You submit CASPA, you exhale, and then the supplemental applications start rolling in.

Programs use supplementals to ask what CASPA doesn't. Why this school. What you'd bring to this class. What happened during that semester where your grades dropped. They already have your stats - now they want to see whether you actually researched them or just checked a box.

The biggest mistake is copying and pasting your personal statement. Don't. They've already read it. Use the supplemental to add something new, and answer the question they actually asked.

These also come with their own deadlines and their own fees, and they show up fast. Have a plan before they hit your inbox.

What I cover:

• Why programs use supplemental applications
• Common prompts and what they're really asking
• Why you shouldn't reuse your personal statement
• Addressing a low grade or a gap without making excuses
• Managing multiple supplementals and their deadlines
• Budgeting for supplemental fees

Resources:

Supplemental application library: https://www.thepaplatform.com/supplemental-library

Essay review: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-essay-review

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

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

Welcome to episode 68 of the Prepa Club Podcast.

Let's talk about supplemental applications.

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.

Welcome.

Welcome.

We will jump into the episode in just a second, but.

But I wanted to give a shout out to our current sponsor, PA School Prep.

The last few episodes I've talked about PA School Prep, which is an online course designed to help you get ready for PA school.

This is something that PA programs are integrating as part of their curriculum for incoming PA students to make sure they're prepared for the anatomy, physiology and medical terminology basics that you need to know before jumping into all the tough stuff stuff.

Now, PA School Prep has offered a discount if you use the code futurepa.

You can get $35 off your registration and make sure you ask about it when you are inquiring about schools.

If you want more info, go to paschoolprep.com today we're talking about supplemental applications, which is also on YouTube.

I'm kind of doing this crossover thing where if you want to watch the video form or if you want to listen, I want you to have options.

So.

So if you'd rather watch it is on YouTube along with some other videos.

We're doing a weekly digest newsletter.

So all the blog posts, tips, challenges, all kinds of stuff in this newsletter that goes out every Friday.

Make sure you're getting in on that.

There's a link in the description.

To sign up, you can go to the PA platform thepaplatform.com newsletter if you want to make sure that you're getting that.

I'm really excited about this episode and I know I've been promising some interviews, but we really do have some good ones coming up.

As always, if you have questions, if there's anything you want to know about, please reach out.

Ask me on Instagram, DM me there at the PA platform.

Send an email and I will get back to you.

So here we go.

Let's jump in, y'.

All.

Hi guys.

Thanks so much for joining me in today's episode of the Pre PA Club podcast.

And now I guess you can call it a vlog.

I don't know what you would call it, but the video version, which is also on YouTube.

So today we're talking about supplemental applications.

A few weeks ago, before Christmas, I sent out an email and just asked people on my email list, what do you want to know about, what do you want to have your questions answered on, and what part of the application process isn't clear for you?

And, and a lot of people said supplemental applications, specifically the essays.

So I wanted to jump in today and talk about supplementals specifically.

There's not a lot out there on this subject and so it's something that we can talk about and hopefully shed some light for you guys if you're just following along.

My name is Savannah.

I am a dermatology PA and I also created a website called the PA Platform, which is, which has evolved into a podcast and a YouTube channel and all kinds of things.

So make sure you're following along.

Subscribe on YouTube, subscribe on iTunes.

Give me a, like a thumbs up, a comment if you have questions.

Feel free to reach out.

I'm very accessible on Instagram HEPA Platform.

You can email me.

All of this information is in the description.

So let's jump into supplementals.

And, and one of the first questions is, why do schools require supplementals?

I've already done this entire CASPA application.

What more information do they need from me?

And why do they need more money, honestly?

So supplementals are very common and I would say a lot of programs do require a supplemental.

The purpose of this is to get more information from you and to find out more about you that CASPA doesn't allow for.

I mean, if you think about the CASPA application for PA school, which is the universal application, it goes through the basics, it has all of your information, your coursework, your academic history, your test scores, your experience, and then your personal statement.

Now, your personal statement on Caspa only gives you 5,000 characters, including spaces.

So that's about a little over a page, maybe a page and a paragraph space, single spaced.

That's not a lot of information to tell them everything about you.

CASPA is also general.

It's not specific to each program.

You definitely don't want to anywhere on your CASPA application or in your essay allude to one school or speak directly to one program or about one program.

That's a mistake because if you apply to more than one program, they're going to get that essay.

And that's a little bit awkward.

So it's really important that your essay on CASPA is general.

Now, once you've submitted caspa, you cannot change your application and you cannot change your essay.

So some people think, oh, I can submit to one school and then go in and switch my essay and apply to Another school?

Nope, not going to work.

That will get you into trouble.

So one general essay on CASPA and then we have supplementals.

So these schools, they just want to find out some of them have specific requirements as far as diversity or they want to give you a chance to explain things on your application that you couldn't necessarily on caspa.

So things like a bad grade or GPA test scores, any type of maybe run in with the law, you know, a mistake you've made, they want to give you that benefit of the doubt to provide more information.

So the supplementals are important.

They also are very time consuming.

So when you're deciding how many schools to apply to, my rule of thumb is 10 to 12 schools that you meet the minimum requirements for.

If you don't meet the requirements, they're never going to look at your application, they're never going to look at your supplementals, and you're wasting your time and money.

But if you have a good amount of programs, you want to make sure they're good fits for you.

The other day I got an email from someone and I loved this email because she said that she had about six to seven schools that she had thoroughly researched and really felt like they were good fits, but she was wondering if she just needed to add more programs.

You know, in that case, if you really feel like you have these programs that are just meant for you, that you fit their requirements, you're interested in what they have to offer.

I don't think you necessarily have to add more programs on CASPA or according to the PAEA matriculants.

So people who applied and started PA school most recently on average applied to six programs.

Now that's an average.

So you have people with way less than that.

Some people applied to one program and got in and you have people with way more.

And so there's a range there, but on average, so six programs choosing.

I might be on a tangent here, but choosing 30 programs just because you fit the requirements is not the best plan.

Especially when it comes to supplementals.

You're looking at fees, you're looking at time and trying to meet all these deadlines and keep up with a lot of stuff.

It's better to pare it down to a few programs that you feel that you can confidently complete the applications for versus just throwing a wide net and hoping for the best.

That's my 2 cents on that.

So some schools have supplementals, some don't.

And this is up to you to research this and make sure that, you know, if a program that you're applying to has a supplemental.

There's nothing worse than going through caspa, doing your application fees, applying to a program, and then not submitting the supplemental, and you end up not being qualified for that school because you didn't complete one of their requirements.

Usually this will be spelled out very clearly on each program's website.

Actually, when I look at program websites, usually it's one of the first things, you know, we use caspa, and you must submit your supplemental application.

Click here to do so.

So usually it's pretty clear.

Now, if you're not clear about it, there are a few things you can do.

Check the PA forums.

So physicianassistantforum.com is a great place to go to see in the past if there have been a supplemental requirement and to see if there's one for this year that other people are working on.

And then also contact the schools.

And this goes for pretty much everything.

When in doubt, contact the program directly.

They will give you the most updated information.

And that means either calling, emailing one of the two to try to get some information and make sure you're not missing something.

Now, some schools are starting to incorporate some of their supplemental materials into caspa.

There is a section in CASPA called Program Materials.

And on caspa, when you sign in for each program you've assigned your application to, you can check this program materials.

It'll have deadlines and information for you, contact information, but it will also possibly have some supplemental stuff in that section.

Sometimes you'll have to assign grades.

So if you're choosing grades, if it wants you to assign a Biology one, you want to choose the class that fits most appropriately with that requirement.

Let's say they want you to assign Organic Chem 1 and you took it three times.

You want to choose the course with the best grade and the most recent one.

So you don't have to assign all of them, just choose the one that fits the best with that requirement.

Now, schools are very particular about this too.

So if you get in there at that part of the supplemental and you're unsure if one of your courses fulfills a requirement, make sure you ask.

Sometimes you have to send in your syllabus to get clearance that a certain program does fit with what they require.

Because the title of the program, not the program, the class may not make it entirely clear what the subject matter is.

So you want to make sure that is clear.

Beyond the courses that you're assigning, there may be questions.

So some of the common supplemental questions, and we'll get into This a little bit more, but kind of why did you apply here?

Explain any academic issues on your application.

Just a few questions.

And they're going to have different space requirements.

Now, this is the tough part about supplementals, because just like program requirements, all of the supplementals are different.

They all have different deadlines.

Each school goes about this differently.

So some may be in caspa, some may be a separate application.

Usually there is a fee involved.

So plan on this when you're applying.

It can range from $25 to $100.

So if you're applying to 10 programs, that can add up very, very, very quickly.

And this is not a refundable amount.

It's something that you are giving that school school so that they are taking the time to consider your application.

So just plan for those fees, and that should play into your decision again of how many schools you're applying to.

Now, we've talked about program materials.

Let's talk about deadlines.

You need to check on this before you apply to a program and before you complete the supplemental.

So some programs will require that supplemental to be submitted with your initial application, and then some will want you to submit it afterwards.

And the supplemental may or may not be open to all students.

There are some programs that wait until they get your initial CASPER application.

They do a little review, and if you meet their requirements, then you do a supplemental.

So you'll get an email or something with a link to do that supplemental.

And that's kind of nice because they're not going to waste your time if they don't feel like you're a good candidate for their program.

It's a little bit respectful, I would say, of your time and money.

Now, beyond cost, beyond deadlines, you may have to upload a picture, and that's something to be prepared for.

Some schools want a picture just so when you show up at the interview, they can make sure you're who you say you are.

And some schools will take pictures at the interview, but go ahead and have a headshot.

Mine was done on my back porch of my college apartment, up against the wall, so.

So I put on a little business casual outfit, stood there, had my roommate take a picture of me and sent it in.

It's not uncommon for them to want a picture.

Some people feel like that's kind of weird, but it's just part of the process.

So know that ahead of time.

Let's talk about essays.

What should you include in a supplemental essay and how should you go about this?

Now, this is the meat.

This is what you probably want to know beyond the logistics, how do I address these things?

Your supplemental essays are your opportunity to really dive into the parts of your CASPA application that you weren't able to explain thoroughly.

So if you touched on a story or an experience in the Experience Details section or in your personal statement, now in a supplemental, you can go further and explain it more and really talk about what you learned.

You should not repeat anything directly from your CASPA essay or your personal statement essay.

In a supplemental essay, this should be a different essay.

It should not be exactly the same.

If you do that, you are wasting your space and you're wasting your interviewer or your admissions committee's time.

It needs to be different.

And that's a question that I've seen come up in our Pre PA Club Facebook group.

Some so just know that this is a different essay.

You do not copy and paste.

You do not copy and paste sentences or portions from it.

You can expand on things that are in your personal statement essay, but it should not be the identical, exact same material.

Just getting that out of the way.

Now, these essays can be specific to the program and they should be because you need to show that you've done your homework and really you know about the program, you know why you applied there and why you would be a good fit for them.

So for doing that, you should look over their website.

You should know their mission statement and be able to speak to the different parts of that and how they fit in with you.

You should be able to kind of brag on that program a little bit while you're bragging on yourself.

Now you do want to make sure also that you're answering all of the prompt I've seen in these supplemental so I do supplemental essay reviews through the PA platform and I've seen where sometimes people only touch on one part of it.

So what I recommend is put the question prompt at the top of your Word document.

Always type essays in a Word document.

This is an aside personal statement, whatever essay you're working on.

Supplementals.

Do it in a Word document.

Do not do it in your web browser in case you lose it.

That would be devastating.

So always do it in a Word document, but take that prompt and put it at the top of your Word document.

Write your essay when you're going back through and editing and kind of proofreading, look for parts of the prompt and make sure that your answer fits.

I like to pick a color, so if there's three different parts to the prompt, I'll pick blue, red, and green for the blue.

I will go through and highlight the parts of the essay that fit in with that blue part of the prompt.

Same thing for red, same thing for green.

Just to make sure that I'm answering all of their questions, or I guess that you're answering all of their questions.

But you want to make sure that every single part of that prompt is addressed and, and answered and that you're not just focusing on one thing.

Each of these essays tend to have different limits.

As far as characters, I've seen some that only have 100, that is two sentences, that is nothing.

And then there are others that have a ton.

I mean, they'll have 8,000 characters or something.

You do not, on those long character limits, have to necessarily use the whole space.

I say try to keep your supplemental essay answers to a page or less.

If you are given a lot of space.

You want to make sure that you're respectful of your reader's time.

But those short ones are so, so tough.

You don't have room for extra words or descriptions.

You just got to get to the point.

But there's different character limits, word limits, page limits, all of that.

Make sure you take that into account when you're writing your essay.

Now, are these limits negotiable?

Can you go over a little bit?

No.

If there's a limit, you need to meet that limit.

And again, you want to be respectful of your readers time.

If they see an essay that has a one page limit and yours is two pages, that already kind of puts a bad mark on you.

And you don't want to start off with a bad impression.

So stick to the program limits.

Now, beyond that, so you do want to show that you know about the program.

If a question is optional, should you answer it?

My answer will always be yes.

So it's an opportunity for you to tell more about yourself.

And so you don't want to lose that opportunity when other people are taking it.

And unless it's something maybe bad or negative, I probably wouldn't.

But you always want to be honest and you want to use the space given to provide as much information about you as possible.

Your essays, your application and your essays and what you put into those are what is going to get you an interview.

So your essays get you the interview, the interview gets you into PA school, and that's how it is across the board.

So these are so important, and I hope that I'm stressing that well.

And I know I talk fast.

Sorry.

So, reapplicants, should you update or change your answers?

Well, my answer to this will usually be yes too, unless you just were not at all qualified the first time and you know for a fact that they did not look at your application and it got weeded out.

I would say you need to edit your answers because if it didn't work the first time, I'm not sure what makes you think it's going to work a second time.

Something wasn't what they were looking for on the first time you applied.

So you need to change it, you need to work on it, you need to edit it for the second time to make sure that it really gets evaluated and looked at and hopefully favorably this time to get you accepted into PA school.

People wanted to know about typical supplemental application questions.

Let's talk about just some basic ones.

You know, why did you choose to apply to this program?

And this is a common interview question too.

And it comes down to showing that you know about the program.

Location, class size, mission statement, things they offer as far as rotations, learning style, so many different factors to show that you love their program and why you applied there, and then also talking about yourself and your personality characteristics and how that fits in with a program.

So I talk about this a lot when I'm doing mock interviews with this question, talking about I love that your class size is 25, because when I was in college I was in a lot of larger classes and I struggled in those.

But then I had a few classes with smaller class sizes of 25 or 30 and I just excelled.

I did awesome in those.

And so I feel like by PA School USA having a class size of 25, I'm going to be able to excel and do really well.

So kind of marrying those two concepts together to show how you're going to fit into their class and how you're going to succeed in their class, you want to give confidence that you're going to be able to do well in their program.

You're going to represent them well, you're going to be a great classmate, a great colleague, and you're going to help build up their reputation in the future as an awesome pa.

So that's kind of when you're going about why you want to apply there.

I mean, I think anything personal you can add is great, especially when it comes to location, connections to the area support system and really just showing that their class would be weaker if you are not a part of it.

And you want them to have that confidence that you're going to bring something to the table that they just can't live without now beyond that Discuss something unique about yourself that's not reflected anywhere else on your supplemental application or caspa.

What is that asking for?

Now, this type of question, I feel like really gets to people, but it's not a trick question.

This just shows how much they want to learn something about you.

It's not asking you to talk about your experience.

It wants to know something that just makes you interesting.

PA schools are looking for people who are unique and have their own interests and hobbies.

Talk about.

This is kind of like if you're doing an icebreaker and they say, stand up and tell us one unique thing about you or one fun fact.

I hate that question, but I think it's a good one because you should be able to talk about things you're interested in.

Talk about somewhere you've traveled, talk about your family.

Just something that really to you encompasses just who you are and something that you would like them to know about.

It does not have to be medical.

It does not have to be related directly to being a pa.

I mean, I think it should show maybe something about how you're going to do well in PA school or what you've learned from something that will make you a better person in the future.

But I don't think it has to be directly related to healthcare.

Alright?

Oh, this is a toughie.

Please explain any extenuating circumstances that impacted your academic performance.

Nobody ever wants to talk about academics.

And I mean, that's reasonable, right?

Because ultimately if you did bad, you don't want to talk about it, but this is your opportunity to explain things.

So if you do have, I would say a C or lower.

A lot of Cs are lower.

Withdrawals, a bad semester, something especially anything that you look at your application and feel like it would prevent you from getting an interview.

This is your chance to explain it.

And when you're explaining academic stuff, whether it's in personal statement, essay, interview, you need to discuss what happened, why were you struggling, what was the problem, what you did to fix it, and how you took steps to make it better.

And then what you learned from that and how that's going to translate into PA school or being a pa.

So for me, I got a C in Organic Chemistry too.

That was the hardest class I've ever taken.

That was the class that I cried about the most, including after every single test.

Totally thought I was going to fail.

Really, really happy to get that C. But this is something I talked about in my interviews.

I did not mention it on my application, in my essay or my supplemental essays because Personally, I don't feel like 1C is enough to knock me out of the running or something worth addressing.

But in interviews, when I was asked about hard classes and academic struggles, this was the first thing that came to mind, obviously.

So I talked about how I struggled in organic chemistry 1.

I think I got a B minus in ochem 1 and so going into organic chemistry 2 was very difficult for me.

I didn't feel like I had a good understanding of organic chemistry 1.

And then of course, O chem 2 builds on it.

I was a biology major, so it was required for my major, even though it's not required for most PA schools.

That was a little frustrating.

But I. I struggled through OCHEM too.

I went to office hours, I went to these tutoring sessions they had every week.

I was doing practice problems and ultimately I was just getting more and more frustrated.

So I did my best in that class and I feel like I learned a lot about studying and how to ask for help and ask for help quickly and recognize when I'm not understanding a concept.

I did also learn that it's more important to try to understand the big picture and the concept than memorize that's not the best way to go about things.

So I took that with me forward into PA school because if I was struggling, hello, Pharmacology.

I was able to ask for help really, really quickly to make sure that I didn't fall too far behind and end up with more C's down the road.

But that was my personal little tough class there and I feel like most people who have ever taken chemistry can relate.

Now let's do another one.

So, thinking about the missions and objectives of the PA profession and this school, describe your personal characteristics that demonstrate your interest in the field.

Include an example of the event in which your actions directly influenced the life of another person, and relate this to your goal to become a page.

So this one, if you have 1,000 characters, that is not a lot at all for this question, but you've got to just tell a story real quick and then get to kind of how you fit in with their mission.

You're not going to be able to address everything in a question like this.

You're going to have to pull out a few things from their mission the most, maybe one or two that are important to you, and then talk about those I have seen questions too that will talk about what three of these characteristics do you feel like you fit in with best or do you feel like you display the best?

Explain them if they're asking for a certain number of something, you need to stick to that.

Pick that certain number and stick to that number in your answer and make it very clear the ones that you're talking about.

So if they give you a bunch of different things, potentially you want to say I feel like I display loyalty because blah blah blah.

You shouldn't leave in any essay your reader kind of guessing about what you're talking about or leaving them to infer for themselves.

Make it very clear.

Don't push them to assume something, just make it clear what you're saying.

Direct and concise.

If I ever edit your essay, I can almost guarantee it will have the words be more direct and concise in okay, so those are some examples.

I hope everyone is busy getting ready for PA School applications for supplementals.

If you end up having any questions about any of this, please let me know.

I think that's all I have for now, but feel free to leave a comment, send a question, jump in the Pre PA Club Facebook group and leave a question there.

And make sure you're on our weekly newsletter list so that you get updates about any blog posts, videos, podcasts every single week.

But I think that's all I got.

Thanks for watching.

That's all I've got for you today.

So thank you so so much for tuning in.

Also, don't forget about the Medalita discount.

So if you're looking for scrubs, white coats, scrub jackets which are my personal favorite, make sure you go to medalita.com.

I am a big supporter of them because this is a PA created company which is so so cool.

And you can use the code PA Platform1 for a 20% discount which is awesome.

So any questions?

They have a lot of stuff on sale right now.

Let me know and I will see you guys next week.

Thanks for tuning in.

Bye.