Start here. Seriously, if you're brand new, this is the episode.

What is a PA? What do you need to get into PA school? What should you be doing right now? I answer all of it from the ground up, because I get these questions weekly and there's no shame in being at the beginning.

Here's the honest part. This process has gotten harder. Programs get more applications every year and the numbers people are getting in with keep climbing. That's not meant to scare you, it's meant to keep you from planning around outdated advice you read on a forum in 2014.

The good news is the requirements are knowable. Prereqs, GPA, patient care hours, shadowing, letters, essay, interview. That's the whole list. It's just long.

What I cover:

• What a PA actually is and what the job involves
• Prerequisite courses and how they vary by program
• What GPA you realistically need
• Patient care experience and how much
• Shadowing, letters of recommendation, and the personal statement
• How to build a timeline instead of scrambling

Resources:

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

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

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

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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Hey there.

If you're new here or if you've been here for a while, we haven't done an episode like this in some time.

Today we're going back to the basics.

What is a pa?

What do you need to get into PA school?

What are the requirements?

What should you be doing right now?

This is pertinent to everyone, but especially if you're early in the process.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

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

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

All right, we're about to jump in to today's replay of a webinar that was back in August that really went over everything you need to know about being a PA and becoming a pa.

It was kind of a Q and A where no dumb questions were asked, any question goes, and even the most basic, and I think the people who attended had really great questions.

So if you are early in your career, high school student, early undergrad, or a career changer trying to figure it all out, this episode will be extremely helpful to you.

If you are someone who is thinking that you maybe made a mistake, like should I be doing this?

Or you kind of lost sight of why you're doing it, you or you just feel confused about the whole process because it is confusing.

This episode will also be helpful.

We're just breaking it down.

We're simplifying things and trying to make life easier.

So I hope you enjoy that.

I wanted to mention I'll refer to some resources in the episode, but if you go to the pa platform.com downloads there are tons of free resources there, worksheets, templates, healthcare experience log just to again make your life easier.

Another thing we have on there is a Resources tab and there is a PA program map.

So that is always the first thing I recommend doing if you are starting this process is figure out what schools are on your list.

So the map shows it by state.

It has every program's link straight to their website and their contact information.

So that's a very useful tool.

You may want to bookmark it or use that to kind of get a head start.

Just some helpful things.

As always, you can find everything on the PA platform dot com.

Make sure you're following me, Savannah.

On social media at the PA platform, I'm on Instagram, TikTok, a little bit of everywhere.

We have a YouTube channel as well if you prefer to watch things versus listening.

And I'm just happy you're here So I hope this makes things less confusing versus more confusing.

But if you ever have a question, please send it my way and I will try my best to point you in the right direction.

Alright, let's jump in.

And hey, don't forget that you can use the code Future PA for a discount on any service or product on the PA Platform website.

So if you need help with a pre PA counseling session, if you need a personal statement guide, that's your best place to do it.

And make sure you use the discount code.

Everything you need is in the description of this episode.

It is a extensive process and I applied to PA school.

If you're like, how did I get here?

Who are you?

I'm Savannah.

I'm a dermatology pa.

I run a website called the PA Platform.

In another life, I would be a college advisor because I love planning schedules and helping people figure out what they want to do.

But I also am very passionate about my profession.

I have been a PA now for seven years.

I feel very strongly that I chose the right profession for me.

That's not to say that PA is for everyone, but I think it is a great option if you want to work in healthcare and you really want to be directly interacting with patients and able to use knowledge to make decisions with your patients.

So I love my job, but.

But I think when I applied, which was nine years ago, 10 years ago, I would have thought that this application process would have become easier and that the schools would have said, hey, let's all get together.

And by now we know what prereqs students need, we know what tests they need, we can, you know, get all on the same page so that it's easy, easier for these applicants.

And the exact opposite has happened.

It has become more complicated to become a pa.

There are more requirements and each school is different, the timelines are different.

And so I know as an applicant that is extremely frustrating.

One of my big frustrations was that there wasn't a lot of information out there about the PA profession.

And now there's more, which is helpful, but just the process is more involved.

So we're gonna try to kind of, you know, make sure some of that's a little more clear.

So just to let you know too, okay, the next webinar will be on interview prep.

So it is interview season.

If you're early in your career, you're probably not thinking about interviews too much right now.

But if you want to join for that webinar, it'll be in September on the 16th at 8:30pm so be on the lookout for a link to that we'll post on Instagram, and I think we have that to post here in the chat also.

And then put your questions in there.

If you see someone in there as the PA platform, that is the wonderful Emily who's taking care of us in the chat.

And she'll link to things that may be helpful for you.

And then if you are here right now, I have a couple of books, ones about personal statements and ones about interviews.

So we did a special on those for y' all tonight if that's something that you're going to need coming up.

All right, so let's get to.

Let's get to it.

Okay.

And again, just put your questions in the chat if you have them.

All right, so first off, let's start with just some basic definitions.

If you think you want to be a pa, These are things that I think you should be able to define or understand or know what they are.

The first one is physician assistant.

If you want to be a PA, you should have a definition for PAs.

And this is something that does come up in interviews all the time.

So what is a pa?

If you go to the AAPA website, they have a definition there.

If you shadow a pa, you should be able to kind of form your own definition.

Shadowing multiple PAs in multiple areas and specialties will help to refine that for you a little bit.

But in general, a physician assistant is a healthcare practitioner or a medical practitioner who takes care of patients.

We're able to diagnose and evaluate patients.

We're able to do physical exams.

We're able to order labs and imaging and interpret those results and develop treatment plans and prescribe medications, all done in collaboration with a physician.

You'll notice I use some very specific terms there, and I try to use the terms that are most appropriate for right now and what are accepted right now.

When I first started, we talked about supervising physicians, but over time that's turned into more of a collaborative relationship.

PAs do not have full practice authority or independence.

We're not doctors, and so we work with physicians.

That's going to look very different depending on the specialty that PAs are in.

PAs are also able to switch specialties.

We are trained as generalists, and so we have the really unique ability to very easily and quickly change specialties if needed or if desired.

That's a huge benefit.

So that's kind of PAS in a nutshell.

In the past, PAs were also referred to sometimes as mid level providers.

That's also a term that's not really used too much.

We try not to assign levels in healthcare.

Advanced Practice providers is a more inclusive term that covers like PAs and nurse practitioners and those providers who are not doctors, but not in the same role as nurses either.

So that is kind of PAS in a nutshell and we can define that further if we need to.

The next definition, which this comes up with PA school applications, is rolling admissions.

And you may not know about rolling admissions until you get to the point of applying for PA school, but it's something to keep in mind.

So rolling admissions means that when you submit your application for PA school, as soon as your application is complete, a PA program will start reviewing your application.

If they like what they see, they're going to give you an interview.

If they like you have interviewed, they're going to give you a spot.

And so even if A deadline is October 1, if CASPA, which is the overall universal application for PA school, opens in April, if you wait until October, there may only be a couple spots left.

But if you submit in May or June and get your application in early, you're increasing your chances of getting a spot in that program and showing that you are a competitive applicant.

So rolling admissions are important to look for when you're looking at programs to see what kind of admissions that they do next.

We have PCE and hce and these are things I write about a lot on social media or on the blog.

PCE stands for patient care experience.

This is you working directly with patients.

You are hands on, you're involved in carrying out their care, their plan of care or their treatment.

These are going to be things like emt, paramedic nursing, cna, medical assistant, where you're working with the patients, kind of like a back office medical assistant.

Scribing is a gray area that falls in between PCE and hce, which is healthcare experience.

These are defined on the CASPA website, which again is the universal application.

And HCE is more.

You're working in a healthcare setting, but you're not directly contributing to a patient's care.

So these are things like transporting patients, a receptionist, front office, medical assistant, doing more paperwork, and those types of roles.

So those are important to differentiate because when you get on PA program websites, you may see that they have specific patient care or healthcare experience requirements.

When I applied to PA school, there was not a differentiation between these.

Now it is very important to make sure you have high quality pce and that's something that you want to be working on, thinking about as soon as you decide to get involved in this process, and we'll talk about that a little bit more.

All right.

The last thing I want to define is shadowing.

What is shadowing and the reason I feel like we kind of know what this is.

But when it comes to PA schools, they specifically want PA shadowing.

It is awesome to shadow other professions.

So doctors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, amazing experience.

But you do need some PA shadowing.

And when you go to shadow, I just want you to think about this being a great opportunity to learn about the profession and not necessarily to learn about medicine.

So you want to make sure that you're focusing on what that PA is doing and getting a good feel for the profession and not necessarily the surgery or the patient or whatever disease you're seeing.

Because that's something that I see a lot in personal statements and interviews where people get kind of focused on the medicine part of things.

When with shadowing, we really want it to be about the profession.

All right, so I'm going to jump over and see if there's any questions I need to answer right now.

So here's a question about MPs and PAs.

And this is something that shadowing will kind of help with.

And I also encourage you to look at your state medical board to tell the difference in PAs and NPS.

So the question is, why are NPs able to see patients and not need a signature, but PAs aren't if they're equivalent.

This is state dependent.

And you'll find very different things depending on the state.

In some states, PAS can own practices, and some states nurse practitioners can, some both can.

I'm in Georgia and we're treated completely the same.

Neither PAs or NPs can own practices in Georgia.

So we all have to have the same requirements.

We all have to have the same physician relationship.

So that is something that if you know you want to work in a certain state and you're early in this process, go ahead and start looking into that.

See if your state is more PA or more NP friendly, and that may change your path.

That may push you towards wanting to do np if it looks like there are more opportunities in your state.

But I would look and actually talk to some, especially doctors and physicians, and see what their preferences are.

Because it may be that you see a lot of jobs in one profession, but there's a strong preference for the training that comes with one or the other.

There will be a recording of this webinar sent out within 24 hours.

So if you can't save for the whole thing, no worries, you'll be able to watch it later.

And then we'll likely have it up on YouTube at some point too.

Okay, getting some good questions and okay, I want to move on.

I saw a few people in the chat who mentioned they were in high school, which I think is awesome that you are already thinking about your profession.

If you are in high school and you think, hey, I want to be in medicine, what is a pa?

Maybe this is something I want to do.

That is a great time to be considering this.

If you are in high school, there are a few things to consider.

The first thing being if you have any opportunities to get experience or training or certification or volunteering, especially in a medical field, go ahead and do it.

Go ahead and start getting involved, making sure it's something you want to do.

I know my high school offered a CNA training program and I regret so much not taking that program.

So if your high school has any options like that, go for it.

Also, think about making connections and networking even when you're in high school.

So family, friends, you never know who your neighbor's cousin's boss knows, maybe they're a pa.

So if you know that you want to be a pa, go ahead and start putting it out there.

Because if you make some connections, you may end up with a summer job or something that you're able to come home over the summer and do, or you know, somebody to talk to, somebody to shadow.

Just put yourself out there.

It can feel a little uncomfortable.

But the worst thing that happens is they say no or they don't respond.

No one's going to be mean to you.

Or even if they are, just brush it off.

It's okay, at least you tried.

So go ahead and start kind of making those connections to set yourself up for later.

Then we've got to talk about grades and courses.

So if you are doing, let's start with ap.

If you are taking AP classes, please know that most PA programs are not going to accept AP credits for prerequisite courses.

So that's going to be like your biology, chemistry.

I don't even know what else they have.

Anatomy, I don't think they have that.

But if you are taking an AP class, it's great to take it to get the experience and the knowledge.

But know that you're probably going to have to retake that in college.

So go ahead and start looking at PA programs and seeing what they want and what they require to make sure you're setting yourself up for success.

And then if you're doing any dual enrollment courses, know that those Grades that you take in high school for dual enrollment, if they are at a college level, they will be included in your GPA calculations when you go to apply to PA school school.

So you need to do well and you need to make sure that it's something you can handle.

That is a great opportunity, either with dual enrollment or AP classes to use those courses to lighten your load later.

If you can take things like political science, government, history, math, things that aren't prereqs, English, that'll make your life easier.

When you're having to take classes like Organic, then you'll be so, so much happier and your life will be so much easier if you go ahead and make those decisions.

So research your programs and kind of start planning that out.

All right.

There also are a few direct entry programs into PA school.

There are not many of these, but that means that you would apply to college knowing you wanted to be a PA and be accepted into a BSMS program.

This shortens your path by about a year.

So it'd be a five year program where you would get your Bachelor's of science and then you would go straight into PA school.

You still have to meet all the requirements.

You're still going to have to get patient care experience.

But it essentially says that if you take all these classes that are laid out for you, you do well, you'll be guaranteed an interview, and if you do well, guaranteed a spot in their program.

It's a great option if you know what you want to do.

I've had some people on the podcast before who have done that and they loved it.

They're really happy with their decisions.

So that's an option if that's something that appeals to you, that you know you want to do.

All right.

Hopefully that was not too much information and then we can move on.

But my foot's falling asleep and I have to rearrange.

I'm sitting in a chair that is not great for this.

All right, so I see a lot of people in the chat who are like freshmen and sophomore kind of early college.

And I think it's great again that you're, you know what you want to do.

The paea, which is the kind of Education association for PA Education, they came out with a study that said that the majority of people don't decide they want to be PAs until their junior or senior year of college or after college.

I'm really interested to see how that changes in the next few years because I feel like there are more and more people now who are figuring out they want to be PAs before they get to school.

And I think that makes it so much easier if you already know you want to do that versus waiting and finding out later.

But even as a non traditional applicant, PA is a great option.

And that's really how it was designed for a little history on the PA profession.

It was designed in the 70s as a way for people who are coming out of the military to basically, they were trained as PAs, but they were called corpsmen in the military.

And then they came home and there was nowhere to transfer their skills.

They weren't doctors, and they didn't want to go to med school because they were adults and they didn't want to wait and go through all that training.

And so there was a physician at Duke and he said, his name is Dr. Eugene Steed.

He made the profession of PAS, and he said, listen, these people already have medical training.

They want this abridged version where they're trained as generators.

And he created the profession.

Since then it's grown.

But if you think about it, that's a fairly new profession.

So if you read back in history, we've always had doctors, we've always had physicians.

People know what physicians are.

We've always had nurses.

But PAs are still a very new profession.

So don't get discouraged when you hear people talking about the future of the profession and what it's going to look like or if it's going away because it's new.

And so PAs are still somewhat finding their place in medicine and figuring out where we fit in.

Don't be discouraged.

Okay, so getting into college, when you get to college, so what's the first thing that make you do when you get to college?

Right.

Pick a major.

So let me know in chat what Yalls majors are.

Mine was biology, which is super boring.

And honestly, if I could go back, I would choose a different major.

I would not choose biology again, even though I think it's great.

And if that's your love and your passion, go for it.

But for me, I like projects and papers more than I like tests.

And if you choose a science heavy major, you're basically just going to be taking a lot of tests.

I have friends who are health promotions majors or public health majors.

And some of the classes and the projects they got to do were so cool.

Or even my marketing and PR friends, I thought they were just did such cool stuff that could translate to medicine.

So a big part of me wishes that I could just have chosen something else and, you know, taken the classes I needed.

I would still choose pa, but I would have gone about it in a different way.

So I love that y' all have some different majors.

Yes, Healthcare administration is an amazing one.

Health science, nutrition is a great major.

Kinesiology, yeah, you are making really good choices.

But any major works.

And in my class we had tons of different majors.

We had math, accounting, we had some acupuncture, lots of biology, some history, all kinds of stuff.

And so I just encourage you to look at what your school has because they may have some very interesting majors.

Again, on the Pre PA Club podcast, I've had some people who have chosen school school specifically for certain majors or found really interesting majors at their school.

One person, I remember, not sure of her name right now, but she, her school had this really cool ultrasound program.

So she was able to get her bachelor's and get certified as an ultrasound technician, but it was very specialized.

So she was one of like five people in her state who was able to do this certain kind of ultrasound because she did the extra training for through college.

And I just thought that was so cool.

So make sure you just look at your options and seeing what's out there.

When you first are starting to look into PA stuff, make sure that you are looking at the programs you want to apply to specifically.

You know, look at their prereqs, their requirements, their deadlines, their timelines, and see and make sure that what you're doing is going to line up with those.

I would love to say that every advisor out there is awesome and knows all about PAs, but I think that's not the case still.

I think there's still a lot of advisors who aren't as familiar with the profession.

So sometimes you're gonna have to take it into your own hands and do your own research and make your own plan planning out your courses, plan out your experience.

This was a while ago, but my advisor actually did not even know that anatomy was required for PA school.

We went back and forth.

I remember at our meetings, like fighting like, I need anatomy because I was a biology major and it wasn't required for PA school or wasn't required for my major.

I couldn't even get into the class at uga.

They would not let me in because so many other majors needed that class.

So I ended up having to take it at home at a different school over the summer just because I couldn't get in.

And my advisor did not believe me that that anatomy was required for PA school.

So I hope that y' all have better advisors or more knowledgeable ones, but Know that you may have to do your own research.

So look at the program websites.

Contact them.

There is so someone at every single PA program dedicated to answering your questions and helping you figure things out.

Sometimes the answers will be general if it's something that is on the website.

But if you need help, a school is most likely going to be willing to help you.

And honestly, if they're not, do you want to go there?

So, you know, use your resources and use those contact informations on the website.

We have a PA program map that has everyone's contact information on it.

And so that's a helpful, easy place to go.

But it should be on the program websites too.

Okay, so grades are extremely important.

If you are early in your college career, keep your focus on your grades, even if that means taking a gap year or taking an extra one to two years.

In the long run, it's worth it and you'll be okay.

You'll have more time, you'll save more money, you'll get more experience, and you'll have an easier time getting into PA school if your grades don't suffer because you're trying to do it all.

There's a lot.

My husband went to medical school, so we both went to uga.

We were both biology majors.

He was pre med, I was pre pa and I had to do so much more than him just because the requirements for PA school were so crazy.

So he did not have to take anatomy or physiology.

He didn't have to work in patient care.

He did research.

I didn't have to do do research that was more med school heavy.

But it was crazy that I had to take all these classes just to get into PA school.

But they expect that when you get there, you're ready to jump in.

So that's why the prereqs are the way they are.

And the most typical prereqs you're going to have to take are General Biology, one and or two, General Chemistry, one and or two, Organic Chemistry, usually just one and or biochemistry, psychology, microbiology, Anatomy, physiology, statistics, or biostatistics.

Some schools are very specific.

Those are the main ones.

Sometimes genetics, sometimes there's crazy ones turning like nutrition or developmental psych.

It just depends.

And so that's where you really have to look at what your school offers, what the schools you want to apply to want.

And you need to look at expiration dates.

So that's something else you need to plan out.

Especially if you know you're going to take a gap year, make sure that the school you're Applying to doesn't have a crazy expiration date.

If they want all of your prereq courses within five years, you may not want to take too many of them freshman year because that really only gives you a year to apply and get in without having to retake class classes.

I feel like I'm throwing a lot of factors at you to consider, and maybe you've thought of this before, maybe not.

Hopefully this is not overwhelming.

I hope it's not.

Someone in the chat asked about substituting classes.

When it comes to substituting classes for PA school prereqs, most schools will say no.

You can ask them, but if they have something specific listed on their website, usually they want that course.

And this is because the ARCPA that accredits PA schools is very strict.

And so they have to make sure there are standards in place that make it equal for all applicants.

So they can't really adjust standards for certain students.

So if you have questions about if something is accepted, always contact the program directly and ask them if it's not spelled out on the website.

Okay.

I am regretting leaving my water somewhere.

Y' all doing good.

Not too overwhelmed.

I promise.

We'll get to questions.

Okay.

So we're gonna keep our grades as the focus.

Okay.

And then we're also gonna start thinking about and looking for opportunities to volunteer in shadow.

If you are early in your college career, one of the best things you can do is volunteer consistently throughout school.

That doesn't mean every day, that doesn't even mean every week.

That means even once a month.

Getting involved with something that you're passionate about and that you care about, that you're going to do continuously, that's going to show programs that you are dedicated to your community and whatever, you know, passion you like.

So for me in college, I got involved freshman year with a couple things.

So I was in a small group through campus ministry called Wesley foundation at uga.

And then I became a leader for that group sophomore and junior year.

And so that was a weekly commitment.

Senior year I led a women's small group.

And so that was also a weekly commitment.

I was involved with a group that mentored some of the inner city students.

So every week, week or every other week, I would go pick up a little 8 year old girl and we would go do something.

We would, you know, do crafts or go out to eat or just hang out.

We would do homework just to give her mom a break and for us to hang out and me to get to know her.

So we did that for two or I did that for two years.

I guess that was junior and senior year.

And then I remember, think about this.

I did mission trips.

They weren't medical.

I went to Jamaica.

No.

And did some building there.

I went on a mission trip to Amsterdam.

I was just involved with different things.

They had different events in Athens.

But the one time events are not going to be as important as the things that you do continuously.

And those are the things that are going to come up when you're at your interview or talking to your programs.

I did hospice volunteering for a year where every week I went and visited with hospice patients.

I had two specific patients I saw.

And so just find something that you enjoy, that you, that fits your schedule, that you can make work, because that is going to look better than waiting until senior year and doing a couple one day events.

So the more that you can be committed, the better.

All right.

Shadowing Always be looking for opportunities.

Everyone you talk to, everyone you meet.

Connections are the best way to get set up for shadowing.

Because if you know someone, they're more likely to let you come in and observe them versus being some crazy random person who calls for me.

I see naked patients all day long and they really don't want another person in the room.

So it's very hard for me to let someone come in who I don't know and just say like, oh, yeah, that's cool, cool.

So having that connection of someone you know will make that a little bit easier to get your foot in the door.

Also if you don't have connections, cold call offices.

That's what I did in Athens.

We.

This was back in the time where we actually had phone books.

And I took the phone book and I called every single medical office in Athens, Georgia to see if I could find shadowing hours.

And out of everyone, one office called me back, um, and said I could shadow the other.

There was one other one that wanted a resume, but they never called me back.

But the one office I shadowed was a dermatology office and I ended up working in dermatology.

So it was a great kind of foot in the door and opportunity to find out that that was something I liked.

You just never know.

And so it's going to take some effort.

It's not going to be easy.

But once you kind of start to get those opportunities, then those PAs may know other PAs and can kind of help you out.

I do recommend shadowing other medical professionals just to be well rounded and make sure that PA is what you want to do.

But you do need PA Shadowing hours for PA school specifically.

Okay.

The other thing you want to start thinking about very early on is who's going to write your letters of recommendation.

Look at your schools and what they require.

The most common requirements are a PA letter, an MD letter, a professor letter, or academic letter, a supervisor letter, which is usually in a workplace or patient care setting.

And then I recommend a volunteer letter as well.

You can have five letters in caspa and this is something that gets people every year because they don't have a professor or they don't have a PA or they don't have an md.

And if you can't check off all the requirements for a program, you're not going to be considered when your application comes in.

In most cases it's going through a process where they're checking off to see if you meet everything.

And if you don't, you're automatically weeded out.

So if you don't have that PA letter or MD letter or professor letter, they're not going to see your application.

I ran into this problem when I applied to VA school because at UGA all of our science classes were 300 people.

And so.

So I didn't know any science professors.

I ended up asking a random biochemistry professor, I don't remember his name, to write me a letter just because I heard he would.

And I'm sure it was not a great letter, that it was, you know, generic.

He knew nothing about me.

I gave him my resume and personal statement.

And looking back, I wish that I had specifically taken a smaller science class with the purpose of getting to know the professor to get a letter and plan that out.

So that's something that you want to kind of have to start thinking about and looking at.

How did you get an MD letter?

Usually if you're working in a medical setting, you're going to be working around physicians.

So that's, you know, kind of showing that you've been involved in a patient care position.

And sometimes those are interchangeable with like PA or MD letter.

So just double check or do what the schools require when it comes to those.

Okay, I got a question.

So do you have to be certified to find medical assistant jobs?

This is state dependent.

So if you are in some states you can work as a medical assistant and be trained on the job.

Other states require you to go through a certification program.

There are some online certificates.

I have one if you go to the pa platform.com listed on the homepage that I've had really good reviews from students on.

So that's a good option.

If you can't go to a program, CNA is another program that's a little bit quicker.

I did a CNA program and it was.

I had to drive from Athens to Atlanta, which was like an hour and a half every Saturday for three months.

And then I did my clinicals during spring break and it was just a lot.

And so that was so I could work as a cna.

Because if you're going to work for a big hospital or organization, you most likely will need to be certified for them to hire you.

If you're in a private practice, you can usually get trained on the job.

So like my, my past two, three medical assistants have all been uncertified.

We just trained them there and they were all pre health, pre PA students, which is awesome.

So, yeah.

So in Georgia, you do not have to be certified to be a medical assistant.

Okay, let's talk about standardized tests and then we'll get to questions.

And I saw some questions about standardized tests.

I would not even start thinking too much about standardized tests, which for PA school is typically the GRE and now the PA catch until junior or senior year, about six months before you're going to apply to PA school.

So at that point the requirements most likely won't change for the programs you're applying to.

So you're good to go there.

And then you can start figuring out what your schedule is going to look like and making a study plan.

The GRE scores are good for five years.

PA CAT scores are good for two years.

So you'll want to make sure that you're planning out enough time to study, take the test, and have it good for your application so that it doesn't expire.

There are lots of ways to study for this.

My favorite is qbanks.

That's what I used in PA school to make sure that I knew what I was learning and could actually apply it, which was different from what I did in college when I tried to memorize everything.

So Roche Review has a great QBANK for the PA cat.

There are tons of GRE study resources too.

But you, you really just have to look at what schools are requiring.

You don't necessarily have to 100% plan on taking the PA cat.

I think right now like 30 out of 300 programs are requiring it.

I could see that being a standard, more of a standard, if the research holds up, that the PA CAT is a better indicator than the GRE of success in PA school and on the pants.

And that's the goal.

So the GRE is a Strategy test.

It's not testing your knowledge.

The PA CAT is different because it tests your knowledge on the primary prerequisite courses for PA school.

So the goal is to make sure that you're really prepared for PA school and then helping you identify areas where you may be weaker so that then once you get to PA school, you do better and you pass boards and you stay in the program.

Right now there's about a 6% attrition rate, which means a dropout rate for PA schools.

And they don't want that.

They want everyone to do well.

And that's why they keep fine tuning these prerequisites and these requirements to try to get applicants who are going to be the best fits for their program and not contribute to that attrition rate.

Okay, hopefully that made sense.

But yeah, usually studying for like three to six months is ideal.

GRE is a little bit.

You can probably do one to three months.

If you have questions about any of this, the best way to kind of find more information is to just search the PA platform and whatever you're looking for.

The PA platform, gre, the PA platform, PA Cat.

There's going to be tons of blog posts and podcasts and videos if you need more information on one particular subject.

Okay, let's get to some questions.

I covered, I think everything I had notes on, so we have some time.

If everyone's like feeling overwhelmed, let me know.

I'm sorry.

Oh, is it still possible to go directly into PA school after college?

Yes, there are plenty of applicants who go straight from college into PA school.

That's what I did.

I don't regret it.

I think if you feel ready and you've completed the requirements and you get accepted, go for it.

If you want to take a gap year, great.

Gap years are also great.

You get to save money, you get more experience, you get a break.

For me, I was still in school mode.

I felt ready to take on PA school, and so I'm happy that I made that jump straight into PA school.

Funding for PA school.

So one thing I would encourage you to do, even as an undergrad would be to go ahead and start applying for scholarships.

There are so many scholarships out there, and I think a lot of them don't even get that many applications or essays.

Sometimes there's, you know, just a paragraph you have to write.

So look for scholarships.

Make that something you just do periodically.

There are lots of specific ones out there for pre health students.

And that is one regret that I have is that I didn't look for scholarships more because that may help once you get to the stage of PA school when you have to take out loans, if you've had more help during undergrad.

Okay, should we be thinking about writing our personal statements already?

That's good.

That's a good question.

So you here's my advice for personal statements.

Go ahead and start a note on your phone or a Google Doc or however you keep.

Stuff a journal, if you won't lose it, where you are writing down memorable patient encounters, memorable moments, things that stand out to you, good days, bad days, hard days, just things along your journey.

Kind of a journal that you can pull from later.

Because when you sit down to a blank page of paper and are trying to write your personal statement, you're probably going to have some writer's block.

But if you already have those moments to pull from, it'll make it a lot easier.

We also have website or brainstorming worksheets on the PA platform.

Website you can use.

But I wouldn't really start working on your personal statement until probably six months before you're going to apply.

But I would recommend having it done and ready to submit when you're ready to apply.

How important are volunteer hours for being accepted to a program?

It depends on the program.

So some programs are going to put a big emphasis on volunteer hours, some aren't as much.

My biggest tip is to look at a school's accepted stats.

If they list volunteer hours, you're going to know they put an emphasis on that.

If their GPA is really high for their average accepted students, you're going to know that's what they emphasize.

Look at their patient care averages and see how many hours there are.

And also keep in mind those numbers can be skewed, but that helps you identify how you stand up to the competition and what that school is really looking for.

Okay, in order to be well rounded as an applicant, there's a lot of juggling we need to do.

How do you recommend managing all of this?

That is where I think choosing one area to focus on, so grades and then looking at yourself and looking what you need the most.

Do you need more patient care or do you need more volunteering?

Are you trying to get what is easiest to get right now or what you actually need and really just take it one step at a time.

And again, know that if it takes a year or two or three to get there and you have to take those extra years, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that long.

And it's okay.

I'm doing biology, but I don't know if I should change it to health sciences.

Would that decrease my chances of acceptance?

Your major, whatever your major is really does not matter for PA school.

It just matters that you have the prereqs and the other requirements and the grades.

So pick whatever major you want to pick.

Yeah, that's.

I like, feel very strongly about that.

Let's see.

Trying to find shadowing during the pandemic.

It is hard right now and I realize that.

I think just keep trying to.

So keep reaching out.

Make it something you're doing regularly, either, you know, weekly, monthly, just so that you are staying on top of it.

Things are opening up and then they're closing, they're opening up again.

So if you are trying to find shadowing, just keep looking for it.

Do virtual shadowing.

I think it's a good substitute.

I don't know how long schools are going to accept that, and not all schools are accepting it now, but I think just take any opportunity you have and keep looking for new opportunities.

Okay.

I'm going into my junior year of College.

I'm only 18.

Oh my gosh, Go you.

Congrats.

Is this going to limit me from meeting all these requirements in undergrad?

I don't think so.

I mean, if you, like, are getting your experience and everything that you need, go for it.

We actually had someone when we started our program.

She had just turned 21.

And so.

And so then when we graduated, she had just turned 23 and she was our youngest person because she had gone to college early.

So you can do it.

People do it.

I say go for it if you know what you want to do.

What are good study tips or websites that help you learn the information instead of just memorizing it?

So I really encourage you, if you are trying to figure out your best learning style, take a learning style test.

There are tons of them online.

But that'll help you to identify what kind of learner you are.

And you're gonna have to experiment.

I am not a group studyer.

I can't study in groups.

I tried it again when I got to PA school and it still did not work for me.

So I know that about myself.

I have to apply it.

And the best way for me to do that is with, like I said, QBank.

So like question and answers.

So if you basically have something that you answer a question and then it shows you the answer and why it's right or why it's wr, I think for me that is the most helpful in making sure I understand it.

If it just told me right or wrong, that wouldn't really be as helpful.

But I don't like specific websites.

If you're a visual learner, there are so many options like sketchy, PA osmosis.

There's another one, Picmonic, that have visual aids that can help you kind of remember things.

So, you know, use those if that's your.

Your style.

I'm a note taker, but in PA school, I really didn't have time to write everything out, so I had to get used to using, like, computer notes and typing things out more.

But taking those tests I think will help you kind of figure that out.

Okay.

Would working as a phlebotomist be a good way to get pce?

It depends on the program, but typically, typically phlebotom is a good option for patient care experience.

Okay.

I have a professor I've developed a strong relationship with and would provide an excellent letter of rec for apps.

However, I'm a few years out from applying with programs and will be transferring next year.

Would it be appropriate to ask for a letter to be written now so I can apply to CASPA later on?

That is a great question and something I should have covered.

Okay, so letters of recommendation cannot be saved by you or submitted ahead of time.

If you have someone that you know you want to write you a letter of recommendation, ask them to write it and save it for you and then keep in communication and keep that relationship up if you still want that letter.

Also, it's okay if you change your mind and find somebody different or better to write you a letter, but it's best to ask for it when you are still in relationship with that person versus showing up out of the blue a couple years later.

And if they already have done it or have it saved, they can submit it for you if needed.

I think a mosquito bit my head.

Did y' all see a mosquito on my head?

It's that.

Sorry.

It's probably gonna get really big.

Okay.

Oh, this is a good question.

What experiences in your undergrad best prepared you for PA school?

I think.

Okay.

Academically, I think organic chemistry prepared me for failing the most and feeling defeated because I had those same feelings during pharmacology and PA school.

The class that prepared me the most, I think actually my psych classes prepared me the most for PA school because I felt really good about the psych part Once I got to PA school and I had taken some extra classes, so those were helpful, as well as anatomy and physiology.

If you take any extra anatomy and physiology, I think Those are helpful.

I think hospice volunteering was very helpful just because that was something I didn't have experience with, just kind of that patient population.

And so I thought that was just a really unique experience.

And then being a CNA was great experience.

I worked at a rehab hospital and we had basically kind of like three different units that was like a neuro rehab unit, a regular rehab unit, and then like a stroke unit, I think.

And so I wasn't on that one as much, but I got to really get involved on all aspects of patient care because I was doing like daily care.

I was helping with patients as they arrived at the hospital and as they were discharged.

And so I kind of got to be with patients from like start to finish.

And so that was really cool.

And I think that's the first time that I really experienced teamwork in medicine because even though I was a cna, I was interacting with the doctors.

Each day they would ask me how patients were doing.

There were nurses I was working with.

And so we really got to all work together to make sure our patients were taken care of.

So that was really the first time I really saw that in action.

That wasn't shadowing.

And I did have some really great shadowing opportunities too.

But I think each different thing I did helped make me more prepared for PA school and helped to confirm that it was what I wanted to do too.

Okay, so somebody said, I said that it's easy to change specializations.

How does that work?

Do you take an exam or do you just change?

So you just change it.

I actually did an Instagram post on this today and there will be another one soon too about it.

But PAS can change specialties and it's as easy as you just change specialties.

So you just decide that you want to do something else.

You may have to do some training.

I've been in derm for seven years.

If I decide I want to do cardiology or something, I would definitely need training for that and I would need to do a lot of refreshing.

But I think if you want to work in different areas, PA is a great option because you can have that flexibility until you find really the niche and what you want to be in.

Okay, should volunteer hours be healthcare related or not?

They do not have to be.

I think just choosing something that you're passionate about, that you enjoy will be more beneficial than choosing something just because you feel obligated or because it's patient care related or healthcare related.

When you get to an interview and they ask you about your volunteer experience, they're going to be able to tell if you were really passionate about it or if you were not.

So choose something you really like and enjoy.

And maybe that's the people you're working with.

Maybe that's the group of people, the community, or what you're able to do and give back.

But that could be an animal shelter.

That could be.

You know, I've seen really creative things.

I remember during one mock interview, I had someone who actually created a, like, beauty program for patients in cancer treatment.

So she got with kind of the breast cancer treatment centers in her area and would have like estheticians and makeup artists, like, do these women makeup and help them get wigs or as their hair grew back, like, do their hair for them.

I just thought that was so cool.

So it wasn't really healthcare related, but then it kind of was.

But it was really just something she was passionate about and I just thought it was so neat.

So I don't know.

I think if you can.

Can really tap into that, it'll.

It'll be more meaningful.

Okay.

What do you think about transferring from a community college with prereqs done to a state school to finish out your education?

Sure, if that's something that you want to do, be able to explain why you made that decision, but go for it.

Most schools aren't going to have an issue with community college courses, so that's up to you if that's something you want to do for whatever reason, but no issue.

Do you think the pre PA membership with AAPA would be helpful or is it best to wait until you become a PA student?

So.

Well, the good news is if you're a pre PA member and you get into PA school, they automatically upgrade you to a PA student member.

But it's a great way to show advocacy for the profession.

And that's something that I would look at the program websites of where you're applying and see if advocacy is a big deal to them.

Some schools will, you know, go to AAPA events and it's a big deal.

So it may look better for those schools to show that you have this membership and that you're advocating for the profession already and that may be more meaningful to them or the difference between you and another student.

So is it 100% necessary?

No.

Is it helpful?

Yes.

All right, I think this will be the last one because this is a good question.

When did you realize you wanted to become PA and how did you feel?

So I spent all of freshman year wrestling with this decision.

Like I made so many Lists.

I did so much research.

I looked at every single profession having to do with medicine and science that I could.

And ultimately I decided I wanted to work with patients.

I didn't really want to be a nurse because I just didn't really feel like that was the best fit for me.

I was a year into my biology degree, and it would have kind of been backtracking to go that route.

And I was kind of down to, like, PA versus MD and at that point, I had classes for both, was kind of on track to do either one.

And I went home for the summer after freshman year, and I shadowed.

And it was a unique shadowing opportunity because I actually got to shadow a PA and a doctor who worked really closely together.

They worked in hospital, hospitalist and wound care medicine, and we went to multiple hospitals.

Sometimes I was with the PA someth, sometimes I was with both.

And in doing that, I just felt very strongly that the PA profession made sense for me.

I saw myself in the pa.

Her name was Megan.

She was awesome.

The doctor was awesome, too.

But I just, like, loved her confidence.

I loved her relationship with the patients, her relationship with the doctor and how they bounced ideas off each other and how he supported her and she helped him.

And I just thought it was.

It was perfect.

I was like, okay, this is me.

Like, that is where I fit into medicine.

And so I just felt very confident about it.

And then shadowing more confirmed that and researching more, and I really have had no regrets.

There have been minimal times early on in my career where I saw something where I was like, oh, I wish I had residency, because I would have seen this, or I would have known what that was.

But ultimately, like, I.

There's a lot of self learning, and medicine, you're never going to learn it all or know it all.

And so you're always going to be learning regardless.

So.

I have had great doctors teach me, and I love learning.

I'm going to a conference next month.

Maybe virtual.

Who knows that?

I just love, like, sitting at lecture.

Like, I go to every single one because I just love it.

So I don't.

You don't have to have this, like, major moment or dramatic moment.

It can be a process of deciding you want to do this, and that's totally okay.

So just know that.

All right, we're gonna wrap up.

The replay will go out in about 24 hours.

I'm gonna go chug a bottle of water, and I hope to see y' all at the interview webinar.

If you have any questions, feel free to send them on Instagram or email or post in the Pre PA club and I'll try to get to those and answer and I hope this was helpful.