Five hundred hours of patient care experience. Accepted anyway.

Jana Brown got into the joint MPH/PA program at the University of North Texas Health Science Center with about 500 hours of PCE and not a lot of community service on paper. What she did have was leadership. She was president of the Pre-PA Club at Texas A&M, and that's the piece of her application that stood out.

We get into why the quality of your hours matters more than the raw number, and how running a pre-PA club can do more for you than another 500 hours of doing something you hate. Jana also walks through the actual mechanics of running one, including point systems to keep members showing up, social events that work, and how to get program directors to come speak to your group.

If your school doesn't have a pre-PA club, consider this your blueprint for starting one.

What we cover:

• Getting accepted with roughly 500 patient care hours
• The joint MPH/PA program at UNT Health Science Center
• How leadership experience can carry an application
• Quality versus quantity when it comes to PCE
• Running a pre-PA club: point systems, events, and keeping members engaged
• Getting program directors to speak to your group

Resources:

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

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

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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We are covering so much today.

We have Jana, who is a newly accepted, soon to be PA student in a joint MPHPA program and she has an awesome Pre PA club that she is the president of.

Alright, let's go.

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.

Foreign.

Hey guys.

Welcome to the Prepa Club Podcast.

I'm going to keep this intro kind of short because if you can't tell, I'm a little stuffy and I don't really want to put you through having to listen to that.

But if you've never met before, I'm Savannah Perry.

I'm a dermatology PA and I am the founder of the Pre PA Club Podcast and a website called the PA Platform.

Thanks for being here.

I appreciate you.

And if you've been a listener for a long time, I even more appreciate you.

And if you're new, then welcome.

We have this podcast really just to help spread the word about PAs and help pre PA and aspiring PAs kind of figure out their route and figure out what's going to work best for them.

All right, before we jump into our interview today with Jana Brown, I wanted to mention our sponsors, the first one being MYPA Resource.

So now is the time to have your essay essay edited.

If you are working on applying this cycle and you are working on your essay, make sure you're putting in the work to polish it.

But if you need help with that, reach out to myparesource.com and use the code future PA for a discount on that editing service by PAS.

I am one of the editors and I can vouch for.

I mean, I think I give great feedback.

If you get an essay edited by me, there's going to be a lot.

Of red on there.

Probably not all bad, I just like to leave a lot of comments.

But you can definitely check that out.

There's also a free workshop there or you can do our online [email protected] personal statement.

And then also if you are getting ready to start PA school maybe in May, and you need kind of a refresher on anatomy, physiology and med terms, check out paschoolprep.com and that's an online course where you can also use the code futurepa for a discount to get you ready for those kind of first initial courses.

That can be a little bit tough.

And I mean PA school's hard.

You're gonna Hear that a million times, but it's also true.

So the more help you can get, the better.

All right, so let's jump into our interview.

Jana reached out to me and I'm so thankful she did.

Cause she has so many interesting things.

But she, she is someone who's about to start PA school.

She's in Texas and she did not have a ton of patient care hours, which we talk about.

And she also is the president of a very large pre PA club, which this is something I really wanted to talk to her about because I know a lot of you are interested in getting a pre PA club started or interested in growing your pre PA club.

So she has some awesome tips for that, as well as why she chose a program that has a joint MPH program, which is a master's in public health.

But we're going to jump into that interview.

Make sure you check out the description for today's episode for links to all of the upcoming pre PA conferences that you should be aware of that I.

Hope to see you at.

I'm really excited about all these conferences that I get to be a part of.

So I hope to see you there.

And if you have any questions, as always, send them my way.

And then I'm here if you need me.

So hopefully back next week without a stubby nose, but thanks for listening anyway.

So my name is Jana Brown.

I am a current graduate from Texas A and M University.

I just graduated about two months ago.

So very new.

I am currently in a gap semester.

I will start PA school in August at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Very excited about that.

That's in Fort Worth, so I will be moving, but big changes there.

And I'm also doing a dual master's degree with public health and pa, so will start in two weeks and I'm hoping that's going to kind of ease my transition into PA school, starting another master's program.

So that's been really great.

And just one more fun fact about me.

I was the president of our Pre PA club at Texas A and M University.

Awesome.

We'll get into all of that.

So tell us a little bit about how, why, what led you to becoming or wanting to become a pa?

Yeah, so I actually have a cousin.

She is a PA in dermatology like you.

And I knew that I wanted to do something in medicine.

I was always really interested in science and anatomy.

And when I hurt myself, actually in high school, I had to see an orthopedic surgeon.

I busted up my ankle and my knee and a Bunch of different things.

But anyway, I just remember sitting in his office and being fascinated by the just ankle diagrams and the knee diagrams.

And I was like, this is probably not normal to be so interested in this.

And then my cousin reached out to me, she's like, hey, I heard you're interested in medicine.

Why don't you come shadow me?

And I was still in high school at the time, and so I was like, okay, sure.

Like I don't really know what a PA is, but sounds fun, like we'll try it out.

And so I shouted her and I actually got to live with her since she is my cousin.

So I got to see both aspects of her being at work and then her home life with her kids and being married.

So I got the best of both worlds with that.

And I think she probably brainwashed me a little bit to go down the PA track, which has turned out really well.

Then once I actually started looking more into it, I really did like the flexibility of it and that it offers more than just patient care.

Like the fact that I can do public health and PA is a really big thing for me, just being able to have that one on one communication with patients, but also knowing that I could do more business side of things if I wanted to.

So I think there's just a lot of options with PA school and it's not as long as medical school as well.

So that was a big plus.

Okay, well that's really cool that you have a family member who kind of could introduce you.

I think that's neat when someone especially has a parent or someone who likes is a pa.

So you kind of did you.

So you knew going into college, like, okay, this is probably what I want to do.

Okay, yeah, I figured that it was what I wanted to do.

I kind of went back and forth between NP and PA and then briefly considered medical school for a little while.

But nobody in my family has gone to graduate school like my immediate family.

And so that just never really seemed like it was on the books or something that I wanted to do.

But yeah, then once I really looked into it, I was like, no, PA is the route that I want to go.

So I didn't want to be a nurse.

And I knew that coming in.

So.

Gotcha.

So what when it came time to apply, what did that look like with kind of your process of choosing schools and the application process?

Did you look mostly at Texas or what?

Yeah, that was a really long.

I think, honestly that was probably all throughout college.

I definitely look mostly at Texas schools.

Texas actually is a really Great State for PAs, and we have eight or nine programs, so there's a lot of options there.

And they're pretty much all highly ranked.

And then I put a few extra.

I put one in Florida, Nova Southeastern University.

I applied there, and then I applied to one in Oklahoma as well, Just kind of as backups just in case Texas didn't like me for whatever reason.

So that was pretty good.

I applied to nine programs in total.

I ended up getting six interviews.

I'm not sure what happened, but anyway.

And there's still one school that I haven't heard from, but either way, I know where I'm going, so I'm not worried about it.

But I ended up getting six interviews.

I turned the one in Florida down because I had already been accepted to four other schools in Texas.

And so when I thought realistically about it, I didn't want to move all the way to Florida.

But, yeah, so I got accepted to four in Texas and I was waitlisted at another one.

So.

Okay, so that brings up kind of a situation that not everyone has, but sometimes where you kind of get to choose.

What were your deciding factors in kind of deciding from those acceptances, which program fit you best?

Yeah, I think a lot of people just skeptically that I met that day, I liked all of them.

There were none that I was just like, I'm not too crazy about this school, but just unt for me stood out with.

I felt like the faculty actually really wanted to get to know me.

I liked their interview process.

They did.

I don't know how I'm supposed to tell people, but it's over now.

They did partially mmi.

They did some written, and then they did a tour portion like most of them did with actual current students.

And so I felt like they really got to know who we were throughout the process.

They also had additional questions on caspa and some of the other schools didn't.

And so I was like, you only know what I wrote on my application.

You don't know.

Like, those additional things of why do I want to go here?

And so I just felt more connected with them, I think.

And when I drove to Fort Worth for the interview, I was like, oh, my gosh.

Like, I just love this place.

Like, I feel like I'm at home and I could definitely see myself up here.

I have a lot of family that lives in that area, so it just felt right for me.

Definitely.

Yeah, yeah, you gotta go.

That's what I tell people when they ask.

They're like, I can't decide between these two schools.

They're like, really?

Whichever one will make you happiest.

Like, just go with that one.

At the end of the day, you'll be a PA no matter what.

Exactly.

Dual degree program.

And the others didn't.

So that was a really good thing I thought would make me stand when I graduate from PA school too.

So did you say that starts soon?

How does that work with having a dual degree program?

Yes.

So I heard your other interview about this.

I think they are all probably a little bit different.

This program just started last year, so I'm the second class to do it.

It's actually a separate application process.

So they have, you have to get into PA school first, and then you apply for the public health program if you want to.

And yeah, that's pretty much it.

She honestly, like, their program advisor told me that if you can get into the PA program, you can get into the public health program.

But it does start in two weeks.

So I will be able to finish four classes before I even start PA school.

And then I'll take one class every semester of PA school.

And they're online, so it'll be great.

I don't have to be in person to do it.

Okay.

What to you are the benefits of having that additional degree or knowledge?

Yeah, I actually have talked to one of the speakers that came to our pre PA organization, and she had gotten a master's in public health before she went to PA school.

And she said that it was really beneficial for her in the way that she approaches practicing medicine with her patients.

Like, she can look at it with more.

Oh my gosh, my cat's here.

We're pet friendly on the podcast.

He likes to play with hair ties.

So one of those.

But she said that she can approach medicine with more of a bird's eye view instead of thinking just like individually with each patient, which I think there's benefits to both.

So that was something that I really was interested in.

And I had done a global health study abroad this past summer, and we took, or we shadowed, actually, public health workers in Spain, which is in fact the healthiest country in the world.

So just learning about the way they approach the opioid epidemic versus how we do it.

There's a lot of things that I thought we could bring back from other countries.

So global health is a really big interest of mine.

But practically, I am starting to fear that just this whole app network is starting to get oversaturated with how many new programs are popping up and how many people are graduating.

And so I fear that it's just going to be too many people whenever I do graduate.

And I wanted something to help make me stand out.

So there's a lot of reasons.

Yeah, I know.

I think having, I think having a personal interest is so important if you're going to do something like that.

And it, I mean, it just.

I'm like a.

Well, I think a lot of PAs are like habitual learner where I like love learning new things.

So I'm like, yeah, give me a degree, I'm good with it.

But we didn't have.

Didn't have that option.

Yeah.

Like, hopefully one day after I have practiced for a little while, I want to eventually work on the board at a PA school.

So I think that will help me stand out for that too.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, speaking of standing out, so obviously you were very successful on your application cycles.

Is there anything.

Well, let's do kind of two parts.

Anything that made you stand out and anything you were concerned would be seen as a weakness on your application.

Yes, I'll definitely start with the weakness.

I did not have a lot of community service hours that were.

Since there's so many categories now that were specifically community service.

Like, I had volunteered at the food bank a few times and I was in a sorority, so I did a few things with them, but I didn't have as many as a lot of other people who were applying.

Like, I probably had maybe 200 and some people have like thousands.

So that was a big concern of mine.

And then I only had about 500 hours of patient contact as well.

And so I know a lot of schools look for people who have 2,000 or 1,000.

And so I was a little bit worried about that.

But I knew that my healthcare experience was quality.

And so I was thinking maybe quality over quantity.

I work as a nursing assistant, so I do a lot of EKGs and flu and strep blobs and different things like that.

So I felt like I had really good experience but still worried about the number of hours.

So that could go both ways, either making me stand out or be a weakness.

But I think the biggest thing, I can't say for sure, but the biggest thing that made me stand out was probably my leadership experience.

I think a lot of people don't have that.

And whenever program directors came and talked to our organization, they would say like, hey, this is on the caspa.

This is a section.

You should be able to fill every section that's on the application.

And I was like, oh, my gosh, I have to have leadership.

I have to have leadership.

And so being president of such a large organization I think is really the number one thing that made me stand out.

Tell us a little bit about the prepa Club at Texas A and M. Yes.

So it is a great prea club.

We have about 220 members right now.

And it keeps growing as the profession keeps growing and more and more people are finding out about it.

So I spent, I guess three years in that club.

First I was a small group leader and then I was the event coordinating officer and then eventually the president.

And each role was very different in its own way.

So we do a lot of volunteering around the community.

So just different food bank or nursing homes.

A lot of times we'll go to the memory care unit and play games with the people there.

We also have a big event which I don't know if you know what that is, but it's like this one day service project and it's huge.

And the whole community gets involved.

And so that's.

I don't know if that's just the Texas A and M thing.

I've never heard of that.

Yeah, it's probably just an A and M thing.

Weird things here, but we do a lot of that.

And then we have social events.

As event coordinator, I planned like BLS certification and we did suture clinics and Bible clinics so that we could learn how to take blood pressures and temperatures and all those different things.

Sorry, my cat is just over here.

Yeah, so we do a lot of that.

And then we also have meetings every other week.

So every two weeks and we'll have either a PA who's practicing in the area or PA students or PA program directors come and talk to us about their program or what they do as PAs or what life is like as a PA student.

And so it has been really helpful just to learn from them over the course of three years of what they look for in applicants or what made them stand out or what they like about their job as PAs.

So it's been really great.

We have a lot of variety in just the types of students that we have.

We're pretty tight knit.

A lot of us will be taking the same classes and so we can talk about different professors or how did you study for AP and all those different things.

So it's been a really great group of people that I have been really fortunate to be a part of.

So that.

That's really.

I mean, it sounds like y' all have a very well established group which is awesome and would you say that it's very well organized.

I might be biased in my answer because I did work a little bit for water here, but I would say yes.

I actually.

So I work as an assistant on the clinic on my campus and I got that job through my prepaid organization actually because some of the people had worked there and they told me about it.

But I've been helping my boss choose the new student workers like my new replacements.

And a lot of them, majority of them are pre PA even though we're a nursing group.

And so I think that just kind of stands out to show that this pre PA group is more active and more involved than the other groups on campus.

So I'm not saying there's nothing bad about the but I do think that the PA is very tight knit and that we do a lot in the community and that people are really interested and they want to come to our meeting.

Okay, so I'm going to ask you some questions that I get a lot about pre PA clubs or I've seen come up about how to organize one, how to get members involved.

Like some people who are trying to get their pre PA club more established and spread the word.

They've said that they struggle getting people to show up for meetings or figuring out what to do at meetings or what that should look like.

Is there anything that you found either works or didn't work?

I know some clubs will have a point system.

What did you find to be helpful or not helpful and kind of keeping the club going?

Yeah, it's definitely a challenge, that's for sure.

So when I say we had 220 members, probably only about 70 or 80 of those are active members.

So we also have a point system.

They had to earn five volunteer points per semester and that was kind of based more on hours.

So the more hours that you spent doing something, the more points that you would get.

And we also had social points that they had to have, so that'd be three points.

So we had profit shares and that helps us bring in money.

So say we went to Chick Fil A and we had a profit share there.

The people would give us our receipts and then we would get a portion of however much they spent there back.

And so sometimes we get about $300 and that can buy a lot of things.

So social points, volunteer points and meeting points.

And so they had to come to at least four out of seven meetings to be considered an active member.

And the reward for being an active member is that you can apply for leadership positions.

And so a Lot of people wanted to, because they wanted to be in that leadership role, they started to realize how important it was.

So I think that was definitely something as far as starting a new club.

But I just think if you have really good organization and if your leadership group is very positive, uplifting and motivating, that will make people want to come.

Having social events definitely helps too, because a lot of times people don't want to be there because they don't know who to sit with or they don't know what to talk about.

So having different social events, like we did a baseball tailgate one day and so people can come and just eat food and talk to each other about different things and then they make friendships and they're like, hey, you want to go to the next meeting together?

And so that helps, definitely.

And just being open and approachable so that people will come up to you and ask questions because they know, like, this is the place to get the information.

So I think we give a lot of information that's not easily found.

Like, you can't just Google, like, what does this program want?

You know, so as far as meetings, I know those are kind of tough to come by too.

We have a very, very established program and I kind of forced into that too.

But if you're able to get program directors from around your state, that is really beneficial because you get a chance to have one on one communication with them and ask like direct questions without having to email them or call them.

And the way we actually do that is we give them a hotel for the night too.

So it makes them want to come so that they can recruit for us.

That is a really big fun thing to do.

And then just different PAs from different specialties because some members are not sure if they want to go the PA route or if they want to go to med school.

And so having a PA who tells you, like, this is what I do on a daily basis, they can kind of see like, okay, I like that, that's what I want to do.

And then PA students as well, those are really helpful because when you're only hearing from PAs, and a lot of them have already been practicing for a long time, so they don't have any information to give about the application process or different things that we're really looking to know, like, what kind of grade do I need in this class?

You know, like, what are you looking for?

But PA students can tell you, like exactly how it is they're not sugarcoat it and say, like, oh, this is so easy.

You know, like, getting in, it's just a breeze.

But yeah, they make it really understandable.

Like, this is what you're getting yourself into.

So people aren't just kind of thrown under the bus and they have the ability to ask questions like you for, like, what made you stand out?

And like, what should I do during this gap year that I have to improve my application?

Different things like that.

And they're from people who are actually in school, so they can tell you.

So, okay, those are all really great tips.

Like, make a list.

But do you think so, like, did your experience with the pre PA club come up in your interviews at all.

Or do you feel like it?

How do you think it benefited you going into your applications and interviewing and all of that?

Yes, definitely.

There's a lot of ways that I think it benefited me.

It did come up in interviews, for sure.

There was actually we give them thank you notes.

So we take officer pictures and we have a website and we put all of our pictures on there, but we have a group picture and we put it on a thank you note and we give it to the speakers every time that they come.

And we have our names in there so they can remember who we are.

Just kind of just like, nice slide in.

Yeah.

And so at one of my interviews, I was telling my interviewer, I was like, oh, yeah, like, I'm in the pre PA club at A and M. He's like, oh, you're in.

You're in fapa, which is what it's called.

And I was like, yes, I know, I know.

Like, I've been there, I've talked to them.

I've done so many things with him.

I was like, oh, okay, wow.

Like, that's a really great thing.

And then he took me outside of his office and showed a bulletin board.

He had our thank you note pinned up there.

And he's like, is that you in that picture right there?

I was like, yeah, that's me.

So it was really exciting.

He was able to recognize me just in the interview and I got accepted there.

So I'm not saying that.

Why?

Reputation.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

And just I actually got the chance to email one on one with the program directors.

And so some of them I was able to form like a pretty close relationship with.

I knew them ahead of time and I'm sure they took it into consideration, but didn't really.

But every time that they came to speak with our organization, it was like we were on an interview.

So they already had their preconceptions, learned about us, which hopefully we're good.

So that's really probably the biggest thing that was helpful about.

Came up in every single interview.

Definitely whenever they asked about like, how do you handle conflict?

Or different things like that.

I could bring in examples from working with our officer team or just different things like that.

It was a huge part of my personal statement too.

I'm very passionate about it.

If you can't tell, no, that's great.

Yeah.

And then I think the biggest thing, and anybody can gain this, even if you're not able to bring in program directors, is just I was able to find my people with this group.

I was in several other organizations and I liked those people.

They're my friends.

But it just.

There wasn't that fit, you know.

And then whenever I joined VAPA, which is future Aggie PAs, I should probably mention that they.

It's like you have something in common with at least every single person there, at least one thing.

So you have a lot of similar personality types.

They're also looking to you for advice.

You're looking to them for advice.

Advice you can advise.

You can also, you can also talk.

Everybody there wants to help you.

So I think that was the biggest thing.

And then whenever I went on my interviews, because I had formed such a large network, I had a friend at every single school that I interviewed at who was a current student there.

So I could ask them little tips and hints about different people that I was interviewing with.

So it was very helpful.

And I actually got to stay with some of them for the interviews as well.

Didn't have to pay for a hotel.

Gosh, that's awesome.

Yeah.

You like tell everyone how to have.

An effective prepaid club.

No, that's great.

Any other tips or advice you'd like to share?

Anything you feel like would have been.

Helpful to you along the way for the application process.

Yeah.

If you are able to find this group or make a group on campus, just so that you have somebody who's there supporting you through the process.

Because your parents probably don't know, I'm sure your friends that are in the business program, they don't know.

So just finding that group of people that you can connect with and even the pre PA group that you have on Facebook, like being able to ask questions there is a really big thing.

We also have a Facebook group.

It has over a thousand members.

And so just because we have such a large alumni base and so some of them are PAs and they will offer to Come talk at a meeting.

Or they will be like, hey, there's a job opening up for patient contact experience.

Like, you should come and get that.

So that's a really big helpful thing.

If you can find your group, make a Facebook group, and then invite people who are PAs in the area or anybody who's an alumni of your school, I think that would be really beneficial just because you can ask them questions.

And though it might be different, they probably still have some advice.

Yeah, just be really organized with everything.

I probably.

Three years working on this application sounds a little insane, but I think being in this group made me really motivated because every time I went to a meeting, I was like, oh, my gosh, I need to be doing something.

I need to be doing something.

And it can be really intimidating and overwhelming at times.

But it's what kind of gave me that kick and push to like, okay, like, these people are getting accepted to PA school.

They've done this and this and this.

Like, I need to find something to do too.

And it just reminded me that it's possible other people can do it.

So I can do it too.

Yes.

That's so great.

Well, I think you're gonna do awesome in PA school.

Of course.

Where can people find you or contact you if they have questions or want to kind of see what you're doing?

Yeah.

So I have an Instagram.

That'd probably be the best place to find me.

You can just DM me on there.

I'll definitely reach out.

I've been thinking about making a PA specific one, but I don't know if people would be interested in that.

So I'm still debating.

But my.

My Instagram is Jana Brown, just J, A, N, a B, R, O, W, N, N. Got it.

Pretty simple.

Yeah.

We'll send people your way, and I'm sure you'll get plenty of questions, but this was great.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

It.