2 answers
Jalena
Student
Aurora, Illinois
1
Question
Asked
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What is the most difficult part of the journey to becoming a Physician Assistant ?
What is the most difficult part of the journey to becoming a Physician Assistant?
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2 answers
Hwal Lee
DMSc
240
Answers
Albany, New York
Updated
Hwal’s Answer
Jalena,
A PA career can be rewarding but becoming one isn't exactly easy. Even in my 5th year as a PA, it's not easy to say whether it was more difficult before or after PA school. But PA school is a good place to start. As much as I appreciate and enjoyed the rigorous medical education in PA school, I don't believe that many are aware of what it takes. In PA school, I was in the classroom (or lab, etc.) 8am-5pm Monday to Friday, and our class took almost 100 tests and exams in the didactic year of training alone. Overall, it was seven consecutive semesters of full-time course load totaling just over 100 credit hours at master's level, and the program I was accepted to had a less than 3% acceptance rate out of almost 1,000 applicants, so it was very competitive. Still, once again, I feel like I got rigorous, comprehensive medical training as I hoped for, and I would recommend becoming a PA for that reason.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Hwal
A PA career can be rewarding but becoming one isn't exactly easy. Even in my 5th year as a PA, it's not easy to say whether it was more difficult before or after PA school. But PA school is a good place to start. As much as I appreciate and enjoyed the rigorous medical education in PA school, I don't believe that many are aware of what it takes. In PA school, I was in the classroom (or lab, etc.) 8am-5pm Monday to Friday, and our class took almost 100 tests and exams in the didactic year of training alone. Overall, it was seven consecutive semesters of full-time course load totaling just over 100 credit hours at master's level, and the program I was accepted to had a less than 3% acceptance rate out of almost 1,000 applicants, so it was very competitive. Still, once again, I feel like I got rigorous, comprehensive medical training as I hoped for, and I would recommend becoming a PA for that reason.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Hwal
Caleb Lindsey
Nursing Assistant
17
Answers
Bloomfield, Indiana
Updated
Caleb’s Answer
Hi Jalena,
Thank you for your question!
I am pursuing the physician assistant pathway, so I can only speak from MY OWN EXPERIENCE in what I've found most difficult up to this point. For me, it has been difficult balancing my desire to get into PA school with living in the present moment. I feel like I am constantly making decisions towards making myself "the perfect PA school applicant" which DOES NOT EXIST!
Over the years, I've spoken with several admissions counselors for various PA programs, In my conversations with them, I found that to be a competitive PA school applicant, it really comes down to 3 general categories: your GPAs (science and overall), your amount and type of direct patient care experience, and your performance during individual and/or group interviews. I learned that you, as an applicant, are assigned points based on these 3 categories and if you reach a certain number of these points, you become a "good" applicant for that program. For example, Program A may give you +5 points if you have over 1000 hours of direct patient care and +5 points if you have 300 or more volunteer hours. Program A's minimal threshold for potentially admitting an applicant is to have 35 points, so it becomes easy to constantly chase more hours to hit that magic number.
I have found that it can become difficult to appreciate the life you are living now if you are constantly chasing a certain GPA, a certain number of direct patient care or volunteer hours in you brain. Interactions with patients and acts of good become nothing more than a means of checking a box and classes become less interesting to sit in and learn from because you are just there to get a grade, rather than challenge yourself and allow yourself be curious.
My advice to you would be to find a happy medium between working hard towards getting into PA school, while also being present in the moment where you are now and appreciating it. I have been struggling with this for a while now, but I've really been trying to be present recently by doing things like writing poetry and attending social events with friends to make memories that I can look back on fondly. I have also found that I am able to be a better listener and provide better care for my patients, because I see them more as person with emotions and challenges, rather than just way of me getting more hours to advance my own goals.
In summary, putting in the work to get into PA school: getting a good GPA, good patient care experience, lots of meaningful volunteer experience and practicing to perform well on interviews and balancing ALL of that with enjoying life in the present moment has been the most difficult thing for me. Making time for hobbies, spending time with loved ones, and trying out new things have been effective tools for me to preventing burnout and actually making me better at the work I currently do by making me more present. It's not perfect and I still struggle to keep my focus in the present, but I just take things one day at a time and work to be better about it each day.
A quote I actually just thought of as I am writing this (apologies if this has already been said before by someone), is "If you always focus on watching the sunset, you'll forget to enjoy the sunshine". I think this encapsulates the struggle to balance working towards your future with living in the moment.
I hope you find this helpful. Again, this is just MY OPINION based on MY OWN EXPERIENCES, so please take this with a grain of salt. I wish you the best of luck on your PA school journey!
Thank you for your question!
I am pursuing the physician assistant pathway, so I can only speak from MY OWN EXPERIENCE in what I've found most difficult up to this point. For me, it has been difficult balancing my desire to get into PA school with living in the present moment. I feel like I am constantly making decisions towards making myself "the perfect PA school applicant" which DOES NOT EXIST!
Over the years, I've spoken with several admissions counselors for various PA programs, In my conversations with them, I found that to be a competitive PA school applicant, it really comes down to 3 general categories: your GPAs (science and overall), your amount and type of direct patient care experience, and your performance during individual and/or group interviews. I learned that you, as an applicant, are assigned points based on these 3 categories and if you reach a certain number of these points, you become a "good" applicant for that program. For example, Program A may give you +5 points if you have over 1000 hours of direct patient care and +5 points if you have 300 or more volunteer hours. Program A's minimal threshold for potentially admitting an applicant is to have 35 points, so it becomes easy to constantly chase more hours to hit that magic number.
I have found that it can become difficult to appreciate the life you are living now if you are constantly chasing a certain GPA, a certain number of direct patient care or volunteer hours in you brain. Interactions with patients and acts of good become nothing more than a means of checking a box and classes become less interesting to sit in and learn from because you are just there to get a grade, rather than challenge yourself and allow yourself be curious.
My advice to you would be to find a happy medium between working hard towards getting into PA school, while also being present in the moment where you are now and appreciating it. I have been struggling with this for a while now, but I've really been trying to be present recently by doing things like writing poetry and attending social events with friends to make memories that I can look back on fondly. I have also found that I am able to be a better listener and provide better care for my patients, because I see them more as person with emotions and challenges, rather than just way of me getting more hours to advance my own goals.
In summary, putting in the work to get into PA school: getting a good GPA, good patient care experience, lots of meaningful volunteer experience and practicing to perform well on interviews and balancing ALL of that with enjoying life in the present moment has been the most difficult thing for me. Making time for hobbies, spending time with loved ones, and trying out new things have been effective tools for me to preventing burnout and actually making me better at the work I currently do by making me more present. It's not perfect and I still struggle to keep my focus in the present, but I just take things one day at a time and work to be better about it each day.
A quote I actually just thought of as I am writing this (apologies if this has already been said before by someone), is "If you always focus on watching the sunset, you'll forget to enjoy the sunshine". I think this encapsulates the struggle to balance working towards your future with living in the moment.
I hope you find this helpful. Again, this is just MY OPINION based on MY OWN EXPERIENCES, so please take this with a grain of salt. I wish you the best of luck on your PA school journey!