Should I Apply this Year?

[thaifood122]

Hey guys! I'm gearing up to apply for nursing schools this summer/fall and I was wondering if I should also apply for a few PA programs. I really con't decide because I don't want to just throw application money away since I'll be applying to 6-8 nursing programs already.

The PA programs who's pre-requirements I meet are:
UC Davis (all pre-reqs done)
Rush (missing Biochem)
and GW (missing 2 chem classes which I'll be taking this year)

I'm completely done with my nursing pre-requisites which I took at a CC in NYC.
Fundamentals of Chem - A
A&P I and II - both As
Microbiology - B+
Nutrition and Dev Psych - both As

Community College isn't ideal but it was the only program that really works with my work schedule and I liked the small class sizes.

My undergrad GPA was 3.3 in political science and I have over 8,000 hours of direct patient care experience as an EKG tech at a medical office and a Health Coach doing nutrition and lifestyle modification with clients who were referred by their physician, urgent care center/hospital, or health insurance company. I also have done plenty of community service.

Do you think it's worth applying when I have so few science classes or am I just throwing money away at that point? I know the sites for the schools say they'll consider applicants missing 1-2 pre-requisites, but I'm not sure if I'm competitive enough since I don't have the basic classes (Gen Chem and Gen Bio, etc) that most PA schools require and I know these programs are notoriously hard to get into.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!!

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[pamac]

I'd apply to both, provided it doesn't require too much of you. I did that and was glad for the experience and insight it provided. One of the reasons I'm not in awe of the PA profession vs NPs is because I saw the kinds of folks PA schools were interviewing. They were good people, and where I interviewed at they only accepted folks with really good health care experience, but Just like any other kind of program, there were folks that shined, and folks that didn't. I could see why there was going to be a lot of work done by the PA school to bring some folks up to speed while others sailed through. On a tour of another program I went to, we sat in on a class, and people were asking questions that blew me away how many folks in the course were struggling over some stuff that was not really challenging material given what they should have covered in undergrad. Ive seen plenty of nurses that make me scratch my head, and meet more every day, and I'm not implying that there are more in the PA field (in fact I'm convinced there are less folks among PAs to be concerned about), but those experiences I had helped me realize that I could live with becoming an NP and not feel shorted. On the contrary, I'm pleased with how nursing has treated me on the whole. Looking back with what I know now, it could have been even better if I had cut out of the high intensity departments I worked in. I got burned out, and it wasn't own fault.

You may run into the problem of getting in to more programs than you expect. Or you may have to decide whether to go NP or PA. But the money you are out is nothing compared to A) what you will pay for tuition once you land a seat in any school, or B) the money you will make eventually as a PA or RN or NP. If you land a seat in PA and RN school, you then have to make other decisions. In the long run, if you cruise through RN school at a relatively cheap RN school, and then go on to immediately become an NP, financially you might be better off that becoming a PA. I crunched the numbers, and that's how it usually works out as long as you didn't pay $100,000 for your RN degree and then go to Georgetown university for your NP (because it's Georgetown and is impressive!... which it is actually not... It's just expensive).

But if you don't mind taking the extra courses that you need, if apply to both. If it will be a pain to do, then nah... Skip it. Honestly, your GPA is decent, but not compelling. PA schools will want to see all prereqs met before they look really hard at you. That will take time to get those classes out of the way, and take money, as well as the application fees. You could use all that to apply to more nursing schools.

A other hassle for you will be filling out CASPA (which takes some time and effort),as well as obtaining letters of reccomendation from new references (since you don't want them to sit there wondering why you are applying to two different kinds of programs). For sure you don't want go back to the people that were willing to write you a letter of rec for nursing school to have to take more time to accomodate you AND then have to write about how you'd be a great PA after they already wrote about how you'd be a good nurse. You'd look like a stooge. Don't put folks through that. Not saying you would, just throwing it out there because I had to think my way through that myself when I applied to RN schools and PA schools. My solution.... Nurses wrote my letters for RN school, PAs and physician and boss for PA school.

I'm guessing that the real decision for you is betweenPA school and ultimately NP school. Research the roles. Decide on if you want to practice independently, or if you even can be independent in your state. Figure out which specialty you want and if you are likely to land a spot as a PA or NP in that role... For instance, not a ton of NPs work in surgery, and usually have to hussle to make it happen; not a lot of PAs are in psyche, and they tend to be paid less than NPs in that specialty. In some locations you tend to see more PAs hired in emergency rooms. PAs are also trained to be generalists from the start and NPs tend to commit early into their education to more specified paths. If you are in a state that allows NPs to be independent, decide if you would be satisfied having to practice like PAs do, under a physician's supervision (it doesn't mean that they dominate everything you do, but you are required to associate yourself to them for you to be able to work).

Those are among some of the handy things to consider, even early on. I applied to both because I already had every single prereq for both PA and NP, and then some. Biochem at the two places where I could take it was hard, and if I had not already taken it, I definately wouldn't have wanted to go through it on a whim. It was already part of my major at the time. Same with the heavy chemistries. I had way more hard sciences than my fellow nursing students and quite a bit more hard sciences than almost all of the PA applicants at my interviews. But maybe you are a glutton for punishment, whereas I'm less of one, at least in hindsight.

 

[DizzyJon]

No one can know for sure. Without having the basic science classes complete and nothing making your application stand out, I don't think your chances are great.

 

[thaifood122]

Thanks so much for your feedback guys!!

I'm interested in either primary care (especially in low income neighborhoods) and psychiatry. Though I'm well aware that a lot of people change their mind in school

I grew up a ward of the court (bio-parents were heroin addicts) and was the first in my family to attend college. I was a teacher in a low income school district for 3 years and started a nutrition/yoga workshop with my students and their families which lead me to health coaching/ back to healthcare. Worked as an EKG tech through college. My essays will probably reference the above though I still don't know if that's enough to make me stand out!

Once again, many thanks for all your thoughts!!

 

[DizzyJon]

I think a story like that helps one stand out.

 

[pamac]

Your background, should you apply to PA school, will make all the difference to them. They will EAT. THAT. UP. You get your prereqs and get decent marks in them, and you will get in somewhere....provided you can communicate well in your essay. A 3.3 gpa (what's your science GPA, though?) and a GRE that isn't totally low is just enough to keep you in the pile of applications that get looked at. Then they read your essay and they will get you in to interview for sure. If you want to be a PA, just apply to plenty of schools to be sure, and someone will want you to fill a seat if you have a decent interview. PA programs bend over backwards for disadvantaged backgrounds, and with a gpa that's not in the tank, they will give you the nudge you need. I don't mean to sound flippant, because it might as well be you getting into schoolwith your compelling story than them handing the seat to someone else with their own compelling story. With up to 10 students applying for each seat, there are going to be a lot of dissapointment to go around.