My name is Nicole and I am currently an undergraduate student at Ripon College which is located in Ripon, Wisconsin. I am currently a second semester senior majoring in Psychobiology! This spring, I will be applying to PA schools in hopes of becoming a Physician Assistant! If you are unfamiliar with PA school and how it differs from medical school, you’re in luck! I am here to provide information on why I am choosing the PA path instead of MD or DO, what prerequisites I had to take and all the details about the PA school application process!
To begin, Physician Assistants are medical professionals who have the ability to diagnose illness, prescribe medications, and create treatment plans for patients. Physician Assistants can serve as a primary healthcare provider for patients, and they can specialize in a variety of fields. PAs work hand in hand with MDs and DOs to care for patients on a daily basis. Depending on their field of interest, PAs can go into clinical specialities, such as internal medicine or dermatology. Opposingly, they can go into surgical specialties, such as orthopedics and cardiothoracic surgery.
Personally, I always knew that I wanted to go into healthcare in some sort of capacity. However, I always thought I was going to be a physician. When I was in high school, I didn’t even know what a PA was or what they did. I thought that the only path I could take to do that kind of work in healthcare was going to medical school to become a doctor. However, in college I learnt about PAs and everything changed for me. I realized that I could not only practice medicine as a PA, but I also could finish PA school with less debt than if I decided on medical school; thus, I could be practicing medicine much earlier in my career.
While PAs do work under physician supervision, most PAs are very independent while practicing. PAs can see patients independently without the physician; however, the physician is always there for any questions, assistance, and/or guidance. This is super encouraging to me personally, as if I were ever to be unsure with a diagnosis or treatment plan, I could always go to the physician and ask for their help. The final decision doesn’t have to be solely on you, and that is extremely reassuring, especially if you are practicing as a new grad.
When I started undergrad at Ripon, I wasn’t exactly sure what to major in. Knowing I wanted to work in healthcare, I decided to go the biology route, and finding a major that incorporated both biology and psychology was an added bonus for me. I knew that biology was something I needed to go into the medical field, and psychology was something I had always been very interested in. My advice for undergrad is to for sure choose a science major, however incorporating another major in some capacity could make the experience all the more enjoyable, as well being helpful down the line.
If you know that you want to be a PA, there are a lot of prerequisites to take into account when signing up for classes. Some programs might have specific classes they want you to have taken before applying, but here is a general list of prerequisites that all PA schools typically require:
Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II (with a lab component)
Most schools accept separate anatomy and physiology courses, and will also accept the combined courses. It really just depends on what your undergraduate university offers!
Microbiology (with a lab component)
General/Organic Chemistry (1 course)
Inorganic Chemistry (1 course)
Statistics (1 course)
This requirement is pretty fluid. For example, I took Psychology Research Design and Statistics I and II, and these courses fulfilled this requirement. Just make sure to reach out to programs if you are unsure about whether or not one of your courses fits their requirements!
Biochemistry (1 course)
Most schools do accept a biochemistry course without a lab component. However, always check out the program website to make sure! Some programs require a biochemistry course above a certain level, such as requiring a course at or above the 300 level.
At some programs, molecular biology or cellular biology are acceptable alternatives.
General or Abnormal Psychology (1 course)
Precalculus or Calculus (1 course)
Medical Terminology (1 course)
Not all programs require this course, but it’s always a good one to have under your belt because it will be extremely beneficial in your graduate coursework as well in your future as a PA!
While all these courses are pretty typical prerequisites for most PA programs out there, it is always a good idea to check out each program’s website to make sure you have their prerequisites in mind. In addition to the prerequisites, PA programs also require some sort of patient care experience. Some examples of patient care experience that programs accept are working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA), an emergency medical technician (EMT), a medical assistant (MA), a phlebotomist, and many more. Patient care experience is considered any type of experience in which you work with patients hands on. Furthermore, all programs have a minimum number of patient care experience they would like you to have completed before applying to their program. Some hours require as little as 100, and some require as many as 2,000. It’s always good to research the minimum hours each program requires, and I personally organized all of the schools I was looking at into a spreadsheet to keep track of.
As for my patient care experience, I worked as a CNA as well as a behavior technician for an autism agency. All of the programs I am looking at accept hours as a CNA, however only some of them will accept my hours as a behavior technician. Again, it’s all dependent on the program, so if you are unsure about a patient care experience that you have, ask the school! The worst they could say is that your experience cannot be considered for patient care hours. However, you can always put that experience down elsewhere in your applications.
In addition to patient care experience, PA programs also require some sort of volunteering as well as shadowing experience with a certified PA. Just like with patient care experience, there are hour requirements for these as well, and they fluctuate between programs. I know that everything they require to even apply for PA school is a lot, but I promise it will be so worth it in the end. I could go on forever about PA school, but it really is up to you to do a ton of research if you truly are interested in pursuing this career. I encourage reaching out to PAs to ask about their experience with the profession, and to ask them any questions you may have. And if you’re unsure about whether to go to medical or PA school, make a pros and cons list and go from there.
- By Nicole Petrovic
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