PA Student Interviews
Unsure if being a physician assistant is right for you? Curious or confused about the PA training process? Sometimes it helps to hear the stories of others who have gone before you…
A year after our first interview (the second video on this page), I speak again with Sundance about her experiences as a former medical student a soon-to-be-graduatting PA student, and her thoughts about job prospects when she graduates. If you haven’t watched PA vs MD: Meet Sundance – She’s Done Both, you should watching that one first (again, below the following video).
Sundance describes her time as both a Physician Assistant student and MD med student, and her tough decision-making process related to these two paths. Please email me through our contacts link (top of the page) if you want me ask Sundance a follow-up question.
Below, my cousin (in law) Alex talks about his PA training with the US Army.
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Even though you attend a well known program and enjoyed the privledge of getting accepted, you have a very casual writing style and vocab! lol thank you for you site.
Thank you! I’m a casual guy, and I don’t think knowing something should change that. I always appreciate the doctors and PAs who keep themselves on the level with everyone else.
Great job Paul, this is a very informative site for prospective students like myself and you really answer a lot of the questions that I had about the profession. I am looking forward to applying
Thanks, Garrett. Keep us posted on your journey!
Love the videos, thank you so much for putting this together. I’m just at the start of this journey and this is super helpful.
Thank you–it’s the readers who keep us going. We at the start of our journey too – we’ve only been up for nine months, but we’re here to stay, so tell everyone you know who might be interested.
Hi Paul,
Thanks so much for putting the videos on this site, especially of your cousin (in law). I was active in the Army and had actually applied for the same program he finished, the Interservice PA prog. but it was so competitive and not very many seats, so I was an alternate. It was interesting to hear from someone who had gone through that program, siince I’ve always been curious about it. Luckily, though, I got into another PA program as a civilian and just finished doing Human Anatomy for the summer! Woohoo! I always enjoy reading the blogs, keep up the good work!
I stumbled upon your website as i was researching the PA field…. i must say it gave me a huge understanding and perspective that this is the career for me. Thank you for putting this website together. It really lays things out realistically for you….
Thanks for the compliment! Sometimes it takes hearing about it from people on the inside to know if something’s right for you, and that’s what we’re trying to do!
Thanks Paul for referring me to this page. Both videos were helpful, but Sundance’s video was extra helpful. Her point of view helped me in the decision process I am making between both fields.
Thanks for this great website. I’m on the fence between going into nursing school, med school, or PA school, and this site is helping me figure out the differences among the three. After watching the insightful interview with Sundance, I think I might be leaning towards becoming a PA.
If you had the choice to do it all over again, barring all obstacles (money, age, time, etc.), would you still go to PA school? Just curious…
That’s a tough question. I think if there were no obstacles, I would be torn as you are. When I was younger, I thought the only career that would satisfy me was (MD) medicine. Now that I’m older, I realize that how satisfied I am in any career depends on how much of myself I put into it. I also wasn’t clear about the sacrifices in personal life that the MD path requires. There is no balance until much later, if at all. The PA path was not as well accepted and in demand back then too, so I think it could have gone either way for me. MD is a great path, but it needs to fit honestly with what you life looks like and what you want it to look like ih the future. At one point about 5 years ago I looked at it again, and decided that my kids were just to important to me to justify being away so much.
One more thing: if you’re truly torn, our article, “Will Being a PA Satisfy You?” might be useful.
Paul!
EVERYTHING about this website is amazing and incredibly helpful!!! Thank God for people like you!!! I’m in the middle of applying to PA and dual PA/MPH programs, and all the information on your website is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I hope I can someday return the favor to others who’ll need help in the future!
Can’t thank you enough,
Jacqueline Yousef =)
Thanks so much, Jacqueline! We try hard to bring you helpful and interesting content. Your cheers keep us going.
Paul and Sundance,
Thank you for taking the time to make this interview video and post it on your website. I finished my undergrad program at UVM last year with the intent of going to Medical School and then after a soured MCAT experience, I kind of decided to reevaluate what I wanted to do with my professional life. Like Sundance mentioned, I feel I am the type of person who needs to keep balance in my life in order to feel healthy, and getting her perspective on both a traditional MD program and PA program helps me to feel that I am on the right path persuing the PA profession! Your site is an awesome resource, thanks again!
Don’t wanna take up too much of your time, but I wanted to say thank you for the valuable take on the difference between both schools. I am definitely at the beginning of my journey as well, but with videos like this to give me direction, I feel that I can really make this dream a reality. I am actually taking a cna class right now, cause I thought I was headed the RN route, but realized that my scope of practice would not suffice the level of care I intend to provide. Like you said though “get with the pt’s” and having been in clinicals on a rehab floor for CNA, I realized that i love just walking into their rooms and seeing how their feeling, and even the ones that are a bit more difficult, there’s just a sense of gratification like I’ve never experienced in any other occupational venues I’ve tried.
Thanks again.
JC
Thanks, JC. I love hearing about how applicants love seeing the patients – that’s the part that most people don’t have a feel for until very late in the game. Go for it!
I appreciate you endeavoring to put the time and energy into this blog. I’m sure it will be a great resource to many, myself included. I’ve been in and out of the idea of being a PA since I exited active duty military service in 2004. Somehow it keeps coming back to me so it must be what I really want to do. The major concern for me at this point is how have PA students manage to pay for it and maintain families if they have them like me? How strenuous was the payback while working with a family once employed as a PA?
Paying for PA school can be tough, but even with kids, it’s doable. Most students borrow most or all of it via student loans, and then repay over time once employed. The rates on student loans are very reasonable. If you choose a less expensive school, you’ll have a much easier time, of course, and you need to remember that you’re going to make a good salary when you get out (in the neighborhood of 80K). So owing $30K as opposed to $100 makes a huge difference. We have some articles in our archives related to paying for PA school. Just use the search box at the right of the screen, and search for “financial” or “financial aid.”
My advice: first worry about getting in (if it’s what you really want to do), then worry about paying for it. Your school’s financial aid office will help you make it happen, and they are very knowledgeable about it. Believe me – you can pay for it.
Hi Paul! Awesome site, I really love it. I would love to become a PA although an exact specialty is still up in the air for me. I am a little nerve-racked, however.. I am so worried that it takes a complete genius to become a PA. I’ve done pretty well in college but not amazing getting a 3.4 average overall and I do have the drive to do well in PA school. Do you think someone who isn’t crazy smart has a chance?
Also, I was wondering if you knew anything about the Neurosurgeon PA specialty. This field really interests me
Thanks so much!
Hi, Ashley –
I don’t think you have to be a brain surgeon to become a PA – they’ll teach you to be one when you get to PA school! No – I would worry less about whether or not you’re smart enough and think more about if it’s really what you want. If it is, then go for it and don’t look back.
I also stumbled upon your website while researching the PA field…
I am an International Medical Graduate and very interested in becoming a PA.
Any suggestions/comments?
I think If you do well on the TOEFL, the next thing to do is highlight your international experience/exposure. You have unique traits in that way that other applicants will lack.
paul and sundance,
Thank you so so so much. this has been immensely helpful for me.
The question i have for you both is how you think political activism fits into the role of the PA. What I mean to say by this is that, for me, my interest in medicine, like you mentioned, has more to do with the patients then it has to do with the science. But my interest also has alot alot alot to do with the patients in terms of society and human rights and social justice and all these “political” things. I’m in a pre-med post-bac now, but i was originally a sociology major, so my interest in medicine in coming from a place of understanding health as a human right and seeing how social inequalities are such strong determinants of health.
I know that socio-politlcal aspect is important to me. I was wondering how you see a PAs role in that. Do you think its any different from a MD? Obviously if you’re a doctor then you have more authority and weight to throw around, but other than that, what are you thoughts?
thank you again for posting these videos. i cant explain how much they have helped me.
And one more thing:
If you really want to do this, forget your “odds” and let the admissions committees decide. Then do your best to let go and go with the outcome. -P
I was so nervous for my interview and I was sure that the interviewers could hear my voice shaking. I am happy that the interview portion is over and I was accepted! Thank you so much for all of the tips! Before I interviewed I compiled a huge list of possible interview questions and I have posted them on my blog if anyone else would like to read them. They helped me feel prepared and I was asked several of them during my interview.
http://2paschool.blogspot.com/p/admissions-process.html
They are at the end of the page.
When schools post their PANCE exam pass rates, does this include the people who dropped out. Id love to know what the dropout rate is at certain schools compared to the PANCE rates. That to me would be a true judgement on the schools performance.
Awesome site, thanks
Good question, Justin. I’m not certain on this one, but I’m pretty sure that a PANCE pass rate is just that: the number who pass out of the number who take. This means it’s a good idea to ask two questions:
1) What is your program’s graduation/dropout rate?
and
2) What is your first time PANCE pass rate?