If you only change one thing about your application this cycle, apply early.

Most programs use rolling admissions, which means the seats fill as they go. The same application that gets an interview in June can get a rejection in October. Aim for May or June, fully complete, verified, and done.

After timing, it's the usual suspects, and they're the usual suspects because they matter. Keep your GPA at 3.0 or better. Get real patient care experience, hands-on, ideally across more than one setting. And write a personal statement that sounds like you and not like every other applicant.

None of this is a secret. It's just that most people start too late to do all of it well.

What I cover:

• Why applying early beats applying perfect
• How rolling admissions actually work
• GPA targets and what to do if yours is low
• Building patient care experience across settings
• Making your personal statement specific
• Putting the timeline together so nothing gets rushed

Resources:

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

CASPA GPA calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

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

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to episode 89.

Today we're going to talk about things you can do to make yourself a more competitive applicant for PA school.

Get your notes ready because you're going to be taking a lot of them.

Let's go.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey, guys, I hope you've had a great week.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

Listening.

This is Savannah here, your Pre PA Club podcast host.

But I'm so, so happy to have you here.

If you've been listening for a long time, welcome back.

If it's your first time, welcome for the first time.

And if you like this show, make sure that you're subscribed on itunes that you are getting the episodes and leave us a review that helps other people to find us and helps me me know kind of that we're on the right track.

So if you want to pop in.

There, leave some stars, leave a review,.

That would be really helpful.

Today's episode is a talk I've done a couple times.

So I talk to a lot of Pre PA clubs, not through the podcast.

So a lot of them, virtually some in person.

If you have a Pre PA club and you'd like to schedule a Skype or video session, let me know, shoot me an email.

I'll put a link or my email in the description because that's something that I really enjoy doing.

And I've talked about a lot of different subjects with Pre PA Clubs kind of all over the place and I enjoy it.

So that's kind of where I love connecting.

But I did this talk and, you know, it's kind of just an overview of how to make yourself competitive.

And even if you're applying right now, even if you're an undergrad, even if you're in high school, even if you are in a job that you are trying to get out of to become a pa. You know, I think this is relevant because I'm going to go over everything and every different aspect that you should be looking at to make yourself have the best chance possible of getting accepted into PA school.

So we'll jump into that if you want to watch the YouTube presentation that will be uploaded today as well.

So you can go to YouTube.com thepapa platform if you'd rather watch along with the presentation.

Before we jump in, I want to mention a couple of things.

Don't forget about the Northeastern Pre PA Conference coming up on August 3rd in Morristown, New Jersey.

There's a link to that in the description and you can always email me for it too.

But I'm so excited about that conference.

I'm going to be there doing interview workshops, doing talks, and then we're going to have a bunch of PA programs there.

I'll get a list for you guys soon.

And then Brian Palm will be there from my PA resource and he's going to be doing personal statements.

So it's really going to be the most comprehensive pre PA conference there has ever been because there's going to be so many awesome people there and I'm so, so excited about it.

So if you have questions about that, please let me know.

I think there are some scholarship availabilities, so I'll try to find out about that as well.

Speaking of my PA resource and becoming a competitive PA school applicant, you definitely want to make sure you check them out.

If you need help with your personal style statement, you can use the Code Prepa Club for a discount.

But just know if you go with that service, you are going to get back a lot of edits with ways to make your personal statement more unique, make it stand out, and also make it tailored to what the schools are looking for.

We edit on content, grammar, flow, and just make sure that you're on the right track.

And it's only pa's editing, so that should give you some relief there that it's not someone random who doesn't know what they're talking about or a fellow person who's going to steal your essay.

Anyway, that's my soapbox.

But if you have questions about my PA resource, let me know.

And if not, we'll jump in to how to be a competitive PA school applicant.

So how to be competitive as a PA school applicant and you guys are in a really great position as undergrad students.

Even if you're applying this cycle because you still have some time to kind of work on your application and not feel like you're playing catch up, even if this was a decision you made later on or something, you're still kind of trying to decide.

You can be taking steps to make sure that when you do apply, if and when you'll be in a position to make yourself appealing to the admissions committee and hopefully competitive against other applicants.

And I think that is just because people are figuring out what a great career it is.

And then also they are Kind of seeing that it's a really great option, pursuing it.

And so you're getting a lot more people who are a lot more qualified to become PAs now.

It was competitive when I applied too, and so that's saying a lot because that was a few years ago and now it's even more so.

And that's not to scare you, just so that you know kind of what you're getting yourself into.

Alright.

By the way, I run a website called the PA Platform.

That's kind of why I'm talking to you guys.

And when I was applying to PA school, I felt like there was a huge lack of resources and that has improved some over the years, but even now there's just, it's a long process, it's not very straightforward.

And so once I graduated, I started a blog and a website called the PA Platform, just as a resource to answer questions that I was looking for the answers to.

So it's evolved a little bit since then.

And now I have a bunch of coaches, which is awesome.

And we have blog posts that come out every Monday and sometimes also on Wednesdays.

We have a newsletter every Friday, podcast episodes every Friday, and videos, just all kinds of content, really.

Just kind of trying to spread the word about PAs, help people figure out how to reach their goals a little bit easier and trying to answer some of those questions.

So we offer some services like assessments and personal statement review, mock interviews.

Last year I wrote a book about interviews and that's on Amazon.

And then we do a Facebook group too called the Pre Pa Club.

And it's great.

We have almost 5,000 members and everyone's constantly asking and answering questions in there.

I try to pop in when I can to answer questions as well.

And people like to tag me if they are looking for an answer because sometimes I miss things.

But those are just things for you guys so that you can try to find answers if you're looking for them.

Alright, My number one tip for just increasing your chances of acceptance, Apply early.

The sooner the better.

So, and this doesn't mean apply before you meet all the requirements, but when it's time that you've decided, this is the cycle that I'm going to submit my application.

A lot of these schools do something called rolling admissions.

You may be familiar with that, but basically what that means is you submit your application as soon as it's complete, they're going to review it.

They're going to go through the 10 or 20 or 50 that came in that week.

And if they like what they see, they will invite you for an interview.

As they like what they see at the interview, they will offer you a spot.

And so this can give you an advantage because even if you are an extremely strong candidate, if you kind of wait to apply, it could you get bumped out of the way because all the spots are taken.

So it's really important that you plan accordingly to get all of your information in.

Now what's early?

In my opinion, I would say shoot for May or June.

Usually when you're planning on applying, it'll probably be a little bit later.

Just the process of getting everything entered into caspa, which is the universal application software, getting all of your letters in, making sure everything's good, your transcripts, it can take a little bit longer than you're expecting.

So if you shoot for a little bit early, hopefully you'll have it in by that June, July mark.

And that should be plenty early.

And that's not to say that if you apply in August or September that you wouldn't get accepted.

But if you're looking at increasing your chances, the earlier you can get your application in, the better.

GPA is the next kind of biggest thing.

Grades are very, very important for PA school.

So being an undergrad you're in a good position, especially if you have a few semesters left to work on this and really maintain those grades and work on your GPAs.

Majority of programs will have a minimum requirement and the ones they point out most often are the overall and the Science GPA.

These typically range from 2.75 to 3.2.

Now there are programs that will say they have no minimum, but that that doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't still looking for a certain number.

From what I've seen, which is doing mock interviews For a while, 3.0 is the magic number.

If you can get even slightly above a 3.0, you're much more likely to get an interview.

And at that point it's an even playing field.

So with grades it's a lot easier to lower your GPA then to increase it.

And you actually can't necessarily increase it.

You basically start with a 4.0 and then go down from there.

The minimums are non negotiable.

If a school has a requirement, if you do not meet that requirement, they will never see your application.

If you're, let's say you have a 2.98 and the requirement is a 3.0, your application is going to get weeded out before the admissions committee can even look at it.

You don't really want to waste your time or your money applying to somewhere where you don't meet their requirements.

The PAEA, which is the education association for PAs, a while back, did a study and they pointed out that GPA is the best predictor of how a student will perform in PA school.

And that's why schools look at this so closely.

It can be tempting to try to rush everything and get all of your hours, experience and shadowing and all these things all at once, but don't let your grades sacrifice for trying to do all of that.

It's better to take a break, take a gap year, go a little bit slower than to try to rush and have your GPA suffer because it's hard to come back from that.

Healthcare experience and patient care experience.

You know, when I applied, this wasn't.

They didn't even make this differentiation, they just said healthcare experience.

So I worked as a CNA for a summer.

I did not have a ton of hours.

There's a differentiation now between healthcare and patient care experience.

Healthcare experience means that you are in a healthcare setting, a medical setting, but you are not performing a job that is directly involved with the patient or directly related to their care.

These types of jobs would be being a transporter, a receptionist, a medical assistant who only does paperwork.

Scribe falls in between these.

Some schools consider it healthcare, some schools consider it patient care, but just something where you're not necessarily hands on, involved with that patient care.

Now if you're putting your hands on a patient, if you're taking vitals, if you're drawing blood, that's patient care.

This is when you are directly involved with their care.

So a cna, a medical assistant working in the back, working with patients, emt, paramedic, patient care tech.

A lot of these are just titles and it comes down more to the roles and responsibilities.

So you have to look at what you're actually doing.

I get a lot of emails, you know, this is my job title.

Is it healthcare experience or patient care experience?

But you really have to look at the actual job description to be able to tell which one it's going to fall under.

Volunteering and shadowing.

These are more hours you've got to work towards getting.

And with any of these experiences and with coursework, some schools will be okay with you having these things in progress.

Some require you to have them complete by the Time you apply, that's kind of another requirement you've got to look into to make sure that you are able to check that box before you apply to the school.

Now, with shadowing, a lot of schools will say, you know, we prefer that you shadow or it's recommended.

In my book, recommended is required.

If something's recommended, you want to try your very best to get it done.

The importance of shadowing is being able to show that you have a good understanding of the PA profession and that you really put in the time effort to understand what the job actually looks like.

My rule of thumb, and this sounds like a lot, is 100 hours across three different specialties or settings.

So a total of 100 hours and try to get different experiences.

Schools do like to see that you've done some in primary care, but then look at other specialties.

So dermatology, orthopedics, er, gyn, anything and then different settings, outpatient, inpatient, surgical.

Just really trying to get that variety.

So you can go into that, you're working on your essay and your interview and say, you know, I feel very confident that I've seen the variety of the PA profession and it's something that I want to be involved with, with volunteering.

Schools are looking to see a commitment from you to your community and to the underserved populations over a period of time.

You know, it's great to do events here and there.

So, you know, soup kitchen or like, I'm trying to think of things you do in college, I guess things with, like, your sorority that you just do every once in a while.

But it's better if you have something that you do periodically, weekly, monthly.

When I was in college, I was very involved with one of our campus ministries called the Wesley foundation, and that was a weekly commitment.

So in one year, I worked with, have a big sister program with a girl from one of the underserved communities in Athens, Georgia, to the University of Georgia.

And, you know, I worked with all different kinds of things while I was in college.

I went on mission trips.

But you really just want to show your compassion and that you're someone who likes to help people.

It's one thing to say, oh, I want to work in medicine so I can help people.

And it's a different thing to say.

I've shown that I really actually enjoy helping people, and that's why I'm doing this.

So choose something you're passionate about.

It doesn't have to be medical.

The things I did in college weren't medical.

They were just things I was interested in with mentoring freshmen and mentoring students in the community.

So find something, stick with it, and then try to make that very sorry, y'.

All.

It's Thursday and I've worked all week, just continued over a period of time.

All right, the gre.

So should you take the gre?

That's the first question in my mind.

Yes, it depends on the programs you're applying to.

If they don't require the gre, it's not going to matter.

They don't care how you did on it.

But by taking the gre, it opens up more opportunities.

It gives you more schools that you can apply to.

Because if you think about this way, let's say that we'll use the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee.

The University of Georgia does not require the GRE.

So they are going to have 2,000 people apply who did not take the green.

If the University of Tennessee does require the gre, they're going to have, let's say a thousand people apply who took the gre.

Now, those same thousand who applied who took the GRE can still apply to UGA if they haven't taken the gre.

So it's a much bigger pool of applicants with schools that have less requirements.

The more specific the requirements of the school, the less competition you'll have, really.

So if a school requires the GRE and you meet their requirements or you have even somewhat competitive score, because this really isn't that important, you're just giving yourself better chances with the gre.

Some schools will say what they want you to hit as far as scores, but you really want to shoot for a minimum of a 300 total score, combined score between your quantitative and qualitative section, then a greater than the 50th percentile in each section.

The writing portion really isn't.

Doesn't matter.

So that's kind of arbitrary.

But these tend to be the numbers that schools are looking for.

So after you've kind of met all the requirements, it's time to apply.

The best thing you can do to secure an interview is have an amazing personal statement.

I always say your personal statement is what gets you interviewed.

The interview is what gets you accepted.

So you want to plan enough time to work on this.

You know, I usually recommend starting the January before you start applying in April, because CASPA opens every April.

And right now, if you're in undergrad or not applying for a couple years, start a note, write it down.

Make a note on your phone.

Start kind of brainstorming.

If you're at Work and something interesting happens.

Go ahead and just make a note for yourself.

Things that you may want to include.

You may end up not including it, but it'll help you just have some ideas on the PA platform we actually have.

If you go to the PA platform.comdownloads personal statement brainstorming worksheets that kind of work you through, kind of thinking through your experiences and focusing on the subjects and the topics that when I edit an essay I'm looking for now, when it comes to actually writing, I say just start writing.

People get really hung up on trying to have an amazing intro, but that can come later.

You don't necessarily have to have this huge dramatic story when I'm reading essays.

I just want to hear your story.

I really want to know why you chose pictures.

Everything in your essay needs to relate back to this decision and how you came to this point.

So kind of get your ideas together, write your statement, edit it.

You should not have any grammar mistakes or the flow should be, well, like really good.

And then get people's opinions, people who know you, professional opinions.

This is really, really important.

So just make sure that your personal statement is as polished and strong as it can be.

Just keep in mind also that it's 5,000 characters including spaces, which is about a page and a paragraph, single spaced.

It's not very much space to spill your life story.

So you may have to elaborate on stuff in supplementals and just keep things really, really concise in your statement.

Alright then the interview, which is my favorite part, which is also the most nerve wracking part.

But interviews can be kind of fun too, you know, going into the interview.

And these should be questions that you answered in your essay too.

These are the big ones.

They want to know about you.

So tell me about yourself.

Why do you want to be a pa?

You should have a solid answer for that.

It should be more than I like the flexible schedule or I don't want to go to med school.

Like you should want the job.

The daily roles and responsibilities that come with being a pa.

The teamwork of collaborating with a supervising physician.

Really kind of think about the pivotal moments that got you to this point and then some soul searching about kind of why this is the job that you want.

Why do you want to go to this school?

Why do you want to go here?

There should be specific reasons that you apply to a certain school.

It shouldn't be completely random.

And then what does a PA do?

You need to be able to show your understanding, which is where your shadowing and work experiences Come in.

So just for the whole process and specifically for interviews here, just kind of my things, you know, confidence is the one thing I see people lacking the most, and it can really affect performance in an interview.

If you get invited for an interview at some point, it's because the school is very interested in you.

They really want to know about you and know more about you.

So that should in itself give you confidence.

Always be positive.

There's no reason to point out negatives.

You can take something negative like, I don't know, see an O chem and talk about how you learned how to study from it and, and kind of turn that into a positive thing.

But just some people will say, you know, I know I don't have as much experience as everyone else, or I'm not as old as everyone else, and there's no reason to do that.

Again, they're interested in you, and you're unique.

You bring something to the table.

Always be honest throughout this entire process.

Being dishonest can really bite you and lead to really getting dismissed from a program, which is bad.

So throughout everything, be completely honest.

You have to submit all your grades, talk about all your experiences.

If they ask a question about a struggle or something, you just need to be really honest about it.

Be yourself.

Sometimes people will try to say what they think the admissions committee wants to hear, and that's that.

That you can tell me.

It comes off as very strange.

So just be yourself throughout the entire process in an interview, specifically, be prepared for anything.

I mean, I've heard of schools that do quizzes.

One of the interviews I was at, we had to draw a question out of a fishbowl and stand up and answer it in front of all the other applicants and the faculty.

And we had a minute to do so.

It was really strange.

It was like a Miss America pageant.

It was very, very stressful.

So you just have to go into it prepared and then make everything a story, too.

So the more examples you can use in your essay, in your interview, the more memorable you will be to the admissions committee.

All right, and then my final advice.

Instead of just trying to meet minimums, which tends to be common mindset, try to think about it as not giving the admissions committee any reason not to accept you.

If you're looking at your application and you are looking at the weaknesses, work on those first.

It can be easy to say, well, you know, I have this C in chemistry, but I have a lot of hours, and I'm just going to keep getting hours.

But when you call that admissions committee and say, why wasn't I accepted?

They're going to point out the C in chemistry.

And so while different parts of your application can balance out, I think it's really important that you're looking at it as someone who is being very critical and can say, you know, I want.

When I call them, there's nothing they can tell me to improve on.

So just try to think about like that.

Here's my contact information.

I'm pretty responsive on Instagram.

If you send me a message, I try to respond fairly quickly.

And then there's my email as well.

And then we're in the PPA Club group too, and I respond pretty quickly there as well.

Alright, y'.

All.

I hope more than anything that that talk makes you excited and hopeful and does not discourage you.

So please don't be discouraged if you're sitting there at home going, oh my gosh, I have so much to do.

It's okay.

It's a step by step process and you can only do so much at one time and you have to realize that.

So please don't be discouraged, but take those things.

I hope you took some notes and have some kind of action plans to put in place now to kind of reach your goals a little bit quicker.

But if you have any questions, please send them my way before we leave.

I did also want to mention PA school prep.

So once you've become a competitive PA school applicant, gotten into PA school, you're about to start PA school.

How can you make sure that you succeed once you're there?

That's why making sure you're ready to start school, PA school is tough.

I mean, I think now on Instagram with people who are starting recently, they've kind of come and said, oh my gosh, it's a lot more than I was expecting.

And that is true.

It's definitely tough and very fast.

So to make sure that you're kind of up to date, especially on anatomy and physiology and med terms, check out paschoolprep.com you can use that same discount code, Prepa Club for a discount on that service, which is a course to help you prepare for those sections of PA school and make sure that you are kind of going in on the right foot and able to kind of jump in and do what you need to do.

All right, that's all I have for you today, so I will see you guys next week.