She's an RN, a single mom, and she just got into Yale's online PA program.

Krystal has been working as a nurse in emergency and critical care, and she's making the jump to PA. That clinical experience is the kind of background admissions committees pay attention to, because she's already spent years making decisions with sick people in front of her.

The question everybody asks a nurse who chooses PA is why not NP. Krystal gives her honest reasoning, and it's about the training model and how she wants to practice medicine, not about one being better.

She's also doing all of this as a single parent. Her answer for how that works is unglamorous and exactly right: communicate, plan ahead, and accept help.

What we cover:

• Moving from nursing to the PA profession
• Emergency and critical care experience as an RN
• Why she chose PA over nurse practitioner
• Getting into Yale's online PA program
• Managing school as a single mom
• Advice for nurses considering the switch

Resources:

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

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

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

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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Do nurses ever become PAs?

Well, today we're talking to one and she is awesome.

Her name is Crystal.

She is a single mom who's going from RN to online Yale, Pennsylvania and she's amazing.

So stay tuned.

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.

I want to thank mypa Resource and PA School Prep for sponsoring the Prepa Club Podcast.

So mypa Resource is a personal statement editing service that edits only PA school essays, only edited by PAs and most of us have admissions experience, so I am one of the editors.

Definitely check them out if you need help with your content, grammar, flow, making sure that you are on track for turning in your application.

And you can use the code futurepa for a discount on any of their service options.

PA School Prep is an online course that focuses on the anatomy, physiology and med terms that you'll need for PA School to make sure you feel confident going into that first semester and that you are able to handle what PA school throws at you.

So check that [email protected] and also use the code futurepa for a discount there.

Hey guys, welcome to the podcast.

I hope everyone is having a great December.

This year has flown by and it is wild.

So I say that part of it did not fly by, but all right.

So I'm glad you're here.

I'm Savannah, I'm the host of this podcast and I do the PA platform.com which is a website to help pre pas and pa students.

We are planning out kind of what we're going to do a lot of next year.

So if there's something you want to see, more of that you think is really helpful or something that hasn't really been covered or answered, please let me know.

I would love to make sure that I'm able to talk about whatever it is that you have questions about.

So would love to get some feedback from you there.

And then if you've been listening to the podcast for a while and you're enjoying it, I would love if you would hit subscribe and give us a review, preferably five stars.

That's how other pre pas can find it and get the same info that you're getting.

And this episode actually is also on YouTube.

So we have a lot of videos up on YouTube, some interviews, some other video type things.

But if you go to YouTube.com thepaplatform you can find all of those Just if you would rather watch instead of listen for some reason.

I'm a podcast person.

I love listening to podcasts.

Pretty much 24 7, so.

So I'm with you if you're just a listener type person.

All right, so we're going to hear from Crystal in a minute.

And I realized that I've had a lot of Yale online PA students on here.

So the way that I typically find air quotes, find guests, is they reach out to me.

And so I think these students are just so excited about their programs and a lot of them are a little non traditional, so they have interesting stories and so they tend to reach out and ask if they can share their story on the podcast.

Which if anyone reaches out, I'm usually like, yes, please don't make me talk to myself for a while in my basement.

And I never really want to inconvenience someone because they are taking a lot of time out from their own busy schedules to sit down and have a conversation with me.

Crystal reached out and I think her story of nursing to PA is interesting and also why she's choosing PA and not np.

And she has a lot of insight into what that looks like because she has been in nursing school and on the nursing path, but still chose to pursue pa.

So really great perspectives that we'll get to in just a second.

Let's see what else.

So I wanted to remind you guys about the pre PA conference, which is coming up in January.

We did one back in May, which was so great and so fun.

We have some amazing PA students and faculty members joining us.

The difference in this conference and the last one is this conference is a little more tailored to not just talking about CASPA and the actual application as much.

And we'll get into interviews and personal statements a little bit, but we're talking more about making yourself a competitive applicant.

What you need to do.

We're diving into volunteering, patient care, testing like the GRE and the PA cat, and really getting a little bit more in depth into what it's going to take to become a pa, what PA school is like, and then what faculty are really looking for.

So this is.

You can definitely still use this if you're applying in April because you'll have time to work on things.

But this would be more if you maybe are applying in a year or two.

I think this information will be extremely helpful for you specifically.

So that'[email protected] the link is in the description.

And don't forget you can use the code for future PA for a $5 discount.

It's only $15 to begin with, but you can use that code for a $5 discount and then you can also use that code on anything, any service or product on the PA platform.

If you are planning on scheduling a mock interview or looking at getting the PA school interview guide, don't forget to enter that code.

Alright, let's jump into hearing from Crystal and I hope you enjoy this interview.

I'm Crystal Cullum and I am a newly accepted PA student with Yale.

I'm doing the online or hybrid.

Really it's really a hybrid program.

I'm also a charge nurse in a very busy trauma ER.

I work nights there.

I've got three kids.

I'm three kids and they are awesome.

So Yale's hybrid program really is such a blessing for me being in a non traditional side of it.

Yes, you won't have to up and move and do quite as much craziness a little bit still, but okay.

So how did you come to medicine?

Like what brought you.

It sounds like you've kind of worked, you know, your way up.

So where, where that initial interest come from?

I was hit by a drunk driver.

I spent the entire next year in a wheelchair thinking I was never going to walk again.

Prior to really was going to go into law school.

I felt like I was really good at arguing and I thought I'll just go to law school.

But through my recovery process I met some amazing healthcare professionals, nurses and physician assistants and doctors who just didn't give up on me and didn't give up on my process of trying to get back to walking into fixing every other thing that was wrong with me.

And I just thought, you know, at my age at that time, it was the most humbling experience.

I because I was in the wheelchair, I couldn't get myself to the shower alone.

I couldn't do so many things were taken from me and I didn't have that privacy anymore.

But I had, you know, nurses and doctors who fought to give me back my privacy and I just know how that made me feel and I just thought I want to make someone feel that way.

If I make one person throughout my entire career feel like that, feel like a human again.

It would be so worth it.

So right then is when I decided I was going to go into healthcare in some aspect.

Okay, so you started as a tech and then where'd that go?

Well, yeah, I knew that I couldn't go directly into like a physician assistant program with my recovery being the way it was.

I had young children at home.

It just wasn't an option for me at all.

So I thought, well, nursing is what I will go ahead and get into.

I definitely got a lot of help from nurses while I was incapacitated.

And so I thought, well, that'll be a great fit.

So I started doing classes to get into a nursing program.

During that time, I started working in the ER as a tech just to get some experience, get my foot in the door.

Took some EMT classes so that I could start doing more, doing IVs, doing more of the clinical procedure stuff that I just have always loved and did that until I graduated with my lpn and then I worked with my LPN and then went on and got my RN and then continued right on to get my bachelor's in nursing.

Okay, cool.

So when you like started on that path, was something at the end of it like pa, np?

Or were you kind of at that point thinking like nursing is going to be where I stop?

I once I was working in the ER, I worked closely with PAS.

Like some of the most of the ERs I've worked in are heavily, they employ PAS pretty heavily from physicians that I speak with.

They think they're more user friendly.

They're just trained in the same style of medicine, the same approach.

And so it's kind of a good fit, especially in some of the rural type ers where you can't have an MD staff all of the time.

So I knew I wanted to get into a clinician role.

When you're in nursing school, you are groomed to be a nurse practice.

You know, it's kind of the recommended procession of how it's going to be.

They just assume that it's just the next step.

And for the nurse, for a nurse to go to nurse practice school, it's easier.

It's easier as a nurse to do that.

It's more geared towards a nursing process.

The nursing theory, how we view patients is just different.

We see the family, we see the whole picture as far as resources, but that's your number one as a nurse.

For a clinician, such as a doctor or a pa, it's a different approach.

You're seeing the problem first and how you're going to fix it.

So in the er, yes, it's super important that the patient have good follow up and good community resources.

But at that moment when they come in and they have a gunshot wound, that's my number one.

It's fixing what's fixing the problem, stopping the bleed or whatever needs to happen.

So because I was in the ER for so long, I learned that approach, more of a systems approach to medicine.

So I researched and it was never even a choice for me.

It was PA all the way.

Interesting.

Okay, we're going to definitely get into more of that because, because of your background and how you're able to probably explain some things a little bit better and your kind of opinions and perspectives.

But.

So are you still nursing now?

Yes, I'm a charge nurse currently in the er.

What does that job look like as far as.

Well, actually, let's take a step back.

Like, tell me about the schooling that got you to that point because I think, and we said this a little bit beforehand, but it would be good to compare your path as going into nursing because I think a lot of people do assume like, oh, if you go into nursing you automatically go nurse practitioner.

And that's not always the case.

But nursing is great experience and in a lot of places good salary compared to things like CNA or emt.

And so it's, I think it's more feasible than people think.

But it's not traditional.

I think it's definitely right.

It's definitely not traditional.

It's not the normal step.

I get asked constantly about that, but I think because they're perceived as so separate, you know, nurse versus medical, it's perceived as so separate that people don't realize that the steps are actually very, very similar.

So you get your associates and you get a bachelor's.

And if most people who are focusing and going straight to PA, their bachelors are often in some sort of science, a heavy, heavy load of science.

The sciences that I took, I still took a bunch of sciences.

They were just more nursing sciences, but they translate to a PA application the same.

They still count.

So I started, did my, did whatever prereqs I needed to do to get into the nursing program.

My prereqs probably took me close to two semesters, maybe probably around nine, 10 months to complete everything I needed to get into the program.

Then I did one year for LPN and another year for rn.

So I was up to about two years and nine months or so.

Then I did, I took a rigorous bachelor's program.

It's supposed to be completed in about 24 months.

And I did it in 13.

I doubled up classes, I buckled down, I was still working full time.

You can absolutely.

And I had kids and a single mom, so you can absolutely do it if you want to.

So by the time I finished with my bachelor's, I was right just at four years, four years of education to have my bachelor's.

The only, the main difference for me was that I dedicated that time to school and to work.

So I still was able to support my house, I was still able to buy the things that I needed.

I made really good money during that time.

And all the while getting some of the most amazing experiences under my belt to where I feel so much more prepared to take my next step.

I knew PA was my end game.

And the travel path to PA non traditional, but it was still completely feasible.

And time wise I'm in line with everybody else that has been accepted into my cohort.

They've all have a four year bachelor's and are fixing to take this 26 month program.

And I'm in the same boat except I'm going in with around 15,000 patient care hours of hands on emergency and ICU care because I also charge in the ICU.

So it's, it's not a bad path.

No, not at all.

And that's what I think.

I was talking to somebody else who did.

She was a sonographer and did ultrasound stuff and her program was like very, it was like very interesting how her path was right in line with PA stuff.

I mean she had to do a couple extra things but she came out of school with similar things like a bachelor's, a great job in great experience.

And so compared to my biology degree, that was useless.

I mean it got you where it got where I needed to go.

But like if I, I had no, like, I mean I had lots of Plan Bs, but like it wouldn't have, it wasn't like I could walk in and get hired somewhere very easily with that.

And then I had to look for experience elsewhere also.

Right, right.

Which I just kind of was able to couple mine altogether, which.

So I was getting paid for the experience that I needed to be ready for this job.

So, you know, and it's different in different types of nursing, ER and icu.

It's a lot of critical care.

It's a lot of, I mean it's a lot of hands on down and dirty type experience.

And you learn a lot because you're not, it's not as separate.

I have some friends who are Floor nurses, which is great, but they're kind of separate from the providers.

It's more.

You're doing more like normal day to day nursing care.

When we're in the er, we're all over each other, everybody is mixed in, everybody's doing everything.

So you just.

It's like shadowing.

It's like the best type of shadowing every single day.

So it's, it's been a blessing.

Yeah.

That's so awesome.

Okay, so.

So you're still working as a nurse, I guess, up until school starts, but so what?

So was nurse practitioner ever an option for you or.

I mean, what.

So that had to be something you thought about, like.

I'm sorry.

So this is something I always say, I think to go to PA school most of the time everyone considered medical school at least thought about it at least a little bit.

I don't think that necessarily everyone who does PA thinks about nurse practitioner.

Just depending on what path you're on, like if you're not already on a nursing route, sometimes it can be a little bit of backtracking, but for you, like that, I mean, that's like a fork in the road where you could really have gone either way.

So, like what?

Like, explain that thought process and I'm sure you have friends who have and kind of what?

Yes.

Yeah.

In my current ER that I charge in, there are three or four nurses who on my shift that are currently in nurse practice school.

And like I said, you can't.

Even if you didn't want to think about it, it doesn't matter because it is so in your face as a nurse, you can't help but consider it.

And I did.

And what made the difference for me, you know, it's, it's a lot of, it's a lot of different things and it all boils down to it being the best fit, you know, that's how it boils down to.

But I started by poring over the education and the clinical process for both professions.

They said, being an ER and icu, I'm used to that approach and I've come to realize in myself that I learn best and I respond to.

But if someone's having a heart attack, you fix it.

Like it's a cause and solution type situation.

So that really enticed me.

I think the next real big part for me was I talked to nurse practitioners and PAs constantly.

I work so closely with them and I have them at my disposal as friends.

Because you're in the trenches with these people, you develop a friendship and I Could just straight ask them, not being interviewed, not being off the cuff type stuff.

What made a difference for you?

Working as a nurse, practicing PAs and being PAs, seeing nurse practice.

What do you see as and what makes you choose or wish you would have went the other way?

And most that I hear is, and most that I've seen with my own eyes is that the main difference is really the clinical aspect.

The nurse practice I've spoken to don't get a lot of procedure time.

That stuff they learn after when they get their job.

PA is completely different.

My program specifically is going to have 16, 16 months of clinicals.

That's amazing.

That is so worthwhile.

That is unbelievably helpful when you are put out into the world trying to get a job when you can say, hey, yeah, I've went through every aspect of medicine, I've done an ER rotation, I've done ICU rotations, I've done surgery rotations, family care, peds.

You're so broad scoped and well versed in those scopes that you're not starting from ground zero when you get out into the workforce.

So that makes a huge difference to me because being on the inner works of a hospital, you know, I do a lot of interviews for hiring and things like that.

The first thing you look for, number one, is experience.

And so being able to hang your hat on that is huge.

So that was a major difference for me.

And then another, probably, maybe the biggest for me is the flexibility.

I know everyone talks about that.

I feel like that's such a catch word at this point with pas is the lateral mobility.

But the way I look at it is as a nurse, I have that.

I have it.

As a nurse I can work any department.

When I decided, hey, I don't know enough about drips and ICU and I can't run events like I should.

I upped, went to icu, started working there, charged an ICU so that I could broaden my scope and then go back to er.

I could go to surgery, I could go anywhere I want because I'm not limited by my degree.

And PA is the equal to that and the provider level.

Whereas nurse prac follows the system that a doctor would as in specializing.

And if you want to go back, like someone who specializes in peds or spike and they want to, they're like, you know, change my mind, I want to go back.

They would have to go back in schooling to re specialize in critical Care or family medicine.

It's just a very.

That, that constriction.

I don't.

I don't like that because I want to find somewhere where I'm good, find my niche, that I'm.

That I'm good and I love.

I want to, you know, so that probably made, I think, the biggest difference to me to go.

To go PA instead.

Okay.

Have you had any pushback with that from your colleagues?

Yeah, yeah.

It's mostly blind pushback.

People don't.

It's mostly because they don't understand.

They don't.

It doesn't make sense to them why I would go a completely different route than, like I said, what's served up to us on a platter, you know?

And I tell them, number one, the easiest road just is not necessarily the best.

Yes, it would be easier because I'm groomed for that.

It wouldn't be easier for someone who, like, let's say you had your degree in biology and then you said, you know what?

I really want to do Nurse prep.

You're right.

It's going to be a tough road because you're going to have to go through all this extra schooling to backtrack and get the base degree that you would have to have to go in.

So for me, it's easier in that sense as I'm already ready.

I could get on right now, apply and be accepted.

The PA process, not so easy.

Not so easy.

It is a grueling application process, so I get.

Either would be confused.

But once I explained to them what I've perceived through my career as the differences, there are more on board.

So I have several nurses from my facility who now are trying to get themselves geared to a PA path out of that.

I just, I think that that shows that they understand I'm loving the career that I'm planning to go into and already trying to make.

Make changes.

So I got a little pushback, but after they hear my reasoning, they're usually pretty supportive.

Okay, interesting.

So would you.

I mean, you haven't done both, but, like, from what you've seen, do you think it's easier to get into NP school than PA school?

Like, is the process not as involved?

I mean, the PA process is super involved.

But is it less involved or like just less.

More programs, less applicants?

Like, what is the competitiveness comparison?

Right.

So if you're already a nurse, nursing, nurse practitioner, school is, yes, 100% easier because you're not saturated.

The application process is saturated with everybody and anybody.

You know what I mean?

You have to have a very specialized.

You already have to.

You have to already be a nurse, and you have to have been a nurse for.

I'm not sure the requirement.

I think it's a year now, but you have to be a nurse for a year, and then you go through an application process.

A lot of the programs are online.

The application is more like a regular, you know, getting into a regular program, like an undergrad program.

I can't explain it, but I can say that it is very, very different for the pa.

Yes, I went through trying to get my process together at the same time as a girl did for her nurse practice.

It took her less than three weeks to find out that she.

To decide she wanted to do it, apply, and be accepted.

Oh, my gosh.

Mind blowing to me because I spent months on my paper alone on one paper.

And, you know, you work on that.

You work on your personal statement, and you refine it, and then you change it, and then you refine it, you change it again, and you send it off, you know, and you get it looked at, and then you would change it again.

And it's such a process.

And then getting your volunteer hours and getting your shadowing hours, which is probably the most important thing you can do.

I learned more from, like, hitting it home.

That PA was for me, was from shadowing so much.

So that was super important.

And then you get in and you find out that you have three more essays to.

To write for each particular program you want to apply to.

And it's way, way more grueling, way more grueling of a process.

But if you really want it, it's absolutely doable.

This was my first time applying, and I got an acceptance, and I am beyond thrilled.

So when you started researching schools, did you go all in with Yale or did you apply other places, too?

So I looked at other places.

I knew I was going to have to do some classes wherever I went, but actually, I only needed one class.

One.

That's the only thing I took was one biochemistry class.

Everything else, my nursing degree and my bachelor's in science of nursing transferred over.

I do think that makes a difference.

Like my bachelor's in science of nursing, not just nursing teaching.

That's a whole different area.

So mine all transferred over.

I only had to do the one looked at several places.

You know, I live in Lubbock and Texas Tech is here and they have a big PA program.

But when I started reading on Yale, it won my whole heart.

It just won my whole heart.

I love the immersions, the way that it's handled.

Something huge for me is seed because so they have clinicals in early didactic.

And so you're starting in March.

We will start in January and in March we will go ahead and start doing clinical.

We will spend one day a week, I think it's four to six hours in a family practice type situation doing hands on assessments, doing hands on learning.

And like I said, when it comes to the job market and you're trying to say you have experience in and you're the one to hire, that is huge.

That gives me so much hands on experience as a PA student.

That's great.

So I fell in love with that.

And nobody champions their program like Yale does.

I mean, I just felt like I want to be a part of this.

I want to champion this program.

I want to graduate from here.

So I put all my eggs in that basket.

I didn't apply anywhere else.

I focused and did everything I could do.

I applied early and I found out early.

I found out I was accepted June 17th.

Nice.

I was thrilled.

Yeah.

Time to relax and not worry about it anymore.

So let's just say, like, if you hadn't gotten in, would you have maybe looked at applying to some physical programs or you think you would have held off a year and tried again?

I think I would have looked because to me it's yes, I love the Yale program, but ultimately to me it's about being a pa.

I'm ready.

I'm more confident in my practice and my abilities than I've ever been in my whole life.

I'm ready to do this.

So ultimately it's about being in the program, any program, and getting that degree and showing myself, my kids and the whole world that I am going to kick butt at this.

So I would have absolutely applied at different program.

Programs are barely now reaching their deadline, so I would have had.

That's why I applied early.

I'm grateful I didn't have to do that because Yale was my number one.

And I mean, if I. I say I would have applied, I don't know.

I really think I would have, but if not, I would have waited and reapplied with Yale again.

Yeah.

Did anything come up during that process with your interviews or anything as far as them asking about why not nurse practitioner was.

I always assume when somebody has a nursing background, like even if they don't really care, they're probably curious, like, why.

Are you going there?

Yeah.

I think kind of one of the classic type questions that should come up in an interview is why PA versus md.

So I think asking someone why PA versus nurse practice, they're a nurse, is something you should absolutely ask because you don't want to be anyone's fallback, especially with a profession like this.

You want people who are all in about pa.

So yes, it came up early and often.

So Yale does like a two step interview program.

They do a personal one and then they also do an academic one.

The personal one.

Yeah, they came up, they wanted to know why did I think about that, what made me make my decision to go a different way.

And I told them, yeah, kind of what I said here.

I think people think the NPs and PAs are very, very similar.

And they are, they are similar, but there's some major differences that for me made all the difference.

So I explained that.

I felt like that went really well.

Also my nursing experience came very much into the conversation.

We were able to have a very liquid conversation, off the paper, off normal questions, just talking about some of the really awesome experiences I've had, some of the really more extreme cases that I've seen.

We also talked a lot.

You know, nursing has afforded me a lot of liberty with my, I was able to go for cuff and I spent a month there doing like a Doctors Without Borders trip.

And I saw diseases that you would never see.

Well, you see them here, like hydrocephalus, for example, and things like that.

You see them here, but on such a small scale because we treat it and we help these people.

But I saw such advanced cases of diseases that I had never thought I could see.

And so we talked about that stuff and you know, I felt like it was nothing but strength.

They made me feel like it was, it was nothing but strength.

Yeah, I've had a few, I don't know the right word interactions with Yale Online.

I interviewed James Van Ree for the podcast and then he did a mock interview with me as my interviewer and which was fun.

And then Jane McDonald was in, was part of our pre PA conference.

But everyone I've talked like, they are so nice, they are so passionate about their program and just so like they, they just want to get, like, want to get the word out, want the best people, like, they, they're great.

So I'm like a Yale Online fan girl now because they're all so great.

But yeah, it's crazy how popular it, you know, people want to go to school there.

They, they make you feel that passion to become a pa, but to do it through them, you just know you're going to get that Yale education which Is like amazing.

And you're getting it in such a unique way.

It's just, it's so awesome.

So it is a tough crowd to go against all of these people to try to get into to any school, any PA school you are going against, everyone is qualified.

So whatever you can do to really get your application to stand out, it's only going to help you.

And you know, a nursing degree and nursing experience definitely helped me, helped me stand out, helped them understand that I'm in healthcare for the long haul.

Yes, for sure.

Was there anything else?

Did you, like, did you talk about your kids, your support system?

Like, did any of that come up?

And that's something if we should just kind of shift gears, like, because that's something I get a lot of questions about is how like I have kids, how can I go to PA school or I don't even, like, how do I even do all the stuff before going to PA school?

And yeah, I mean, it's hard, but it's doable.

I mean, it's absolutely doable.

My youngest child is six and a half years old and my oldest is 15, so I have a good range.

But I did my whole nursing program with two kids.

I did my bachelor's with all three kids.

I worked full time with all three of them and I've been a single mom that entire time.

So it's absolutely doable.

It's a lot of balance, it's a lot of planning and then it's a lot of you're grooming yourself for school, for PA school, but you're also grooming your children.

My kids, we have talks about, we have family meetings every week.

We talk about what's happening through that week with my work and with their school and everything.

They're super helpful, they're understanding, they know this is my dream and they're 100% backing me up.

It's a lot of work.

It is a lot of work.

You have to find a program that you can fit into.

If you're a two person household, my number one advice is just go.

Just go.

Because it's two to three years of hard, hard work.

But those two to three years is going to pass anyway.

So you're either going to have them pass and come out and be a PA and have your dream job and start living your dream life or you're going to come out in two to three years and wish you would have.

So just suck it up and do whatever it takes, get the loans or whatever, sacrifice the family thing that you were planning to do, sacrifice the vacation or the kids games because they're going to forgive you and you are going to have plenty of time to make it up.

And that's how I've lived this whole time is deciding, prioritizing things.

And school has been my priority to get to this point.

And now I'm so close.

I mean, 26 months, forget it.

Like, we can do 26 months and then I'm sad and I don't have to go back to school ever again.

It's not hanging over my head.

When am I going to get this done, you know, oh, I should have done this.

I should have started sooner.

I'm 36.

I'm not the youngest person going to be going into this program.

But my life, I think that's help.

I think me being older is helpful.

I have great life experience.

I've worked in an er.

So nothing.

I mean, I'm calm.

I'm just, I'm calm.

I don't get overwhelmed very easily and then.

But I'm young enough to understand the whole online program.

I did my whole bachelor's online in an accelerated program.

So I know how to balance.

It's definitely doable.

If you want to do it, there's tips and tricks to do all of it.

Yes.

And that's what I mean.

The people I've talked to who, you know are going back as a second career, who have families, have kids and either have had to uproot or haven't and have been able to work it out.

I mean, there's, and just honestly, anyone with anyone who chooses to go to PA school, there's gonna be a sacrifice somewhere.

Like, I don't know of anyone who.

Where it was like, oh, this is just easy and perfect and great.

Like somewhere there's gonna be.

And probably a lot more than one sacrifice to make it happen.

And.

But I mean, coming out on the other end, it, it is definitely worth it.

I think it's, it's just a great career and there's, you know, people talk about whether PAs are gonna go away, but they're not like, PAs are here to stay.

It's fine.

They can't afford the healthcare community cannot afford to lose pas that everywhere I've ever worked, they want more of them.

It is, it is in such demand and I'm not sure in the big, big cities, LA and New York City and you know, Dallas, like those types of areas, how, how saturated the area is.

But like here in Lubbock, I mean, I told my personal physician that I was moving on to being a PA and they were like, hey, when you're.

Out of school, there you go.

Happy to give you a job.

So that's how desperate some of these areas want PAs.

And you're so flexible, you're so versatile.

If you have such a great base of knowledge, you just, I mean, they're wanted.

They're wanted.

It's not going anywhere.

Yeah, no, I do a long term thing well.

Yeah.

So I, I think you're all set and ready and gonna be a great addition to the Yale online program.

Do you have any like reservations about it being like the most of the didactic part being online or has it been weird to try and connect with classmates or kind of normal?

No, it definitely hasn't been difficult connecting with classmates.

We have of course a Facebook group where we've all.

Once you're accepted, you come to that.

And we have kind of like helped each other through figuring out this pre work which is kind of unique because I think when you get into some of my friends who have went through a regular like a traditional in person PA program, they don't really meet their classmates until orientation Day one type stuff.

We've already gotten to know each other.

We've had lots of little zoom get togethers to, to talk and see what everybody's background is.

We are so diverse in background and experience and abilities.

It's just going to make.

I just feel like they did that on purpose because it's going to make us so well rounded where I may struggle at something, there's somebody there who is going to be able to swoop in and help and.

Well, I'm super strong in procedure.

I'm going to be able to switch in and help with that.

I mean, I don't know how many IVs I started day, but it's, it's probably close to triple digits sometimes.

Oh my gosh.

So you know, that's.

That I'm going to be there for them.

Yeah.

And so it's, I feel like we haven't had a problem connecting at all.

As far as the didactic being online.

It's.

I don't foresee any issues.

We have enough connection with the program.

It's.

And it's at this point I'm rolling in, you know, in their 3, 4 cohorts past their first one.

Yeah.

And so they've gotten the bugs and heaps figured out.

I mean, I've had nothing but good connection with them.

They've called, they've checked on us, and we haven't even started yet.

So I feel like it's going to go as planned.

I like the idea of being able to kind of control my learning environment and my time of speaking, study and taking the breaks when I want to and just staying on top of stuff.

So I don't foresee an issue with that.

And I love a challenge.

And this is definitely going to be a challenge.

Oh, you'll do great.

It flies by like, it will be the quickest 26 months of your entire life.

Some days may feel long, but at the end of it, it will feel like it flew by.

Perfect.

All right, so where.

If people have questions for you, is there anywhere they can send those either through me or to you?

Yeah, absolutely.

If they contact you, that's great.

You have all my information.

I'm also.

I. Instagram is probably the easiest way to get a hold of people these days.

So I'm.

I am on Instagram at Crystallized Underscore PA Crystal with a K. And, you know, yeah, I'd be more than happy if anyone's thinking about going PA in any routes or have questions about nursing to PA Or Yale's program, I feel free to reach out.

I'm.

I love the program.

I'm so excited, and if anything I can do to help, I would be more than happy.

Well, I'm excited to have another RN to PA to refer to, because between.

Kanan's been the only one.

Kanan Brown has been the only one that I've known of and really, like, interacted with to send people to, and he's probably like, stop sending all these people to me.

So we'll.

We'll.

We'll split them.

We'll send them to both of y'.

All.

So that's great.

Yeah.

Yes.

Well, thank you so much for reaching out.

He's a great resource.

Yes.

Yeah, his, like, YouTube stuff is great.

And so, yeah, I've sent people his way.

But, yeah, thank you so much for reaching out and volunteering to do this.

Of course.

Yes.

No problem.

It.