Are You a 3-Dimensional PA School Applicant?
Posted By: Paul | Become a PA | 40 Comments
It’s easy to apply to physician assistant school, but it’s not as easy to be a 3-dimensional PA school applicant.
3-D movies were all the rage in the 1950’s, and they have returned bigger, louder, and more “live” than ever in recent years. 3-D films have become just one more way that Hollywood can compete with home streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.
What do 3-D movies have to do with becoming a physician assistant?
Plenty…
PA school applications are up - way up - and the competition to claim them poses a problem if your application is a little weak in one or two areas. Maybe you struggle with standardized testing; maybe you botched your first year of college before turning things around. So how do you compete for a seat in the physician assistant program of your choice against 500 to 1000 other applicants who have stronger GPAs, more health care experience, and higher GRE scores?
You take a page from Hollywood’s playbook, of course: you go 3-D.
The 2-Dimensional PA School Applicant
Most PA school applicants are 2-D. They have “typical” applications. Their health care experiences are okay. They have a major that fits the traditional model of medical students (Biology, Chemistry, Physiology, etc.) While nothing is wrong with these things, they don’t stand out much at all - just like a 2-dimensional drawing on paper, or a 2-dimensional movie.
The 3-Dimensional PA School Applicant
Unlike 2-D applicants, 3-D applicants to PA school are a special find, few in number, and much sought by admissions committees. Their applications stand out for being “different,” “unusual,” and even “quirky.” Their applications are memorable and give the reader a clear idea who the applicant is. They also get the reader thinking about what type of PA student and PA he or she might become, given the chance. Just like a 3-D movie, 3-D applications are immersive, surprising, and engaging.
Does your application stand out like a 3-D version of a film, full of surround sound and depth that makes you and your story as real as a scene from The Hobbit, Toy Story 3, or How to Train Your Dragon? Here’s how you tell…
Not everyone can major in something sexy. Not everyone writes a unique and engaging essay. And that’s okay - no application is perfect. But give these qualities some thought as you prepare for admission to physician assistant school. They could make the difference.
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I love this !! I’m really realizing my competition. I’m confident and my drive is beyond measurable. I really hope when I get to this step I can Blow it out of the water! Thanks for this amazing app! Maybe one day I can contribute !
This gives me a boost of confidence! I’m a psychology major and also a two time cancer survivor! I’m starting volunteer work in chemotherapy and will be applying to the P.A program at UNM next year!
See? In just two lines of text you have shared some things that make you unique, 3-dimensional, and interesting to learn about. That’ what you want. You want PA schools to sift through the pile, fine your application, and say, “Here’s something surprising and different - I want to know more about this person.”
As far as additional qualities are concerned, do you think founding and being the president of a Pre- PA club will make me stand out as a more 3 dimensional applicant?
I think it’s a nice plus. It shows that you have some leadership traits that other applicants might lack. If nothing else, it will help you prepare for what is to come and to network.
Wow, love this post! So nice to hear that committees are looking for well-rounded, interesting, and unique applicants… Very encouraging for those of us who did not pursue the typical pre-med style undergrad degrees (cough… Me..) I have a friend who.. When I told him about my idea to work towards getting into pa school…responded with.. “Krista, that is really hard to get into! My friend’s brother has a pre-med degree, a 4.0 gpa, and 3 years of HCE.. And hasn’t gotten accepted yet!” This post definitely helps me retain my juju!! Gives some hope to us career-changers/rerouters 🙂
I am so happy I read this! I just got accepted to Sacramento State University to major in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science! I think it will give me that edge. Thanks for confirming my right decision on a major!
I have a background in law (Political science major and interned and worked at law firms) and a lot of documentation of being involved in women’s issues in college. I made the scary decision to quit my job at the law firm, not apply to law school, and start pursuing a career as a PA. I’ve been a doula for the majority of my health care experience and have done very well in my prerequisites as a post-bac, but I am not sure how to address my past on my essay. I’m afraid that my change in heart about law school will make me seem flippant, but my passion about women’s rights and women’s health has fueled both pursuits. How do I use this piece that makes me 3-D without undermining my committment to PA school? Would you recommend completely leaving out my previous plans to go to law school?
NO! Your change indicates you passion, and your willingness to take risks! I think you need to make your essay about this decision, and how it has changed you, what kind of PA it will make you, and how much you have to offer the profession. Don’t ever shy away from the formative issues in your essay.
Paul, would you consider work as a doula a good source of hce?
I would. It’s direct contact with patients, providing education, assessment and some treatment. I would encourage you to round out your health care experience with some critical care - volunteering in an ER or something similar.
Mollie,
You are my hero! I resigned from a leading consulting firm a few months ago and now working on my prerequisites to apply for PA school.
I often second guess my choice and wonder if I am crazy or too old. Thanks for inspiring me.
Best of luck!
Jennifer
Thanks for all the helpful tips, Paul! I’m thinking about possibly participating in research as well. However, research will take a good amount of time commitment, which may negatively affect my GPA. What do you think?
You can’t let that happen. Research is is not at all important to get into PA school compared to excellent grades!
Hi Paul,
I had the unfortunate occurrence of receiving a minor in consumption after my freshman year of college. Once this event took place I knew I needed to work even harder to make other parts of my qualities stand above this troubling event. Do you think I should talk about my minor in my personal statement? I am worried that it might affect me negatively instead of making me look more well rounded? Thank you
Do you mean an academic minor (as compared to a major)? If so, I’m not familiar with consumption. What does that entail?
In most cases, the essay is the place to talk about what YOU want them to know about you. If you want them to know this about you, then yes. If it’s something less than relevant, or unflattering, I would skip it.
I mean a minor in consumption of alcohol. It’s a class c misdemeanor (meaning the lowest charge).
Paul,
I applied to PA school last year and did not get in. Unfortunately, I have a low GPA, so I had a feeling that I was not going to be accepted. However, I have exceptional work experience, volunteer hours and shadowing hours. I have been re-taking courses in order to bring my GPA. How should I incorporate this into my new personal statement?
Katherine
Good question.
My suggestion is that you don’t talk about your new, higher cumulative GPA. It can’t be THAT much higher, since your old grades will be averaged in with the new ones. You would have to retake so many classes and get A’s in all of them to increase your cumulative GPA by a significant amount.
What you might talk about is how well you have done in the more recent classes you’ve taken. Hopefully, your performance is much better than it was before. And it’s this difference you should make clear to them.
Hi Paul,
This post was super helpful! I am in the process of applying to PA school now, and while I feel that I have a strong application (great GPA and GRE scores), my experiences leading up to PA school may seem a little bit schizophrenic to some: I earned my Masters degree in biology in 2011 (thought I wanted to do research), and the year following that I taught biology/chemistry at an International high school in South America (didn’t really think I wanted to be a HS teacher but definitely wanted to learn Spanish, which I did). I recently decided health care was the right path for me after working in a PT clinic for the past year. How do I focus my experiences to tell a nice narrative? I’m afraid I may come off as fickle or indecisive since I change my career path about as often as the weather.
Done well, I don’t think you’ll come across as fickle or schizophrenic at all. You have some great “3-dimensional” experiences to share. The task for you is to think about what they have in common and to distill that into your essay so that the reader says “Wow, this woman is perfect!”
As I recommend in our ebook on PA school essays, you need to couch what you see as weaknesses as strengths; in the right light, that’s exactly what they are. The ebook discusses how to do this, but you don’t necessarily need the ebook to convey that if you are thoughtful about it.
Hi Paul,
I love your website and all the wonderful tips you have shared. I have a B.S in psychology and worked as a teacher for a middle school which I loved, but I wanted to help people in a different way. I decided to enroll in an EMT academy and worked as an EMT for a about a year, while volunteering for Rock Med. Then I moved and decided to try patient care tech in a hospital setting while volunteering for a children’s hospital also for about a year. Recently I have been given the opportunity to transition into the OR as an OR tech. My concern is that my Overall GPA is not very strong, however my science GPA is around 3.5. Also, since my first language is Spanish, my GRE scores are borderline 300-305 (new scores). Do you still think I have s chance to woo a program?
Thank you,
Margarita
I can’t say about your particular application. But you’ve had some good experiences and shown that you can do well in the sciences. Speaking Spanish is a definite plus. Why not apply and see what happens?
Hello Paul,
I am working on my bachelors in biology currently and plan on applying to PA school afterwards. My concern is that my first semester I went to the University of Texas, failed a class and withdrew from a class. I then transfered to the smaller UTSA and got great grades but now I am transferring again to the University of Houston to live at home and save money, also UH’s curriculum is more difficult so I feel it would make me a more competative applicant. Will my numerous amounts of transferring and failed&withdrawn classes significantly decrease my chances of getting in?
I doubt the transferring will hurt you. But a failed class is s red flag. You need to address why this happened and what you have done to assure that it will never happen again when you write your essay. I have no idea what your chances are of getting in - there are way too many variables to answer that question. But it’s natural to wonder this. Just do the best application you can and see what happens.
Hi Paul,
First off, I must say how much I admire your commitment to the PA profession and to helping those of us that aspire to be PA’s. I am immeasurably grateful for this site and for your help!
Ok, what I have been most afraid of is how do I pop on paper and make myself seem interesting enough for the admissions committee to want to read through my entire application/essay. I think I am pretty typical: Biomedical Sciences major, minor in psychology, volunteered a few places, currently volunteering in a hospital, 3.6 GPA ( hoping to bring it up to a high 3.7-3.8 by the time I graduate next year), doing a clinical research internship…stuff like that. I really appreciate this post. Though I still don’t know how to make my story seem interesting, I am happy to know how to go about attempting to do so.
Thank you!
Skip ahead if you don’t like shameless plugs…
Our ebook (Crafting a Winning PA School Essay: A Step by Step Guide to Tipping the Odds in Your Favor) goes into this topic in some detail and provides some excellent examples. This is perhaps the most overlooked task in essay writing, and I think the book does an solid job of providing you with specific tips and tools to do it. I suggest you check it out.
Plug over.
For 100% free, I suggest you think of your essay as a story. What makes a story gripping to you? What first lines from movies and books really sucked you in? TELL A GOOD STORY. This doesn’t mean you should make one up. But everyone’s life can be shared in story form with a little thought. There’s more to it than that, but if you do that, you’re 75% of the way there.
Paul,
I did see the book on the website and I am very curious/excited to see what it entails. If this website is any indication, the book should be worth its weight in gold!
Thank you so much for the advice. I agree that if I just put some thought into and have my personality come through in the story, it should be an interesting essay.
Hi Paul,
I graduated from a Biology degree and I applied for several PA programs last year. I did get an interview for one school and they really liked my experience as a medical missionary overseas and currently as a medical scribe. I did not get accepted and I think it is due to my science GPA (They did said during the interview that is was borderline). So, now I’m retaking classes but I am not sure if to focus on the prerequisites only or in other science classes too. I don’t have much time since I need to send my applications again this summer.
In addition, some friends have told me to re-write my essay and others to sent the same one, what is your opinion?
I will be having an appointment with an adviser next week to go over my application but I really want to start as soon as possible. Thanks!
The most important classes are the ones that are prerequisite sciences. If your grades in those are low, you need to start there. Then move to other sciences. I think any essay can be improved. Since you now know some of the things that may be making them hesitant about you, you would do well do at least amend your essay to speak to these reservations, either directly or indirectly.
Thank you so much Paul, for your advice and for this website. It has really helped me understand my strengths and weaknesses, and how can I work with them to be a better applicant. Thanks a lot again!
Hi there!! So just a little background:: I am a 5th yr senior, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Public Health. I am a practicing EMT and Doula, as well as 4yr Division I athlete for my college, serving as captain my 4th and final year on the team. I have also co-oped for 6 months(I go to Drexel, hence the 5th year) as a PT Aide at a clinic in Philadelphia for those w/ no insurance. My dream is to go to PA school, and upon graduating I am going to take my last pre-req (organic chem) at my community college, take my GREs and apply April 2015. During this time I will keep working as an EMT and Doula, as well as shadowing the PA who inspired my career change!
My concern is my GPA though. It is a 3.4 :/ My freshman year of college, I was totally absorbed in my sport, and finished the year out with a 2.1 GPA. I really did not care about school! However, since then I have gotten no lower then a B+ in all my classes (worked my ASS off), and am in my Honor Society for my major (Psi Chi). Still though, is my GPA going to ruin my hopes?? What should I do to counteract that (if anything).
Thank you guys, I love this board!!
This won’t “ruin” your chances, but it will make it harder to get in than if you had kept yourgrades at 3.4 all the way through. Just get the best grades you can for what you have left and write an amazing essay that helps them understand the context of your grades. We do discuss this in our ebook, if you’re interested.
Thanks for the info, it’s been very helpful!
Two questions….I have a potential opportunity next summer to work in an osteo research lab at Johns Hopkins. However, I only have 300 hrs of HCE (as a CNA), but am planning on accumulating more during my next year (junior year) in college. Should I do the internship if I’m accepted, or work on accumulating more hours as a CNA?
Second question…I’m a biology major, and I’ve taken some tough science courses so far with more to come (3.9 GPA currently), I speak Spanish and am going to take a Spanish for Health Care class, I am doing volunteer work and job shadowing most of this summer, and I have had various leadership positions throughout college (resident assistant, etc.). What more could I do to help me really stand out on an application?
HCE
HCE
HCE
Do whatever gets you working directly with patients. If your osteo research won’t do that, then as cool as it sounds, it won’t help you much with PA school. Also, remember that very few applicants get into PA school right out of undergrad. According to the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) the average age of matriculation for new PA students in 2013 was 26.8 years. So, yes, apply and work to get in upon graduation. But be patient and realize that this isn’t how it usually goes.
Hi Paul,
I wasn’t sure where to ask this but I wanted to get your opinion: I attended a “Pre-PA Seminar” last year given by AASPA, and the person leading it had advised us to put it in our application that we had attended the meeting (we were emailed a certificate saying we attended). I was wondering if you think that’s a good idea or just unnecessary? If so, where on the application would you suggest I include it?
Thanks for your help!
CASPA used to have a section for health care education you had completed that did not end in a certificate or a license, such as when you go to a weekend course at a community college on how to do basic EKG rhythm strip (1-lead) interpretation. Now that’s really not available. I would include this in the “Other Health Care Experience” section, which is for health care experience that did not involve direct patient care.
Hello,
I recently discovered this website and I love it! Thanks for the information! So I’m currently in the process of applying to PA programs in California but I am not feeling too confident about my application. Im a licensed EMT with aprrox 1000 hrs of PCE, Im also a EMT skills instructor. Im currently volunteering at 2 hospitals and I have lots of general HCE and community service from when I was in undergrad. My GPA is average. Im concerned about not “sticking out” much amongst the other applications. Any suggestions on how to incorporate more of “me” into my application?
If your application is a little on the weak side due to lower grades, I would encourage you to retake the science prerequisite courses in which he scored less than a B.
It sounds like you have some good healthcare experience — now all you need to do is prove to them that you are academically solid. Be sure if you take any more courses that you get the best grades possible, ideally A’s.
OK will do! thank you!