An Instagram Live Q&A, recorded and cleaned up for the feed.

I'd just gotten back from the AAPA Conference, so a lot of this is about networking and why the connections you make now matter more than you think. Then I got into the PA versus doctor comparison that will not die.

What I cover:

• Why networking early actually changes your options later
• What I took away from the AAPA Conference
• Finding mentors who will stay in your corner
• The misconceptions people still have about what PAs do
• Why comparing PAs to physicians misses the point
• Your questions, answered straight

Resources:

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

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

One-on-one pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Welcome to episode 37.

Get ready for a little flashback Q and A.

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.

Hey, guys.

Savannah, here I am, your host, if you don't know that, of the Prepa Club Podcast.

And thank you so, so much for joining me today, and I'm really excited to be able to share with you a flashback to a Q and A I did on Instagram Live quite a while ago.

I think this was actually back in October.

But there's tons of great information and I figured it would be helpful to put it on the podcast in a form where you could listen and where it would be there all the time, since Instagram deletes things after about 24 hours.

So I'm really excited to share that with you.

I hope everyone has had a great week so far.

And we're coming up.

Gosh, we're halfway through May, so if you're working on your caspa, hopefully you're kind of trucking along there.

I know we've had some really great questions in the Pre PA Club Facebook group.

People have already submitted.

Don't let that stress you out.

If you haven't yet, it's okay.

But it's definitely that season.

Coming up is the AAPA Conference in New Orleans, and I'm so sad I'm not going to be there as the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

There's going to be so many PAs there, so many great PAs from social media.

And yeah, I'll be following along with them and really jealous that I'm not there with them.

But maybe one year I'll make it when I'm not super pregnant.

But yeah, so make sure you're following along on social media.

Follow me, the PA platform follow and I'll tag people who are posting about the conference so you can follow along.

One of our coaches, Nan, her Instagram is mpersan pa. She is actually part of the House of Delegates, and she's been sharing some awesome information about legislation for PAs.

And to be honest, that's stuff that I don't even understand that well.

So we're gonna try to get her on here to talk about that a little bit at some point because I know it's something a lot of people have questions about.

Let's jump into our Q and A.

It should be fun.

Okay, so I wish y' all could see this stand that I'm using because my Husband raked it from a guitar stand to hold my phone.

And it is so janky.

Like, it's like.

It's really bad.

Like, really, really bad.

So, yeah, I apologize for that.

But let's grab an extension cord.

But, yeah.

Thanks, everybody, for joining.

I'm excited to answer questions and just kind of whatever you guys want to talk about tonight, let's talk about it.

I've been in Vegas and Houston, so if anybody's tuning in from Texas.

That was my first time in Texas.

I did not necessarily see much of it.

I had a lot of food, which was delicious.

My friend from PA School, Danielle, actually had a baby.

And I hadn't seen Danielle since.

Well, I saw her this summer for a baby shower, but I had never seen her house.

And so I really wanted to go out there and just kind of see her house and catch up.

That's one of my favorite parts about PA School is just, like, the friends you meet.

So we hung out.

We ate a lot of really good food.

I got to hold her sweet little baby.

I can't lie.

I don't know if my husband's watching, but there's, like, some serious baby fever over here.

And, yeah, he was adorable.

If you might have seen him on my story.

Benjamin.

So cute.

All right, we are all good now.

Unless my phone falls, and it might.

So just so you know, we all, like, make sure nobody said anything.

I don't see any questions or anything.

Okay.

Hey, gal.

And so, yeah, so I was in Houston Thursday, and then Friday I went to Las Vegas for what is called an ad board, which is really interesting.

So I'd never been a part of one of these before, but basically, one of the drug companies invited me to come and kind of learn and talk and kind of discuss their drugs.

And so it's called advisory board, and they just.

Everyone calls it an ad board for.

For short.

But it was basically, they just asked us questions about their medicines and what we like about and what we don't like about them and just how.

How we use certain things and what it works for patients.

And so I think drug companies get a bad rap, but I think that they really do want to do what's best for the patient.

Obviously, it's a business.

They are trying to make money, too.

But at the end of the day, they want patients to have medicine that's the best, and sometimes that's branded medicine.

It's really frustrating as a PA when there's a patient, and I want them to have a certain medicine.

And I'm being told by an insurance company that they can't have it because of certain reasons.

And sometimes they'll recommend another medicine, but it's something that is completely inappropriate.

It's not even something the patient should have or it doesn't even treat what I'm trying to treat.

And so action.

Again, I don't know what's going on.

My husband might be playing video games.

I don't know if that really affects this, but it might.

But yeah, so it was really.

It was a cool experience.

Anyone who lives out west I to be.

I'm probably gonna have to tell my husband to stop.

So what is happening?

But yeah, my lips were dry, my nose was dry, my skin was dry, my hair looked awesome.

No humidity like in Georgia.

But yeah, it was.

It was a little bit rough.

So.

And I was only there for 24 hours.

So last night I took the red eye from Las Vegas into Atlanta, which is only a three and a half hour flight.

It's really not bad.

And then I drove from Atlanta back home.

And then I slept some.

Yeah, it was, it was really cool.

It was a little eerie or strange being there after what happened a couple weeks ago.

You could kind of still see where that had occurred.

And security was definitely amped up at both the airports and the hotels.

Just the airports across the board.

I've never had to show my ID with a boarding pass before, but now we had to do that.

I feel like they'd gotten really lax with liquids and carry ons and like we had to take them out, had to take laptops out, had to take my Kindle out.

They're just being a little bit more strict.

So if you're flying anytime soon, just know that they might be strict with you.

But if anyone has PA questions, let's talk about them.

Pre PA questions.

Questions about my ad board and what that was like.

It was really cool.

I got to meet up with some PAs that I know or that I've met last.

I never met before.

And so that was really, really cool.

Just to hear how other people practice, talk about before and I'll try moving again.

But yeah, so it was really cool.

I think it's really important to get to know people in your field and it's neat because Durham is a very small, small, small world.

And so it's really nice to be able to see the same faces over and over.

And hey, if by any chance.

But yeah, so it was really neat.

I really enjoyed my time there.

Okay, so I have a question.

People think I'm settling because I want to become a pa. What are your thoughts?

This is an interesting question, and maybe someone else will chime in about this, because I was just having a conversation about this with my husband, who, if he wants to come down and address this, he can feel free.

So this is a tough question because you only.

You can decide what you want to do, whether you want to be a PA or an MD or if anyone in my household is downloading anything or doing anything or knows how to fix this, please let me know.

But, yeah, so I think you can only make that decision, and it's gonna take spending time looking at both professions or all professions, just to see what you want to do.

And if you strongly feel that becoming a PA is what you want to do, the right choice for you, whatever reasons that may be, then you just have to do it and not worry about what everyone else says.

Even now, as a pa, I have people all the time saying things like, well, when are you gonna go back and finish becoming a doctor or get your doctorate or are you a medical doctor yet?

And so people really don't understand the way that PA education works and the PA profession works.

And it's a long time.

I see.

But do I wish I had that training?

Sometimes, yeah, I do.

But it's up to me to learn it and ask questions and talk to my supervising physician.

I like having a super supervising physician.

Do I think I could have gone to med school?

I think I could have.

I think I would have had to probably retake some chemistry.

I don't think it would have been the easiest thing for me.

But PA school wasn't easy either.

I mean, it was really intense and at times, very difficult.

It's all about your own decision.

And that's going to take talking to PAs and MDs and seeing who's happy with their job, what they like, what they don't like.

Which brings me to this next question.

Nobody talks about this, but what is something you dislike about the PA profession?

Oh, and I think it is something that you still have a pa. What?

A pa. You're just.

I don't know why I'm fidgeting with this coaster, but.

So you have to be okay with that and be.

And this is something in a podcast episode I did with Dr. Ryan Gray from Medical School Med School HQ.

Medical School HQ.

We talked about this a good bit, and I think, yeah, you just have to have to be okay with that.

As far as my job in general, I love working in Durham, but one thing that's tough is that it is a scheduled job.

So it's not like I can just take off whenever I want because I have a lot of patients scheduled.

Usually on my schedule, there's 30, 35 patients.

And so I can't just decide I want to go on vacation.

I have to plan those things really far in advance.

And so that's a little bit difficult.

Some of my classmates work in the er and they just do prn and so they just pick up shifts when they want to, and then they do whatever else they want all the other time.

So I feel like that's cool, and sometimes I envy that, but I don't think I would trade my job for anything.

People think I'm really young, and I get asked about that a lot, but.

But again, it doesn't really bother me.

I just kind of respond.

All right, thoughts on student loans and debt after PA school.

Were your payments very high?

So I went to a public school, first of all, which is important because tuition was much, much cheaper than a private school.

And so that helped me to not have as much loans.

And I took out basically the max of federal loans that you could have.

So I took out about.

This is pretty, like, humbling.

I took out about 45,000, and by the time I graduated with interest, we were at about 75.

So yikes.

Yeah, that was like a shock to me.

But I think I went into it, some of my classmates just decided to pay the minimum payments and which I think was around like 200, $300 a month.

But I decided, like, I want to get rid of this.

And so I.

If I, like, did something on the side, if I babysat, I put that towards my loans because I wanted to get them paid off as soon as possible.

And I can say that mine are paid off.

I've written some blog posts about that, and it was such a great feeling to get rid of those loans.

Gosh.

So most students do take out loans.

It's not uncommon unless you have, like, a spouse who can pay for you or a great college fund or generous parents.

I mean, my parents are super generous, but they just couldn't.

What's called the hope scholarship and living expense.

Coming out of undergrad, I didn't have debt, and so I took that, that grad school debt on myself.

Let's see what motivated me in my passion.

Oh, gosh.

I have so many passions.

That's a hard question.

So I love Derm because I shadowed in Derm and I love seeing the procedures and the variety and seeing kids and adults and just a little bit of everything.

And I also really like the cosmetic side of things too.

As far as this blog and just kind of advising I've always thought, and even in college, like if I were and just kind of figuring out like what they were gonna do.

So I was really something I was just passionate about.

So I think it kind of led me here to doing this.

Okay.

Do you know of any PA programs that look at your overall GPA and don't put a lot of importance on science gpa?

Most programs are going to have both an overall and a science GPA requirement.

If they have an overall one, they probably have a science one too.

But they all change and they change their requirements all the time, which is kind of an issue.

So yeah, it's something that you can look up but you always want to.

Kind of double check.

But as long as you meet the minimums, I think you're fine to go for it.

What are your studying tips?

I hate multiple choice exams and I hate reading.

So I can say that I'm a project girl myself.

Projects and paper have tests for me.

I found that doing practice, doing that over and over and over is the best study method for me.

And just practicing like actually applying the knowledge that I'm studying.

I don't pick up things well from just reading it or hearing it.

Like I have to actually read it.

So again, let me know if the connection I've listened to your podcast about getting shadowing hours and read other blog posts and still have had no luck.

I plan to apply in the spring application if I have less than full.

I think that's actually I wouldn't give up.

Just keep trying.

If you can do some volunteer work, maybe like a free clinic where a PA works and see if you can kind of work with them, get to know them, shadow them in that setting and that's a good way to try to get hours and try to make those connections.

Keep trying.

Like eventually someone will say yes.

It may not happen quickly and I know it feels like a lost effort sometimes when you're just calling people over and over and yes, and maybe go at it from an approach of not even asking to shadow, but maybe trying to find a question or something first the future.

Because it's difficult to let someone come shadow you if you have never met them and you don't really know anything about them.

You yeah, one day we had a girl come.

She was a high schooler and she came to shadow in blue jean shorts.

So that was an issue.

And yeah, so it's just, it's a little Bit difficult and like what I do, my patients are usually naked because I'm doing overall skin exams and it kind of makes them uncomfortable at times to actually have another person in the room.

So I.

We tend to only have people shout out if we know them personally or if I've already talked to them a little bit and kind of gotten to know them.

I say yeah, science may not come as easily to you and it may not be your best subject, but if it's something you really want to do, then I don't think feeling like you aren't as well versed or as good at science or just comes naturally should hold you back.

I think you should still pursue your dreams and pursue whatever you want to do.

Yes, you still need to get good grades in it to ultimately gain acceptance.

And that may mean taking extra classes and just retaking classes and keeping.

Keep taking more and more classes to get there, but ultimately you can do that.

So yeah, I mean I don't think I'm terrible at science, but chemistry terrible.

I'm so terrible.

Like I got a c in ochem 2 and it was awful and it made me cry and I just didn't, I didn't get it.

And I think looking back now it's kind of one of those things where I was so stressed out about the test and even in Gen Chem our testing was pretty intense because you go in, if anyone goes to uga, you probably know about this, but you take a test and you had three attempts.

So the first time you took it it would tell you which ones you got right.

Second one back there and do them again and then you have to submit it again and then you can go back a third time and do any that you missed for a quarter credit.

And it stressed me out.

Like I'm talking anxiety, not being able to eat my.

I feel like I almost would like to go do it again now without the stress of all of that and see if I can do better because I think I was putting so much pressure on myself that I was unable to perform well when I if I had have relaxed more and just focused on the material and like the time I spent stressing I could have been study and yeah, just looking back, I don't think I approached those classes correctly.

I think I was focused too much on wanting to memorize instead of actually learning.

But yeah, so chemistry is tough.

Science classes can be tough and it depends on your teacher and you just have to find your study style and what works for you and if you work in groups so if you need help, make sure you're asking for help too.

Because that's a big deal.

You don't want to let yourself get so deep that you can't get out of it.

Any golf fans?

I'm a master's cup.

Any other questions?

PA stuff, Life stuff.

I don't know anyone watching good TV right now.

I started the Good Doctor and I like it.

I'm interested.

It's something.

Hey Erica, I like your wave.

Wave emoji.

Yeah.

Violet.

I got a C plus and Okim as well.

And it shattered my self esteem.

It really did.

Like, well, to be honest.

Oakm1 I got a B or B minus.

And then Okum2 I got a C plus and Oakm2 was required for my major.

It's not necessarily required for PA school, but since I had to take it for my major, I had to, I just had to take it.

And my then boyfriend, who's now my husband, was also a biology major.

And so he killed chemistry.

Like he was really, really good at it and just liked it and understood it and all this stuff.

So I remember coming out of the Ochem 2 final and we had to take it in different rooms because of our last names.

And I called him and I was sobbing like crying so hard.

And he picks up and he's like, hey, I think it went pretty well.

What do you think?

And I. I'm just crying because I'm like, I definitely failed.

I'm gonna fail this class.

There's no way I'm passing.

And then it ended up being curved a little bit and everything and a good bit and just kind of that struggle and how it did like.

What's the word?

Kill my self esteem and just really, I don't know, it almost feels like somebody's like stomping it, I think ever.

Hi Danny.

How are you?

I like your heart.

Heart emojis.

Sweeter than your tea.

That's a good name.

I like it.

Sunday night.

Yeah, my time zone is all off because Vegas was three hours behind.

So Vegas time, it's around like 5 o'.

Clock.

So last night I had to stay up really late and then leave.

By the time I left at 11 it felt like it was in mildenight.

Like it was crazy.

So I don't know what time zones you guys are in, but yeah, mine were.

If this is insane.

Well, I don't know if anybody has any more questions.

If not, I will go do something.

I don't know, get caught up on.

I watch Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and the Good doctor.

And this is us.

That makes it sound like I watch a lot of tv, which is because I do, but usually I'm doing other stuff too.

Oh, I like this question.

If you had not gone into dermatology, what field of medicine would you have pursued?

So I think I would have done surge, like something surgical.

And those are the positions I was looking at.

I interviewed at a neurosurgery position, a back and spine position.

And then I was talking to a urology group I was looking at was patient with a breast varying.

And I just probably wrote it cosmetic.

Sometimes that patient population can be a little bit difficult just because there's a lot of expectations there.

And.

And sometimes the products we have don't really meet those expectations.

So it can be a little bit tiresome.

The ER is that I don't know if that's something I would get used to or not if I did it more often.

But I just don't like broken bones.

So maybe urgent care.

And I think even now like having my derm experience going into an urgent go see urgent care, I think that would be some of that is that.

Or actually get to know them.

And so I don't know if I would love doing that full time.

It wasn't necess.

That being said, I think it would have been really nice to do a few years in primary care and just kind of get my feet wet, get my bearings so little.

I mean, you're trying this that you can seal it in.

That have been nice to do.

But as of right now, I'm happy.

I think I can move or something.

I don't know.

Even then I would probably look for derm first.

What's this crazy hair doing?

But then I'd be open to doing other things.

And even one of the derm pas I met at my ad board thing.

She said she picks up some urgent care shifts prn, which that's actually a good idea.

Like I kind of wish I did that starting out and that would have been a nice thing to do.

But I was so tired.

Like when I first started working, I would get home and just go to sleep because I was so tired from the day.

And I don't know that I would have been able to sustain that.

But now I might could.

I agree.

The good doctor is good.

And Grey's, of course.

I don't know when they're gonna stop.

Grey's, I don't think I know Scandal.

It's the last season, but I don't think it's the last season of Gray's.

They haven't said it.

They keep bringing up all these blasts from the past.

I almost feel like I need to go rewatch it from the beginning so I can remember everything that's happened.

A tragedy that drives me crazy.

Do this better.

And never wear eye protection.

And it just.

What are you doing?

And, I mean, I know it's for, like, cinematic effect, but it's still.

I don't know.

I want to be more accurate.

If you ever see them doing cpr, it's terrible.

Don't learn CPR from Grey's Anatomy.

If you take one thing away from this, that's what you should take away from it.

That's not true.

But yeah.

Hey, Laurette, thanks for watching.

You must have.

Having a fun Sunday night.

You have class tomorrow?

Yeah.

Oh, gosh.

Tomorrow's Monday.

Y' all ready for that?

About anywhere else?

It was hot as heck in bathing suit, and it was, like, really, really hot.

Do I prefer learning neuroscience in my coming days?

I will probably not switch to neuroscience.

I think that is, like, out of my realm.

I don't know.

Like, I just.

I don't think that's where I want to be.

I. I spent a day with a neurosurgeon, and it just.

It was okay.

It just wasn't really what I wanted to do.

Brittany, who does the P.A.

Oh, I can never get this right.

The manual of PA programs.

She works in neurosurgery, I believe, so that's really cool.

So you should follow her.

I don't know what her, like, personal account is, but she posts about it some, and I think her job's pretty cool.

The hardest class in PA school.

Pharmacology.

100% It was.

It's hard to learn drugs when you aren't doing it, when you're just trying to.

Like, you really can only memorize those and try to memorize the side effects and the contraindications and the indications and who can use it, who should you avoid it in?

And so, yeah, I think pharm was definitely the hardest for me, and it wasn't until I was on rotations and then again, like, working as a PA that you see these medicines in action, and it helps you to put a face to the medicine and really learn.

Like, once you see some side effect, like tardive dyskinesia, like, you really understand what it looks like and what that's like for the patient, and it just sticks a little bit better.

So I don't know that you can prepare for that necessarily going into PA school.

But just know that you may have to study that a little bit harder, and it's just difficult.

What was an average week like for you while you're in PA school?

Okay, so this dependent on the semester.

First semester, we started with anatomy.

And so we would have anatomy from 8 to 12, Monday through Thursday, I believe, or Tuesday through Friday, four days a week.

And then the other day we would have physiology and genetics.

And then we could test out of med terms.

So if you test out of med terms, you don't have to do anything with that.

But if you didn't, you would have to work on that too.

And so anatomy, you would go to lecture, and then afterwards we had lab two days a week.

So we had groups that switched off and you would go in the afternoon for lab to dissect on the cadaver.

And that was for the first summer semester.

After that, we went into something called clinmed, which was where we learned about different areas.

So we would have dermatology for for two weeks, ophthalmology for two weeks, infectious disease for four weeks, cardiology for eight weeks.

And we just went through all the different body systems and subjects.

And during that time, we would have class from 8 to 5 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and have lectures.

And sometimes there'd be other stuff mixed in, like ethics or surgery or professionalism.

And then from there, Tuesday and Thursday, we'd have small groups.

So you'd have small group on one of those days.

The third semester, we started going to clinic.

And so you would go to clinic sometimes two.

And then we would have biostatistics the first semester.

Like, those days varied.

If we had to add a lecture, you really have to be flexible.

In PA school, usually we had at least one test a week.

That wasn't uncommon.

Not really any projects or papers, but it was just a lot of tests.

So that's gonna look different depending on whatever school you go to.

But that was what my school was like for those didactic weeks or months.

But it wasn't too bad.

I think it just got exhausting, like towards the end of the day, having trouble paying attention and a little tired.

So it's just a lot all at once.

So I enjoyed it, though.

I mean, there were hard weeks, but I overall, I had a great experience.

What was the hardest part of gross anatomy?

I'm not sure what to expect.

Identifying bones and muscles.

Gosh.

Anatomy.

So anatomy in grad school is very different than anatomy in undergrad.

It's much more intense, a lot more structures to learn, just a lot More expected of you.

And so the cadaver lab that we had, I don't know, it depends on if you have a cadaver lab.

It was really cool.

I mean, I really enjoyed seeing those structures firsthand.

Sometimes it can be difficult to identify, like, certain nerves or arteries or veins, and that depends on the quality of the cadaver as well.

But, yeah, kind of different things like the cranial nerves and the brachial plexus, those are just kind of collections of nerves that are.

Can be a little bit more, I want to say, advanced, complex, and just take a little bit more time to learn.

And beyond that, I think for me, the biggest thing with anatomy was did like the very first test, I did not do well, and it was just because I was still learning.

And so I found some questions online.

I really.

If you search Michigan anatomy questions, there were these questions that.

It's like a website that somewhere in Michigan put together.

But it's.

They're really, really good.

And you can identify cat cadaver stuff on there.

And over and over.

We had a med student who would come with us sometimes and who'd already been through anatomy, and he would quiz us.

And it was just like a small group of us, but he would quiz us and kind of go through stuff and teach us, which I think was a good refresher for him.

But, yeah, it was really nice to have that person who had already done it and done it recently so that he was able to help us.

And we had TAs that were great.

Great.

We had TAs that were in med school, and so they were on their summer break.

So one of the things they did was TA for the anatomy because we were with PTS and OTs.

And so it was really nice.

Like, they would come in and practice with us and go through structures, just quiz us over and over.

And I think in anatomy, you also have to make sure to make connections and figure out where stuff connects instead of just trying to memorize it.

Like, you don't want to not understand where it's coming from and where it's going.

And you've got to know the function and all that.

And so knowing how to put all that together helps you to understand it better.

Studying for EKG right now.

Any tips or resources you would suggest.

So I love the yellow.

No, it's not yellow.

It's orange.

It's like a bright orange book.

I forgot.

It's called, like, something about all you need to know about EKGs or something.

Something that was really helpful.

And then just doing practice, the teacher that we had for EKGs.

And I mean, put an EKG up and just make us like, analyze it and go through it and it's just kind of repetition and getting used to those patterns.

Obviously I'm in derm.

I don't look at EKGs anymore very often.

I think I could still be evident or like a flutter afib.

But I would definitely.

Or I will need to do some EKG studying when it comes time to research.

But again, that's repetition too, and just looking at patterns over and over again and just practicing, which I think that orange book has a lot of good practice in it.

But I'll actually look and see what other EKG resources we have because I think I had another book that I really liked and if I do, I'll send you a picture of it.

Oh, gosh, that was a tough question.

What is my thought on mindfulness for stress management?

So I think it's important to be mindful.

I've read some books on this, actually, and I think it's an interesting.

I tend to pray.

That's just kind of what I do.

And I also tend to like talk to my friends and talk to my husband and probably even complain and maybe rant a little bit.

But that's probably not the best approach.

But I think just taking quiet time and time to like think and reflect is really important.

I have.

I'm scared to say this because she'll probably say something, but I have an Alexa and she'll do mindfulness if you ask her to, which is interesting.

She like, plays this, like soothing music for a minute or two minutes or whatever you tell her to do.

And so I've done that sometimes if I'm feeling stressed out.

It's really interesting.

So I like her, but I can't say her name or she starts talking to us.

How long do you think applicants should preparing for interviews?

Hey, Jasmine.

So this is going to depend on when you get your interview invite.

So sorry, I lost my train of thought there.

So I think some schools will give you like months in advance and some schools will only give you a few days, if that.

I've heard people gain an invite for like the day before.

And so with that, I mean, I think as soon as you submit your application, you should start thinking about the interview, even if you aren't really preparing as far as like just looking at questions, just kind of thinking through your answers, reviewing your application regularly.

Like, be ready to go just in case you get that invite.

But if you're doing like formal practice, I probably wouldn't do it until you get that interview invite.

So whether that's a mock interview with your school or with somebody like me.

Like you.

Because then you can personalize a little bit more than if you're just doing it.

So.

So, I mean, you can ask those traditional questions, but then you may get an interview that has a completely different style that you haven't prepared for.

And, yeah, so it's interesting.

Yay, friends to live.

Hey, there.

Okay, you feel like on social media, My sister's name is Hannah, by the way.

It's mostly younger, newer PAs.

Do you know of any older PAs who are still happy?

I know of a few older pages pas.

Let me think.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there's another derm PA in town, and she's been doing derm now for a lot of years.

Maybe nine years, but before that she was in er, and she.

She loves it.

I mean, she ended up switching, but she had always kind of wanted to do derm, but never could get into it.

So when she moved, she just invested in herself as far as education goes to make sure that she was learning derm stuff.

There's the ad board, some that were less but or even like derm for nine years.

And so, yeah, I mean, you can always switch if you're not happy, which is nice.

But I do know there's a PA in my class who is.

I don't know if he still is, but at one point, he was studying for the MCAT to try to go back to medical school because he wasn't really happy in his job, and it wasn't what he expected.

I think he just kind of saw, like, I'm doing the same thing as the doctors are, but I'm still under their supervision.

And he wasn't really happy in that role.

And so, I don't know.

I think he was kind of looking for other positions to see if he could like something else better.

But I think he was also studying for med school.

So, yeah, I mean, I think you have a choice no matter what you do in being happy in your career.

And I think if you're not happy where you're at and you can identify why you need to change it, whether that's location or supervising physician or who you're working with, be happy at your job.

It's not, what would I do if I was not a pa?

Some PA schools ask this question.

So I have to ask this question question.

It's actually a fun story.

So what would you do?

I would open a wedding dress store.

Who says that and that's what I said.

And so afterwards, I completely regretted my answer.

I was like, you're dumb.

Why'd you say that?

That's such a dumb answer.

Like, say you'd be a teacher, a humanitarian or something.

But it was kind of cool because they actually really liked it.

And I think that they had been here hearing a lot of those kind of cookie cutter answers.

And so it's a little bit refreshing to hear something like that.

And I was just being honest.

I mean, I've been watching a lot of say yes to the dress.

I wanted to be engaged.

I wanted my own wedding dress.

They're beautiful.

Like, why wouldn't you want to be surrounded by wedding dresses in a store?

So as dumb as it was then, when they asked me if I had any questions for them, that was the last question they asked me.

I said, well, if you guys were not PAs, what would you be doing?

And so I kind of turned it around on them just to see what they'd say.

And they loved it.

So one of them, who had been a really tough interviewer and was like, intimidating and scary and, yeah, it was not good.

She was like, oh, I'd be a professional singer.

And I was like, I didn't see that one coming.

And the other ones, it was a two on one was like, I think I'd open a bookstore.

And so it was just really cool.

And we got to kind of talk about our interest and it was really neat.

So.

Yeah.

But if I wasn't a pa, like, what would I actually do?

Oh, gosh, I don't know.

I think being an event planner would be fun, like getting to plan things and like working with budgets and ordering things.

My sister works in Atlanta and she kind of gets to do some of that.

And she'll get to, like, order custom chocolates or, like, something fun and book these, like, big conferences.

So I think that would be interesting.

I went to Houston.

If anyone lives in Houston or has been there, they have a taco shop called Torchies and it was delicious.

I would like to open one of those, but they don't franchise.

I looked into it, but that's beside the point.

It was so good.

So good.

Sorry, that got really off track.

What was the hardest question you were given in an interview?

Oh, I don't know.

The hardest question, Behavioral ones weren't that hard for me.

I was asked what the most selfless thing I'd ever done was.

And I think that was a little bit difficult just because.

Because again, I was 21 and I think Just in general.

Like, as people, we're not very selfless.

Like, we are selfish and kind of tend to do what we want and do what puts us ahead of others.

And so I think that question just made me think a little bit and made me think about kind of what I had done.

And to be honest, my answer wasn't anything amazing.

I talked about how I had just been on a mission trip to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam with my college ministry, and one of the girls on my flight was feeling airsick, and her seat had ended up being in the back of the plane, like, by herself.

And I was kind of up in the front of the plane with the rest of the team, and, like, her boyfriend was there, and my seat was near him.

So I offered to switch with her and just sit by myself in the back of the plane for nine hours or whatever.

And so to me, that wasn't a big deal.

But when I was trying to think of a selfless example, like, selfless just means giving of yourself and giving up a comfort that you may have for somebody else.

And so that was the example I used.

And I got to talk about my mission trip a little bit.

But, yeah, that question was pretty hard.

In one of my interviews, they had us.

I don't know if they still do this anywhere, but they had us pull questions out of a little fishbowl and answer them on the spot in front of all the other applicants and the team teachers.

And they were completely random.

Like, if you wanted a million dollars or if you were.

If you won the lottery, would you still want to be a PA and, like.

But then there'd be really serious ones and, like.

Like, why should we pick you instead of someone instead of the person sitting next to you?

And I don't think the questions themselves were that difficult, but it was just in that setting, it was very intimidating.

It literally felt like a Miss America competition.

And I don't remember what my question was.

Was at all.

I. I guess I blacked out because I just stood up and was.

Maybe I should ask my.

I did have classmates who are from my group.

Okay, I think I may wrap this up, but if y' all want to do another one of these this week or sometime, let me know.

I just wanted to jump on tonight and say, hey, but, yeah, y' all can always send me questions, but I'm glad, and thanks for everyone tuning in.

And then, whoa, Lot of hearts just came through.

But, yeah, if y' all have any questions, please just message me, email me, whatever.

Yeah, I blacked out.

All right.

Hope that was helpful.

Hope I answered some questions for you guys and all right.

I hope that answered some questions.

And if you aren't following along on Instagram, make sure you follow the PA platform to get a notification.

The next time I do an Instagram live, I like to just kind of hop on there occasionally and answer some questions.

I've done quite a few since then, so I may see if I can find those.

And unfortunately, sometimes they don't save.

Right.

But if I can get them uploaded, I will.

And yeah, so thanks for listening and I'll see you guys next week.

Bye.