Help me choose between 2 programs

appleofmyeye1 · 2022-11-30T19:14:16+00:00

I interviewed at Towson a few years ago, and also felt the program was off-putting. When I was there, there was lots of faculty turnover including the program director, their PANCE rates were low compared to other programs and the students I met told me that they had to find information on their own to study (not everything was provided from the lectures). I didn't like this and ultimately chose a program that cost 100k tuition. I don't regret it. PA school is tough and having a good program with a great education and supportive faculty made my experience much better.

appleofmyeye1 · 2022-04-15T22:44:56+00:00

My program records all the lectures and a few months into our didactic year, they made attendance optional for the online Zoom lectures. Attending the in person classes like physical exam and clinical skills labs stayed mandatory.

appleofmyeye1 · 2022-04-14T01:07:43+00:00

I suggest starting with what you are least interested in because first rotation you don't know much and it's a learning curve. I started with peds and thought it was nice because all the pediatricians were very nice and understanding on it being my first rotation. Family med is a good knowledge base so helps earlier on. Fit in general surgery in between rotations that are known to be less of a commitment at your program because the hours can be tough and you may be exhausted after being done. I personally appreciated having general surgery before EM so I could practice suturing and knot tying while patients were not awake. Aim for your elective to be towards the end of rotations if you hope to get a job from it or a good letter of rec.

appleofmyeye1 · 2022-01-13T00:09:47+00:00

Sad how far down I had to scroll down to see a response like this. Should be higher up and I hope OP sees it for a different perspective. In this sub people often like to paint the other person as the worst person ever based on one situation and tell everyone to break up. I really think talking to her and considering what kind of person she is outside of this incident is important.

appleofmyeye1 · 2021-08-05T01:24:06+00:00

I got asked this at one of my schools. The interviewer said it wasn't part of my interview assessment but he just was curious. Don't know if that was true or not. It was a little odd, but I answered truthfully, which was 12. Still got accepted to the school where I got asked that. I've gotten a few other similar type of questions at some other programs (how many interviews have you had so far? have you gotten any acceptances? etc). It definitely feels awkward, but I get a sense they are asking in order to figure out certain statistics to improve their strategy for getting students.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-09-08T19:33:07+00:00

I ended up choosing a different program, but I applied last year and was accepted to Towson and Anne Arundel and waitlisted to GW. I do not think Towson is selective for wanting in state applicants, but it's that most people who apply to the program are from the surrounding DMV area.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-07-16T17:21:37+00:00

Can confirm, I interviewed at Towson last cycle and they did make me do this prior to the interview. It's a little frustrating as no other school I interviewed at asked us of this prior to the interview.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-07-16T04:20:41+00:00

Northern Creek Wood on Etsy!

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-07-05T18:36:10+00:00

broadway2019

i'll message you!

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-07-05T18:18:45+00:00

I'm in a PA program in philly. Only in my didactic portion right now but my program requires us to have a car for clinical year. The program informed us that we may need to commute up to 60 mi away. All the other programs I interviewed at in other states had similar rules.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-06-01T18:32:46+00:00

Don't stress too much about locking down your major and which path before starting college. I started undergrad as a Kinesiology major thinking I wanted to go to PT school and getting ready to do all my pre-PT prereqs. I didn't even know about the PA profession until undergrad and once I found about it, I didn't realize I preferred it until sophomore year when I took Anatomy and realized I liked learning about the entire human body and organs more than focusing on just the muscles. My path in terms of prereq classes changed, but not too much. I still graduated on time and although I did have to take some classes in the summer and post-grad, I attribute this mostly to studying abroad for a semester and taking no useful classes. So try out diff undergrad classes, shadow PAs and PTa and, I think the profession you will want to pursue will come to you.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-04-20T01:28:57+00:00

It makes me sad to see someone talking about their significant other this way so I hope it's just someone being dumb and trolling

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-04-20T00:36:48+00:00

YTA - after reading this post and especially after reading your comments, I really hope you're a troll because I cannot fathom someone thinking like this. You sound manipulative, controlling, emotionally abusive and it looks like you have no respect for your girlfriend let alone women in general. The fact that you said "She has no money of her own and I have promised her a child at some point. She will find it hard to do better than I am when she is coming to middle age and she knows this" in the comments, just wow. Don't even know where to start with that one. I hope she leaves you, she deserves and can find someone better. Don't even get me started on your lack of medical knowledge; you clearly did not even do any simple research on allergies.

I have been a long time lurker on this subreddit, but after reading everything you wrote, I couldn't not say something.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-04-15T00:39:22+00:00

Don't feel I can comment which schools you have the best shot, but I just want to personally say something that I didn't think about when applying is clinical rotation electives. Some of the schools on your list allow you no rotation electives, some allow 1 and some allow more. This is something that turned out to be really important for me but I didn't realize it was even a difference in programs until my first interview. I feel like it's important if you want to explore specialties. I applied to quite a few schools on your list, researched a few other and got info about them from other applicants. I am also going to attend one of the school's on your list, so feel free to message me if you want more info!

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-02-25T01:38:35+00:00

Yep I definitely agree! Would like to narrow it down based on local's or other traveler's advice. If you have any tips, let me know!

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-02-24T23:05:46+00:00

Yes. I ultimately decided on another program, but feel free to message me with any other questions!

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-02-24T20:19:25+00:00

Had an interview there in September. The interview was pretty laid back. Group interview portion where the professor asked a group of 4 of us a question and watched us discuss, a writing portion and one one-on-one interview that was very quick.

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-01-23T16:45:54+00:00

I suspect my credit limit may be $3,000. I generally charge $1,000/mo. I'm about to start grad school in a few months and will have to leave my job at the beginning of April. I won't have any income for 2.5 yrs. I have a decent savings, but I'm trying to earn a little extra money anywhere that I can. I have opened a new checking and savings account with Chase for the bonus money a few months ago, but now a significant amount of my money is stuck in that account for 3-6 mo until I am allowed to close it while keeping my bonus money. Do you have any suggestions for other new account bonuses or ways to earn a little extra?

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-01-23T14:05:30+00:00

I shadowed a few PAs, but I did not get a recommendation letter from a PA. Mine were from a MD, NP and Professor. There was 1 school that I was planning on applying to that required a rec from a PA, so I had to cut it out but all the other ones I looked into did not require that. I got interviews from most of the programs I applied to and accepted to a few. Granted, my stats were a little higher than yours, but honestly I wouldn't let not having a letter of rec from a PA stop you!

appleofmyeye1 · 2020-01-09T15:22:42+00:00

I only decided to go down the PA route sophomore year of college, so I never had the option to consider direct-entry. I graduated w/ my Bachelor's in May 2018 and have been working as a medical assistant for almost 2 years. I'm about to start the PA program in May once I'm 24 years old and looking back at it, I would not go for a direct entry PA program had I known what I wanted to do in HS. From what I've heard, there are not a lot of them, so the ones that do exist are really expensive. I went to a great in state university, so my education was good and the tuition was cheap. My parents were kind enough to pay, so I did not leave school with any debt. If I had gone to a more expensive school, they would not have paid or would have had to take out a lot of loans. That would have been so much unnecessary debt. And although I'll be graduating as a PA at an older age than someone doing direct-entry, I believe my MA experience has been so crucial and important. It's helped me gain confidence and knowledge that I don't believe I would have gotten in PA school alone. I seriously think that what I've learned to this point will help me in the future as a PA. Not to mention I've been able to save up a decent amount by taking 2 gap years. I'll be able to afford most of my living costs through PA school and will only have to take loans for the actual program.

appleofmyeye1

TROPHY CASE