Emily decided she wanted to do medicine in seventh grade, when her mom went back to school to become a medical assistant.

She kept that thread all the way through. Biomedical science program, then Liberty University, where she built an interdisciplinary studies degree specifically so she could load up on pre-PA courses instead of taking classes that didn't serve the goal. She finished above a 3.8, scribed in an orthopedic office, and is starting at the University of Lynchburg in May.

The part I want to point out: she only applied to six programs, all in Virginia and North Carolina, because staying near family mattered more to her than casting a wide net. That's a real tradeoff, and she made it on purpose instead of by accident. That's the difference.

She also volunteered in Greece working with refugees, which gave her something genuinely different to talk about when her extracurricular list was shorter than some applicants'. Depth beats a long list every time.

What we cover:

• Using an interdisciplinary degree to line up prereqs efficiently
• Scribing in orthopedics and what it taught her
• Applying to only six programs, and why she narrowed by location
• Deciding what you're willing to trade for staying close to home
• Making one unusual experience carry real weight in your application
• Timing PA school around a wedding and the rest of your life

Resources:

Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

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

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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In today's episode of the Pre PA Club podcast, I'm going to introduce you to a soon to be PA student, Emily, who has some very interesting hacks on how to figure out your way to PA school and also a very interesting story of her kind of roundabout way to the profession.

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 to it.

Hey guys, welcome to the podcast.

Savannah here your host.

Thank you so much for tuning in to hear Emily's story that I'm very.

Excited to share with you.

I just want to say a moment of appreciation for everyone who reaches out to me to want to share their story on the podcast.

This is a space for you guys and if you have found something on here helpful, please let me know if there is something that would be helpful also please let me know Instagram, you can find me on there at the PA platform.

You can always email me just infohepa platform with any feedback.

And if you like the podcast, I would so appreciate a five star review on itunes or wherever you're listening just because that helps other people find it and hopefully find this awesome profession.

So definitely if there's something better I could do, please let me know.

Outside of sound quality, which I will mention, I mention this occasionally, we are not professionals at all and usually when I'm talking to people, they are at their job or their house.

After working a long job, I do what I can to make the audio sound as as good good as it can.

But you know, this is something that's kind of for fun, for extra.

I'm definitely not a professional podcaster, so we do what we can.

If you can't handle an episode, move on to the next one.

There are about 200 other episodes that you can listen to and if you've listened to all of them, great job.

All right, so we'll jump into hearing from Emily in just a second and her story about just kind of, kind of getting into medicine, getting into pa, switching paths, switching back and I'm really her major was very interesting to me because I've never heard anything like this.

So I think you're going to like that part of things.

You can find that link in the description or I'll post it on Instagram and in the Facebook group and places like that so that you can find it.

And that is something where we're going to go through a personal statement, we're going to edit it, we're going to talk about it, answer questions, and I think it'll be something that's really helpful.

If it is helpful, we'll keep doing them.

That is a $5 webinar that you can find and let me know if you have any questions about that.

All right.

And then we'll just jump in.

Hearing from Emily well, my name is Emily.

I currently live in Virginia.

I graduated, I did my undergrad at Liberty University, and I am currently a scribe at an orthopedic office outpatient.

I've been doing that for the last two years and I am starting school, PA school at the University of Lynchburg in May.

Well, okay, say which school again?

It kind of broke up a little bit.

Just okay, I'm starting starting PA school at the University of Lynchburg in May.

So in a few months probably this will come out like spring.

So like pretty soon after that you'll be starting.

So kind of what brought you to your interest in medicine and then the PA profession specifically?

So medicine probably in around like seventh grade, my mom went back to school.

We were all older, so she decided to go back to school.

She was a stay at home mom and she became a medical assistant.

And so that was kind of she had her anatomy textbook and things like that.

And so I started piquing interest in those kinds of things.

And then I was always pretty good at math and science in school.

And so I was kind of trying to find something where I could use that.

And I was like, well, I don't want to be a math teacher.

I don't want to.

Like, there's not much you can do with math other than that in my opinion at that age.

And then so I was like, okay, well then what about science?

So started thinking about that.

And at that age I just like Dr. Was what I wanted to do because that's kind of like the traditional what you hear.

And I ended up doing this program in school.

I was like in high school.

It's called like a biomedical science program.

So I basically spend like half my day every day at like a different school.

And we would do like basic anatomy stuff.

We would do a lot of problem based learning going through like case studies of like fake patients and learning about genetics and everything.

Like, and it was for two years.

So half my day for two years is a pretty substantial amount of time.

And so I really loved that.

I loved the whole like medical decision making thought and the science and the medicine.

And I was like, okay, this is definitely what I want to do.

I then interned at like the National Cancer Institute by our, where we lived and worked in their office and like was kind of like an ma.

I wasn't like an official and never had a certification, but I was able to intern in room patients and take vitals and learn a lot about that.

It was a really low key environment setting.

But like as a 16 year old, 17 year old, like it's pretty cool to be able to do that.

So I learned a lot about that and that's kind of what got me interested.

Then I started planning to go to undergrad to pursue something in medicine.

I was kind of unsure at the time when I started what I wanted to do.

Exactly.

That's really unique that you got that much experience and exposure, really, even in high school.

And that's really cool.

I mean, I think over the past year I've had many more high schoolers kind of reaching out and asking questions.

Really neat.

But that's so interesting.

That seems like something more schools should do.

But yeah, it's actually, it's called Project Lead the Way, the thing I did in high school and one of my friends that I met in college, she was from Montana and she was like, I did that program too at my high school.

So it's like, it's like around the United States but I don't know how common it is.

Yeah, I'd have to like, so what we had.

And one of my biggest regrets is not doing it, but it was very competitive to get it was.

It sounds kind of similar where it was a CNA program and you had to commit two years and you got certified like an actual CNA certification while you're in school and then you went half the day to work as a cna and there were like different sites and you kind of rotated through.

And.

You know, at the time it was kind of one of those things.

I was like, I don't want to, you know, miss out on school and whatever.

And like.

But looking back I was like, that was actually really cool and would have saved me a lot of time and money later on when I had to become a cna.

But that was.

And they like kind of had medical tracks.

Like we had a first responder track.

And that's what I did where I took this like first responder class.

But it wasn't as intense.

But that's, that's just really cool.

So that gave you definitely some, you know, insights into confirming you want to do medicine.

Were you still pre med or pre med school going into undergrad?

Yeah.

So going to my year of undergrad, my first year, I was.

I don't know why I felt this, but I was thinking, I was like, okay, I'm going to.

So I declared like a biomedical science pre med and then.

But I was thinking I was going to do a nursing degree and then go to medical school.

And it.

I know some people do it, but at the time, now thinking back to it, I'm like, I feel like that would be a really roundabout way to get to medical school.

I can see it more in a PA because then you would have the clinical experience and I mean, the clinical experience will still be beneficial, but just because of how long it takes to do medical school, that route, I don't know if I would do that.

But anyway, that was the thought process I had.

And.

Throughout that, I started hearing more about the PA profession during my undergrad.

And my mom's like, oh, I know so and so who is a pa?

And they would talk about it in our pre med club kind of thing.

And so I was like, okay, this actually sounds like way better.

And I love school.

But like, realistically, I was like, I do not want to spend so much time like in school, residency, all those kinds of things.

I'd rather be working.

And I was still kind of unsure.

Exactly.

So I just, I was like, that's a big commitment for me, like financially, time, all sorts of things.

So I ended up.

It was like my third year, my junior year, me and my one friend, she's like, I'm going to graduate early.

I was like, how are you going to graduate early?

She's like, I am going to do an interdisciplinary studies degree.

So our school offered an interdisciplinary studies degree.

I like to explain it as it's a make your own major, like a build a bear.

Basically, you can pick different areas of study.

And as long as you can explain to your advisor what you're going to use this for, you can combine them.

So like, for example, if someone was doing like music and teaching, but they also want to do Spanish because they were thinking about teaching music and a Spanish country, they can kind of do that.

So for me, I was like, okay, I will combine biology and chemistry, so physical science, natural science.

And I was able to cut out a lot of the prereqs that were required for the biomedical science degree, like the name and work on getting prereqs for pa. School.

So, like, I didn't have to take classes like cell biology and immunology.

I could take things like A and P, which were more beneficial in psych classes and things like that.

So that was.

I was able to graduate a year early and focus just on my pa. My pre PA classes.

So did you get them all within that major or did you graduate early and then have to take some classes?

No, I got them all within the major.

Wow.

So cool.

I wonder how many schools have that option, because that's.

Yeah, that seems like a hack.

Yeah.

It honestly was being able to only do three years and just take the classes I needed.

Yeah, yeah.

That's what I mean.

It is different.

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense.

I mean, I definitely think that's something people should look into and maybe explain that in interviews at all, like, what your major was or not really.

No, I didn't have to explain it.

I think being able to.

Yeah, that was kind of the only thing.

It's like, the paper doesn't say, like, biology or biomed, but the fact that you can come in with any major just doesn't matter.

I don't think it really matters.

I think it could be more difficult trying to not go to PA school and, like, have a normal biology kind of like working a lab or something like that.

It might be a little bit more challenging.

But I think once you explain it, that's.

I mean, that's why I feel like there's still such a lack of advising adequately.

Some schools have amazing advisors who get it.

Some still do not.

I mean, some of the things that people will tell me, their advisors told them, like, you have to take this class when I'm like, maybe 10% of the time, like, why would you.

Yeah, that's not true.

Or you can't take classes anywhere else.

You can't repeat classes for.

I'm like, no, you can.

And then my school told me that I didn't need anatomy for school.

And that's just funny that you mentioned that as one of the things, because it wasn't included in my biology major at all.

Like, if I wanted to take it, it wasn't even a science elective.

It was just a regular elective.

It was the same as me taking a history class.

And I kept telling my advisor, I was like, this makes no sense.

Like, I do need this class.

Like, no, you don't know.

You don't.

Which for med school, they didn't exactly.

It was just like, I was so confused.

And I just.

I was basically going into my advising Office being like, all right, this is what I need.

This is, you know, what I'm gonna take.

And so, I mean, that, that would definitely take.

It sounds like you are this type of student, like a proactive student to like be on top of it and be like looking into options and not just blindly being like, I'm gonna do whatever.

But I mean, that's really cool.

Yeah, I definitely had to be proactive, but I'm someone who like, loves like in the cast.

So, like, I loved putting in all my gpa.

Like, I'm just weird like that.

Like, I'm like, oh, this is so interesting right now.

I'm right there with you.

Okay, so you finished in three years.

So in that case, did you plan to take a gap year or did you apply hoping to, like, go straight in?

Okay, yeah.

So this is where it gets weird.

So while I was a student, I managed the women's volleyball team.

Okay.

So basically I, I mean, I wasn't an athlete, but I had schedule of an athlete.

So get up 6am, practice, go to class, leave class, go to practice for three hours, travel every weekend for games, like full time job.

Yeah.

And I really loved it.

Like, I loved the, the whole, like, I love athletics and I love the whole being able to mentor and those kinds of things and help people.

And so I was like, this is really cool.

I talked to my coach a lot and he was like, maybe you should look into like doing like athletic administration.

And I was like, okay, I think that's a great idea.

And I think I was a little burnt out at that point from all my classes.

And so I kind of made this new plan that I was just going to say, you know what, I'm just going to have my degree, not going to use it, but I'm going to go and get a master's in athletic administration.

And so the university that I went to, Liberty, they have like a thing.

If you work for them, you can get your tuition paid for.

Yeah.

So I think a lot of schools probably do that, but it was definitely.

It's more of a typical thing.

So I went and worked at their financial aid office and I was going to just work and do my master's.

And then as I was doing that, I met my now husband.

And after like nine months there, I was like, I got to go.

Like, this isn't it.

I. I really miss medicine.

Like, I didn't think, like, I don't think I realized how much I loved it until I was away from it.

So I didn't apply that cycle.

Okay.

So I waited.

So it'll be three years until I start.

Okay, nice.

That's a nice little break.

And that, like, that's such a great, you know, reminder of just, like, how things work out and happen for a reason.

And, you know, hearing, even though it was a little bit roundabout, like, you clearly got a husband and got more experience and got to have a break, like, those are such great things that even if you hadn't planned it, you know, just worked out.

So that's awesome.

All right.

So you, you know, explored, came back to medicine and then decided to go ahead and move forward with applying, had your subscribing experience.

What went into your application process?

Like, what did that look like for you with kind of how many schools you applied to, what you were looking for in school, and how do you do all that?

Yeah.

So first off, my dad and I kind of created like a list of schools, pros and cons.

That's like, one of the things with pa I feel like you have to do a lot of your own research because everything's different, which I know you always talk about, and it's so true.

I just think about that one TikTok where you, like, point all the things that are similar or whatever.

It's so funny.

So, yeah, so we had to go through that, see what I even qualified for, which schools I would be able to even apply to.

And then that was kind of before we got engaged.

And then once my husband and I got engaged, it kind of changed because now I'm like, we have to think about this together, about where we want to be.

We ended up deciding that we wanted to stay.

Both of our families are on the east coast.

He.

His family is here in Virginia, and then my family's in Maryland.

So we kind of wanted to be in driving distance of both of their them just for, you know, the support.

And he's an only child, and so just like, family is super important to us.

So I ended up picking six schools to apply to.

And I just was like, okay, we'll do these six.

They were all in North Carolina or Virginia.

And so I applied.

I think I submitted, like, June and then started hearing back August.

Ish.

So I got two interviews, invites.

One to Lynchburg and then one to Bradford Carilion, which is in Roanoke.

And I ended up doing my Lynchburg one.

First.

It was on the Monday, and then I got called on Wednesday, and then Saturday I got married.

So it was a very busy.

It was a very busy, crazy week full of awesomeness.

But.

Yeah.

So once I heard back from them, my husband and I just kind of decided, like, we want to stay here.

There's no point to move, uproot our whole living situation.

And so we just decided that this would be best.

So I canceled my other interview.

And then just any other school, they reached out.

I was just like, thank you, but no thank you.

So I like confidence sometimes, too.

I feel like, get that, like, second, like, second guess.

Start to get doubts about it.

But I mean, if you have an acceptance and, you know, like, just go with it.

Yeah.

I was like, it's not really.

Like, we're not going to move an hour away.

Like, it.

For the similar.

I thought it.

I felt like it was a similar program.

So your PA at the end of it, like.

Exactly.

And that's nice that they told you so quickly.

Oh, my gosh.

I know.

Wait forever and it's terrible.

Yeah.

Luckily, I had some people I work with that were like, oh, they'll get back to you in the next, like, 48, 72 hours.

I was like, okay.

I did not want to go through my wedding not knowing at least one.

Way or another, such a weight lifted for sure.

Was there anything that you feel like was just great or stood out about your application to maybe make it unique or anything that they told you or on the flip side, any red flags that you were kind of concerned about?

Yeah, good question.

Um, I'd probably say I had a very good GPA.

Um, it was like over a 3.8.

So I think that was definitely played to my advantage.

Um, I think I lacked.

I would say my patient care was a little weirder.

It wasn't like the traditional get a certification.

And that was something I was really nervous about because I did, like, MA Medical assisting kind of, like, work, but it wasn't like, official.

Yeah.

So I was kind of worried, like, even though it was that kind of work, how they would perceive that.

Title.

So.

No, that was when I was doing the, like, internship class.

Working.

Yeah.

Before.

I kept doing that throughout college, so.

Nice.

Yeah.

So that was kind of iffy for me.

I felt like.

And then I didn't have tons of volunteer extracurriculars because of Volleyball.

Because I was always doing stuff with volleyball.

I never really got involved in any big clubs or volunteer stuff, but I felt like my gpa.

I used your personal statement guide and then worked with a friend who's in medical school and she really helped me edit that.

So I think that helped.

And then I did have a cool volunteer experience where I went to Greece for like a month and worked with refugees and stuff.

And so I don't know, I like to think that stuck out a little bit.

It was kind of unique, but, you know, you never know.

And I think they probably saw, you know, I think like schools, it can be hard to tell an application because they get.

They're just really long and there's a lot on an application.

But I think when they see things too, like you finish in three years, like, things like that stand out even as wait like this.

Really a go getter.

Like they, you know, are work can work towards a goal and complete it, which I know sometimes that's not the case and there's, you know, life things that happen or whatever.

But having, you know, being able to show your time management and what you're able to do, I think it does stand out on applications.

You know, it feels like everybody, you know is very qualified.

Well, so now that you are in kind of your waiting phase.

So when were you accepted?

August.

September.

Beginning of September.

Okay.

Um, so that you're in your waiting phase.

What.

What are you doing?

Are you, you know, just working or resting or what's your plan before VA school?

Yeah, so right now I just kept scribing.

The doc that I work with is super awesome.

We have a really great relationship and he's very excited.

They're actually working out.

Kind of like a situation where we're creating like a tethering.

So after PA school, I'm going to come back and work for them as a pa. Oh, wow.

Yeah.

So we decided that.

What'd you say?

That is exciting.

Yeah.

So we have.

We haven't officially signed the paperwork, but we just had a conversation about it.

So I'm excited for that.

I really do like ortho.

And so he's been trying to teach me as much as we can in our downtime between patients and like, Emily, what do you think about this X ray?

Those kinds of things.

So it's been pretty awesome.

And he's always there for me to be like, so why did you choose this medication?

Or why are we doing this brace?

Why are you waiting this long?

And he's like always there to help.

So that's been really fun.

Kind of like a rotation way before BA school.

I've been doing that.

So just working and then resting, of course.

So leg up on the ortho section for sure.

Yeah, I know.

Probably heard me say maybe.

I don't know.

Ortho is my absolute least favorite.

I hate it.

Love it.

I'm just like, oh, how interesting.

Yeah, no, I know.

It's not.

It's definitely not for everyone.

Well, I hate derm too, but I just do the bones.

I can't do the broken bones.

They just.

I know.

I just think it's so awesome because it's just like, there's a problem, let me fix it.

Yeah, it's so it's much easier and I think derm is similar too.

Yeah, it is.

I see a problem, let me fix it.

Right?

Yeah, Yeah, I like that mentality.

But.

But yeah, I've been resting.

I'm planning to take the month off between work and starting school just because I know that I probably won't have as much time as I do now when school starts.

But.

Yeah.

How many people will be in your class?

There will be 40.

Okay, good.

So I think they typically interview like around 70, except 40.

So it was good.

Going into the interview, I was like, knowing that statistic, I was like, okay, that's pretty normal.

I mean, most schools.

That's a little bit lower.

Most schools will interview anywhere from two to four people per spot.

So, like, if you get an interview, it is such a big deal.

Exactly, exactly.

It lowers that competition field so much.

That's a good size.

Was there anything else about the program that just like stood out to you or kind of made you feel like, confident in your decision?

Yeah.

One of the really cool things I liked about the program is that on Fridays, like as soon as we start, we'll be able to go and work in the free clinic in town and work with patients.

And so all through didactic year will be doing that, seeing patients and working on that.

They also have a lot of like problem based learning.

So I think that's cool to be able to, you know, do more case studies and discussions.

Obviously location was a big thing for me and also I've seen a lot of, A lot of the PAs I work with went to Lynchburg.

So it's nice to see, like, that they're able to succeed and they do really well in their settings.

As a pa. No, that's awesome.

I'm sure you will do great and enjoy your time before you start.

Yes, I will.

You know it gets a little crazy, but it goes by so quickly that.

Yeah, it's fun, but.

Yeah, I'm sure you'd agree.

Well, thank you so much for taking your time to chat about your experience.

Of course.