This is the kind of episode I wish I'd had when I was applying: the admissions director telling you directly what they want.

Allan Platt runs admissions at Emory's PA program, and he doesn't dance around it. Their applicants who get interviews average around 7,000 hours of clinical experience. Minimum GPA is a 3.0. Hands-on patient care, not observation.

Before you spiral about that hours number: Emory is one program, and it's a program with a specific profile. That's exactly why building a balanced list matters. Some schools weight experience heavily, some weight academics, some want a mix.

The other thing he emphasized is the story. Once you clear the numbers, what separates applicants is a personal narrative that sounds like a real person made real choices.

What we talk about:

• What Emory's admissions committee looks for
• The clinical hours their interviewees actually have
• GPA minimums and how they're used
• Hands-on patient care versus observation hours
• Why your personal narrative decides close calls
• Building a program list that fits your profile

Resources:

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

CASPA GPA calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

Free personal statement worksheet: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-personal-statement-worksheet-download

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

You guys, I am so excited for today's episode.

Like, I can't even believe it.

So I was able to speak with Mr. Allen Platt, who is the director of admissions at Emory's PA Program.

Talk about some insights.

Get ready.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club Podcast.

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

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey, y'.

All, thanks so much for listening.

This is Savannah.

I am the host of the Prepa Club podcast and the creator of the PA Platform, also the fangirl of Alan Platt.

So, like I said in the intro, I got to speak with the director admissions for Emory, and he had so much great stuff to say.

So I think this is gonna be very valuable to anyone applying this year, applying in the future.

Who wants to know?

What.

What is the director of admissions of a PA Program looking for?

Okay, so we'll get to that in a minute.

I met Mr. Platt when I was at a pre PA club meeting at Emory, which was awesome.

They have an amazing club.

They all say to call him Alan, which I just.

That doesn't feel official enough to me, so I guess I should.

But anyway, they were great.

He was great, and you guys are gonna love this.

But anyway, so I want to mention, before we get into that, our sponsor PA School Prep, which is a course that helps you prepare for anatomy and physiology and med terms before getting to PA School.

Once you start school, it's tough, it's quick, and you've got to be ready to go.

Like Emory, they have a full cadaver anatomy lab, which is so cool.

But I did a full cadaver lab at Augusta University, and it is intense.

Like, if you took anatomy and you thought there were so many structures, imagine if those structures have structures, and those have structures and functions that you need to know.

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So I want you to check that out.

Paschoolprep.com you can use the code.

The PA platform.

I think it's just PA platform for a discount.

And let me know if you have any questions.

All right, let's talk to Alan.

Awesome.

Let me make sure I got my questions pulled up.

And thank you again for doing this.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I'm excited.

Here we go.

Okay.

Was there anything else that you felt would be important to cover or helpful?

No, I thought this was very comprehensive, so I think it fits everything.

All right.

We'll kind of see where it goes and I think everyone will be very excited to hear from you.

Pretty credible source.

All right, so we can go ahead and jump in.

I don't want to take too much of your time, but if you just want to go ahead and give an introduction on yourself and, and then we'll move on from there.

Okay.

This is Alan Platt.

I'm an admissions director at the Emory PA program and I'm been a PA for 29 years.

I mean for 39 years.

This will be my 39th year.

So I started back in the very early ages of Padum.

So there weren't a lot of PAs around and it was a brand new profession.

We kind of didn't even know if it was going to survive.

But here we are today.

I started out at Georgia Tech as a civil engineer.

Didn't like that.

I changed into Health Systems which was kind of a hospital based fix it problem engineering degree.

And I was headed towards PA because I wasn't pre med.

So I interviewed at two schools.

There are only two schools in Georgia was Medical College of Georgia or Emory.

And Emory made an offer and said we've never had an engineer, so you're it.

That's only how I got in.

I didn't have much experience clinically.

I did a time study on PAs at the VA hospital, so I think that helped.

And so after I got a PA school I was hired on at Grady Hospital.

And I loved working at Grady during my clinical.

And they offered me a job doing triage for the emergency department which was talking to everybody who could walk into Grady and wasn't brought by ambulance and decide which clinic to send them to.

That was interesting that to be the rate limiting step for everybody coming to Grady.

But I got to spend two minutes taking a history doing a limited physical and trying to figure out if they were emergent or non emergent and try and get them to the best clinic that I could.

So then I'd have to go see the patients that I put in the walk in clinic in the afternoon.

So it was more of a kind of the urgent care variety.

So that went on for about five years.

And then I was offered a position to help start a sickle cell clinic at Grady.

And the physician wanted to staff a 24 hour emergency room just for the sickle cell population.

He wanted to staff it with nurse practitioners and PAs.

And since I had some management experience, he said, well, you can help recruit and help run that.

That was intriguing.

And we started the first PA run unit at Grady and took all the patients out of the main emergency room.

And we had a little nine bed unit within Grady and started seeing all the sickle cell patients who came in in pain crisis.

And we had six PAs on staff.

We all got trained by the hematologist and did all of their care.

We were the nurse, we were the injector, we were the physical exam, we did everything.

So it was just a PA and a technician for 24, 7 care.

And that went on for about 20 years.

We got into research, developed more and more and made the clinic actually was the beginning of an NIH research center.

So a lot of services came to Atlanta because of what started at Grady.

And the 24 hour center is still in operation now.

It's the only one in the world.

But right now it's run by residents.

I think Most of the PAs have migrated on.

So after 25 years at Grady, I spent time teaching students, precepting students, and loved it.

I was asked to give lectures and then was invited to have a position as faculty at Emory and to help develop an online master's program.

And that sounded fun to me.

So I moved over from Grady to Emory totally.

And I've been in academics for 14 years and I've taught many of the modules.

I've done admissions, I've done several.

Like I run our board review course and help with the website.

So it's been a lot of fun.

That's awesome.

So actually I used your board review course, so thank you for that.

Well, thank you for using it.

Hopefully it helped.

Yeah, I do think it helped.

Okay, cool.

So you're from Georgia.

I am originally from Florida.

My father was kind of worked for the military.

So every two years I moved and moved and moved, but we ended up in Atlanta.

So I call Atlanta home.

But basically we bounced around from Florida to the Canal Zone in Panama, then back up to Atlanta.

So.

So I'm a tropical boy.

Yeah, I'm a Georgia girl too.

Okay.

So for people who don't know, and you can probably talk to us more, Grady, if you're from Georgia or Atlanta, you hear crazy stories about Grady.

Grady's the big inner city hospital.

It's huge.

It's 800 beds.

It's like a city in the city.

But it's fascinating because that's where everybody who can't get care anywhere else, you can go to Grady and you'll get excellent care.

Yeah.

And so the mission there really intrigued me.

I really like that purpose.

And if you can make it in the door.

You would be seen and cared for, regardless of your status, regardless of if you had money, regardless of if you had insurance.

So I like that mission.

That's why I gravitated to Grady.

And it was never a boring day.

There was always something new going on, and you saw things that you only read about in the textbook that you may never see for the rest of your career.

It would happen on a daily basis at Grady.

So it was a great place to learn, a great teaching environment, and it also allowed me to do more teaching while on the job.

It's very much encouraged there.

That's awesome.

So just.

We'll jump into PA advice in a minute.

But how have you seen the PA profession change over the past 39 years?

Awesome.

I mean, it's taken off like wildfire.

I think one the PAs that have gone before, everybody now have laid a firm foundation where we have become essential.

And it has just increased demand in astronomical ways.

And the amount of responsibility given to PAs has certainly changed before.

When I first got out, it was like, what do we do with you?

What are you.

You're not.

You know, we quite didn't know the responsibility level we could have.

But after proving ourselves, we were given more and more and more responsibility, and the physicians really basically adopted us as colleagues.

And I think that's what's made the big difference.

We've been invaluable for many different practices, and that's just expanded the job market into every facet of medicine.

Wherever there's a physician, there's a PA usually.

And the team approach is the way to go now.

So I think it's really changed for the better, and it's just getting better every day.

Yeah, I agree.

In my five years of practicing, I've seen a lot of changes and just more, I guess, acceptance overall and knowledge of the general public in the right direction.

Can you just give us a little overview of Emory's PA program?

Kind of what makes you guys unique.

It was really cool when I was there at the Emory pre PA Club meeting, how they obviously have an awesome advisor in having you there, but, I mean, it was a great group who really kind of knew what they were doing.

So I would love to hear just more about the program.

The Emory PA program is one of the.

I'd say, one of the first PA programs.

You know, Duke was number one.

But in the first wave of PA programs, Emory was well established.

And it was, you know, it's because of the Emory healthcare system, which has Grady, the va Hospital Emory, you know, Emory Hospital and several other outreaches are the training ground where many physicians have trained in Georgia.

But it's been the primary training ground for our PA students.

So our sure foundation was a very strong medical center that wanted to have PA presence.

And so MRE has evolved over the years.

The program has evolved over the years to try and keep up with what the current PAs need to know.

And so it's not a stale program by any means.

It's, I think, cutting edge with what the practicing PA needs to know.

And I think the program has been very supported by the medical school.

The PA program is housed within the School of Medicine at Emory and it's under the Department of Family Medicine.

So we have a primary care family medicine type bent to it.

But the unique thing I think is Atlanta and being a part of the Emory system that gives such strength to the clinical training.

And that's why I think the demand is high and the ranking is so good.

How long is Yalls program?

The program is 29 months from start to finish.

It was, you know, it started when I went was basically a two year program.

And it has expanded and expanded and expanded because of more and more coursework for public health type issues.

Also there's dissecting anatomy now with a full body dissection, which requires a lot of time.

So the program has expanded to accommodate all these extras.

And.

And that's also unique.

I don't think a lot of programs have a full body dissection.

And along with basically we have a public health bent to our program, even though we do have a dual degree masters of Public Health option for our students.

But we offer basically how to do a study, how to write papers, that kind of thing.

And the business side of medicine is part of our curriculum.

Oh, that's interesting.

I think probably pretty helpful too and kind of having more options coming out of school.

Yeah, we're seeing more graduates go into critical care, emergency medicine, stepping into practices where the demands are pretty high.

So we're having to up the training level, I think, for meeting the job market as it's, you know, growing and offering more positions with higher responsibility.

For sure.

What.

So what is your title right now?

Right now I am director of Admissions and assistant professor of Medicine because I teach.

My job is half admissions, which I love, and half actually teach in the first year didactic curriculum.

I teach the medical history course, I teach the hematology module, and I teach the business issues for the program and I run the board review course also.

Awesome.

Okay, so let's talk admissions.

What is, what is your admissions process look like at Emory?

Pretty much it's, you know, we have to sort through a lot of applications.

We have to basically review all of those, score them, and high scores, get interviews.

We interview about 150 people and fall for 50 chairs.

So it's pretty competitive.

The difference is, you know, we have a group that are applying that are generally a little older.

Our average age is 27.

So these are people who are coming to us from, from other jobs or professions.

So we have athletic trainers, combat medics, nurses, all wanting to be PAs.

We're part of the applicant pool and some of the best people in the country.

It's so fun to talk to them and see their enthusiasm for becoming PAs.

That's a fun thing to do in my job at least.

Yeah.

So out of you said 1,000 completed applications that come in, how many of those people would you say are actually, are those people who meet all the requirements or do some of those get weeded out?

So we still have people who apply that don't quite meet those criteria and that's a first cut.

Those are hard rules we don't bend at all.

We really like the clinical experience in people because it really grounds them in making sure this is what they really want to do, that this is, you know, they played in the healthcare system, they understand what they're getting into, they've met PAs, they've worked alongside them and they talk to doctors, talk to nurses.

So they're really, you know, it gives people a maturity that really helps them through the program.

So after we look, basically go through the first screen, faculty will review their whole CASPA application, read their essays, will score their, you know, score everything on likert scale.

We actually count what they did and what they did in healthcare, gives them more points based, you know, because of.

Basically the lowest level would be a medical assistant or a scribe, but the highest level would be an RN in emergency room or combat medic.

So they get more credit because of the higher degree of patient care responsibility.

The other thing we score is community service because that's part of our mission is to serve the underserved.

So that's, that's a big part of our program because we do have several volunteer programs during our program like our farm worker project and the Good Samaritan Clinic.

So we like to see that on the application.

Those are the things that rank really high.

We also look at leadership, we look at awards.

We look at reading both their essay on CASPA and then they have to do a supplemental application for Emory.

So we want to see why are they picking us and did they do their homework by maybe coming to an open house or talking with our students, being a part of a pre PA club like I tour different pre PA clubs that want to come and see Emory.

So that means a lot to us because it shows that people really did go the extra mile to check us out and see what we're about.

So I highly recommend that to applicants that any school they want to apply to, they really ought to go check it out and get to know them personally to see if they're a good fit.

Do you all require the GRE?

We do require GREs.

We don't really.

It doesn't play a big role in our computation because most of the studies say it doesn't predict anything.

So we have to have it because Emory says we do, because we're a graduate program.

Enough said.

So, okay, check that box.

Okay.

So if you had to, and this may be an impossible question, if you had to pick one part of an application, that's the most important.

Is that possible?

I mean, we try and do a 360 trying to get a read on more than just one thing.

But I think, you know, for us the clinical experience is huge and that should be reflected in the CASPA narrative also.

But not only the hours, but what did they do and why is this their passion?

And talk about the journey from why they want to be a pain.

That is huge.

If somebody hasn't figured that out, it kind of shows them the narrative and that's not going to go very far.

So I think having that clinical exposure and volunteer exposure gives them something to talk about during the narrative and the hours kind of speak for themselves.

So those are the things that stand out, I think, at least for me, when I'm looking at an application.

Okay, are there any red flags or huge just turn offs that if you're going through an application and you see something, it kind of stops you in your tracks and you are done.

My pet peeves.

Yeah, I guess, you know, somebody who's kind of self serving, you know, let me tell you how great I am and you don't want to do that in a way that says you need to take me because I'm so wonderful.

That's kind of a turn off because we're kind of laid back and we want kind of humble excellence.

That's what we're looking for.

We want somebody to be able to describe, you know, that they really have figured this out, but not be so self promoting that it's over the top.

And I've seen a few like that.

The other thing is never ever copy and paste your CASPA narrative into a supplemental application.

Because we've read your CASPA narrative and to have that repeated when we say why Emory or why Mercer?

You know, you want to get specifically why you're choosing us.

So to cut and paste your Casper narrative just shows laziness.

And we see that quite a bit.

So that's score zero, you know, that's a.

Okay, what about for RE applicants?

I get the question a lot.

Do I need to completely rewrite my personal statement?

What if you see someone who's applied before?

What are you looking for that second time that they apply?

We want to know.

In our supplement, we actually give them instructions to tell us what you've done in the past year or however long to make yourself a stronger candidate.

What have you done specifically that shows us that you took our advice to heart and you're doing more of whatever.

So we asked that pretty explicitly.

Is it okay in your eyes if they use parts of their original narrative or letters of recommendation?

I think in the narrative they can put that in there because, you know, you can see people who are RE applicants and you always want to say, okay, well what's changed?

What, what have you done to make it better than the previous one and help focus on that?

Like spent more time volunteering, I did more time working, or I changed my job and brought on more clinical experience.

You know, I did took extra courses, whatever, preparing for the curriculum.

All those things are highlights that help us say, wow, okay, this person needs an interview now.

Okay, so just kind of making sure they show where they've improved.

Yes, a little bit more.

Okay.

Well, I think we've covered most everything.

Is there anything else you think people need to know?

When is your deadline?

Our deadline is September 1st, but we're.

We do rolling admissions, so it's kind of first come, first serve.

So we're already reviewing applications now that just two weeks old from CASPA opening.

So we're already going to be filling our interview slots.

And like I said, we'll only interview about 150.

So once we hit our quota, that's going to be it.

So people wait to the last minute, especially for us, they may not make the pool.

So I always advise people, if they're ready, go ahead and get their application in sooner rather than later.

That gets them the first look at when they go for scheduling for interviews and get them right in the front.

At least for us, that's much better.

Nice.

Well, where can people find more information on Emory's program?

Is the website the best place to go?

Yeah, the website is pretty loaded.

So it's emorypa.org so if you just type in google mrepa or mrepa.org, it will take you right to our webpage.

And under Admissions, we have stuff for students and faculty.

You know, we have everything laid out by what you're looking for.

But Admissions has all the information on how to apply, what you need, what are the requirements, what kind of job experiences we look for.

So it's very detailed there.

And we even have open houses.

We're doing our last one this year, this coming Friday, so anybody's invited.

And if anybody just comes to town, basically, we will.

If you call the admissions office, if I'm in town, I'll go meet with them and take them around.

I live on Emory campus, so I'm a good tour guide.

Awesome.

Well, I'll be sure to link to all of that.

And thank you so much for your time and just sharing all of your insights.

I think this will be very valuable.

Emory is a program that I get questions about a lot that is very, very popular.

So good.

We want to keep it popular.

All right, so thank you for putting out the word and thank you for sharing.

Getting more people to bpa, that's our mission.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much.

We'll keep in touch.

Okay.

Bye, Savannah.

Bye.

Thank you.

All right, you guys, was that not the best?

I think that I had so many great insights and points into it.

So the takeaways I want you to have from that are.

First of all, each school has different things they focus on Emory's IS experience.

That doesn't mean every school requires 2,000 hours or has an average of 7,000 hours, but when you look at averages, it's going to show what matters to the them.

And for Emory, that is experience.

Also, if you don't meet the requirements, your application likely will not get looked at.

Like he said, these are very hard and fast rules.

So that 3.0 GPA, even if you have a 2.999, your app isn't going to get looked at.

So make sure you take that into consideration.

Also, like he said, you know they're pretty laid back about the process.

I know it's stressful and there's a lot going on, but you really just want to show who you are through your application and through your essay.

That's really important to making sure that you're making that impression on paper that makes them want to bring you in for an interview where they can actually kind of learn more about you and see more about your personality.

So I hope that was helpful to you guys and I hope you enjoyed it.

If you have any more if you need more information, check out the Inbox Memory PA program website and I will link to that in the description.

I'm also linking to my Audible trial if you haven't tried that yet.

It's awesome.

Go to audibletrial.com the PA platform and make sure you listen to there's so many great studying books.

And then like I said last time or a while back, Everything by Atal Gawande is my absolute favorite and it's all on there.

So if anyone is going into the medical field, I think his writing should be required reading because it's that good.

Anyway, we will see you next time and thank you so much for listening.

Bye.