Hannah went straight from high school into a direct-entry PA program. Almost nobody gets to do that anymore.

She's a fourth-year PA student at St. John's University now, and she hosts the podcast Atypical Presentation. We talk about what that direct-entry path actually looked like, whether she'd recommend it, and what she thinks you should do with your time before PA school.

What we talk about:

• How direct-entry bachelor's to PA programs work
• What Hannah gained and gave up by committing that early
• Why volunteering and shadowing still mattered for her
• Getting through didactic year without losing your mind
• Keeping hobbies and outside interests alive in PA school
• Starting Atypical Presentation and where she's taking it

Resources:

PA Program Map, including direct-entry programs: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

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

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

Hey, guys.

Today in episode 24, we're interviewing Hannah, a fellow podcaster and a PA student at St. John's University.

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.

This is your host, Savannah Savannah.

If we haven't met yet, I am the host of the Pre PA Club podcast, and I'm also the founder of the PA Platform.

And so that is a website that helps Pre PA students, current PA students, and I am a pa.

I work in dermatology, and I try to just get some more information out there about our career and really what it takes to get there because it's a little bit difficult.

But today I have a really great interview for you guys.

So Hannah reached out to me through email just on the website, and she actually told me about her podcast, which is called Atypical Presentation, and It's hosted through SoundCloud right now.

And so she is currently a student, which we'll talk about in our interview at St. John's University.

And she had a really interesting course as far as getting there in her journey, because she actually did a joint program, which I really enjoyed asking her about.

So that was fun.

But her podcast is really.

Her goal is to shed light on different areas in medicine and just kind of talk about things that we don't really learn about in the classroom setting and that aren't necessarily common knowledge and kind of the process problems and things that we encounter on a daily basis working in medicine to help kind of dig deeper and just see if we can learn from each other's experiences.

So she is graduating fairly soon, but I think her podcast is awesome and something you may be interested in if you just want to hear more about medicine and perspective.

But we'll jump into that in just a second.

I wanted to mention an essay editing service.

If you listen to other podcasts, you've heard me talk about this, but mypa Resource is a great option if you're looking for a PA to edit your essay.

So I edit for them, and there are some other PAs as well, and we make sure that your essay is where it needs to be to submit to caspa, which is a very short couple months away and you need to have that ready to go on day one.

Do not wait until the last minute.

You can use the code the Prepa Club for a discount on that if you decide to use the service.

And they have a free workshop as well, so don't feel like you can't go check out the website.

There's a lot of free information there to help you get some direction.

I have some worksheets on my website as well.

If you go to the PA platform.com and then click the Pre PA section in that area, you can find some free downloads of worksheets to kind of help you through the process of getting started with your personal statement so that it's ready to go whenever you do submit it for editing if you decide to do that.

But anyway, let's get to our interview and I hope you enjoy it.

I'm Hannah Pruszynski.

I'm a physician assistant student in my fourth year at St. John's University.

I'm in the middle of my class and I'm also working on a podcast called Atypical Presentation on the side.

Okay, talk to me.

I definitely want to hear more about your kind of journey to PA school, but what does that mean to be a fourth year PA student?

Yeah, so I think St. John's University is one of the last PA schools that still has a bachelor's program rather than a master's.

So I went straight into PA school after my senior year of high school and it's pretty much set up that the first two years of my school were my undergraduate education and then my third year was the equivalent of a didactic year.

And now I'm in my fourth year, which is just purely clinicals.

Okay, that's really cool.

Is that something that they still.

Is that still how they're set up for people who would be applying now?

It's very confusing.

They had about three more classes after me and now they just switched it to, to a master's program because I think they're trying to consolidate all programs to be masters at this point.

Okay, gotcha.

So now the bachelor option isn't.

Or kind of go straight into schooling option, isn't there?

Right, right.

Okay, cool.

Well, that's something that sometimes people are interested in just because there aren't.

There are a few of those kind of five year programs out there still where it's like you do kind of three years of undergrad and then go straight into PA school.

Yeah, I think there's a few of.

Those, but I think that, yeah, I think they still have those.

But the one downside is like, you need to be very sure about what you want to do with your life as soon as you enter into it.

So did you tell us how you made that decision?

I mean, coming straight out of high school, you just knew that you wanted to be a pa?

Honestly, no.

I didn't know a lot about what a PA was in high school, and I was applying to a lot of schools to be a nurse practitioner.

And I applied to St. John's because it was a free application.

And then when I really looked into the program, it seemed super interesting, and PA didn't seem that different from.

From NP school.

And then as the time went on, I just grew to love it, especially when I got into the didactic year and started learning the actual medicine behind everything.

It just solidified it for me, but part of it was a leap of faith.

Interesting.

So to be in that program, do you still have to complete all of the same requirements as everyone else as far as, like, healthcare experience and patient care hours and shadowing?

How does that work?

No, it's a very strange program.

So I did have to have some sort of volunteering experience in high school just to show that you have some knowledge about the field, like, you know what you're getting into.

But I never had to complete any patient care hours, which is very weird.

I did have an interviewing process, which was the end of my second year, where you still had to qualify and you still needed to have recommendations, but it was a lot more of a like your grandfathered in sort of program.

So in that aspect, I was very lucky.

But I definitely didn't have as much experience going into it like a lot of the other people in programs do.

Okay, that sounds like a sweet deal.

Do you feel.

So I'm assuming you're a little bit of a younger, I guess, almost pa. How do you feel like that affects you?

I mean, do you feel like you're judged because of that on clinicals or.

That's something that comes up a lot when people are talking about people who go into PA school, even straight out of undergrad, is these people are too young.

They're not mature enough.

They don't know what they're getting themselves into, which is what I did.

I went straight in from undergrad and I felt like I was ready and prepared and all of those things.

So have you faced that at all?

For sure.

A lot of people look at me and they just assume I'm a baby.

Me too.

I had a patient tell me I looked like I was 12 the other day.

That was the youngest I've ever gotten.

Yes.

I've definitely had like the 14, 15 range.

So you definitely have to earn respect in that aspect.

But, yeah, that has been.

It has been a challenge at Times, especially with some of these other students that I meet.

They've worked as MAs previously before even entering into PA school.

So I just have a lot of respect for the other students that I meet, and they certainly can teach.

Teach me a lot.

And I think a lot of the things I've learned on my rotations come straight from other students.

That's a good attitude, I think, to have about it instead of.

I don't know.

Some people can get a little bit upset or defensive at times, but overall, do you feel like.

Do you feel ready?

I mean, at the end of your training and what you've gone through, do you feel somewhat prepared?

I don't know if you ever really feel ready, but do you feel, like, reach that point where you're gonna be able to go out there and be a pa?

Yeah.

I'm gonna be completely honest.

There are definitely things where I feel very scared about the future, because there's always.

I feel like in medicine, you're never completely prepared.

Like you said, something can walk in the door that you've never seen before in your life, and you kind of just have to put on your game face and deal with it.

But.

But in the fields that I really enjoy, like primary care and psych, I feel ready.

I feel like I could step into something.

If it's surgery, I feel very unprepared.

So what has been your favorite rotation so far?

Truthfully, I really like primary care, and I thought I would hate it, but I love just sitting down and talking with the patients.

And I also really liked pediatric psychiatry.

That was cool.

Okay.

What has.

Throughout your PA school journey, what has been the most surprising and, I guess, difficult part of school?

Okay.

Didactic year, the most challenging part for me.

I mean, besides the work itself, which was tremendously difficult, it was just time management and really figuring out how to stay sane, because I love working out, I love artistic hobbies, and it kind of killed me inside to have to choose between having good grades and doing other things that I love.

So just figuring out how to manage all of that was really hard for me, but it was crucial, and I'm glad I figured it out eventually.

Yeah, I think it took me to my.

We start in the summer, so probably until that first spring semester to kind of feel like I finally had a handle on things and could manage my time and still do the things I wanted to do and not just the things I had to do.

But by then, you're halfway through the didactic year, so.

No.

That great.

Yeah.

It goes by so quickly.

I mean, it really does.

What do you think as far as being that you went straight from your undergraduate classes into PA school?

What do you feel like you could have done differently to prepare yourself more for that didactic year or that clinical year.

In general?

The timeline for my schooling was very rushed because it was.

It was a bachelor's program.

So I wish that I would have been able to take language classes in college.

A lot of people are able to do that, but my program just didn't allow it and really need to be pretty fluent in Spanish at a lot of the places you work at.

And also, I don't know, I just wish I had more science classes and that I didn't feel like I was doing things so that I would pass, but more so that I was just doing it to absorb the information.

But when it goes so quickly, it's hard to do that.

So, yeah, I think I have that same regret from undergrad.

Just looking back.

I mean, part of me wishes I could take chemistry again without the anxiety part of it just to see if I do better, because I think I was just so anxious about doing well that I didn't even learn the material that well.

I just wanted to pass.

Not the best.

Yeah, organic was so hard, but I want to know if I could do it.

I feel like I could do better if I have another chance, but I don't know if that's true or not.

Maybe not.

Oh, my gosh.

That gives me terrible flashbacks, though.

Yeah, I don't.

I don't really know if I would do it again, but, yeah, that was.

That was definitely my hardest class.

What are your plans for after PA school?

Have you gotten that far or thought about it or.

I'm thinking about it, and I graduate in, like, four months.

Wow.

So, yeah, I need to.

I really need to be thinking about it.

And I really love psych, like I was saying, so I'd love to do something with that.

I also love the, like, the therapeutic end to psych and other modalities of treatment other than medication.

So I would love to maybe get a master's since I don't have one in psych.

But, yeah, I'm not sure.

I still have a few rotations left, so things could all just completely change.

Being that you're graduating with a bachelor's degree.

I know that even the program that I went to, Augusta University, they now have, like, an online bachelor's to master's program for PAs that ended up graduating with a bachelor's degree.

Do you think you'll ever do something like that to try to get your technically MPA or whatever.

I didn't even know they had those kind of bridge programs.

But that's really cool because people from my type of program probably need that.

But I don't know, I really want to explore something else.

And I think also we have like those.

I forget the exact name, but like PA certifications in certain specialties.

So I think I'd rather go that route and really go into something that I love in terms of specialties.

But yeah, I don't know, there's just so many things to learn.

Yeah.

Kind of have to get out there and start doing it.

And it.

I mean, you'll catch on, no problem.

But what I want to talk a little bit about your podcast.

So when did you start your podcast and what kind of inspired that?

So I'm.

I've been making podcasts for two years now about a few different subjects.

But I've always wanted to do something medicine related because my whole career is in medicine and it just makes sense.

And there's so many parts of medicine that really interest me that I didn't have time to learn about in PA school, being that it was so rushed.

But I get to learn from doctors that I meet on my rotations or other students or just like reading literature.

And I think that we should be exposed to all these different nuances and strange abnormalities in medicine and like the little parts of PA school that we don't always talk about, like having night shifts and what it's like to be in the birthing room with a mother.

Like such a crazy experience.

So I just wanted to bring light to those different parts of PA school medicine and expose it to people who are in the field and out of the field.

Yeah, it's definitely something I think some people who are non medical have interest in.

My sister won't let me talk about anything having to do with blood or she'll start getting lightheaded.

So we're completely opposite in that regard.

But I mean, I have friends who love to ask me all kinds of medical questions.

I think the question I get asked the most is, have you ever watched Dr. Pimple Popper?

Because since I'm in Durham, everyone assumes that's what I do all day, which I do some of that.

But once you smell what comes out of those things, you will not enjoy Dr. Pimple Popper quite as much.

Yeah, no, I think you definitely have a great, great thing there because, yeah, I'm actually surprised at the lack of just medical stuff that is out there in the podcast world.

I love listening to podcasts and I feel like I can find one just about anything.

But then when I started looking for stuff specifically about PA school and pretty prepa stuff and just physician assistant things in general, it was really hard to find.

I mean, there were a few pants review stuff out there, but that wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

I wanted something I didn't really want to review.

I guess I wanted to learn something and then I wanted to also kind of there was nothing for pre PA people, so that's where mine kind of came from.

But yeah.

How long have you been doing the Atypical Presentation podcast?

I've been doing it since December, so I'm about to put out the fifth episode.

It's in its baby stages, but yeah, I'm excited about it.

And in addition, I really love what you're doing because like you were saying, there's really no PA podcasts that are down to earth and talking to people involved.

It's a lot of like buzzword type stuff.

So I love that you're doing this and it's just making it more accessible to people that don't know anything, the profession.

Yeah, I think podcasts are so cool because you can do other things.

Like you don't have to sit there and read it or like it doesn't take as much time.

I listen to podcasts and I'm like cleaning my house and doing things I don't really want to do, but it makes it more enjoyable.

So I think they're a great thing for that and I'll be excited to come on, be able to come on your podcast and talk more medical stuff because not really what I get to do here, but I like to do that too.

But what do you think that's something that you'll continue once you end up graduating PA school and yes, practicing and all that?

Definitely.

I really want to keep that a part of my life.

Just I need to do creative things in some aspect.

So I think that'll definitely be something.

Hopefully it is well received and yeah, God willing, I will continue.

Awesome.

Well, what you mentioned you have had other podcasts.

What have your other podcast subjects been on, if you don't mind sharing?

So two years ago I worked for the National Park Service and I worked at this small park in New York City that I didn't even knew or know existed at the time.

But I was like a social media outreach person and I created the first podcast for their park.

It basically just talked about like different roles in the park and like, people who are tackling invasive species and just random things.

And then another one my friends and I tried to make, but it never came to fruition, was about millennials and just how we're not always on our phone doing nothing, but we actually have a say in the world about big issues.

And we just wanted to interview millennials about a slew of different things.

But, yeah, that didn't happen.

Here I am.

Well, it's a very little known fact that my website, originally I decided I was going to do a fashion blog, but that wasn't for me.

That lasted all of about two weeks.

And I was like, I can't do this.

This is not my thing.

I don't even remember, like, what my URL was.

But yeah, not.

Not my deal.

I'm much more comfortable in the pre PA space.

I just.

I guess usually I'm wearing, like yoga pants and sweatshirts.

So, yeah, that.

Yeah, I think I like looking at fashion blogs more than I liked making one.

So fun fact for everybody out there.

For two weeks, I was a fashion blogger.

Fashion for PA interviews.

Huh?

You could do like a PA interview fashion idea thing.

Yeah, there's actually on Instagram, I forgot her username, but there's.

There is a PA who has like a great fashion account and fashion blog and she does awesome with it and I love looking at her pictures and following her.

But yeah, I just.

Yeah, I felt really.

I still feel really awkward taking pictures of myself and putting them places like social media and online.

But it's fun.

I like doing it too.

So I want to know this girl's Instagram now.

Huh?

I want to know this girl's Instagram now.

Oh, gosh.

I'll see if I can figure it out.

Yeah, what are some.

If you have any of your, like, favorite, like, PA or medical podcast or resources for other people.

Resources.

Okay, I forget the name of the email.

I get this email every single day, and it's really great because the pants is coming up for me.

It is?

Where is it?

Hold on.

It's on my phone.

Oh, the physician assistant.

Okay, that's really simple.

The physician assistant, the PA life, they send me this daily pants question and I love it.

It's super easy.

I just, like, open my email and it's there every day.

I like that.

I use the pants prep pearls, which I'm sure, like, every single PA student knows about, but I love it and it works.

And Dwayne, the guy who made it, is really nice and down to earth.

So, yeah, I appreciate that and yeah, I mean I've listened to most of the the PA podcasts as well on my car rides to work or on the subway.

But my favorite would be Pants Prep Pearls and his flashcard app as well.

Okay, yeah, I think I have that as well.

I Pants Prep Pearls was not around yet when I was in PA school.

So I know whenever it comes time for me to research and take my panry, I'll definitely be using that.

I've heard really great things and I've only ever used the certification like this blue or green certification book.

So yeah, I'll have to invest in that at some point.

White coat wardrobe was the Instagram that.

I like her outfits.

She does so good.

I mean she has a lot of clothes too.

I just wear scrubs every day to work, but apparently she wears real clothes so they're really cute.

But truthfully, scrubs are the best because it's like the comfiest thing in the world.

Yeah, they're so comfortable and I always keep an extra pair at work in case I get any of that nasty cyst stuff on me, which has thankfully only happened a couple of times.

But yeah, it's.

I love wearing scrubs and not having to think about what I'm wearing.

Yes, I'm thinking about that acne cyst smell again.

Oh yeah, there's definitely some smell memory with that.

It's not good.

Yeah.

To kind of wrap up what, what advice since you've.

You're kind of at the end of your, well, the end of your PA school journey, about to jump into like actually moving forward.

What advice would you give to somebody who's considering PA school but maybe isn't sure is on the fence?

And maybe that's at a high school or undergraduate level since you kind of have a unique experience there.

I would say definitely take some time off and don't rush into the decision.

It's really good to volunteer or do some sort of experience based learning.

I volunteered for like eight years in a hospital and I don't think if I had done that I would be nearly as content with the decision that I made.

So regardless of what it is, if you're, if you're working in the gift shop of a hospital or anything, really just be there because there's a certain feel to the job atmosphere that you should just be aware of.

And also shadowing PAs, of course, I mean, I didn't have to do that, but if it's a requirement, obviously you should be doing it.

But anyways, I think it's really helpful because you won't know exactly what you're gonna do unless you're physically seeing it happen.

Yeah, I would say that's the most consistent advice that pretty much all interviewers or interviews I've done on the podcast have said is shadow.

I mean, and that's what I mean.

I get emails like, I'm not sure about this, or I'm trying to decide between these two careers.

And until you see it in action, you can read about it all day long, you can watch YouTube videos and interviews, but until you actually go and watch, I don't think it's possible to have a great understanding of what actually goes into just kind of a day to day life of a PA or other profession.

So, yeah, I totally agree with you there for sure.

But yeah, anything else that we didn't cover that you think would be helpful or useful?

I had a friend in my PA school during our didactic year and the one thing that we just always wanted to tell the younger grades was just not to stress out as much, if that's at all possible.

Because I think there's just this huge stigma that you're gonna have no life during your didactic year and you're gonna be miserable.

And I mean, to an extent it's true, you're not gonna have a lot of free time, but into it with that mindset, you're kind of setting yourself up for failure.

So I would just say be more positive about the experience.

Think about why you're doing it and not of it as being a chore.

And it's really enjoyable.

If you go into every day of class like that and every day of your clinicals.

No, that's great advice, I think.

Yeah.

Thinking back on my class, I mean, there were definitely maybe some people who weren't very happy to be there and didn't kind of didn't like the town or didn't like the area and they were from somewhere else.

And it just kind of makes it a little less fun for everyone else.

Too, if you don't have a good attitude.

So, yeah, it's like we said, PA school is really quick.

Like you don't have time to stress out and if you're not enjoying it, it's just gonna fly by and then you'll have wasted those two years.

So.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, definitely kind of be in the moment, make friends in your class and, and really help each other out because that's what PA school's all about, in my opinion.

But.

All right, well, thank you so much for coming on and letting me interview you.

Yeah, no problem.

Thank you so much for having me.

You're welcome.

And I'm sure where can everyone just kind of find you and follow along with everything you're doing?

So my podcast is currently only on SoundCloud.

It's called Atypical Presentation.

And you can also email me atthephysician assistantmail.com.

Okay.

And I'll link to that in the description so everyone can find it to find the podcast.

And then, yeah, I'm sure if you have any questions, you can contact Hannah.

And yeah, just kind of keep in touch.

I love hearing about how different everyone's experiences are as far as how they got to PA school.

And even in PA school, it's so different depending on where you go.

So I really appreciate Hannah coming on my podcast and sharing her advice and tips and just her information and being willing to do that.

And you can find my interview with Hannah on her podcast on SoundCloud and it is called Atypical Presentation and I'll try to link to that.

But I hope you enjoyed this and let me know what you think of my interview as well when I'm kind of on the other side of things.

But if you enjoyed it, please leave a review on itunes.

That definitely helps out.

Next week we'll be answering some questions from the reviews, so get your questions in there if you have them, or leave a voicemail on the PA platform.com podcast.

You can do that.

And make sure you're in the Pre PA Club Facebook group to join in the discussion about all things Pre pac.

And we'll see you next week.