This one is a full CASPA walkthrough, and it's built for two groups: people applying right now, and people who are two or three years out and want to do this the easy way.

If you're a freshman or sophomore, you have the advantage. Go make a CASPA account and look around. See what they're going to ask you for. Then start tracking your hours in a spreadsheet as you go, keep contact info for supervisors, and save course descriptions for anything that might count as a prereq.

The applicants who suffer in June are the ones reconstructing four years of work history from memory. Don't be that person.

And if you're applying now, we go section by section so you know what's coming.

What I cover:

• A walkthrough of the CASPA sections
• What to start tracking as an underclassman
• Logging hours and supervisor contacts as you go
• Coursework entry and where mistakes happen
• Timing your submission for rolling admissions
• What to do at each stage of the pre-PA journey

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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In today's episode, we're jumping into kind of a deep dive about CASPA and talking logistics and a walkthrough, especially in regards to preparing as an undergrad student and what you could be doing now to get ready in the future when it's time to apply.

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 there.

Thank you so much for tuning into the podcast.

I'm excited to have you listening with me this week as we talk a little bit more in depth about caspa.

And we'll jump to that in just a second.

I hope everyone's had a great PA week.

I have seen a lot of fun posts.

I got to do a Medalita takeover, which was really cool.

But yeah, a lot of love and respect for the PA profession this week, which is nice to see.

But in today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking this past week with the UNLV PA Society.

I don't know their official name, but they had me come on.

And whenever I talk to a Pre PA Club, I always ask, you know what?

What's most relevant to you guys?

What do you want to hear about?

And they had a variety of members, some who are applying right now, some who will apply next cycle, and then some who are, you know, freshmen and sophomores, not quite there yet.

So they said kind of a CASPA talk would be helpful, and I wanted to make that tailored to all of those stages.

So we talk about CASPA throwing in some tips there, but also just logistics of things you can do to prepare and be ready with that.

I know I did some CASPA tips a while back, and those were kind of just to make life easier.

And this has some of that.

But this is a lot more practical too, if you've never been in CASPA or kind of have questions about it.

So I hope that's helpful.

And then next week you'll hear our Q and A from that session because they had a lot of great questions.

We kind of covered the gamut after we talked about caspa.

So we will jump to that in just a second.

Before we do, I wanted to take a second and thank the sponsors of the podcast, mypa Resource and PA School Prep.

So mypa Resource is a personal statement editing service specifically for PAs or PA students, and they use PAS and you can use the code futurepa for a discount there on any editing service.

And then we also have PA School Prep, which is an online course to help get you prepared for PA school after you've been accepted.

It's an overview of anatomy, physiology, and med terms.

And you can also use that code, future PA there.

Those codes also work on the PA platform for both our courses.

Those are [email protected] the book.

And then for mock interviews, which we've been really busy with lately.

So if you have any questions about anything, please always know that you can reach out to me, me.

And I love seeing your comments on the podcast by leaving a review and make sure you subscribe if you haven't already.

So let's jump into today's episode and I hope you enjoy it.

This is also on YouTube if you want to follow along.

When I asked, you know, what would y' all maybe want to hear about?

It sounds like there are different students at different levels right now.

You know, people who are applying right now or maybe next year or in the next few, few years.

And so we can talk about something that is going to be kind of applicable to everyone, which is caspa.

Does everyone know what CASPA is?

It's okay if you don't.

Okay.

Who is applying this year?

Okay.

See if he can.

What about next year?

Okay.

All right, Some more, raise, double hand.

Okay.

And then anyone unsure about whether they want to be a pa?

No.

Y' all sure?

All right, awesome.

Well, we can talk about anything afterwards.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

So I'll tell y' all a little bit about myself and then we'll jump into some Caspas stuff.

Just really things that I feel like you need to know to understand it before you get to it.

And then kind of just some tips to make the process a little bit easier.

So.

All right, let me get this.

Presenting.

All right.

Can y' all see that?

Yes.

Perfect.

Alright, so just a little bit about me.

I am in Augusta, Georgia.

That's where I grew up.

And that's also where I went to school.

But I kind of learned about the PA profession in high school, really decided it was what I wanted to do maybe freshman year of college, and then ended up at the University of Georgia, where I got my major in biology.

While I was there, you know, I kind of worked towards, towards all these requirements that are necessary for PA school.

So shadowing.

I got my CNA license.

Got a little bit of hours that way, working on my prerequisite, trying to keep my grades up, and then doing a lot of volunteering.

I did a lot of hospice volunteering.

I also was really involved with my student ministry, so I had some leadership roles there, some mission trips, trying to make my application as well rounded as possible.

It was a great time.

My goal was to try to go straight into PA school if possible, and I was lucky that I was able to do that.

If you see this guy right here on the right.

So that was my boyfriend at the time who then became my fiance right after we finished.

And then we got married during PA school and he actually went to med school.

So I was going to PA school, he was going to med school, and he just finished residency.

So if anyone has questions about what the med school route looks like, I'm happy to try to answer those too.

I really cast kind of a small net.

I only applied to the programs in Georgia.

I didn't really think I was going to get very far, but I just wanted to see what happened.

And my rule of thumb is that you may have heard me say before, is if you meet the minimum requirements, I think you're fine to apply as long as it's not a huge financial reach.

You know, schools are looking for all different kinds of things and we'll get into the kind of nitty gritty of caspa, but there are ways that you can stand out even if you have average stats.

So my stats are pretty average.

I mean, if you look at a school, their average GPA is going to be around 3.5, average GRE around 300.

And then I really didn't have a lot of hours.

And these were actually patient care hours, but I had only worked as a CNA for a summer.

So the two programs that I interviewed at and was accepted at, they required either 0 hours or 100 hours.

So I still met those requirements.

The ones that required a thousand or two thousand hours very quickly rejected me, which was fine.

I had a good bit of shadowing too.

So I interviewed at two programs.

I was accepted at both of those, but I chose Augusta University is where I was from.

It was where my husband was going to medical school.

My family was there, and it was significantly cheaper and I don't regret that.

So fast flash forward five years later.

Why am I talking to you now?

So, number one, I'm a dermatology PA and I love my clinical work.

I actually just went part time though, because I do have a one year old.

But once I graduated PA school and my husband was in medical school, he was busy, he wasn't home that much.

And I've Always loved advising.

Like I'm the one who in undergrad people would come to to make their schedule because I just love doing it and like searching through all the classes, figuring out the best times and all that, I, I thought that was the best thing ever.

And I would love to do that again.

But I also just learned a lot about the PA school process and how, how involved it is, but also some of the ways you can make it easier.

And so I started a blog called the PA Platform, and it's really just evolved into a really great community.

And now we have a really big Facebook group, a weekly podcast.

We put blog posts up once or twice a week.

We have a newsletter that goes out every Friday, all about PA stuff.

So if you're not familiar with all of that, definitely check it out if you are interested.

And then I can definitely kind of direct you in the right direction too.

So let's talk about caspa.

So caspa, I don't remember off the top of my head what it stands for, but it is a universal application for PA school.

So instead of each school having their own separate application, you kind of put everything, all of your information into this one place and then it goes out to most programs.

There are a few holdouts that do not use caspa, or they'll have a secondary application that you do still have to complete through the website.

And sometimes for those supplementals, it feels like you're completing your entire application again.

That's not abnormal.

So just when you're starting to think about this process, realize that it is going to take time.

It is not something that you will be able to do overnight.

And, and kind of the more familiar you are with it, the better you're going to do in the long run and the less stress you're going to have throughout this process.

CASPA opens every year in April.

There's not a set date, but usually it's the end of April.

So it is open pretty much all year.

It closes in March and is closed for about a month.

And each school has kind of different deadlines in CASPA that you can see for when you need to submit your application.

So let's talk about some of the costs.

So for one program, the very first program, the charge was $179.

After that first charge, it was $52 for each additional program.

And then any supplemental applications may be additional.

I've seen anywhere from 20 to 50 to $100 per supplemental.

Let me see if I have it on here.

This is what I want you to realize.

And this may or may not apply to you, but there are some fee waivers.

So there's something that you can apply for that takes away the cost of that first program.

So, I mean, that's a huge savings of $179 if you meet the requirements.

So this is based on your finances, either yours or your parents.

So you have to go by kind of tax stuff and whether they're claiming you.

But all of that information is on the CASPA website.

I think this is just something that people don't necessarily know about.

So that could be a lot of money towards your preparation for interviews or getting there.

There's a lot involved with travel, taking time off work.

So if you.

I would go ahead and look and see if you qualify for that and just know it's something you may want to do.

There are a couple caveats to those fee waivers.

If you apply for one, usually if you're going to get it, it's approved within one to two weeks and then you have a very short amount of time to submit your application.

I think it has to be submitted within one to two weeks after that, and then in addition to that, they run out.

So it is limited.

Usually by about July, there are no more fee waivers available.

And you can call CASPA and ask and actually to contact them.

Their Twitter is very responsive to questions if they're general stuff.

So you can email, call, kind of reach out to them on Twitter, but just so you can start preparing, saving.

These are the costs you need to be aware of when you look at caspa.

This is kind of what it looks like if it's closed.

So if it was March, this is what you would see and then you would see when it's going to open and the login there.

So some people ask, when should I make an account?

You can make a Casper account whenever you want.

So even if you are a freshman or a sophomore, technically you could make this Casper CASPA account.

And that would be really only for the purpose of signing in and getting familiar with it, what it looks like kind of seeing what's going to be required.

Do not, I don't recommend saving your information in caspa.

So technically, if you enter, your grades, your transcripts, your experiences, your shadowing, patient care, all of that stuff will hypothetically carry over between cycles.

But there is also a chance it may not.

Because if CASPA has to reset for whatever reason, or if they lose your information, or if you accidentally reset your application, it's all gone and you're not going to get it back.

So this is not the best place to save information.

And then letters of recommendation and personal statements do not carry over between cycles.

So if you've applied this cycle, make sure you have information and access to those things somewhere else.

And even with your experiences, make sure you've copy and pasted those descriptions outside of caspa, just in case we have some patient care, I guess, logs on our website.

So it's just like an Excel sheet that has everything set up for the way you need to enter it in Caspa, and that'[email protected] downloads if you need somewhere to save it.

But just that.

My one biggest tip, I actually don't think you necessarily need to do that or put anything in before it's time for you to apply.

Maybe like the January before.

The nice thing about having a CASPA account is if you, let's say you take the gre, if you send in your score, you have to have an account for them to attach it to.

And so you do want to be set up for that, then those GRE scores are good for five years.

But this is kind of what you see when it comes to caspa.

So inside of caspa, the sections you'll see are personal information, academic history, supporting information, and then program materials.

So we'll kind of break these down.

Some of them are very straightforward.

Some of them are a little more complicated or just take more time to get complete.

So for personal information, this stuff is easy.

This is your, you know, name, contact information, citizenship.

Really easy stuff.

It does ask for some family information, and a lot of it's optional, so people will sometimes wonder if they need to include it.

You don't necessarily have to, but there's also not really a reason not to.

This information is not going to be used to judge whether or not you get in.

It's more demographic stuff that helps the schools to understand, you know, who they're reaching, who's applying, whether they're doing a good job of kind of getting the mix that they want as far as diversity.

So with the family information, it'll ask kind of your parents names, their occupations.

And then there's a newer part that asks you to describe your childhood living situation, which is very interesting, and no one seems to know how to answer.

But I tend to just tell people to keep it nice and short and just kind of say, you know, I grew up in A suburban area in a family, standalone family home with my parents and two brothers.

You know, I lived in an apartment setting in an urban city with my family.

Like it doesn't have to be anything crazy, but again, this should be very straightforward.

Let's see.

Okay, I'm gonna go back for a second.

So the one thing I want to mention with this section is the contact information you will be asked to enter.

You know, your current mailing address and your permanent mailing address.

I suggest putting your permanent address for all of those things just somewhere where you know throughout the next year or so you are okay getting mail sent to you just so nothing gets missed.

Because if you forget to change it or something, you could miss acceptance or an interview invite.

There's a lot of things that could get sent to you and each program does it differently.

Some calls, some emails, some use snail mail.

So just make sure that is somewhere where you'll actually be reached.

The other thing is with the email address you use, make sure it's one that you check a lot.

And it's not even a bad idea to go ahead and make a new email address.

I recommend Gmail and using the Gmail app because you can turn on notifications for new mail and you may not want those notifications for all of your emails.

If you're like me, you get plenty of junk mail that you should probably delete.

But if you get a notification, let's say about an interview, and it goes directly to that email, you'll know right away.

And those can be time sensitive emails.

So if you think about it, go ahead and set up a separate Gmail specifically for all your PA school stuff.

Then we get to academic history.

In academic history, you do enter your high school year you attended and graduated from.

So not every high school, just one you graduated from.

But then you have to enter every single college level institution that you attended.

So this is if you did joint enrollment in high school, if you took one random summer class, any college or university that you attended needs to be entered here.

So you'll enter those and then you do transcript entry.

So you do have to send in official transcripts to caspa.

And I also recommend getting an official transcript for yourself and getting that sent to you so that you can make sure everything you're entering is accurate.

It needs to be entered exactly like it's on your transcript.

And you do have the ability to put planned or in progress coursework.

So if you have another semester to go or you've graduated and you're planning on retaking Some classes there is the option to enter that information so schools are aware of it.

With that, be sure that if you enter a planned course, you plan on actually taking it this cycle.

For the second time, I've had someone email me that they were accepted on the basis of completing a course that they never enrolled in and had to not accept their acceptance because there was no way for them to get that course completed in time.

I do not want that to be you, because that's a very disheartening situation.

So just make sure that you do plan to take those courses.

If you list them, you can also enter your standardized test.

The main one is the gre.

One question that comes up with this is, can I send a GRE score to a school that doesn't require it just to show them how good I did?

And you cannot.

So if a school does not require the gre, they will not even see it on your application.

There's no way to make them see it.

The flip side of that is, do I have to send all of my GRE scores?

And in the past, the answer was yes.

Just recently, they've changed it to where you can pick and choose which GRE scores you actually send in.

But be careful with that, because a lot of schools are putting on their website that they still want you to submit all of those GRE scores.

I think to be on the safe side, it's best to go ahead and submit them all.

But throughout this process, just always double check the school websites, make sure that you're doing what they ask.

And I know it's frustrating because every school has different requirements and different things they want you to do, and a lot of them are very contradictory.

But the more that you can check those boxes and make sure you're kind of fulfilling what they want, the better your chances.

A lot of people get weeded out just because they didn't pay close enough attention.

And as far as gpa, I don't know if I have it in here.

Okay, so gpa, you do want to meet those minimum requirements, which for most Schools is a 2.75 to a 3.2.

3.0 Is the most common.

CASPA most likely calculates your GPA differently than your school does because a lot of schools will do grade replacement, where if you repeated a course, they don't count the first attempt.

But CASPA does not do that.

So every grade that you've ever received in any class, even if repeated, goes into your GPA calculations.

Equally, schools are looking most commonly at the science and the Overall gpa and I hope I have a list of them.

So with this, we have a blog post in the CASPA FAQ which I definitely recommend reading.

They explain how they calculate your grades, but it's not just an average.

It is a lot, a lot more complicated.

There is a list that CASPA has as well.

If you just Google CASPA science courses or CASPA course subjects, it pops right up.

But it'll show you what is going to count as a science course and what counts as non science.

And sometimes it's surprising what counts and doesn't count.

So like psych classes are never science no matter what.

And the way CASPA kind of figures that out, and I have a whole video on this because I was getting so many questions, is they go first by the class title and then by the course subject.

So because it's a psychology class in the title, it is a non science, even though it falls under that biology categorization.

So it sounds complicated and it kind of is, but I do have ways to explain it a little bit better if anyone has questions.

This is a list of the CASPA GPAs.

So this is a lot that it calculates.

This can be a little bit overwhelming.

The main ones that we're looking at here are the overall and the overall science.

And these are the ones you want to pay the most attention to.

You do not know your CASPA GPA calculations until after your application has been verified.

So typically that means you've submitted to a school and a lot of people get surprised when their CASPA GPAs are lower than they expected.

Unfortunately, then we get to supporting information and this is all the other stuff you've done outside of academics.

So these are what they call your evaluations, which are your letters, and then any achievements and certifications.

This would be, you know, dean's list or something special you got recognized for your essay or personal statement, which we'll talk a little bit about, and then all your experiences.

So your patient care, healthcare, shadowing work, volunteer research, and there are a few other categories you can choose leadership teaching, I believe, but for the most part these are the ones that it's going to fall under.

Now in listing out your information when it comes to your experiences, this is what you need and this is what we have on those Excel sheets.

But what your role or title was, the location or facility name, your supervisor with their contact information, how many hours per week, the date you worked, and then you'll Enter in details.

And this is a little bit difficult sometimes because maybe you were only there for a short time or you didn't have a set number of hours per week and it was more PRN the supervisor has left and you don't have their contact information.

Do the best you can with this section, but err on the side of less hours and not over exaggerating.

So you kind of have to tweak things to make it fit and make it work.

In the experience detail section, you can clarify some of this.

So you can say, you know, I was on a mission trip for a week.

It wasn't the whole month.

There wasn't set hours.

My supervisor no longer works there and I do not have their current contact information because it was so long ago.

Feel free to kind of add some details if you feel like it's needed to make sure everything is clear about that experience and then keep a record of everything.

And some of you may be like, oh my gosh, I haven't done that.

But just the more organized you can be and even, I mean, on your phone, on a Google Doc somewhere where it's not going to get lost.

Email yourself, do something to where you're making sure to record your hours and all the information as much as possible.

Oh, there's a little Excel document and this is what our experience log looks like.

And I mean, you can make one of these yourself, but it kind of goes through everything that is required for entering in that experience.

So you can just copy and paste it or at least have it in one one place.

Moving into your evaluations, which are your letters of recommendation, you can enter up to five.

Casper requires at least three.

They will verify your application after two, but your application is not really considered complete until you have three.

Each school will have different requirements as to who they want these letters to come from.

But when you're choosing people, keep in mind the more personal they are, the better.

And my kind of list of people to consider would be a PA letter.

Someone who can speak to your ability to, you know, ask questions about the profession, do well in PA school.

Who feels confident in that?

Your supervisor in a work, a work setting who can talk about, you know, your interactions with patients, your work ethic.

Maybe a supervisor in a volunteer setting who can talk about your commitment to the underserved into your community.

Some schools will want a physician or MD letter, so keep that in mind.

And then a lot of schools will want a professor letter too.

And that academic letter can be important if grades or GPA is an issue to have someone who can speak to your academic abilities.

You definitely don't want to use family or friends.

That's not professional.

And then you can ask for those specifics in your letter.

So being able to go to your professor and say, hey, can you talk about my study methods and time management and kind of how I've done your class?

Because it would be weird if your professor talked about how you interact with patients.

So you want those people to kind of understand why you're asking them to write those letters.

And then program materials.

So this is the fourth section, and not every program will have this, but some have information specific to that program as far as their mission statement, their deadlines, what prereqs they require contact info.

And then some programs will actually have you complete the supplemental within caspa.

Some you have to go to their website.

So always double check that and make sure, just so that you're not missing anything, and take that into account too, when you're planning how many programs you want to apply to.

So the average amount of programs that someone who is accepted applies to is 6.

But I kind of tend to go on the end of, you know, if you are really wanting to get in your first time, there are 10 to 12 programs that you feel good about that you'd be a good fit for.

That's kind of my number.

But then I have some people who are like, I applied to 20 or 30 programs.

The problem with that is if you spread yourself that thin and then you're having to write these supplementals.

Sometimes supplementals are very long.

Like, they'll have two to four essays that are a page or two pages each.

So you can't necessarily give those your full attention and do a good job.

So if you can, you know, put your focus on the places you really want to go, that's going to be more effective.

And even when planning programs, I mean, even pick your top five programs and use that to guide what you're working towards as far as your experience and your grades.

Your personal statement will also be entered.

I guess that goes back in the other section, but usually the prompt is something along the lines of, what is your motivation for becoming a pa?

What has influenced you towards this goal of becoming a PA?

Basically, why do you want to be a PA?

And you'll have 5,000 characters, including spaces to discuss this.

If you go to mypa resource.com they have a free workshop that's really good.

We have also on that downloads page some brainstorming worksheets that go through what I'M looking for in an essay because you do want to make sure it's on topic and answering this question fully.

And again, once you submit, you cannot edit it.

It is not specific to a program, so it needs to be general to every program that you're applying to.

So these are kind of a little bit about what I look for.

What made you interested in medicine?

How did you find out about the PA profession?

And what's appealing to you about the PA profession?

And then I also want to know, do you have a good understanding of what PAs do?

So that's going to come more from your shadowing experience, your work experience, and then how have you prepared to be successful as a PA student or pa?

Really?

It's about sharing your journey towards becoming a PA and how you've gotten to this point of applying and showing confidence to your to your reader.

So when should you submit?

So my number one tip for pretty much all the time is to apply as early as possible.

CASPA opens in April.

You're not going to be able to do all this and submit in 24 hours.

That's crazy.

And you need to take a step back and make sure you're editing and looking over everything to make sure it's correct.

But you definitely want to review it and then take into mind that verification can take up to four to six weeks per Casper.

The average time that was most recently reported, which was a long time ago, was five to six days.

A lot of people get theirs verified within a few days, but you just don't want to take that for granted and have a late application.

And then each school does it differently.

Some will consider your application submitted when you push submit.

Some will only consider it submitted when it's verified and they can actually view it.

So what is early?

I try to encourage shooting for May or June.

You may not actually submit then, but if you shoot for those dates, hopefully your application is in by July, August.

And there are a lot of factors beyond what you do as far as your letter writers, your transcripts, and all that verification.

So if you set a date that's early enough, you shouldn't hopefully get screwed over by any else.

And then after you submit, you wait.

And some of you are probably in this waiting phase right now and it is worse.

But there are some things you can do.

So I don't recommend preparing for interviews until after you submitted, but as soon as you do, that's when it's time to get on interview prep because you do not know when those interviews are coming.

Checking the PA Forums can kind of help.

And then in our Facebook group, that's another good place to kind of check and see if other people are getting interviews.

You can add some updates with new information as far as your experience.

But then it's time to prepare for interviews.

I mean, you may get called with 24 hours if you're local, or a week or two weeks or a month.

So just be prepared for that.

And then here are just some tips to make the process easier.

Then we'll go through some questions.

But first of all, turn on your email notifications.

Try to make sure that you can get some notification and that you are getting those interview invites right away because sometimes maybe they'll send one to you and it has two different dates available and you're only available for one of them.

So you want to be able to respond quickly.

You can have your list of schools ready and this is a book that can help with that.

And then everything's online.

We actually just came up with a map and if you go to the PA platform, it's on the homepage, but we have a map that shows the programs in each state.

And since location is a big deal, you can kind of get some guidance there.

Only apply to the schools that you meet the minimum requirements for.

Please don't waste your time or money just throwing your application out there if you don't meet the requirements.

And then always be honest.

This is not the time to stretch the truth.

This is not the time to, you know, try to pull something over.

I mean, just make sure everything on your application is accurate.

Don't hide anything.

It's amazing how well connected schools are.

And that can definitely come back to bite you.

And then if you list a course as in progress or plan, you need to actually take it.

I will reiterate that forever.

And don't dibble dip on hours.

This is one I see sometimes I see questions about.

So let's say you're a medical assistant and you work at the front desk some and the back some.

You would want to separate that out into two listings.

One is healthcare experience and one is patient care experience.

On your application, you don't want to list it twice because then it's going to look like you have twice as many hours as you actually do.

And we want to avoid that.

So just be cautious and always double check the numbers on those hours.

All right, here's my contact information.

So my email, my Instagram, and I'm happy to answer any questions there if anything comes up.

But I will answer any questions in Altoon.

Alright, y', all, that's it for today.

Thank you for tuning in, and I will see you guys next week.

Have a good weekend, Sam.