100k student debt after undergrad and PA school....how long will it take me to pay this off?
Have you crunched the numbers on this (pay back time)?? The interest alone would be 300 - 400 a month. And that's not even knocking down the principal at all. Are you willing to struggle for 10+ years to pay this off?? This seems like a huge amount of money to pay off, even for a well paying profession. I wouldn't want to have to deal with this. I would definitely look for a cheaper alternative - state supported school, scholarship, junior college, military education. There is no guarantee you will get a job out of college, or it will pay your 70k.
Did anyone go from nursing school (undergrad) to med school?
I’ve done it but I wouldn’t recommend it.There’s no seamless transition.Nursing school also gives you a false sense of confidence about the extent of what you know and an underappreciation of the vast extent of what you do not know.I swear, half my nursing school curriculum was about how nurses were better than doctors:We’re holistic; we care about the whole person.We’re the ones who actually spend time with the patient while the doctor is somewhere out there doing God knows what.We’re the ones who actually teach doctors their job.I absorbed some of those attitudes myself. It wasn’t until after I was in med school that I realize just how much one has to learn to be a physician.But I digress.The main thing to remember, if you choose nursing as your undergrad, is that you will have to go work on your premed coursework and start from scratch if you want to apply to med school. You won’t get credit for any of your nursing classes.This is the main reason I wouldn’t advise it. The main thing I gained from my time as a nurse is my bedside manner. It’s what enables me to build a good rapport with my patients.Truth be told, I’d probably trade it away, if I could exchange it for being 3 years ahead.
How to decide between medical school and PA school?
I am currently an undergraduate sophomore trying to plan out my coursework for the next 2 years. I have researched and shadowed both PA's and Physicians and I'm having a really hard time deciding between the two. My main question is: If I go to PA school, work as a PA and later decide I want to go back to medical school, would I still have to take the MCAT? I know 100% I want to be one of them, my dilemma is that I want to have a family and I want to have more personal relationships with patients. I hate going to a doctor that is monotone and you can tell doesn't give a crap about your situation. In general, it seems that PA's have more personal relationships and deal with the majority of patients at clinics. However, I don't want to cut myself short by being a PA when I can most likely get into medical school. I would just hate to work as a PA for a few years then have to study my undergraduate classes hardcore to prepare for the MCAT, because lets face it, you really don't use much other than Anatomy, Physiology, some General Bio, and Immunology from your undergraduate career, so I would have to learn Organic, Genetics, etc all over again : / AHHH!!!! lol. On the other hand, I don't want to be thousands of dollars in debt as a doctor and then decide I could have been just as fulfilled being a PA, then become a PA and get paid half as much with an extensive education. I am certainly not limited to PA school because of my credentials or motivation, that is not my issue. I know I would eventually be able to get into medical school. Is there anyone trying to make the same decision? Any advice is appreciated.
When is the best time to apply to PA school?
A PA school is a place where you can learn how to prescribe medicine in various states. Different institutions have different times that you can easily apply to be fully noticed. There is this link that my mentor forwarded me that helped me get into my PA school, University Of New Mexico PA Program I was also confused because some people were saying different things about what appropriate time to apply. At that link, you can freely joining any PA program that will give you all the information and knowledge you might need to apply to the best PA school.
Does applying to PA school immediately after undergrad make you a less competitive applicant?
It depends on the school and what they emphasize. Some schools want you to have over 2000 hours while others want less than 500 or only suggest that you have clinical hours.From my experience, you are at a slight disadvantaged UNLESS you obtained a decent amount of clinical experience/volunteering/shadowing during undergrad.When I applied to PA school right out of undergrad, my weakness was the of the lack of experience. I barely had 500 hours as a volunteer EMT. I didn’t get accepted the first time I tried.I took a year off and worked as an EMT-B part time (paid). Reapplied to various schools. Got accepted to PA school because I now had over 1,000 hours. Nothing else in my application changed. NOTHING. I literally applied with the same GRE scores, the same GPA (3.69), the same two majors, the same… everything. Well, my personal statement actually changed now that I think about it.Why do some schools prefer taking fresh undergrads? Well one girl in my class who is a paramedic already knows the heart, EKGs, lots of drugs, how to do an IV/intubate patients, etc… But she expressed doubts in the course load and amount of studying we have to do. While she’s doing fine, she needed to readjust her studying methods and get used to being back in school.So that’s the advantage you have. You’re fresh from undergrad. You’re still in “school-mode.” And you’d probably didn’t develop “bad habits” that come from years of clinical practice.—In my PA class of about 50 people, there are maybe 5–10 people who came straight from undergrad. They got clinical experience during the summer or they did part-time work as a CNA/EMT during undergrad. If they can do it - you certainly can do it too!
What did you feel the PA school did not prepare you for?
PA education prepares you well for medicine. Really well. As well as most physician students are prepared when they graduate school. It is a fine education and is general in scope mostly modeled after physician education. In most PA programs, if you add up the hours, students get about 4 months less education as you would in a four year medical school. You do get at least a full year of clinical training, sometimes more. Don't forget that almost all PA students enter with prior healthcare experience. Many were healthcare professionals of another kind and "PA" is a second profession. Admittedly, that is changing. That being said all new graduates need to keep learning and hold that as a priority. Some PAs go onto a residency in a specialty but most still learn "on the job" from physicians they work with and other PAs.PA education generally does not prepare you well for the politics or business of medicine. Nor for understanding how decisions are made in the hospital boardrooms. It does little to prepare you to be agents of change. It does not prepare you to supervise others well (neither does medical school) unless you have that experience beforehand. I think you see a trend here. Good clinical training above all else.Dave Mittman, PA, DFAAPA