You sent questions on social media. I answered them.

This one's a grab bag of what you've been asking me most, and a couple of the answers might not be what you're expecting.

What I cover:

• How healthcare reform affects PAs and the patients you'll see
• How much health policy you actually need to know before an interview
• Talking about choosing PA over medical school in your personal statement
• The phrasing that makes admissions question your commitment
• When to apply, and why meeting the minimums is the real trigger
• What to do with your time while you finish requirements

Resources:

Free personal statement worksheet: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-personal-statement-worksheet-download

Free personal statement email course: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-personal-statement-email-course

Have me review your essay: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-essay-review

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

Welcome to episode 25.

Today we're answering all of your prepa questions from Instagram and Facebook and diving into some of the most commonly asked questions.

Welcome to the Prepa 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.

All right, so I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

If this is your first time tuning in, it's a good episode to listen to because we're going to be diving into a lot of different topics, but things that people have specifically had questions about.

So I created a website called the PA Platform, and I also work as a dermatology pa.

So I've been a physician assistant now for three and a half years, and I've been coaching and helping pre PA students for the past two and a half years.

So this is something that I just really enjoy doing.

And a lot of people I found have the same questions, and it's sometimes difficult to find those answers.

So part of my goal with my website and being on social media and the Pre PA Club Facebook group is to help you guys find a way to find the information and the answers that you're looking for.

So earlier, I guess about a week ago, I sent out, I did a post on Instagram, which my Instagram is HEPA platform.

And in the Facebook group that I run with my PA resource, the Pre PA Club Facebook Group, about what questions do you guys have?

What do you need help with?

What are you struggling with?

What can we address on the podcast to make sure that you have all the information that you need?

And I got some really great responses.

So we may do more of these episodes in the future, especially if I can't get to all of the questions in one episode.

But we'll do our best.

I don't want to have you here all day, though, so I'm excited to dive into some of these.

Some of them are kind of hard, and I'll do my best and.

And tell you what my opinions are and you can decide if you agree or not.

But yeah, so we'll jump into those and then go from there.

And as always, you can always send me questions on Instagram or.

I love how engaged our Facebook group is.

Everyone is so awesome at answering questions.

We have some great pre PA people, PA students, pas in there, just kind of giving feedback, and it's very respectful.

And I really enjoy kind of being in that group and helping out.

So make sure you're in there as well.

All right, let's start with just a hard question, and this one came on Instagram.

So how does healthcare reform affect PAs and their patient populations?

That is loaded.

This is a question that a lot of people have concerns about actually coming up in an interview.

No one really wants to be asked in an interview about politics or healthcare reform or insurance because they're such muddy topics.

And so I think that's what makes this question and this topic very difficult.

First of all, you should not be expected to fully understand health care reform or insurance.

Even the legislators doing this don't fully understand it.

I mean, these documents that are proposed and aren't even passed are hundreds and hundreds of pages long.

There's tons of clauses and information in there.

And so you kind of got to look at things from a bigger picture and really just think about healthcare in general and healthcare as a whole.

When I was going through interviews, it was right when the Affordable Care act was starting to be implemented and passed and really still in that proposal phase, basically where we are now.

And so for me, that almost gave me a little bit of a cop out or an excuse to not know the specifics, because again, no one did and still no one does.

My thoughts are, at the end of the day, patients need health care and they need access to healthcare, and they need to know what resources are available.

And that's not necessarily the government's responsibility to make sure they know about all of their resources.

But as a healthcare provider, your job is to provide care.

And when we get to PAs, specifically, part of all this stuff with healthcare reform is that more patients are getting insurance and are getting access to healthcare that maybe have never had it before or haven't had good access.

And so with that, they need providers, and there's already a shortage of physicians and a shortage of primary care providers.

And.

And even my area in the last year has lost 11 primary care providers.

It's hard to even find someone to be your primary doctor.

And so that's where PAS come in.

Because in this question, especially if you're asked in an interview setting, it is asking specifically about PAs.

It's not just asking about healthcare reform in General.

How do PAs fit into this?

PAs help fill that gap.

They are able to provide some of that care and jump in to make sure that patients are getting seen quicker and still getting quality health care.

So that's kind of the happy medium to making sure these patients who are all getting new insurance are still able to use that insurance and be seen for their healthcare problems and managed and followed and maintained throughout that so it's a tough topic.

I like to just kind of use Google News or the AAPA website, but through Google a lot of times I'll just type in things like healthcare reform or health insurance and just see as far as the news tab goes what comes up and read a little bit, make sure that I'm staying up to date with that.

But again, you really shouldn't be expected to have a full understanding of all of this because it's just way too complicated and I truly doubt that your interviewer also understands it.

So don't dig yourself a hole you can't get out of, but at least have some thoughts on how politics and government and insurance affect your future as a pa.

I hope that helps some.

Alright, moving on.

Let's see.

In your personal statement, is it okay to mention that you don't want to go to medical school because you want a family friendly career and and you don't want to commit to the length of medical school?

All right, so this also kind of encompasses YPA and not md, which can come up in an interview as well.

When it comes to personal statements, you do not want to raise any red flags.

I work with A company called MyPA Resource to edit statements and if you are working on yours and you need help with it, you may wanna reach out to them.

We only have pa's editing and you can use the Code Prepa Club for a discount on that service.

They also have a free workshop where you can just it's videos and you can kind of get advice about what should and should not be in your essay.

And part of this is also just going to be my opinion.

So I don't think it's a bad thing to not want to go to medical school because of the length of My husband is a resident right now and it is a huge commitment.

It is years and beyond just being a long time.

It's a lot of hours during those years.

So it's very intense and not something that should be jumped into or taken lightly.

But this is where it comes down to phrasing and wording.

I would never in my essay say something like I don't want to commit.

That makes it sound like why would you want to commit to PA school or being a pa?

I mean that's just, that's wording.

But you don't want anything to sound like you are not willing to put in the work necessary to do something.

So just be cautious with that.

And really when it comes down to why PA versus why md, your main reason should be the job itself, it should be the daily tasks, the daily roles, responsibilities, what you've seen, shadowing, it should be those types of things.

Not just the lateral mobility, not just the less schooling.

And then when it comes to wanting a family friendly career, to me that's what you make it.

So in my job as a pa, I work more than any of the physicians in my practice because they all have families and they have chosen to make their hours and the time they work family friendly.

And so that's not really a reason to become a PA over a physician.

You can choose that, that's just a choice you make.

Yes, a lot of doctors work a lot, but a lot of times that's by choice and there is some freedom there.

But I mean, if you want to make more money, you work more.

So that that really to me is not and should not be your deciding factor when you're going PA versus md.

And there are some schools that will see that as a red flag because there is somewhat of a problem with a lot of PAs go through PA school, become PAs, work for a few years and then quit once they start having families.

And that really doesn't help the provider shortage that we just talked about.

So you need to be able to show them that you're really committed to this and that you're committed to the job itself, not just the way you get there.

Alright, next.

How do you know when you should apply?

This cycle or next?

So this kind of encompasses kind of that question about gap years.

Should I take a gap year or should I not?

My rule of thumb for when to apply is that you should apply to PA school when you meet all of the minimum requirements.

If you do not meet the requirements, your application will most likely be thrown out and not even looked at.

So you want to make sure that you have checked all the boxes, that you have, all the classes you need, they're up to date, you have the grades you need in them, you have the gre.

If you're taking that, you have the experience volunteering, that you can say without a doubt that your application is complete, you could work on your application forever and ever.

So let's say you have 500 hours and that's their requirement.

So I mean you could go, oh well, I'm just gonna work another year and get more hours, which is fine.

But if they only require 500 hours, why wouldn't you just go ahead and apply?

So if you feel like you need another year, if you feel like you need that year to prepare and save money and Just become a better applicant and become more mature.

That is fine, do that.

You've got to make that choice for you.

But if you feel ready and you've put, put in the work and you can check everything off, then I see no reason to wait.

I applied during my senior year of college and I was able to jump right into PA school.

And I don't regret that decision at all.

I felt very ready.

I've always kind of been ready to work and just that go getter, I guess.

But yeah, so for me, I really didn't want to take a gap year.

And the same thing came to when I got a job.

I wanted to start right away.

I didn't want to take a break or a vacation and I really couldn't because my husband was in medical school.

But yeah, so for me it made more sense to jump in.

But I know plenty of people who have taken gap years and really enjoyed that time that they had.

It's not going to look bad to a program as long as you can show that you are doing productive things during that time and things that are going to benefit you and the future.

What should you do leading up to PA school after you've been accepted?

So probably at first you're just going to be really excited.

This question comes up a lot and my very honest opinion is to do nothing.

Just relax, spend time with friends and family, go on vacation, do things that you want to do because probably for the next two to three years, you're not going to get to do those things as much.

And that's not to say that PA school completely sucks all the life out of you, but it does take up a lot of time and you'll find yourself a little bit more stressed out at times and not having time for the things that you enjoy.

So really, really, I mean, you shouldn't really be trying to get ahead in material because that's really hard to do and impossible and you just need to get there and let them teach you.

If anything, if you feel like you need a refresher, you can look up or look back on information that you've studied in the past.

I think anatomy is probably the most important for that because usually programs do start out with anatomy in some regard and it can be very difficult.

It's just lot of information.

Like if you thought undergrad anatomy was hard, just wait for grad school anatomy, it is a whole different ball game.

So PA school prep, if you've ever heard of that, that's a program online.

It's a course that is anatomy and med terms refresher.

And that can help get you ready for PA school and make sure that you have that base knowledge that you need to move on and move forward and do well in PA school.

I got a C on my first anatomy test.

It did not feel good, and I had to learn very quickly how to adjust my study habits.

But I don't know that I could have done too much ahead of time to change that.

It was more just getting used to PA school.

But yeah, just relax, enjoy everything.

All right?

What struggles did I have during undergrad that impacted my journey to becoming a page?

Looking back at my undergrad, I think the biggest struggle I had was kind of just myself.

And I had a lot of test anxiety when it came to, particularly chemistry.

Not as much the other sciences, I mean, a little bit, but the chemistry test for sure, the way my school did.

I went to the University of Georgia.

All the tests were on the computer for the gen chem classes.

And you would answer questions and I don't know, let's say there were 40 questions.

It would come back and tell you which ones you got wrong and you could try again for half credit and then you'd submit those, and then it would come back and tell you which ones you got wrong again and then you could submit them for a quarter credit.

It was very strange and to me, just very stressful.

So I think that impacted my ability to just do well and to really learn the material.

I was so focused on passing tests that I don't think.

I don't think I learned as effectively as I could.

I guess that's the best way to put that.

And I would almost wish I could try it again without that stress and anxiety components.

So I feel like that I just had a lot of doubt about myself, about if I could become a pa, if I could get into PA school, if I should be trying to get into PA school.

And a lot of that, I think, came just from taking these difficult classes and not.

They weren't easy for me.

They were hard.

And I did end up getting a C in organic chemistry too, which, to be perfectly honest, I thought I was going to fail.

So I gladly accepted that C. I don't think any of that held me back from getting into PA school or becoming a pa, but just mentally it was difficult.

There were lots of tears.

You can ask my roommate, ask my husband, and a lot of stress that was probably unnecessary at the time.

So I would say try to relax, focus on the material.

But I know that's easier said than done.

So that's a little bit, a little bit of a difficult one.

And then how did you get experience at the same time?

So I did not try to work while I was in undergrad, while I was taking classes that I don't even know that would have thrown me over the edge.

I did some hospice volunteering and I was really involved in my campus ministry.

So I was doing volunteering and leadership things, but I was not working.

I did get my CNA license while I was in undergrad.

I would drive an hour away every Saturday for three months.

And then I did my spring break as my clinical rotations to get my CNA license.

And then once I had that, I worked full time for a summer in between.

Oh gosh, my sophomore and junior year to get some experience at a rehab hospital.

And it was great.

I did look for some patient care jobs once I got back to school, but I just couldn't find any that really fit with my schedule.

And that was once I had kind of completed a lot of the main courses.

But yeah, so I didn't work really hard to get hours during school.

My plan was if I wasn't accepted that I was going to start working full time after I graduated.

So GPA and grades are so important that you, you don't want to jeopardize that by trying to get experience.

So if gain experience is going to make it too difficult for you to keep your GPA up, then I would just wait until you're done with school to then do that.

Because once it falls, it's really hard to raise.

And that was another question in the Pre PA Club Facebook group.

Why is it so hard to raise a GPA and so easy to lower it?

And it's just the way that those numbers factor in.

I mean, if you get an F, that's going to count as a zero.

That's averaged in.

If you get an A, that counts as a four.

And then it depends on how many hours.

But there's a lot of complicated calculations in there.

I'll put a link in the description to a post I did about how to calculate that.

But it is much harder to raise your GPA than to lower it.

And you can look at GPA calculators and plug things in, but basically you start with a 4.0 before you even do anything and then it just slowly goes down from there.

So unless you get all A's and keep it at that 4.0, your GPA is slowly just going to fall.

And that is very, very difficult to overcome.

And I understand that it's frustrating, but it's just kind of how it is.

Sorry.

But yeah, I wish I had a better answer for that one.

Okay, how should I keep track of patient care hours?

So you should be trying to keep a record of patient care hours, volunteer hours, shadowing hours, all of those things.

Because when it comes time to put information into caspa, you want to have it all kind of ready to go and that will speed up the process.

It can take a while to input all of that.

So I have some downloadable files on my website.

I can put a link to those in the description that you can download for free and just fill everything in.

And it's got the headings that you will need in caspa.

So whenever it is time for you to apply, you should be ready to go with that.

And so I'll put a link to that.

But yeah, definitely make sure you're keeping track of them.

And with that question, how far in advance can you start CASPA and what information can you put in so you can make an account?

CASPA is the universal application for most PA programs.

Not all of them, but most of them.

You can make a CASPA account at any point and start entering information.

Hypothetically, that information should be saved.

I will tell you that you need to have a backup copy somewhere.

The application cycle before the one I applied to, they actually had to.

I think this has happened once since then too.

They had to redo the website or the program or something and all of the information was lost.

So if that's the only place that you've been saving your information and they have to reset it for some reason, you're going to lose all of that and there's no getting it back.

So make sure that you have it somewhere else too.

I would not just depend on CASPA to keep your information for you.

The stuff that you can put in, you can enter your experience, volunteer work, shadowing, all of those things.

You can enter or send in your transcripts and just know that if you do send in your transcripts, if you are still taking classes or you take other classes at different places, you're still going to have to send those in when it is time for you to apply.

So I probably would wait on that until you're a little bit closer to ready to getting your application in.

Letters of recommendation and your personal statement do not carry over.

Same thing with your personal statement, so make sure that you don't jump the gun on those things.

If you do have a letter writer, just give them a heads up, let them know when you'll be applying and then kind of have them hold on to that letter because CASPA will send them an email to upload it whenever it is time for them to upload that when you apply.

So yeah, you can put information in, but back it up somewhere else as well.

All right, when should you start preparing for the interview and how to prepare for the interview?

I did a webinar on this a while back and I'll put that link in the description and we'll definitely do some podcast episodes about interviewing coming up pretty soon.

Actually, you should start thinking about your interview.

Whenever your application is complete and submitted, just go ahead and assume that you're going to have interviews.

Like the person who wrote this question said, I've heard people only get one to two weeks of notice.

And that's true.

A lot of times programs don't give you much notice.

Sometimes they do, and that's nice.

But a lot of times you're kind of caught off guard and it's hey, we got this date, we want you here to interview, and so you've got to be ready to go and just jump on it.

So don't wait until the last minute to start at least thinking about the interview.

And once your application is complete and submitted, you can do that.

If I'm an emt, should I try to become a paramedic before PA school?

From what I understand about paramedic training, it's pretty intense and it can take a while.

If you feel like you have the time and energy and effort to do that.

I mean, it's always great to further your education and experience, but if you have already been accepted to PA school, I probably wouldn't try to do that.

I don't see there's any need for that.

You're not going to be able to work during PA school, but EMT is great experience alone for PA school.

Schools love seeing that, and so I don't think you have to go further and become a paramedic.

If anyone wants to come on here, that's a paramedic and shed some light on that process for us, that would be awesome.

But I think even just being an emt, you're gonna still be getting hours.

Yes, paramedic hours would be even higher quality, but I don't think it's something you have to do.

Do patient care hours have to be completed by the time you apply?

Depends on the program.

So you'll have to check with your program and this goes for prerequisites as well.

Some schools want you to have all of your hours done by the time you apply.

Some schools want you to have them done by the time that you matriculate or start their program.

So that's going to vary.

You just have to check and see.

And that's when you're doing that checklist to see if you're ready to apply.

Make sure that's something you're checking on because you don't want your application to be thrown out just because you missed that detail.

Do volunteer hours have to be in a healthcare related field?

Not necessarily.

So it's great to have some volunteer hours in a healthcare field.

So like I said, I did some hospice volunteering.

That was probably my only volunteer experience in healthcare.

And with that I had a lot of other volunteer experiences I helped out with.

I had a little girl that I met with every week who was from like the inner city and I did like ministry stuff like led small groups.

I went on mission trips that weren't medical based but just doing building projects.

So I did some other stuff that wasn't necessarily healthcare or medical, but it was still volunteer work.

The biggest thing with your volunteer hours is that schools do want to see consistency.

They don't want to see a bunch of random one hour things you did or one day things.

They want to see that you were committed to something.

So for me being able to say that for four years of college I was committed to these small groups, I think that stood out because it was something that I did the entire time as opposed to just a few things here or there.

So yeah, your volunteer hours don't have to be healthcare related.

Just pick something you're actually interested in and something that you'll actually enjoy.

I think that's important.

All right.

I think we covered all of the questions I had for this time.

Some of the ones that I got were a little bit more about like salaries for starting PAs and contact negotiation.

And I think we need a whole episode on that in itself because that may not be as interesting for some of you pre PA people, but for PA students I know that is a big thing.

So.

And nobody really loves to talk about money and stuff, but we'll do it, we'll tackle it.

But if you have questions that you want answered about anything else or for the next Q and A episode.

Just go ahead and send those to me either on Instagram, on Facebook, join our Facebook group, email them.

Just get your questions in.

I have some really exciting things for y' all next month coming that I'm very, very excited about.

So stay tuned for that.

Something that I've been working on really, really hard that I hope will help you to be able to be even more prepared for PA school and specifically the interview process, which is my favorite thing to talk about.

So stay tuned for that and feel free to reach out.

And I hope you have a.