This episode is the keynote I gave at the Northeastern Pre-PA Conference, and it's basically everything I'd want to tell a room full of applicants at once.

Here's the number I shared: in the 2016-2017 cycle, about 26,768 people applied to PA school and about 9,751 got in. Roughly one in three. That's not meant to scare you. It's meant to explain why a decent application isn't enough anymore, and why the people who get in are usually the ones who started planning earliest.

I also talk about what PA school itself demands academically, and about keeping the rest of your life intact while you do it. Getting in is the beginning, not the finish line.

What I cover:

• What the acceptance numbers actually look like
• How competitive the profession has become
• Academic demands of PA school itself
• Balancing school with the rest of your life
• Where applicants tend to fall short
• Why persistence matters more than a perfect first try

Resources:

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

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

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to episode 99.

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 to the podcast and if you are just joining us, you have a lot to get caught up on.

Just kidding.

I definitely don't expect you to go back and listen to all 98 other episodes, but this is pretty cool.

I mean, been doing this almost two years next month, so it doesn't seem like that long, but it's really awesome.

And I'm really excited about the interview that I'll get to bring you guys next week for my 100th episode.

It's one that's really special to me.

So, yeah, really excited about that.

But thank you so much for tuning in and listening and if it is your first time listening.

I'm Savannah, I'm a dermatology PA and I also run a website called the PA Platform.

But we're very happy to have any and all listeners.

You'll find that I tend to be awkward, I still say, and I'm not that great at technology, so doing the best we can over here.

But I do want to thank mypa Resource and PA School Prep, who are some of the sponsors of this podcast.

And PA School Prep is a personal statement editing service specifically for people who want to go to PA school.

And those are the only types of essays they edit.

And then PA School Prep is a course for once you've gotten accepted to PA School to help you refresh your anatomy, physiology, med terms at the level that you'll need it for for PA School.

So both of those links are in the description, myparesource.com, paschoolprep.com and you can use the code futurepa at either of those websites for a discount on those services and courses.

Now if you listened.

Last week we debuted through the PA Platform, a brand new online interview course which has been a lot of fun.

We have a Facebook group that people are in, started to post some videos of themselves practicing, which is awesome.

Awesome.

And yeah, so it's just kind of a new, new resource.

You can check out that last episode if that's something you're interested in.

But that'[email protected] you can use that same future PA code there.

But I Wanted to do a giveaway on the podcast, which I've never done, and hopefully this goes well because I don't really know exactly how to do it.

So we'll run it from now, which is Friday, August 16, through next Thursday.

Let me see what that date is.

So that will be August 22nd, so then I can announce the official winner on next Friday.

So to enter the podcast giveaway, and the winner will receive a copy of the PA School interview book and also a copy of, or not a copy, access to the pre the PA School interview course.

So getting a little bundle there.

To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a review for the podcast.

So where.

If you.

Let's say if you're on itunes and you go to the show, which is the Pre PA Club, I'm pulling up right now, so I can see exactly where to tell you to go.

But if you go there, you should see it.

It says ratings and reviews, and then it says rate and review.

So if you write a review, make sure you put your username or name that I can identify you with in there.

And then next week I will announce a winner and have you email me to redeem your prize.

So we'll see how it goes.

If that doesn't go smoothly, we'll come up with another way to do a giveaway.

But that seemed the easiest way to kind of find podcast people.

So if you have any questions about that, feel free to email me and we can jump right into this talk.

So I wanted to share that with you guys.

And so I have the recording.

It's a little.

It's not like the best quality recording just because he was in the audience, but you can definitely still get the same.

Same idea of what's going on.

So I hope that's helpful and encouraging to you, and if you like it, share it and let me know what you think.

All right, here we go.

But I was honored to be asked to come seek.

All right, so I went back 15 years.

So 15 years ago, I was 14.

I was about to start high school.

I was not thinking about my career.

I wasn't really thinking about my future.

I was thinking about what I wanted to do that day and what friends I was going to meet.

And then I honestly didn't even know what a PA was at that point.

And so I went into high school, not really concerned with any of that.

Fast forward five years, and at that point, I was a sophomore at the University of Georgia.

Going into uga.

At that point, I knew I wanted to be involved in medicine.

Wasn't sure what that was like.

So I spent freshman year doing some soul searching, researching, and I made one of PA Y's.

I did some shadowing, and by the end of freshman year, I decided that, yeah, I could be a pa. That sounds good.

And what I didn't know at this point, at 19 years old was that sophomore year was going to be very difficult.

It was probably the most academically challenging year that I had.

And it honestly would make me question what I was doing and if I wanted to be a pa, if I could become a pa, if it was the right choice for me.

And it was just tough.

Also, yes, I did have braces in college.

All right, five years later.

So if you can find me in this picture, I'm kind of creeping in the middle, but this is at PA school graduation.

So I stuck with my goal of becoming a PA and I pushed forward through all the tough classes, through all the requirements, and I went to PA school.

It was wonderful.

I loved my experience.

At this point in time, I was studying for boards, trying to make sure that I knew what I was doing, getting ready to go into my first job in dermatology and really just excited about my profession, my career, everything going on.

And so now I'm a PA and I'm still a PA and I still love my job.

I think it's a great profession.

I think over these past 15 years, 15 years, it's only become an even better profession.

And I think you guys are at a really important time in the career where it's just going to keep growing.

There's more education about the K profession.

People are becoming more aware, there's more excitement around it, and that's something y' all are going to get to benefit from.

So looking back, a lot has happened despite all that school stuff.

So I got married and I did that during VA school, which is not recommended, and they weren't quite happy about that.

But it's okay.

I had a baby last year who is awesome.

She's at home.

But that has taught me a lot, just about work, life balance, and how that's not really a thing, but something that you can kind of work towards.

And then last year I wrote a book.

Not something I ever thought I would do, but, you know, it happened.

But thinking about all these things, there's kind of, what was the lesson?

What did I learn from that?

If you listen to me talk about interviews, I always talk about, you've got to talk about the lesson.

What did you learn?

And what I learned is that life doesn't slow down so that you can become a pa.

Things move forward, relationships start, they stop.

Jobs come and go.

Like opportunities come and go.

There.

There's a lot that happens around you while you feel like you're just constantly grinding towards this goal of becoming a pa. And I just want you to.

You guys know this.

No one says this is going to be easy.

And it's not.

You may have people who say, oh, it is easy.

It's not that tough.

You're a shoe in.

That's something that I heard from my parents.

They would say, why are you so worried about this?

You're going to get in.

You're doing all the hard work.

Well, every one of you is doing the hard work.

And you guys know that.

So just know that those people are very well meaning when they tell you that.

And they don't mean to make you feel frustrated.

But you are putting in hard work and that's recognized.

But it is difficult.

So looking back through my journals on my trip down the green lane, I found one injury that stood out to me.

But it said, I really want to be a pa but I doubt sometimes that I've got what it takes or that I'm intelligent enough.

That's pretty mean.

Like if I said that about someone.

Else, you'd be like, she's really mean.

But I said about myself.

And you know, while I think it's important for us to be realistic about your goals and where you're at and the work you've done and looking at weaknesses and I think we also have to be confident and supportive of ourselves.

These self deprecating and demeaning thoughts won't get you anywhere.

They're not going to push you forward.

They're just going to add to that stress and anxiety that you feel surrounding the classes or your schedule.

So while I think it's important to be realistic and this is so cliche, but I just want you to keep in mind throughout this process to ignore any haters in Your life.

I've gotten some messages recently with people saying, you know, everyone keeps questioning why I'm doing this.

It's making me question why I'm doing it.

My co workers, my friends, my family.

And I've been there.

I've had people do it.

I still have people do it.

I have patients who will say, when are you going back to med school?

Or when are you becoming a doctor?

And so it's a great opportunity for me to explain to them that I'm a pa, I'm happy in my job, and that this is what I chose.

But I think that's your opportunity to educate people as well.

And you don't have to necessarily justify yourself, but you can gently let them know that you're confident in your decision and then don't be your own worst critic.

You know, I think we're kind of harsh on ourselves, and I want you to try to get those thoughts out of your head if that's something that's holding you back from moving forward towards your goal.

All right, we're going to get into some statistics.

The PAEA is the Physician Assistant Education association, and they're the ones who kind.

Of.

Regulate, but they are in charge of all the education associations and all the schools.

So with paea, they every year put out some statistics and numbers in regards to applications and who applied, who matriculated and what, what it takes really to get accepted into PA school.

Now, now there are a lot of PA schools.

Now.

The ARC PA, which is who actually accredits PA programs, reports that there are 244 programs now.

And now College of St. Elizabeth is one of them.

But that's a lot of programs, and that just shows the growth of this profession over the past few years.

But looking at how many programs we have and how it's grown, how many people actually have, like.

So the way that the PAEA reports numbers is based on a class that starts and finishes.

So at that time, 26,768 people applied to PA school.

But look at how these numbers grew.

They grew by thousands every single year.

I wouldn't be surprised now if it's not over 30,000 that's a lot of people who want to become PAs.

Now, out of these people, how many people got in?

In that cycle, 9,751 were accepted and started at a PA program.

So that is a little bit less than a five.

But you have to take into consideration maybe not all of them are qualified, but if you're looking at trying to figure out your chance of acceptance, that's around one in three.

You can't necessarily make that a 30% chance because there are a lot of factors.

And those people who didn't meet the requirements may have gotten weeded out, didn't fill out the supplementals, didn't submit their payment in time, whatever, but one in three of people who applied actually were accepted into a PA program.

Now, you guys know there are a ton of factors that go into meeting the requirements, checking the boxes for PA school.

And one that I want to talk about is one that I think comes up a lot, and I probably get the most questions about TPA grades and tpa.

This was the report from the PAEA about the overall averages of the accepted students who started K school.

Before we talk about these, I just want you to keep in mind they are averages.

That means there are people who are higher and people who are lower.

But the ones I want you to focus on are the science at the top and the overall at the bottom.

So that science number was a 3.51 and the overall was a 3.56.

If you were looking at my application, I was an average applicant, so my numbers were right in line with that.

My GRE hit, the scores was a little bit higher.

I had some patient care hours, not too many, a good bit of shadowing hours, some volunteer leadership work, admission trip here and there.

And so I was kind of your average applicant.

But luckily I've gotten to talk to a lot of people who are on different ends of the spectrum.

This is Marion, and she's someone that I worked with through the PA platform.

And she was recently accepted to the students with an overall GPA of 2.85 and a science GPA of 2.76.

You may be going, how did that happen?

Those don't meet the minimums, and she is the exception.

But it was her hard work that got her accepted.

So knowing that in undergrad she had struggled not really knowing what she wanted to do, and by the time she decided on pa, her GPA had already suffered.

So she went back and she completed a post BAC program and a master's program and did very well in both to bring her GPAs up to this level.

And she also patted her application with 16,000 patient care hours, a good bit of shadowing, letters from professors who could speak to her ability to do well in school.

And so she is now a PA student.

And then another factor that I think holds people back or can be just frustrating throughout this process is the fact that there are so many classes required, and they're all different for every single program.

And so looking at some of these lists, we're not going to go through these, but you have your required programs and then you have your preferred classes.

And I think we all know that preferred really means required.

But this is Sean, and if you listen to the podcast this week, you'll get to meet Sean.

But he has an interesting story because he, he is kind of a career shooter.

He was a teacher in high school, coach, and he's married, has two kids.

But he always had this thought in the back of his mind about wanting to be a PA.

So after 10 years as a teacher, he decided to take a plunge and he started taking classes, not really expecting to get accepted, which I think when everyone submits their application, we all don't think we're going to get accepted.

But he applied and then receive an acceptance call.

So there was one issue, which was he had to complete organic chemistry by the end of December, by the end of the fall semester.

And he got the call the first week of November.

He had signed up for organic chemistry to take it online.

It's kind of self directed, but he hadn't started yet, so he decided to complete it in three weeks, which we decided is not something to recommend.

But it just goes to show that sometimes you're going to have to make sacrifices and do some kind of crazy things if you want to get to your goal of becoming a pa. All right, looking at all of this, just keep in mind that statistics aren't all that matters, and these are just numbers.

But did you look at that graph?

I don't know if anyone noticed that it showed both the first year students and how many graduated.

So let's revisit them looking at this graph.

So out of those 9,751 students that started PA school, only 8,336 graduated.

Now why is that?

So every school, every class may have people who can't complete the program.

And that could be for family reasons, personal reasons, pregnancy, who knows?

But I know even in my class, we started with 44.

By the end of the first summer, we were down to 42.

And then by the end of the first year, the didactic portion, we were down to 40, and that's what we graduated with.

So if you look at these numbers, that means about 15% couldn't finish PA school.

It takes more than getting into school.

You've got to think beyond that if you want to actually achieve your goal of becoming a pa. You've got to get into school and then be able to excel in school to become that PA that you want to be.

Now, PA school is difficult.

You've probably heard that drinking out of a fire hydrant can read so much information thrown at you at once, but it's something that you can go ahead and start working on.

You know, you've got to have great time management skills to achieve that academic success that you want.

You're learning information that's going to impact a patient's life.

This isn't chemistry that you're going to throw away and forget.

This is something that's going to matter and help someone.

And then you've got to take care of yourself.

And being in my class, I think that's where a lot of people struggle.

We, you know, we're so focused on school and making sure we knew the information and getting the grades that so sometimes we would neglect ourselves.

And so these are things that you can go ahead and start working on.

But I want you to also realize that PA school is really fun.

These are three of my very best friends that I met during PA school, and we all still talk.

We had so much fun during school.

We still meet up.

And honestly, I don't think I would have made it through school without that support system.

I had my family and my friends from before PA school, but you need people who know what you're going through and are able to really relate to where you're at.

So when you get to the PA school portion of this journey, I want you to try to establish that community and support system.

I know I talked to some of you today that met for the first time here, and I think that's awesome.

And then people are about to start PA school, which is also awesome.

And so these are things that you need to think about moving forward.

This is Jennifer, and she is awesome.

We met through the podcast and she's a current Nova Southeastern PA student.

Jennifer is also an army veteran and single mother.

So she decided to become a pa, did all the work, got into school, and had a conversation with her daughter.

Like, we need to make this happen.

And so she's just doing amazing.

But one thing that she found is that she was struggling with that community.

She didn't feel like she found people who were in the same place as she was.

So she created a website called the PA Cafe.

And so maybe your community won't be necessarily in your class, but you can still be friendly with your classmates.

But your community is out there, even if it's online.

And that's a really cool thing about the PA profession is that we're also.

It's such a small community, and I've gotten to meet some great people just through social media and websites on the Internet.

Now when I think about PAs, you know, you've gone through, you're getting into PA school, you're going to PA school.

Think of your PA. And I think there are high expectations of PAs.

If you think about some of the PAs you've shadowed or worked with and think about the words that you would use to describe those pages.

The words that come up that I've heard even most recently at the AAPA conference were problem solvers, go getters, and highly motivated individuals and professionals.

So PAs people expect a lot of us.

They expect you to be someone that they want to be around.

I want to introduce you to some of my, what I would call PA friends who fit these molds.

This is Laura Francisco, and she is definitely the definition of a problem solver.

She went to Enrique PA school and then moved out to California to practice as an erpa.

And while practicing, she realized that she felt like the scrubs and white coats that Rose wearing just looked frumpy and just didn't look professional.

After you've worked so hard in school, you want that first impression when you walk in and your patient sees you to be something where they.

They want you to take care of them and they see a professional.

And so she founded a clothing medical wear company called Medalita.

So she saw a problem and she fixed it.

And that's something PAs can do.

This is Jesse, and he's actually a PA right up the road in New York.

I met Jesse on a mission trip to Kenya.

And, you know, from the first time I met him, I could really tell that he was a go getter.

I mean, Jesse was somebody who got things done.

And so after talking to him, I learned that he founded a skincare company, he works in dermatology, and he felt like he wasn't completely satisfied with all the products available, so he made his own.

And then he has also helped open multiple practices in New York.

So he has taken on this administrative role just to help his practice grow.

And that's not something that he had to do.

It's something that he wanted to do.

This is Andrea.

Y' all may know her from social media as well, and she is a pediatric ICU pa. Andrea is who I think of as a highly motivated professional.

She's someone who, from the very start of her career, went out and said, I need to help spread the word about this profession.

And so she has really helped to establish PAs in social media.

She created a YouTube account and.

And a social media account, but really she's just willing to share about her job and tell people about it.

So this profession continues to grow.

I tell you all this because I just want you, throughout this process, not to give up on your other interests and hobbies.

You can hold onto those because you don't know how they're going to impact you in the future.

You know, I've always enjoyed writing and journaling, as I showed you, and I enjoy writing a book, but that's not something I necessarily expected.

And these interests could even end up making a difference.

But you may be sitting there going, well, my interest in hobbies are really not that great.

I like to knit or whatever.

How am I going to use that to help people?

Well, I want to introduce you to another PA named Tony.

If you ever heard of the dancing doc.

Well, he's actually a PA and he is a pediatric neurosurgery and PA who dances with his patients.

And that's just something he does to help establish rapport, make them feel better.

He thinks that kind of contributes to their healing, and he's just very inspiring.

That was picked up by some new channels, and now he has this amazing platform to share the gay profession.

Just because he danced.

You know, I had the pleasure of dancing with Tony in Colorado.

All right, so thinking about all of this, we've talked about going to PA school, becoming a PA student, what that takes, and then what is going to be expected of you as a physician assistant.

But sometimes throughout this process, you may feel frustrated, you may feel defeated, and like you don't necessarily want to move on because you're not sure if you're going to reach your goals.

But I want you to think back to what made you start this in the first place?

What were your motivations, and where did those come from?

So for me, if I'm thinking back, it was to help people.

And when I'm doing mock interviews or talking to free PA clubs, the number one Reason that I hear when I ask why you want to be a PA Is to help people.

But it has to be more than that, because you could help people in a lot of ways.

You could recruit them or work in another area of medicine.

So I need to know why you becoming a PA is going to help you achieve that goal of helping people.

So for me, my sister, she, when we were little, started having really high fever.

She's younger than me and had to go to the doctor a lot, get a lot of tests done, and she ended up having an autoimmune disease.

And so while that was not fun for any of us, it exposed me to the main medical career.

It exposed me to a lot of different providers.

I saw good ones that were willing to help and went above and beyond, honestly.

And then I saw ones that we probably wouldn't go see again.

And that made me think, you know, what kind of person would I want to be?

What kind of provider would I want to be if I went into medicine?

And so that is one of my inspirations.

I've also been on a couple mission trips.

I went to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission trip, and then also to Kitty most recently.

And just seeing medicine in a different area is very inspiring.

Helps you to realize that a patient is a patient, no matter where they are, and kind of get back to that root of why you're.

Why you're helping people and why you're going to work every single day.

And then as a va, you know, I go to work every day.

I'm helping people.

I see a lot of patients, but sometimes you forget that personal aspect.

And so last year, my dad was diagnosed with cancer.

And so as a pa, I was able to kind of answer some of his questions.

But I worked in dermatology, so I had to go back to my schooling, and I had to study and research and read papers and really kind of help him to understand what was going on a little bit more.

And now, thankfully, his kids are free.

But having those personal things, like my dad and now my baby, those things inspire me to kind of keep going just so I can help people in my family as well.

Throughout this, you have to have passion.

There has to be a reason you want to do this, and I don't want you to lose that, because sometimes I see mock interviews.

I can tell you're tired.

I can tell you've worked hard, and you're kind of just over it.

But get back to that passion, whatever that means for you.

Just take some time and really think about it because mine actually could take that frustration and turn it into adverse.

Take it and look at everything you have to do.

I know it's a lot, but break it down into little steps, little pieces and just get them done one at a time and use that effort to reach your goals and then just let yourself dream bigger.

I mean, I think we tend to put ourselves in boxes and limit ourselves, but there's no reason to do that.

You don't know what the future holds for you.

I don't want the future holds for you.

I don't know that I would have ever expected to do some of the things I'm doing now.

And even being a derm pa, everyone said new cads don't hit derm jobs, but I'm a derm PA and I started right out of school.

So don't let anyone put you in a box and don't put yourself in a box.

And that is the end.

Until I stood up there and had no idea what to do next because no one told me.

But it was really fun and really great to meet so many people there.

But if you are in the New Jersey New York area or would like to plan a vacation there, the next Northeastern Prepa Conference will be next year July 25th.

So put it on your calendar.

Be on the lookout for some more information about that because it was a really, really great thing.

So that's all I have for you today.

Don't forget to enter that giveaway.

So leave a review and I will choose one next week.

It shows me the dates that they were posted.

So between now the 16th and the 22nd, get your review in and I'll pick a winner to win a book and a course.

So thanks so much for listening and I will see you guys next time.

Bye.