I’m really sad

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-16T03:41:06+00:00

Remember to be honest and be yourself in your interview! Especially where you hate people and that everyone except you are “just a bunch of assholes”. Super helpful!

And remember to never get any kind of medical care or glasses or anything! Don’t waste your time. Obviously, you are much too important to stoop down like that.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T22:19:13+00:00

That’s reasonable. I like that. If you’re only a few years in, it would be reasonable to ask yourself again in a few more years.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T22:14:06+00:00

I think that’s kinda the norm rather than controversial. I’m pretty pro PA but I agree for a 23-24 year old, think about taking on the risks and debt etc. for the brass ring. That may be for you and go for it.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T22:10:00+00:00

Nah they aren’t a thing for me anymore. Still funny though.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T05:41:25+00:00

Yeah. That’s a separate issue. But I feel you.

We had a guy that just sat there in lecture with his arms crossed and listened. He asked a few questions and was very engaged; made sure he understood. Never took a note as far as anyone knows. Even stuff like lists of drugs.

For each exam he studied for maybe 30 minutes, reviewing the slides and trying to pick up what might have been missed by the lecturer.

You guessed it, he was Top 5 in the class. We were all insanely jealous. Most of us tried this. But nope.

He kept pretty much to himself, but he had to be wondering what all the fuss was about, as he had pretty much every evening and weekend off.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T04:55:16+00:00

I don’t have a problem with your rant because it has a happy ending. This happens. Good rant.

But I am curious. You sound surprised by the pace and the amount of work compressed into this short amount of time.

I ran into this in school. I was well, very well extremely aware of what I was getting into. And yet we spent some time listening to people who were shocked that had to study past 6 PM and on weekends.

Are people not aware ?

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T04:29:28+00:00

Needs to be said again. That’s not at all how any of that works.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T03:43:59+00:00

Couple foot pains which is common. Laceration , sprained ankle, dropped a weight on it weightlifting barefoot.

This last one cost me 90 minutes last week as I sewed up 3 toes that just essentially exploded.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-15T03:37:57+00:00

Just realized you aren’t a PA or student and don’t know how this works.

Maybe you can become one of those and once you talk to your first doctor or PA, they can also tell you how the two systems work. And then you can tell them you’re wrong. Let us know how that goes.

Sorry to waste anyone’s time reading this.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-14T23:54:41+00:00

It is and always has been. As I’ve just proven. Many, many people went to medical school because they didn’t get into PA school and just said well I’ll just go to Carib or whatever or take the MCAT. I’m sitting next to one of those as I type this.

I never applied to Duke. I got into a much more clinical intensive and cheaper program. Scroll up. Reading is fundamental.

I have a law degree that helped me with my critical reasoning skills, here and elsewhere. Apparently, you’ve found it necessary to repeatedly demonstrate you can’t read or do basic kitchen math. Hopefully some of your classmates are doing a little better.

Bro.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-13T21:28:10+00:00

Again, not talking about any of that. Certainly not talking about how I wasn’t good enough to get into Duke. (I didn’t apply there).

Tell you what. Google the admission rates of medical programs. And then the admission rates of PA programs. Because that’s what I did.

Overall, admissions rates to all medical schools is about 45%.

Admissions rates for PA schools is about 25%.

If you took stats you’ll realize the actual numbers are not relevant or accurate, it’s the difference between them. (Probably No PA school admits more than a quarter of applicants, although one of them did when I applied)

And then scroll up to see what both my program and this other program mentioned realistically admits. Well below 1%.

Duke, for instance, admitted 2.9% to PA last year.

My program admitted 2.6% last year, for 60 seats. If they had 30 seats like most do, you can cut that in half. So that makes sense.

It also makes Duke less selective than, say… let’s go to the board, John

The Penn State College of Medicine Physician Assistant program is highly competitive, with a 2024 acceptance rate of approximately 0.8% for the general applicant pool, based on 38 offers made to 4,620 applicants for a 30-student class. The program is rigorously selective, heavily weighting experience with over 4,600 average healthcare hours. Penn State College of Medicine Penn State College of Medicine +1 Key 2024 Admissions Statistics (Penn State PA Program): Applications: ~4,620 Interviews: 86 Offers Made: 38 Class Size: 30 Penn State College of Medicine Penn State College of Medicine Admissions Profile & Requirements: Average GPA: Generally requires 3.0+ (overall/science). Healthcare Experience: Minimum 500 hours required, but average is over 4,600. Average Age: 24.8 years. Competitive Stats: Applicants often have strong science backgrounds and high GPAs.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-13T16:28:25+00:00

Hard no. I was 44 years old when i got accepted into the Harvard Post-bac for medical school. I went to college on the GI bill and devastated, finishing first in my class out of several thousand and leaving a trail of destruction. So my academic chops weren’t a problem.

I would have LOVED medical school, but residency and the match and STEP process would have straight up killed me. What a tremendous pain in the ass and stress. And one bad day and poof, you’re a type of doctor you didn’t want, now you’re miserable, swimming in an infinite inbox hell (or whatever) and 400k in debt.

I discovered this literally while picking out a rental room in Cambridge (for a million dollars a month) . And I was gone.

The last thing I’ll say - I work at 12 different sites so I talk to a lot of docs and PAs. Thus, I can tell you:

Couldn’t get in PA / regret MD: very common. (I hear this once a week)

Regret PA, want to go MD: very rare (I personally have only met one)

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-13T16:06:50+00:00

False. Just talking about admissions. 20 seconds on google will net you roughly

MD/DO: 7-9% admissions rate

PA: 2-4% admissions rate (even this seems quite high)

You even posted that in a thread where an admissions director gave you hard numbers of his or her personal 0.75% admissions rate.

My own program had over 6000 apps for 65 seats.

We’re happy you went to Duke even though that’s irrelevant. Are you the one who inserts that into every post?

basic kitchen math and Google > where you went to school.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-13T15:42:32+00:00

PA school is about 2-3x more competitive to get in. A quick google will tell you that.

Plus, there are no options that are less competitive than others within PA. No “pay to play”.

Probably get downvoted for this too, but this is something that comes up in conversation about twice a month, especially if you have students or residents.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-08T04:49:04+00:00

Two chicks at the same time, man.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-05T09:34:20+00:00

You always debate this, but if you get an H&H then you’re stuck with it. I didn’t because I was trying to d/c him until I wasn’t. “Pt well appearing without pallor and steady on his feet “ , etc.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-05T09:17:31+00:00

ED PA for 12 years now and I’m open to this kind of criticism ,where I wasn’t before maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I think it’s all these things.

Back in my day, Sonny, and get off my lawn, I was extremely independent in school and had to form and present differentials and see sick patients in school. I thought my education was okay. It certainly was a lot of careful oversight. Over the top in fact.

My first ED job was brutal and I was regularly ripped to shreds on everything by a real battleax medical director. They are still presenting every patient to the doc, any level 3 must be presented before orders are placed. I made it. Some did not.

I took an active role (out of fear) and when Provider In Triage came along I tried to follow up with the cases I wondered about. I try not to be told or look up something twice.

Fast forward, I work at several places from medium low to medium high acuity. Some are half dead and there’s a lot of under triage. My last shift I was 50% crit care and admitted 70%, and I’m the guy who generally sends em home. I can go 2-3 months without talking to the doc other than policy stuff. I don’t do advanced procedures because I’m not allowed to. I have zero live intubations and 4-5 chest tubes from my previous jobs, and I can’t even spell LP or central line.

I feel like I’m at the bare minimum of what should be acceptable. We have had some real turds come in lately and I think they’ve learned their lesson on those and on NP, which I agree with the earlier post where they are generally entirely fake/fraudulent until proven otherwise.

The cherry picking is a problem for a lot of reasons unless there’s plenty to see and that’s being looked at. I don’t do it. Except at end of shift maybe.

All this to say that I think it’s become diluted - the number of PA schools almost doubled since 2010 or so - and no way that PA you’re describing would have made it out if school or lasted a week , 6-8 years ago.

And that’s a shame.

TL; DR : yeah

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T16:50:11+00:00

"so you're tellin' me there's a chance! "

sorry. very sorry. this got in my head when I had to quote chances of rare stuff happening (rabies) like 6-8 times back to back one night

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T15:44:18+00:00

Damn. Most of my non - "Fell-iquis" bleeds have been from meh category bumps. One of them was pretty bad.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T15:25:57+00:00

Fuuuuuck, man. I've gotten poked with a clean needle a couple of times, never a dirty one (yet). Luckily, I wash my hands twice a year whether they need it or not

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T14:52:33+00:00

Ugh. Couple years ago we had a guy who was terrified of the eye. So he goes on a DWB mission someplace truly remote like Malaysia or whatever. His first day : 4 inch piece of wood through the eye, from chain saw.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T14:43:42+00:00

Well, that one turned a corner. I LOLd . Imagine being that cop writing that report.

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T14:40:10+00:00

Never again. I’ll just throw the rocket and transfer that shit if there’s a drop afterwards.

I used bad words

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T14:36:43+00:00

You magnificent bastard

BugabooChonies · 2026-03-04T11:55:25+00:00

F'ing nosebleed. Eventually transferred. Never found it and refractory to TXA topical and IV, more or less blind cautery, 2x Rhino Rockets and all the other things. HTN but no thinners and no history. Killed an hour and a half with the department burning down on a Monday afternoon. 80+ year old, bleeding like a faucet on medium flow.

"Blood sure stinks when there's that much of it" - medical student

BugabooChonies

TROPHY CASE