MY ROAD TO PA SCHOOL (& TIPS FOR APPLYING)

MAGNIFICENTLY MCKINNLEY: Blog #12

Hello & Welcome back to the blog! I haven’t written a full blog post in a while so I thought now would be a good time to get back to it! As you all know, or maybe you don’t, I am currently in a Physician Assistant Master’s Program, in my last year on my clinical rotations. I get a lot of questions about the PA profession and PA school so I thought I would write a blog addressing some of them. Today, I am going to talk my road to PA school. Now the first part of the blog is about my journey individually, but if you are thinking about applying to a PA program or are interested in the profession, please read the full blog because I will be touching on that at the end. I will also be writing later blogs to address things such as the PA profession compared to other professions, and why I chose PA, and tips and tricks to PA school such as undergraduate/applying/graduate and rotation advice, so look out for these upcoming blogs! (And let me know if there is anything else you guys would like to hear about!)

[PSA: This is quite a bit of a long blog post (to make up for all the ones I’ve missed (; ) but I truly hope that you guys read this whole thing, I pour my heart and soul into these blogs and I truly hope you guys benefit from them. Even if you aren’t concerned with the PA profession or my life or anything about this blog, I think reading it will at least provide a look into what other people go through in life and in work and also give a better appreciation for other professions. So I hope you connect to at least something in each post I write, whether it be the whole blog, a paragraph, a sentence or even just a word. So, enjoy!)

So let’s get started! Again, I am currently in my last year of PA school, on my clinical rotations. I call this the “easy part”, or the home stretch. But don’t let me fool you, it was NOT an easy road to get here. I had many long nights, many stressed-out breakdowns, many tears, many times I questioned if I could do it, and just about everything in between. I am going to be completely honest with you all, because I value being an open book and being totally realistic with my readers. So let’s start from the beginning:

-       I started out college in a very different place, physically and mentally. I graduated high school with around 30 college credits, after participating in many advanced courses and a healthcare related course that allowed me to get a great perspective on all of the different career healthcare has to offer and really helped me figure out where I wanted to be in life. (If you have the opportunity to participate in something like this, I totally recommend it)

-       I knew my entire life that I wanted to work in healthcare, I just wasn’t quite sure where. I tossed around vet, nurse, doctor, NP and PA, and truly didn’t decide until I was a junior or senior in high school, I think? Lol. I was set on nursing until a family friend had suggested looking into the PA profession. Once I did, I knew it was the right path for me. I loved the flexibility, the autonomy, the schooling and the endless career options the profession provided. (I will get more into all of this in a later blog..)

-       Now, once I knew what I wanted to do, I had to find the right school to do so. I had absolutely no clue where I wanted to end up. My family wanted me close and I wanted to be further away. I applied to around 10 schools, ranging all along the NE coast!! Crazy, right? Most of which were fast-track PA Programs (5 year programs, because who doesn’t want to be done with school early?). I also applied to one NP, Nurse Practitioner, program just as a backup in case I randomly decided I was going to switch fields. [I like to plan just about everything in my life, if couldn’t tell. Lol] Thankfully, but also unfortunately, I was accepted into every single school I applied to! (I say unfortunately because I was hoping that getting denied by a few would narrow the search down, but now I was left to narrow them down all on my own) So, I began visiting schools on the weekends, looking at the award packages they all offered, and weighing the pro’s and con’s of each school. I finally had it narrowed down to 2 schools, Le Moyne in Syracuse, NY & Marywood in Scranton, PA. Both of which offered 5 year PA programs and both of which were small, tight-knit campuses, which is what I had been looking for.

-       Spoiler Alert: I chose Marywood University! I chose Marywood over Le Moyne for many different reasons. The first and most important reason being that Marywood agreed to accept almost all of my 30 credits. By doing this, I would save almost a whole year of college tuition and, little did I know, be able to complete a Master’s Degree in 4 years! I am so thankful for the opportunity that Marywood has given me in that aspect and all of the other amazing opportunities they also provided to me, such as finding my faith, giving me the ability to serve others, and providing me with lifelong friends and amazing support from my peers and professors. Another reason I chose Marywood was because the second I stepped on campus, I felt at home. Everyone I met was so welcoming, the campus was tight-knit and easy to navigate, and the area around was safe and welcoming. Now, I chose my school right before the end of my senior year, pretty much last minute. College decision day was May 1^st and I didn’t even visit Marywood until the end of April. I had some unforeseen circumstances that threw a wrench in my outstanding senior year, I lost my father unexpectedly in March. This deterred my college planning, decision making and altered my schooling at the end of the year. Thankfully, I was able to finish out the year strong, visit the last college on my list (Marywood) right before decision day and, by the grace of God, find the place I was meant to be at. The reason this also plays in to my decision making process is because Marywood was only roughly 2 hours from my house while Le Moyne was over 3 hours. Not that that is that much of a difference, but Marywood was also situated within an hour’s distance from my grandparents’ house as well, whom I am extremely close to. I chose this school because I wanted to be close enough to family, that in case of an emergency, I could easily be home and there for support, especially after the loss we had all just faced. Marywood had checked just about every box I could think of, and funny enough, was the last school I looked at and visited.

-       Now once I was at Marywood in undergrad, school life became quite hectic. Transferring 30 credits in was an amazing opportunity but was also very challenging and difficult to navigate. I was able to save a whole year of college by doing so, but it also took a lot of planning, a lot of hard work and a lot of emotional breakdowns to do so! Lol. Coming in this way threw of my already pre-planned course schedule that normal pre-PA students follow. I had to take 17-18 credits every semester, take higher level classes, alter science courses and take them out of order like taking physiology before anatomy, and I had to take a summer course to fit in all of my required classes I needed to apply to the program. At one point, I was taking 3 science classes in one semester! UGH! This was a breaking point for me. Not only was I trying to balance all of my crazy courses, I was also trying apply to the master’s program, trying to finish my 500 patient hours for my application, keep my grades above a 3.5 GPA and my sciences above a 3.0, and also somehow maintain a social life on top of it. I was beyond stressed out, over tired, over worked, doubting myself, and became an emotional wreck. My entire life, I have been a perfectionist. Always planning, always working, always looking for the best from myself and from others. Throughout my elementary/middle/high school career, I would not accept anything below a 90 form myself. I would push myself to be the best at everything I could be. Be one of the best in the class, be the class president, be the captain of the soccer team, pushing myself to the absolute limit. And even though I changed a bit after I lost my dad (who always told me that it is impossible to be perfect and warned me that one day I would hit a breaking point if I didn’t learn to accept failure), I still strove for perfection in college. I wanted to take on all the classes I could, get the best grades I could, and get into the program early.

-       And then I hit a breaking point… I lost control. I became overwhelmed, overtired, overworked, and in a constant anxious state over where my life was going to go. I feared that my grades weren’t good enough, that my patient hours weren’t enough, that I wasn’t smart enough, that I was too young, that I applied to late, and that I just wasn’t good enough. My entire life I had always been so confident that I could do anything and then suddenly it was like all of that came crashing down. I felt like I would never achieve my dreams, that I would let my whole family down, that I would fail. The amount of pressure I put on myself and that I had felt from others, had finally boiled up so high that I couldn’t take it anymore. (It was like those cartoon characters that get really mad and get all red and steam comes out of their ears, you know those ones? That’s exactly how I felt) I told myself I would never make it, I could never be a PA, I would have to take a year off or change my major. I doubted my abilities and who I was a person.

-       After this point, I had learned a hard and vital life lesson that I should have learned years ago. The day my dad had told me that it is impossible to be perfect and how he advised me to learn how accept failure, had come rushing back. I learned that I cannot be perfect. No matter how hard I try, nothing I ever do is truly perfect. I learned that I am more than a grade, than performance, than an appearance, than a job, and than a title. I am a hardworking, loving, caring, funny, and compassionate human, who has more to them than their titles. I learned how to stop expecting nothing but the best. I learned to reward myself when I achieved something great, instead of punishing myself when I didn’t. I learned how to accept myself for who I was and what I was capable of. And most importantly I learned how to accept failure as a way of being able to make myself a better person, rather than viewing it as a complete pit hole of self-doubt and anxiety. Learning this helped me tremendously in PA school, because I’m very confident I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I didn’t.

-       After a long state of anxiety over my future and self-doubt, things started to look up. I completed my “semester from hell” and was still in great standing. I received all of my patient hours in time, with help from family and friends. I passed my GREs without studying… I don’t recommend this unless you are just ballsy like me lol. And miraculously I was accepted into PA school, something I never thought at that time would happen. When I got the phone call, I broke down in tears. I couldn’t believe it. Not only did I apply to the program with technically only being in undergrad for 2 years, but I also applied very late in the year and actually was told in my interview that because I applied so late that I was most likely just applying to be on the waitlist. But when I got called and they said I was accepted into the program, no waitlist, I truly couldn’t believe it. All of my long, hard work had finally paid off. A rush of pride, relief, and happiness all poured out in my millions of tears that I cried that day.

-       Now to the actual PA school part! Let me tell you, PA school is NOT easy. I think a lot of people around me think that because I did well or because I make it seem like it was easy for me, that it actually was. Marywood’s program is a 5-year program, so a 3+2 (3 years undergrad, 2 grad) and because I did it in 4 years, mine was like a 2+2.  The 2 year graduate program is a full 2 years, so through both summers. The first year is didactic, which consists of constant schooling, so pretty much being in a classroom learning for 8-10 hours a day and taking about a test/quiz or two every day. You not only have to be in class all day long but then you have to come home and study each night for whatever test or quiz you have the following day. It is not easy!  So then how was I able to make it look easy? (or so everyone tells me I did, which believe me, I did not think I was making it look easy) I was able to complete all my work, study, go to class, and still have a social life. I went home almost every weekend and hung out with my friends at least one night a week every week. The only reason, I think I was able to make it “look” easy was the fact that I didn’t let every little thing get to me. I focused on the big picture, and not each little grade I received. Now don’t get me wrong, I still had meltdowns every now and again on some grade I didn’t fancy, but at the end of the day I knew everything would work its way out. I trusted in myself that I could do it and that God would help get me there. I accepted my failures, because believe me I am nowhere near perfect, whether it be in undergrad or grad.

-       Yes, I had stress, and sleepless nights, and tears and some self-doubt every now and again, but this time it was different. This time I didn’t let it get to me. I accepted it for what it was and kept moving. One of the beauties of PA school is that you are so busy and have so much going on that you don’t have time to wallow over one grade, you have to move on and study for the next thing coming up. And by doing this, I was able to succeed far beyond what I ever thought I could. I learned to grow from my failures and turn them into positives. If I was struggling in one class, I worked harder on that topic to make myself better at it. One of the best pieces of advice I could give is to take time for yourself. No matter what degree you are pursing, learn to care for yourself first. School can become increasingly overwhelming and make you feel stressed and exhausted. You have to learn to take time for yourself and do something you enjoy doing. Whether it be a half of a day, a whole day, or a few hours, take this time and put away your school work and do something to make you happy. I take my free time and use it to hang out with friends and family or go outside for a hike or outdoor activity or even go to church because that destresses me. Do something that will destress you and take your mind off of your work, and most importantly make you happy.

-       No matter what, I can promise you that if you work hard, take time for yourself, and never give up on yourself, you will surely make it. This counts for any degree, any ambition, any dream. The biggest thing that deters people from achieving their dreams is self-doubt. If you let your mind believe that you can’t do it, your body will believe it too. Don’t give up on yourself. I never in a million years thought that I would be where I am now. I never thought I’d graduate early, never thought I’d make through PA school, never thought I’d even write a blog! Lol. You can and will do big and amazing things, just believe in yourself, in God, in your friends, in your family and who/whatever else helps to get you there! You got this!!

-       Okay so now onto some advice/info about applying to PA school!! Yay!!

-       First off, what even is a PA?? ->According to AAPA.org …(which you should all look at if you want to be PAs)

“PAs are medical professionals who diagnose illness, develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications, and often serve as a patient’s principal healthcare provider. With thousands of hours of medical training, PAs are versatile and collaborative. PAs practice in every state and in every medical setting and specialty, improving healthcare access and quality.”

-       So pretty much, we do it all! (; lol. But in all seriousness, the PA profession is an amazing field to look into if you haven’t already and are interesting in health care. I will be posting another blog soon about the profession in more detail and compared to other professions later on, but for now I want to look into how you even get there in the first place?!

               1.     First, if you are interested in PA and are still in high school, look into colleges that have a 3+2 program or have a PA master’s program at their school where you can also do the undergrad there. I really recommend 3+2s because I love to fast-track things and by being done in 5 years instead of 6 you will have less loans, have a job sooner and start making money sooner. Great, right? So unless you are interested in changing schools after you undergrad degree, I would recommend doing it this way because most schools allow you then to apply “internally”, meaning you went there for undergrad. This gives you a slight one up into getting into the program because most schools prefer to keep the majority of their programs internal. My school is about a 50/50 (meaning 50% who did their undergrad here and 50% of people who did their undergrad somewhere else) From talking to student who came from other schools, I think it is much harder and more expensive to apply “externally”.

               2.     Make sure you keep a good GPA in undergrad and in your sciences classes. Schools are going to look at your transcripts and weigh you out among thousands of other applicants! You want to make sure that you are a great candidate for their program, so being on top of you game in undergrad is a must.

                3.     Make sure you have plenty of letters of recommendations. I would advise getting a few from teachers, work, Docs/PAs you shadowed, mentors, coaches, etc. You don’t have to hand them all in, but you want to have good options in case one falls through or you lose one, etc. Get these far in advance because you don’t want to be scrambling to get them from people at the last minute. And make sure you get plenty of copies of these and of transcripts!! Things get lost easily!!

                  4.     If you are applying to multiple schools, or applying externally, you have to fill out a CASPA application. I am not to familiar with these because I only applied to Marywood’s program internally. But I recommend opening a CASPA account and getting familiar with the process if this is what you are looking to do. *Keep in mind that not all schools a CASPA participating, though most are, some have their own unique application process so look out for that.

                5.     Research different PA schools – find the websites of the programs that interest you the most and look into the school and the program. Decide which ones you are going to apply to. Pick a large spread of schools, some that are reach schools, some that just right, and some that look like they will be easier for you to get into. You never know what could happen once you apply, so keep you options open.

             6.     Get your shadowing hours in!!! Most schools will require a certain number of shadowing hours for your application. Some schools or more than others so make sure you look at the schools you are applying to and get up to which ever one requires the most. The more you have only makes you look better. Shadowing gives you good experience and helps you look into different fields you may want to work in. I know it stinks to not get paid but hey, you’ll be making good money before ya know it!

           7.     Get a job that gives you hands-on patient contact hours! I am not sure how many schools require these hours but it is good to have these hours for experience and for applying. Jobs like these include LPN, home health-care aids, pharmacy techs, medical techs, EMTs, etc. Start working on this long before you think of applying!

        8.     Look into each school’s prerequisite courses! Some schools require different pre-reqs than others, so the science classes you took in your undergrad degree might not be the ones they want. If this is the case, you might have to their pre-reqs before applying. In some cases, doing this will allow you to apply to that school internally.  

       9.     Register for the GRE and study for it! Most schools require a GRE score to apply, so you want to make sure you get a good one to be able to get in. The GRE is like an up-scale SAT. I advise studying for it so you get a good grade and don’t have to retake it a million times. I personally didn’t study but I am not the best example to look at, I didn’t study for my SATs either and did really well. Remember it costs money to take these tests, so you don’t want to be spending a ton to retake them a million times.

      10.  Start writing your PA school Narrative or application essay. You don’t want to leave this until the last minute and get flustered and overwhelmed when you are not sure what to say. I advise you to be open, honest and heart-felt. Don’t write what you think everyone wants to hear. Write about your struggles, your hardships, let your school get to know you and how hard of a worker you are. You want your personality to shine through but you also want it to sound professional. Make sure you proof read it and get it critiqued by many friends, family and colleagues and take their advice. You want this to be just right!

 11.  Prepare for your interview! There is no bigger mistake you can make then to walk into your interview unprepared and unsure of how to answer. Look up common PA interview questions and ask your friends, family and colleagues to hold mock interviews for you. Practice makes perfect! (And if you come across a question in your interview that you didn’t think of or practice, don’t get flustered. Take your time and think it through, a great answer will come to you)

 12.  Once you receive acceptance offers, weigh them out, but do it quick. Make the best choice that is right for you, but you also don’t want to lose your seat or hold a seat from someone else who is applying. The right school will come to you and once it does, accept it and CONGRATS!! You’re on your way to the craziest yet most amazing 2 years of your life!

Now I hope this whole blog helped you look into the profession and truly see the journey of PA school. If you are thinking of applying to a program, I hope my tips and advice help you out. If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I also hope that seeing my journey will give you some guidance, help, courage and confidence for when you are going through the application/acceptance process. I am always here for advice or to talk, so keep that in mind if you are confused or struggling. And remember: You can do anything you set your mind to! Your dreams are never too big to be achieved! Keep pushing and you got this!!

Sincerely, McKinnley