Meet Julia, one of our mock interview coaches and a new PA in pediatric endocrinology.

Here's the part I love: she didn't want to work with kids. She was pretty sure peds wasn't for her. Then she did the rotation and everything changed.

That happens constantly, and it's the best argument I know for going into clinical year with an open mind and for shadowing widely before you apply. You cannot know what you'll love based on what you imagine a specialty is like.

We also get into her application, the patient care experience she built, and what got her through the harder parts of school. And since she coaches mock interviews, she has a clear read on where applicants tend to lose points.

What we talk about:

• Ending up in pediatric endocrinology by surprise
• Why shadowing broadly matters more than shadowing a lot
• Building patient care experience before applying
• Getting through the hardest stretches of PA school
• What she sees applicants get wrong in mock interviews
• Her advice for people applying this cycle

Resources:

Mock interview: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/mock-interview

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

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

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

Mentioned in this episode:

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Okay, guys, I'm so excited to introduce you to one of our coaches, Julia.

And she is a new grad PA who's currently waiting to start her job in pediatric endocrinology, which I think is super interesting.

And you're going to hear a lot more about that in our interview.

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.

Hello.

Hello.

Thank you so much for listening on Valentine's Day.

Even if you're listening later, this episode went live on Valentine's Day.

So if you are celebrating with someone, have fun.

If you are kind of rocking this by yourself, then I give you permission to go out and treat yourself.

So get some ice cream, get some cake, go to to a nice dinner, buy yourself something, do something nice, because you should love yourself.

All right, that was super cheesy.

I apologize.

But I, as always, am excited about this episode, really, because I got to kind of deep dive with one of our Pre PA coaches, Julia, who just started with us this past fall after she graduated from PA school.

And the more that I talked to her, the more I realized we're kind of the same person.

And she, she is just very similar to me, which is why I feel so lucky to have her on the PA platform team.

I'm Savannah, by the way.

Savannah Perry.

I am in Georgia.

I'm a dermatology PA and as of this week, I am 30 years old.

I've been a derm PA for five and a half years now and time flies.

It just goes by so quickly.

So again, cheesy.

But make the most of it and really enjoy every minute.

But I'm so thankful to have you listening.

If you've been listening for a long time and you enjoyed the show, I would love it if you could on itunes or wherever you listen, just give a review or at least just tell me how many stars you like it.

Ideally 5.

If there's something you don't like, tell me.

You can always reach out on social media or shoot me an email, but I think you're really going to enjoy today's episode.

Alright, there's a couple things that I want you to be aware of before we get into the episode.

So conferences.

There are a ton of Pre PA conferences now, which is awesome, and I want you to know about them.

So the Northeastern Prepa Conference, that's the one I spoke at last year in New Jersey.

It is happening again this year at the College of St. Elizabeth, and that is on July 25.

So it is in New Jersey.

You can fly into Newark and the airport is right there.

And I will be there again.

We'll also have Brian Palm there from MYPA Resource and they are a sponsor of the podcast, as you know.

So if you need help before the conference, make sure you check out myparesource.com and use the code futurepa for a discount there.

But you can get your tickets through the link.

I'm gonna put in the description.

And they have graciously given us a few 50% off code if you are registered by March 31st.

So that is a big deal.

That makes the conference cost only $40, which is amazing.

And so the code for that is PA Platform 50.

And again, I'll put that in the description with the link and I would love to meet you there and see you there.

And last year we had over 100 people.

I think this year will be even bigger and even more awesome.

So that is really exciting for you west coast people.

There are also a couple conferences coming up.

There is Loma Melinda is hosting a conference and I'll put that link in the description as well.

It is in April.

I think it's early April.

And then Journey to PA School.

Anthony also has a conference that's in South Southern California, so I'll put a link to that as well or to where to find him once I have that information.

So yeah, lots of options.

And then there's AAPA, which is having a pre pa track in Nashville on May 16, which I will also be at and I am so excited for.

We usually do a social media meetup.

I'm thinking from what I've heard it's gonna be on Friday this year.

So if you can make it to that.

It is a lot of fun.

You may have seen pictures and videos from that last year, but I got to dance with the dancing PA Tony and just a lot of stuff.

So it was really, really fun.

All right, so we're about to jump into our interview.

I also wanted to mention PA school prep and you can use that same code future pa on paschoolprep.com if you with anatomy, physiology and med terms before you jump into PA school.

So check that out.

And you can also use that code on the PA platform.

It works on the interview guide, it works on the interview course.

Really?

Anything on there?

Mock interviews.

All right, we'll talk to Julia and she can help you with mock interviews if you need help.

Whenever you do go to Book A mock interview.

You have a choice between choosing based on time or choosing a specific coach if you decide that you need that help.

So if you run into any issues, just let us know.

And I'm excited to introduce you to Julia.

So I'm Julia.

I am one of the pre PA coaches with the PA platform.

And I am also a recent graduate from a PA program.

And so I'm kind of in that transition phase, waiting to start a job in the spring.

I'll be starting a job in pediatric endocrinology.

Interesting.

That's fun.

Awesome.

Well, okay, so give us a little background on kind of your.

I always say the word journey.

It's like the bachelor, but your journey to becoming a PA like, what was kind of what made you decide to become a pa?

Okay, so I actually decided to become a PA Kind of late into my undergraduate education.

I was a dietetics major in undergrad, so I was studying dietetics.

I was also a student athlete at the time.

So my entire sort of life goal was to combine those two things and work in sports nutrition.

And I think that one of the things that a lot of people don't know about the dietetics field is that your training is very, very science heavy.

So you take all of the same core science coursework that a pre med takes.

So you're taking, you know, bio and chem and anatomy, physiology, all of those types of courses on top of more of those nutrition focused courses like metabolism and medical nutrition therapy and those types of things.

And you know, during my education, I sort of found myself being really captivated by the core sciences, more so than the nutrition coursework, which was very different from my peers and my classmates at the time.

They were much more really, really into those nutrition classes and then sort of just getting through those, those core science classes.

And so I kind of immediately saw that maybe I didn't quite fit with, with the nutrition field.

And I still love it.

And I think nutrition is extremely important and I respect the heck out of dietitians, but for me, I just felt like the scope of what they were doing was not exactly where I saw myself.

I saw myself more in, you know, the diagnosis and the treatment and things like that.

Just the nutrition piece.

I shouldn't even say just the nutrition because that's huge, but it just wasn't sort of the scope that I was looking for.

So I started talking to my human biology professor, who is also actually the advisor for all the pre meds in our school, and she really sort of started talking to me about my options and saying, you know, what my prerequisite coursework would allow me to do.

And we were kind of talking between becoming a doctor and going to med school or a pa, and so I kind of was exploring both fields at the time, shadowing, doing all sorts of things.

Landed on PA because.

Mainly because I wanted something that I didn't have to do an additional four years of school for, because I already had, you know, four year of the, like, the core sciences and all this stuff under my belt.

I already had it done.

And so the thought of sort of going back and repeating, you know, those things, and I just, I felt like I wanted to just sort of get in the field more quickly.

And so PA was kind of the route I chose.

And so I kind of had to kick it into high gear.

I didn't have any direct patient care experience at the time because all of my experience at that time was working in nutrition, because to be a dietitian you also have to do an internship and you need a certain number of hours working in that field.

So I was sort of accruing hours there and had no patient care experience that would qualify me for PA school.

So kind of kicked into high gear, did a summer course in CNA certification, started working 30 hours a week as a CNA on top of being a full time student.

And so the journey was kind of rushed, but it felt right.

So I knew it was sort of what I needed to do and it worked out.

And I am glad that I made this choice.

Yeah.

And I think a lot of people kind of find it and realize, oh, this is what I was looking for.

Right.

And that's.

Yeah, it's like exactly what I was looking for that I didn't know existed until someone directed me towards it.

Yeah.

You actually remind me of one of my best friends in PA school because she was a student athlete.

She did soccer and she was planning on doing PT pretty much the whole time until kind of later in her senior year when she, I think she was shadowing a PT and that was her first interaction with a pa and she was like, wait, this is actually what I want to do.

And ended up kind of last minute getting everything done and going to PA school.

So, yeah, it's definitely okay if you don't know right away what you want to do.

So you decided to go to school now?

Did you have to take a gap year because of that or were you able to still, like, apply and go straight into school?

Kind of.

What was the timing like on that?

So I did have to take the gap year simply because I was still.

I was a senior in college when I was applying for PA programs.

So sort of after I graduated from undergrad is when the interviews started rolling in.

So there was that whole sort of year of interviewing.

And then once I chose a program, it was sort of waiting for that program to start.

So I just worked in the interim and just kind of waiting.

So, yeah, I did have to take that gap year, but it was fine because a huge portion of that gap year was interviewing.

And I don't know how I would have done interview season as a full time student and working.

I don't know how I would have done it.

So kudos to people that do it, but I don't know how I would have done that.

The two classes I had to skip for interviews were not very happy with me.

But.

Okay, so when it came time to apply, what did you look for in deciding where you were going to apply and how many schools did you narrow that down to?

So I sort of operated early on from a place of fear, like, oh my gosh, I just need to get in somewhere because I don't want to have to do this again.

So I essentially was very.

I'm very detail oriented.

I made a spreadsheet and on it was every single program in the country.

I, like went on.

Yeah.

And then so I went in and checked the boxes if I had the prerequisite coursework that it required, because some of them, they differ a little bit.

Some of them.

And so I found that my prerequisite coursework qualified me for some of the programs, but not all of them.

So if I didn't apply based on my coursework, I crossed it off.

And then I looked at their pce, our requirement, and went through and crossed off ones whose criteria I didn't meet for that.

And then so I sort of just kind of eliminated schools based on those things, just the criteria.

And if I was meeting it.

And then once I sort of had a list of all of the schools that I was qualified to apply to, I looked mainly at areas that I wouldn't mind living in.

I mean, there's certain.

Yeah, it's important.

So.

And then I ended up, I think, with a list of 12 and I applied to 12 schools, which in hindsight was probably too many.

But I understand, you know, sort of that impulse to do that because you sort of get these people.

I mean, I had people around me who had never even applied to PA school, but they had heard about it or whatever and they were just like, oh, it's impossible to get in.

You'll never get in your first time.

You know, just very discouraging, like, chatter around me about it.

And so I was like, oh, my gosh.

I don't.

I don't know what I'm gonna do.

So I just applied to, you know, wherever, and then there was sort of this, like, huge period of time where I heard nothing.

And I was like, oh, I'm gonna get rejected from everyone.

Like, I'm never gonna get it.

And then all of them started, like, contacting me at once.

And then it was like I had interview after interview after interview, and I was just like.

It was overwhelming.

And I think if I would have narrowed that list down a little bit more, it would have been more manageable.

Was there anything on your application that you felt was a weakness or red flag that you thought would, I guess, exclude you or keep you from getting interviews?

I think that patient care experience, because I started so late in getting my patient care experience, I had very, very close to the minimum.

I think I had a thousand hours, because that was what, like, a lot.

I would say a large majority of schools were.

Was requiring at the time.

I think it may have even gone up.

I think a lot of schools require more now, but at the time, it was around a thousand for a lot of schools.

Like, it was very.

Because I sort of.

As soon as I sort of hit that mark of a thousand, I submitted my applications.

So I was a little worried, like, they're gonna see that as, oh, she did the bare minimum of patient care hours and all these things, but.

So I was definitely worried about that.

I think that was probably the weakest point of my application.

You know, my GPA was pretty good, and I had a good gre.

I was involved in a lot of things because I was an athlete, and I did some volunteering, but I was just worried about that patient care experience, but it ended up being fine.

Yeah, that's valid.

So.

And we were kind of opposite.

So when I applied, it was long time ago, and I had so many people who were like, why are you worried you're gonna get in?

You've done everything.

And I was like, you guys don't understand.

This is hard.

It's competitive.

Don't tell me that.

Like, that was what my parents were saying to me, because,.

Yeah, everybody.

When I was like, what's a pa?

What are you doing?

Yeah.

Anyway, okay, so out of the 12 schools you applied to, how many Interview invites did you receive?

I think I got nine interview invites out of the 12.

And I did seven of the interviews.

And so two of them, you know, were the sort of the last two.

No, I guess I went to the last two.

Just somewhere in the middle in there.

There were two schools that offered me an interview and they were out of state, far away, and I had already gotten accepted to multiple schools.

So I was like, I don't want to waste any more money flying.

Like, I'm good.

I'm not going to take this interview.

So I ended up doing seven of the interviews, all in different states.

And then the school that I went to was right in my home state.

So there you go.

Of course.

Yeah, that's like my husband doing residency.

He applied to 12 programs, ended up staying or did 12 interviews and ended up staying at the program he did med school at.

I was like, okay,.

You got to do it.

Like, you gotta do it.

You never want to say what if, you know, you have to make sure that your other options, that you've explored them before you decide.

7 Interviews is a lot to go on.

Yes, it was all a big blur because like I said, it happened.

They were happening in succession.

So I had interviews that I flew to and then instead of.

I didn't even fly home between interviews.

Like, I would fly to one and then from the airport of that one, go to another one.

And that's kind of what I was doing.

And so it was very, very stressful.

And also getting flights last minute is hard because the tickets are expensive and like, you get like crappy flight times.

And all of them had like two or three connecting flights that one of them I missed.

And so it was just a very.

It was a very high stress time.

But then looking back on it, it was kind of fun.

I just like, it didn't feel that fun at the time because I was so nervous.

But then when I look back, I'm like, oh, that was really cool.

Like, to.

It was my first experience traveling alone.

I traveled with like family or friends, so, you know, exploring different cities alone, you know, it was.

It was fun.

So that's really cool.

So throughout your interview process, did.

Okay, I don't know how to phrase this correctly.

So I feel like sometimes when people apply to schools and get an interview, they feel like they are committed to that school at that point and have to love it no matter what.

Did going to interviews and seeing that many different programs, were there any that it kind of turned you off of the program or made you go?

I Don't think I would be happy here or I would love it.

I think my first, the very first program I was accepted to, I again, I tried to convince myself that I really wanted to go there because at the time it was like the only program I was accepted into.

So I was like, oh yeah, it's all great.

And trying to like explain away the things I didn't like about was like a remote program.

So the majority of the lectures were on a video screen.

They weren't like an in person, like lecturer, which I thought was kind of strange.

And I was like, I don't know if I would like that because I'm kind of one to go up and talk to, you know, professor professors or lecturers or go to office hours.

It's kind of like how I learn best.

And so I was a little concerned with that.

You know, they didn't have a cadaver lab.

It was all sort of models.

And I was like, I've already done models.

And you know, at the time I was like, well, what if I want to work in surgery?

And I've never even, you know, seen a, like a real cadaver or so There was just sort of things about it that were just not my favorite.

But because it was the first program I got into, I was like, oh, it'll be fine.

Like I'll, I'll love it and I'll get used to it.

And so.

And I probably would have if, you know, if that ended up being the only program I got into, I would have probably made the best of it.

But yeah, I think after the first acceptance came in, then every interview that I went on after that, I kind of approached with a more critical eye and I asked more of those questions because I'm like, well, now that I'm in to somewhere, at least I kind of can be more selective and I have more choice.

And so I again, I enjoyed those later interviews more because I sort of felt like I was on top versus like when you're not accepted anywhere, you're sort of on the bottom and you're like, please take me.

But then once you're accepted somewhere, you sort of have the power to be like, okay, do I want to go to this school?

And you can be selective?

Do you feel like you got better at interviewing throughout the process?

Yes, I totally did my first interview.

I've always, I mean, at the risk of tooting my own horn, I've always been like, pretty good at job interviews, like growing up and, you know, high school jobs, you know, in restaurants or Clothing stores, whatever.

You know, I was always pretty good at those interviews.

So my first PA school interview, I feel like I was just not nervous enough or prepared enough.

And I just kind of was like, I'll be fine, like I can interview.

And that was like one of the only programs I didn't get into was my first interview because I just was not prepared.

I was not ready for the caliber of questions that I was going to get.

And so it was after my first interview that I actually did two mock interviews.

So that's when I first kind of learned about the whole mock interview process.

And so that helped me a lot.

And then just, you know, the more you do it, the better you get.

And I found a lot of programs repeated questions that previous programs had asked, so I kind of had time to think over the answers more.

But yeah, so I think it definitely got easier as I went on just from the sheer practice of it practicing out loud.

So do it more and more.

Okay, so then you ended up.

So how many schools did you get accepted to.

Out of the 7?

5.

Okay.

Yeah, that's a lot of choices, which is nice to have that kind of luxury there when it came time to start school.

So now we'll kind of talk about your PA school experience.

What was your favorite part of school?

I think so this isn't really medicine related, but I think my favorite part of school was honestly the people.

Like I. I went into it expecting, you know, to get along with my classmates because I've always gotten along with classmates and sort of that sort of school relationship, if you will.

But they actually became like some of my greatest friends that I've ever had in my life.

And I am still really great friends with them.

And I just never expected that going into it that I would just meet like my people.

Yeah.

But they're sort of like hand selected for you.

Like, these are the types of, like whoever accepts people like, you know, the program directors or whatever, they intentionally sort of create this class that they feel will be cohesive.

And so they sort of hand selected 30 of my greatest friends for me.

And it's been amazing to get to know them and just you get to know them on such a deep level very, very quickly.

Because you're going through the same thing.

Yeah, you're going through the very same thing in the same struggles.

And like, if you're struggling with something outside of school, in life or whatever, you know, they're the people that are around you, so they might see you crying and then they're the people you go to and you just.

There's no choice but to get close to these people.

And so it was probably the, the fastest I've ever made lifelong friends before.

That's a really great way to put it.

Yeah, you're just in the trenches.

And I spoke to a pre PA club yesterday and I was trying to convey what you said just a lot better than I did because I met three of my very best friends and like, literally yesterday I talked to all three of them.

And so it's just even now as we're like.

It's funny because now we're working, now we're all married, now we all have kids, and like, we, we understand each other differently than some of my other friends who I love, but they maybe have, are stay at home moms or have different careers and can't quite understand what it's like to actually be in medicine and do what we do.

So.

Yeah, yeah, no, it's.

It's really fun.

What was the hardest part of PA school?

So kind of two things, I think.

One would be the pace, which I think everyone can sort of agree with who's been in PA school.

The content is, yes, it's challenging, but it's content that, you know, as, you know, people pursuing the PA profession, it's content we want to learn, it's content we're interested in.

So I enjoyed, you know, the topics we were studying and the topics we were learning.

However, I had never in my life had to learn them as quickly as I did in PA school.

You know, you're an undergrad, you know, maybe you'll go through two or three chapters in a week, and you do that in a day in PA school.

And so being able to realize that you kind of force yourself to keep going when you're tired was.

It was new to me.

You don't really get that brain rest.

And so it's kind of like that was the most challenging thing is when I got new content, I really wanted to like, take the time, dive in, learn every single detail.

You know, when I was an undergrad, filled up like stacks of notebooks all the time, and I didn't have time to do handwritten notes anymore.

It was just very different.

You know, I had to type everything because I'm a much faster typer than I am writer.

I used to draw pictures.

I didn't have time to do that anymore.

It was just very much like adjusting to the pace was challenging for me.

And so that took a while for me to sort of adjust to that.

And then also I would say finances, which is kind of a odd answer, but I think that was a really hard piece for me because, well, a PA school is expensive as it is, but I went into it knowing that PA school would be.

Be a big cost to me.

And then, you know, cost of living while you're not working is also a cost.

But then, like, what I didn't expect was sort of those added costs that would happen through the process.

So, you know, just little things that add up.

You know, computer crashes, you need a new computer.

You know, you need TB tests before clinicals, and they're sort of out of pocket.

You have to travel for travel for distant rotations.

Now you have to pay for housing, and now you have to pay for gas to drive really far.

And, you know, we don't have income.

So it was very sort of challenging to allocate my financial resources.

And then when you come out of school, you know, you have costs to take the pants and costs to apply for your license and all of these things that, you know, eventually your pockets are just empty, so you really sort of have to navigate.

And that was.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

So that was something that, I mean, I knew it would be a large cost, but I think it was much larger than I had anticipated and much larger than anything that I had read because, you know, the programs will post like, you know, this is your tuition, and these are your expected fees or whatever, which, you know, is kind of a gross underestimate in my opinion, because there's so many things that just add up.

So, I mean, luckily I had some savings prior to going in, and, you know, I had family that was able to help me, but not everybody has that.

So that was challenging.

Yeah, things that you don't necessarily think about or know how to plan for.

So I didn't think that that would be one of my biggest stressors in PA school.

I thought it would be, you know, learning the medicine, but in which that was challenging.

But I think I underestimated the sort of stress that the financial end of things would put on me at the time.

So, yeah, that's a good, good advice.

So I want to know a little bit about what made you choose.

Choose.

Chose pediatric endocrinology.

All right, so this one's kind of funny.

So I went into PA school and, you know, all of your.

All my family friends, whoever they were, like, well, what do you want to do in medicine?

You know, what area do you want to work in?

And, you know, classmates would ask.

It's just sort of something that gets Brought up in conversation.

So very early on I said, I, I don't really know yet.

I'll do anything but peeds.

That's what I said.

I will do anything.

But.

Because I don't know if I could handle sick kids or stressed out parents or, you know, whatever, I was just like, I just, I don't want to do it.

So come, you know, a time for clinical rotations, and literally within like a week of being in a peds rotation, I was like, I will never do anything else.

Like, this is where I want to be.

Like, this is just like the area of medicine that I am meant for.

And I mean, everyone was like, wait, you want to do peds?

You said you never wanted to do peds.

And I was like, well, I was done then.

Now I only want to do peds.

So I think I.

There's so many things I love about it.

One is just the joy and the strength of kids.

You know, they go through some really, really hard stuff and take it better than most adults I know would take it.

And so that's huge.

I love their spirit.

And also I just love the environment of peds.

I think in healthcare, you know, all of us as healthcare providers are very concerned for our patients and, you know, want their best interests.

However, I think it's kind of amplified in peds because it's little people, it's kids.

So it's sort of this attitude all of the time of like, how can we make them happier?

How can we make this easier for them?

And it's always sort of that attitude, whether it's like, we're gonna play bingo in the hospital, we're gonna bring around puppies in the hospital, we're gonna do all these things.

It's just.

It's just a positive environment that I just, like, sort of thrived in.

And so I.

And I loved it.

And endocrinology.

I actually had an interest in endocrinology before even liking peds.

Like, I just sort of.

I call it like, the interest of medicine that I have is like that small, like almost molecular area, like hormones, blood cells.

So I call endocrinology lab, like lab medicine.

And I went into my endocrine rotation thinking, like, I only took it because it just kind of fit my schedule.

Thinking like, I'm going to hate this.

I would never love this.

And I loved it.

So that's like, you have to have an open mind.

But yeah, yeah, that's a good way to put it.

I love lab medicine as well.

I never knew how to describe What.

I like, that's how it feels to me because you can look at someone's labs or numbers like before you go in the room and kind of know what you need to do a little bit.

So that's what I call it.

I don't know, that's probably not official,.

But yeah, no, I love it because I.

That's my two biggest areas of interest were endocrinology and hematology.

And I think it's for the same reason that sort of lab puzzle that you're trying to solve as opposed to, you know, a more mechanical field like ortho, where it's very much, you know, how mechanical and like how do things move and work.

Ortho is a weakness for me, whereas the labs and things was a strength of mine.

So that's kind of where my interest in endocrinology came from.

In speaking to the people that set up our rotations, we kind of submitted our interests and peds and endocrinology where I was interested in both.

And so they combined them for me.

So I have them to thank because I never told them pediatric endocrinology.

I told them peds or endocrinology and they gave me both.

So, yeah, so I have them to thank.

And so I did an elective rotation there and at a pediatric endocrinology clinic, which is actually where I'm going to be working.

I did an elective rotation there and then went back for an eight week preceptorship at the end of my training there.

And so, yeah, it just combined two of my areas of interest.

And I love that, you know, it is chronic disease, these endo diseases.

So you really get to know the kids, whether they have diabetes or growth hormone deficiency or hypothyroidism, hypopit, whatever they have, you sort of are with them for the long run because they're always going to have it.

So I really like that sort of relationship aspect of it.

That's so exciting.

All right, what would you, what advice would you give someone if they are considering becoming a PA but not sure about it yet?

I would say definitely explore it and talk to PAs and shadow PAs and in addition to that, shadow other healthcare professionals?

Because I think there's been like a lot of articles coming out lately about, you know, how great the PA profession is and you know, how it's one of the top professions and all these things, which I agree with and I think it is.

But I think sometimes that might sort of sway people's opinions and they don't even consider going into something else when it may in fact be a better fit for them.

So I would say definitely explore and shadow different healthcare professions.

And don't only shadow PAs, because similarly to how if you only interview at one school, you're going to convince yourself to love it if you only interview, if you are not interview, if you only shadow one profession, you're going to convince yourself that you love it when you shadow that profession and then several others, and then that one sort of comes out on top as, you know, your best experience, then, you know for sure.

So, yeah, I mean, I've definitely worked with PAs or have met PAs that I would say the majority of them love that they went into PA and chose pa.

But I have met some that said, you know, I wish I would have done something else.

I wish I would have gone to medical school or I wish I would have done PT or, you know, something along those lines.

So I think definitely just exploring other options and just be really sure.

And then once you're sure, then awesome.

Then, like, just go full, you know, go full on.

Go for it.

You know, just kind of dive in and don't look back.

But just make sure that you have sort of gathered all that information before you make that decision.

No, that's perfect.

All right, well, where can everyone find you besides as a coach on the PA platform?

Yeah, so I kind of have a little baby blog that I just started.

It's very new.

I've never blogged before, but I've sort of.

I love writing, so I kind of have this outlet now of like, talking about my whole PA school experience and my new grad experience.

And, you know, in the coming months, it'll be, you know, my new PA practicing experience.

So it is pacinthecities.com so no dashes or anything, just pac in the cities dot com.

And yeah, I try to post blogs there.

You can follow me on Instagram if you want.

It's at Julia Calling.

So just my first name and my last name and.

Yeah, that's.

It's kind of.

I think it's a private account, but I don't have one of those, like, public medicine, like, accounts.

Yeah, it's just really like my personal Instagram account.

But I still love talking to people.

So if I get like, a DM from someone, because I think in like, my bio it says I'm a pa and so I'll occasionally get like, dms from people that are like, hey, I want to be a PA and they're strangers because I think people like search PAs or whatever on Instagram, and you get people who says it in their bio.

And I'll always respond.

I mean, so anybody who wants to talk to me more, they can message me through there.

We'll link to all that so they can find it.

Okay, cool.