Rejected the first time. Accepted at her top choice the second.

Hanna Lewis had the clinical experience and the work ethic, and her first cycle still went nowhere because of her GPA. So she did something about it instead of resubmitting the same application and hoping.

She did a master's in clinical research. That fixed two things at once. It gave admissions committees recent graduate-level grades to look at, and it taught her how to read and think about evidence-based medicine, which she can talk about intelligently now.

The other thing she did was stop being anonymous. She reached out to programs, used applicant advising, and made sure the people reading her file had some idea who she was.

What we cover:

• Why her first application cycle didn't work
• Using a master's in clinical research to raise her academic profile
• What evidence-based medicine training added to her application
• Reaching out to programs and applicant advising
• Reapplying without repeating the same mistakes
• Getting into her top-choice program

Resources:

CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Essay Review: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-essay-review

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

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Forty years of teaching people how to not be boring.

Dr. Scott Litin has spent four decades working on presentation skills, and this conversation applies to a lot more than standing at a podium. It applies to your interview, your case presentations on rotations, and every time you have to explain something to a patient.

His core idea is that you're telling a story, not dumping information. People remember a narrative. They do not remember your fourth bullet point. If you want a message to land, build it into something with a shape.

He also gets into how to actually hold an audience, which is a skill, not a personality trait. That's good news if you think you're bad at this.

What we cover:

• Why communication skills shape your career
• Building a presentation around a story instead of a data dump
• Techniques for keeping an audience with you
• Making your key message stick
• Applying presentation skills to PA school interviews
• Getting better at this if it doesn't come naturally

Resources:

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

PA School Interview Course: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pa-school-interview-course

Mock Interview: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/mock-interview

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

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Grades and GPA questions. All of them, in one place.

These came out of the Pre-PA Conference, and they're the questions that keep people up at night. Will more science classes actually move my GPA. Does it matter where I take my prereqs. Are my old courses still good.

On the GPA math: adding science courses moves your science GPA faster than your overall, and how much depends entirely on how many credits you already have. Run your own numbers before you sign up for another semester you can't afford.

On where you take them: community college versus four-year is a real question and the answer isn't universal. Some programs care, some don't, and the only way to know is to ask them directly. Same with coursework that's more than a few years old. Email the program. They will tell you.

What I answer:

• How additional science courses affect overall and science GPA
• Whether it matters where you take prerequisites
• Contacting programs about course acceptability
• How old coursework is treated
• Choosing where to retake classes
• Study approaches for tough prereqs

Resources:

CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

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One week of nights on. Two weeks off. That's her whole schedule.

Kristin Burton is an overnight pulmonary and critical care PA, and when she told me her schedule I made her explain it twice. A week of night shifts, then two weeks off. It's a completely different way to structure a career and a life.

We get into what she's actually doing on those nights: the kinds of patients in the unit, and the procedures she performs, including intubations and central lines. This is a high-autonomy role, and she talks honestly about how that independence works alongside a collaborative team.

She also came to critical care from cardiology, which is a good example of the specialty flexibility people talk about but rarely illustrate.

What we cover:

• A one-week-on, two-weeks-off night schedule
• Patients and pathology in pulmonary and critical care
• Procedures like intubation and central line placement
• Autonomy as a critical care PA
• Switching from cardiology to critical care
• What she'd tell students interested in the ICU

Resources:

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

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The way you studied in undergrad will not work in PA school.

The volume is the thing nobody prepares you for. You get more material in a week than you used to get in a semester, and the students who struggle usually aren't the ones who can't handle it. They're the ones still using a method that only worked when there was time to reread everything.

Start by knowing how you actually learn. The VARK assessment is a quick way to figure out whether you're getting more out of reading, listening, drawing it out, or doing. Then build your study time around that instead of copying whatever your smartest classmate does.

Keep the boards in your peripheral vision the whole time. Work practice questions from different sources so you're not just memorizing one question bank's style.

And eat something. Sleep. You cannot outstudy a body you're running into the ground.

What I cover:

• Why undergrad study habits break down in PA school
• Using the VARK assessment to find your learning style
• Adapting your methods to the volume of material
• Keeping board prep in mind from day one
• Using varied question banks and resources
• Protecting your health while you're in it

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

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She started podiatry school. Then she changed course entirely.

Ariel hosts the Becoming a PA Podcast, and her own path here wasn't straight. She was in podiatry school before deciding PA was the right fit, and she's doing all of it as a single mom.

Walking away from a program you already started takes more nerve than most people give it credit for. Ariel talks about how she came to that decision and what it cost her to make it.

We also spend real time on the logistics, because that's what people actually want to know. How she structures her time, what she's had to let go of, and how she handles the days when school and her kid both need her at the same moment.

What we cover:

• Leaving podiatry school and choosing PA instead
• How she knew it was the right call
• Getting through PA school as a single parent
• Time management that survives contact with reality
• Building a support system you can lean on
• Her work on the Becoming a PA Podcast

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

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You sent questions. I'm answering them.

A sonographer wrote in asking whether he still needs shadowing hours when he already spends all day with patients. My answer is yes. Patient care experience and shadowing do different jobs. Your PCE proves you can handle clinical work. Shadowing proves you understand what a PA specifically does, which is the thing you're actually signing up for. And plenty of programs require it outright, so check before you decide to skip it.

Somebody else asked how to get patient care hours when everything is shut down. I go through what's still possible, including virtual shadowing, keeping in touch with PAs you've already met, and roles in healthcare settings that are still hiring.

The underlying theme for all of it is variety. Go see more than one setting.

What I answer:

• Whether experienced healthcare workers still need shadowing
• How shadowing and patient care experience differ
• Checking whether shadowing is a program requirement
• Getting patient care hours during the pandemic
• Virtual shadowing and staying connected with PAs
• Why exposure to different settings strengthens an application

Resources:

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download

CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

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She's an RN, a single mom, and she just got into Yale's online PA program.

Krystal has been working as a nurse in emergency and critical care, and she's making the jump to PA. That clinical experience is the kind of background admissions committees pay attention to, because she's already spent years making decisions with sick people in front of her.

The question everybody asks a nurse who chooses PA is why not NP. Krystal gives her honest reasoning, and it's about the training model and how she wants to practice medicine, not about one being better.

She's also doing all of this as a single parent. Her answer for how that works is unglamorous and exactly right: communicate, plan ahead, and accept help.

What we cover:

• Moving from nursing to the PA profession
• Emergency and critical care experience as an RN
• Why she chose PA over nurse practitioner
• Getting into Yale's online PA program
• Managing school as a single mom
• Advice for nurses considering the switch

Resources:

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

Mentioned in this episode:

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Your interview is happening on a laptop. Prepare like it isn't.

Virtual interviews are the norm this cycle, and I keep hearing people treat them as lower stakes because they're at home. They're not. Same decision, same committee, same seat on the line.

Test your technology before the day. Not an hour before, days before. Know where your camera is, know what your background looks like, know what happens if your internet drops and have a plan for it. Get rid of every possible interruption, including the people and animals in your house.

Dress like you drove there. Full outfit, not just the top half. It changes how you carry yourself, and you will absolutely have to stand up at some point.

What I cover:

• Treating a virtual interview with in-person seriousness
• Testing your tech and having a backup plan
• Setting up your space and background
• What to wear and why it matters
• Eye contact and energy through a camera
• The real pros and cons of the virtual format

Resources:

PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide

PA School Interview Course: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pa-school-interview-course

Mock Interview: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/mock-interview

Free Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Mentioned in this episode:

CapYear Training

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