that rarely happens, but can happen.

The entire university lost funding.

So, like, the whole school is shutting down, not just the PA program, but because the PA program's there.

It is also shutting down, which I've kind of heard.

They're trying to figure out some stuff with their students, like, if another school can kind of adopt them and, like, finish out the class that's there.

But they also, like, up until recently, were taking applications because this all just happened very quickly.

Yeah.

And so I also heard about LMU Tampa.

They were interviewing and then did not get accreditation.

So that's kind of more like a developing program situation.

So.

Yeah, it's complicated.

I would say, you know, just take everything with a grain of salt, make sure you feel comfortable with the situation with the school, with what they're telling you, and then know that it could change.

And there's only so much you can do to predict that.

All right.

Oh, Michelle, I think you put your comment in the Q and A.

That's where I'm pulling from.

So are there discounts for the mock interview?

Yeah.

So you can use the code Future PA on mock interviews, counseling, any of that to discount those.

And that works pretty much all the time.

Should your GPA be on your resume?

I don't think so, because your GPA will vary.

It will be.

A lot of times your CASPA GPA is going to be different than what's on your transcripts.

So I wouldn't.

I don't think you need to include a GPA on your resume.

Oh, this is a good question.

I actually posted on TikTok about this today.

What are your thoughts on joining a new program where they don't have published pants scores yet?

So two different things.

New programs.

I think new programs can be an interesting opportunity to contribute to the program.

And every program, you're gonna have to be flexible, and they're gonna have growing pains and all kinds of stuff and changing things all the time.

So I'm.

I think new programs are fine.

Usually the faculty are really excited.

They're maybe a little bit even more receptive to change and, you know, feedback.

So nothing wrong with a new program.

Yeah, there may be some bumps in the road, but you'll figure it out when it comes to pant scores.

So this was my controversial opinion that I posted.

I do not put any weight in pants scores that are listed on program websites.

The.

I think if you are capable of getting into PA school and doing everything you got to do to get in, you can pass boards and a lot of PA school Is learning to kind of independently study and figure out what you need to know.

So I think you can pass boards.

The publisher pant scores can be very skewed.

So some things to take into consideration when you're looking at those, look at the class size, because you may see a low percentage, but that percentage could be skewed because a class doesn't have many people in it, and if one person fails, it brings the percentage way down.

Whereas a class with a lot of students might have a higher percentage, but actually have more people fail.

So you have to look at that kind of more like, with a bigger picture.

There are also programs that will have students who they feel will not pass boards wait to take them.

So they don't let them actually even take their boards until after kind of these benchmark times have passed so that they don't contribute to bringing those pants rates down.

And their averages look really great.

But it's really just when the students are taking them and when these things are reported.

So there's a lot of gray there that I just don't think makes it a reliable statistic.

I would just talk to the students in the program, like ones who have been there before the class above you or graduates, and find out if they felt prepared for board, and that that's who you need to actually talk to is the people who did it.

Oh, I like this one.

Okay.

Are interviews going to start transitioning back to in person, or will they be virtual now?

Y' all let us know in the chat if you've had interview invites, if yours are virtual or in person.

I'm seeing both.

So I am seeing still a lot of schools doing virtual.

I think they figured out that that might make it a little bit easier for scheduling and travel purposes for students and for them.

So I am still seeing a lot of virtual.

And then I'm still.

I'm seeing a lot of in person now, too.

So I think it's some of both, and maybe some schools are even doing both.

I don't know that I've heard that yet, but, yeah, so it looks like almost half and half right now in the chat.

So in person.

In person.

In person.

Virtual.

In person.

Virtual.

Virtual.

Virtual.

So, yeah, a lot of.

I mean, I think you're gonna see both.

I don't know if it'll continue like that to skew one way or another.

I think it's hard because there's pros and cons to both.

It's.

It's really tough.

So, yeah, there we're still seeing.

Still Seeing both.

Okay, another good question.

I've only worked as a CNA and patient care tech, so patient care experience is usually more important or high quality and considered more than healthcare experience.

But if you have patient care experience, you probably don't need to really seek out any healthcare experience.

The opposite is not true.

If you only have healthcare experience, then yes, I would say you need to be trying to also get some patient care experience and get a little bit more hands on.

Oh, okay.

I like this one.

Especially since a lot of y' all have interviews coming up.

Best way to prepare for an mmi.

All right, I could talk about this for a long time.

We probably need to do an MMI webinar.

Quite honestly, I just have to figure out a time I can schedule it.

But mmi, so multiple mini interviews are like stations, basically that you go to.

I have a little bit of an issue with some schools that say they do mmi, but they don't really.

So a traditional MMI is you have these stations.

You have like five to seven stations and you get a prompt or a question ahead of the the station that you get to review for a minute or two and then you have a time to respond or do whatever it is that is like five to 10 minutes.

It just depends.

And so you would have these stations.

A lot of schools are saying they do mmi, but really they just do stations with kind of normal questions.

And that's, you know, not really mmi.

A true MMI is going to ask you all these different question types and scenarios and stuff to try.

They're trying to see different qualities about you, like empathy and communication and leadership, whatever.

So, yeah, so Savannah, great name said in the chat, classic question.

If you were a tree, what tree would you be and why?

Yeah, so they can ask you these wacky questions.

They may ask you about bmpa.

They may throw you in a room and say, you know, this patient's mad because you gave them the wrong prescription.

Go talk to them and actually have you kind of act that out.

They may have you teach them how to do something, interpret a graph, do a group project.

There's just so much that can happen in an mmi.

So the issues that I see people have with MMI are primarily time management.

Well, I don't know if that's the right way to put it.

Not taking enough time would be more like it.

So what ends up happening is when you, in a true mmi, you walk in the room and your interviewer is not going to talk to you.

They're not going to interact with you.

They're not going to respond to you.

They're not going to ask you more questions.

So if you go into that, like, tree, tree one, and you just say, like, I'm a maple tree, because they grow quickly.

I don't know if they do.

I just made that up.

But yeah, if you do that and that's all you say, like, that's it.

So you.

You have to use your time.

I'm getting distracted by this question, guys.

So Abby said that her friends, mmi, they asked her and the other students to speak to each other using quacks.

I kind of love that.

I feel like I need to.

I've got to use that now.

That's amazing.

I don't really know the point of it, but.

All right.

Anyway, so usually when I'm doing mock interviews, most people after about two minutes feel like they've been talking forever.

They feel like they're done.

They've said everything they need to say, and they're done.

But if you have five minutes, like, you have a lot more time to share a lot more about yourself.

So this is where timing your responses and practicing is very helpful.

The other thing with MMI is you want to think out loud and be explaining yourself clearly.

So if they give you a scenario where they're like, you know, choose between these two things.

Let's say it's, you know, you have a liver transplant comes in, and you have two people that you could give it to.

Here's patient A, here's patient, patient baby B, who gets the liver and why.

And so in that scenario, sometimes our.

Our.

What's the word?

What we tend to do is like, jump to, like, oh, patient B should get it, because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And in an mmi, you don't want to do that.

You want to talk about it.

You want to say, okay, so I like to always, like, rephrase the question.

So in this situation, I have patient A and patient B and one liver.

Patient A has this.

Patient B has this.

So I have to decide who gets that liver.

And you do have to make a decision.

So then you go through your pros and cons.

So, like, patient A is a good candidate because blah, blah, blah, they may not be the best candidate because blah, blah, blah, same thing for patient B.

And then you get to your decision.

And ultimately, I think patient B should get the liver because blah, blah, blah, blah.

And you just explain it so you Want to be very clear that you can make a decision, but you want to show how you got there.

So I think if you start thinking about questions like that and when you're practicing think in that way, it'll make MMI a lot easier.

I have some MMI stuff.

I think I have some stuff on YouTube about MMI.

And again, you can ask our friendly AI people.

Person, not person.

Our AI bot as well.

And see.

See what they say and what they take you to.

All right, we have time for a couple more.

Good question.

Would you recommend getting a APA or Kappa, which is California, or, you know, your state society memberships as a prepa student?

So it's definitely not going to hurt your application.

Some schools are more involved with kind of the state or national societies.

Like my program was more involved with our state society.

But then some programs are more involved with the national, which is the aapa, and they'll go to the conference and stuff.

You can probably find that out on their website.

But yeah, it definitely shows that you have a commitment to the profession, AAPA specifically.

They have some pre PA resources and I kind of work with them and.

And do some stuff.

So, yeah, not gonna hurt anything, but also not gonna, like, break your application if you are not a member.

Oh, good one.

Okay, how long should we expect for schools to respond after the interview?

And does this change for schools with ruling admission?

Nobody knows.

It's crazy.

They.

Some schools are really fast, some schools aren't.

I'd say usually within like a few weeks to a month.

You should probably have heard back.

But then stuff can happen.

And then right now we're in kind of a bus period where things with interview stuff kind of slow down because schools are also starting their next class and have people going out of rotations.

And it's just a big transition time.

So give them a little grace if they're slow to answer.

But yeah, if they've told you a time frame to expect.

So they say, like, we will call you within two weeks.

And it's been two weeks, I would still give it probably at least another week, 10 days, two weeks, see what happens.

And then if you haven't heard anything back, I do think it's reasonable to follow up and say, like, hey, I interviewed this date.

I was expecting to hear within a couple weeks.

Just wanted to, you know, find out if, you know, there are any updates, make sure I didn't miss anything and kind of see where they're at.

So I think that's reasonable if you.

If you want to do that.

Okay.

And I think I saw another question about this one.

So we'll do this somewhat in here.

But if you want to go into a particular specialty like neurosurgery, does it matter which PA school you attend?

I think I saw somebody else ask about, like, dermatology, if you wanted to get into that.

It.

It doesn't.

You can really go to any PA school.

I would say do try to do your rotations if you know you want to be in a certain area in that area.

So if you can do electives in that area or if you want to look and see how many electives the program has.

When I was in school, we had two electives, and they've since changed that to one for my program, unfortunately.

And so I think, you know, see if that's important to you to try some stuff out.

You may want somewhere with a few more electives, and that may be something that you can.

Can research and see if they offer what you're interested in.

Fun fact, I almost took a neurosurgery job before I became a derm pa.

I verbally accepted one, but it wasn't official yet.

And then I got into dermatology.

But, yeah, if there's an area like just talk to people and yeah, try to make some connections, do some networking, do some shadowing, even if you're in PA school or after PA school in that area.

But yeah, the PA school in specifically, does that matter?

All right, so I hope that y' all enjoyed the AI.

I hope you think that the pre PA AI is cool.

If you find any weird stuff with it, please let me know.

We're still working out some bugs, but it should be helpful, I hope.

And I.

We don't.

I guess we don't have another webinar on the books, but I do have topics planned for September.

I just don't have dates yet.

So stay tuned.

More cool stuff coming, more tools that we're working on to try to make this process easier.

And yeah, lots of really fun stuff.

So.

All right, see y' all at MapsCon.

Yes.

So excited.

Share with your friends.

Bring them.

All right.

Bye, guys.