PA for Fer

Absolutely! EDIT re: The-happy-nihilist reply -- and that's a great point because EVERY state, job, company, & doctor is different. This makes your job hunt and interviewing process extremely Important to the satisfaction of your future career. Far too often (in any line of work) people forget that YOU should also be interviewing your company and boss (Dr.) - don't just let that time be about impressing them - or you may wind up somewhere that's not the right fit. Moreover - this is why it is acceptable (and wise) practice to do a trial week with your prospective employer to make sure the intimate professional MD-PA relationship is a match!

Didactic year: M-F 8:30a-4:30p in the same seat of the same lecture classroom except for days in the lab learning skills. 2-4 hours of studying every evening depending on what body system were learning and whether its an exam week (we had exams every other week pretty much.. every week in summer semesters). Clinical Year: Work your assigned rotation - some of mine are an hour drive and 2 of mine are out of state, but your program may work with you to stay within an hour drive if you have a little one. All rotations are min of 40hrs a week. Some PAs work four 10hr shifts, some work three 12hr shifts, some work normal office hours. You will work various shifts.. 1st 2nd 3rd and some wekeends. Some hospital rotations you are on call for 24hrs. In a rotation like surgery you may work 60hrs. During clinical year you have other things to work on once you get home.. like studying for the exam that is at the end of every rotation. .. also charting on the patients you saw and up loading them to a program your school uses. You may also be taking an online class like professional development or ethics. They advised us of the same life changing things in PA School - but they really meant them! We had 3 people plan a wedding but they all got married during a break between semesters. I WOULD NOT plan on working during PA school. Unless at most it was 4-6hrs on a Saturday night or Sunday morning (though none at all for you since you have a young child). We did have two moms in the class - one started with a 4month old.. she said she hated having to deny attention to her little one - but she had a very supportive husband and each set of grandparents were there to help with free day care and other things. similar situation with the other mom. So if you are bound and determined you can do it! -- if you have a good support system for you and your childs emotions/time/finances. Once your 27-36months are done and you study for and pass your boards and get yourr licenses and job.. you could choose to work part time or PRN to make up for some of the time you missed with your child - all while still making an acceptable income. Feel free to ask any other questions! Best of luck.

YAY MY WHITE COAT CEREMONY INVITE!!! All the hard work of didactic year will feel soo worth it at this moment. I have to survive the month of May first. ... 4 of our 6 semester exams this month. No breaks, no study hours, straight learn n' burn!

Hey there- I must say I'm a bit surprised by your situation. My school is $10,500 a semester and everyone qualified for a unsubsidized government loan for tuition. Then I opted to get a gradPLUS loan for cost of living etc. I was able to borrow up to $17,000 for two semesters.. an equivalent of about $26,000 a year to live off of - and where I live and if I choose to live like a student - is plenty to get me by. I'm lucky enough to not pay rent so I only borrow $3-4k a semester to meet all of my financial needs. I guess what I'm saying is - I don't know your situation but try to live as frugal as possible. Your other option for loans would be private loans from banks or somewhere like Sally mae. Many have grad student plans that sort of mimic grad plus loans. But you need a good credit score anf perhaps a cosigner to get a good loan rate. Hope this helps - talk to your student financial aid office -- they are experts and deal with these questions on a daily basis. Best of luck let me know what you find

I do not think it would sabatoge your chances at all. In fact I believe second round applicants could have more favor in many situations.In many schools the faculty don't see even see your application unless you meet certain criteria... also they get so many applications they arent going to remember your name specifically. Another point is about 80% of applicants get rejected at many schools - so its not like you are the minority.. its common to reapply. I think what's important is to make sure that you are only applying to schools in which you will meet the mark for. As in - obviously don't apply to a school that starts before your undergrad classes end. Also, don't apply to a school that requires the pre-req classes to be completed by application rather than matriculation. The benefit to applying now is many schools have the option to contact them in writing (after they have decided their class) to see how you can improve your application. A con is that applying to PA schools is expensive! You have a CASPA fee and then each individual school can charge $30-$150 for an application which adds up quick when you go to check out in CASPA. So I say as long as you are applying with the legitimate intent to go to that school for the cohort they are accepting apps for and can afford the apps - then go for it!

I have been awake since 8am yesterday... I pulled an all-nighter studying for my Neurology Exam... and passed... the semester is over! 10 days off to thaw my brain - that's all I can muster for now.... naptime

Absolutely not too early! Knowledge is power.. and deciding to go to PA school is a big deal. It takes a lot of money.. all your time.. and it's deciding your specific career for the rest of your life ( unlike for example getting an MBA where there are tons of different things you can do). So I certainly encourage you to start collecting your knowledge early... shadow nurses.. PAs.. doctors... from all different healthcare environments.. it's the best prep to know that PA is what you want to do. Best of luck!

Hiii - thanks for the ask!If by pt aide you mean patient aid like a nurse assistant (CNA,STNA) or PCT (patient care tech)... then yes that is just fine for most colleges patient care hours. I was an STNA in a nursing home and then home healthcare. It is possible some PA programs don't accept nursing homes or homehealth - just be sure to check the websites of the schools you're interested. CNA/STNA does require certification and training however. I did mine 4 evenings a week for 4 weeks. (If you were able to do it all day it would only take 2 weeks). I believe it is your cheapest and fastest route to patient care. I personally do not know of any jobs where you can care for a patient that DOESN'T require some kind of training or certification. I really loved my job as an STNA - it was hard work and modest pay but absolutely proved to me that my heart is for the patients! If you can survive wiping bottoms, feeding half asleep mouths, answering 100 call lights a shift and dressing immobile and confused elderly while they yell 'help me' or 'get your hands off me I don't know you'... then you are cut out for serving the masses of different types of people you'll find in healthcare. If I didnt quite answer your question - get me back! Toodle-loo,Fer

This is my first Non-Medical original post. However, I still feel it VERY applicable as a female who was a successful engineer... and a woman who will be (fingers crossed) a successful Physician Assistant. Being a woman in a male dominated profession is one thing - but being a Successful female with a high amount of responsibility and/or skill changes the whole ball game - I can only speak from the engineering professional realm since I haven't had my time as a PA yet - but I bet you there are many similarities. Half the time you are expected to act more like a man - half the time they assume you are going to act all womanly and another half the time you are supposed to be both subordinate and assertive but not too sexy and not frumpy. There's a million expectations - and when someones expectation is violated - many scenarios - good or bad - can result. So - women... please read this and remember that you are who you are and you have EARNED yor spot - don't feed societies pigeonholed expectations.

Hmm... this is a tricky one. I'm not sure. If you have a WF (withdrawl fail) the I would say that looks worse than a WP (withdrawal pass). But I honestly don't know the preferences. I have heard that CASPA doesnt accept some grade delete or forgiveness situations. Basically assume any class you take - the grade will be visible to your future program.

I believe every program - just like PA school has its own requirements. This past year my friend was in pursuit of selecting an NP program.. she seemed to indicate that many require 1-3 years. However I'm sure somewhere has a direct from undergrad program. Look around - google is powerful!

PAforFer