The Pre-PA Club

Alden was bartending at Chili's. Then she met a couple of respiratory therapists, and that conversation changed her whole life.

She became an RT first. Loved it, and then hit the ceiling of what she was allowed to do. That's a feeling a lot of you know well - you're in the room, you understand what's happening, and you can't be the one to make the call. So she went after PA.

Her academic record wasn't spotless. She had to retake classes. And she was strategic about where she applied, because holistic review meant her whole story counted, not just a number on a transcript. Nine applications, four interviews, two acceptances. That's a strong return, and it wasn't luck.

If you're a career changer sitting on some old grades you're not proud of, this one's for you.

What we cover:

• Going from bartending to respiratory therapy to PA school
• Why she wanted more than her RT scope allowed
• Retaking classes and rebuilding a GPA that wasn't working
• Picking programs that do holistic review, and how to spot them
• Her actual application numbers and what she thinks made the difference
• Advice for anyone switching careers into medicine later than planned

Resources:

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

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

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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Jono started PA school with one daughter. He finished with three.

He's a PA in Washington, and he's also the guy behind Quill Notebooks. Those two things are connected. He couldn't study the way everyone else was studying, so he built a system that fit the hours he actually had.

That's the part I want you to hear. Most study advice assumes you have unlimited time and a quiet apartment. A lot of you don't. You've got kids, a job, a commute, a partner working opposite shifts. The answer isn't studying more hours. It's studying differently.

Jono also says something I'll repeat until I'm blue in the face: no program and no career is worth losing your relationships or your health over. PA school is two years. Your people are forever.

What we cover:

• Going through PA school as a parent, and what actually made it work
• Why he started making his own notebooks instead of buying study guides
• Building a study system around short, unpredictable blocks of time
• The difference between reviewing material and actually learning it
• Protecting your family time when the program wants all of it
• What he'd tell a pre-PA who's worried they're too busy to do this

Resources:

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

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

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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Memorizing is not learning. In PA school that difference will find you fast.

Dr. Adam Rosh created Rosh Review, and this conversation is about how to actually study medicine. His whole approach is built around questions rather than passive review, because answering a question forces you to retrieve information, and retrieval is what makes it stick.

This is why so many PA students live in question banks. It's not because the questions are magic, it's because getting something wrong and then understanding why is the fastest way to learn.

For pre-PAs, start practicing this in your prereqs. Close the book and test yourself instead of rereading highlighted notes. Rereading feels productive and mostly isn't.

What we cover:

• Why memorization fails once the volume gets high
• Studying with questions instead of passive review
• How Rosh Review got started and what it's built for
• Connecting book knowledge to real clinical decisions
• Study habits pre-PAs can build before they're accepted
• Managing the sheer amount of material in PA school

Resources:

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

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

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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"Is it too late to become a PA?" No. Here's where I think this profession is going.

Heading into 2022, a few things kept coming up in my inbox, so I made an episode out of them. Online and hybrid PA programs are growing. There's an ongoing conversation about moving the profession toward a doctoral-level credential. And after the pandemic, people are nervous about whether PA jobs will still be there.

On that last one, my honest read is that healthcare is not running out of patients. The demand for providers is not the thing I'd worry about.

On the doctorate question, that debate has been going for years and it moves slowly. Don't make decisions today based on a change that may or may not happen.

What I cover:

• Where PA education seems to be heading
• Online and hybrid programs and what they mean for applicants
• The doctoral degree conversation, explained plainly
• Job availability for PAs after the pandemic
• Why demand for providers isn't going away
• What actually matters for your decision right now

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 will have no income for two years and a lot of expenses. Somebody should talk about that.

Evan and Ginger are recent PA school grads who built a budgeting tool specifically for PA students, because they went through it and found nothing that fit. Their whole thing is knowing your actual numbers instead of borrowing a round number and hoping.

Standard disclaimer from me: I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice. This is two people who just did it sharing what they learned.

The piece I'd underline for anyone pre-PA is that the borrowing decisions start before you even matriculate. Where you live, whether you have a car, whether you take the max loan amount because it's offered. Those choices compound.

What we cover:

• Why budgeting in PA school is different from budgeting anywhere else
• The tool they built and what it tracks
• Understanding what you're actually committing to when you borrow
• Cost-of-living decisions that make the biggest difference
• Habits to build before you start school
• What they wish someone had told them

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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Buying for a pre-PA, a PA student, or a working PA? Send this to whoever keeps asking what you want.

This is my 2021 gift guide, split by where someone is in the journey. Applicants need different things than students, and students need different things than a PA who has been in clinic for five years.

The practical stuff always wins. Good shoes. A blood pressure cuff that isn't garbage. Coffee. Anything that saves time. And for someone in the thick of applications or didactic year, a resource that actually helps them move forward beats another mug.

I also talk about building small themed baskets, which is my favorite move when you don't want to spend a lot but want it to feel personal.

What I cover:

• Gifts for pre-PAs still in the application grind
• Gifts for PA students surviving didactic and clinical year
• Gifts for practicing PAs
• Practical picks versus the fun ones
• How to build a themed gift basket cheaply
• Ideas that work all year, not just in December

Resources:

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

Personal Statement Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-personal-statement-guide

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

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

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Thirteen years into a successful sales career, she started over.

Emily spent thirteen years in medical device sales before becoming a PA student at Wake Forest. She was around medicine constantly in that job, and the thing she kept wanting was the part she wasn't allowed to do: actually take care of the patient.

What I appreciate about how she talks about the decision is that she didn't romanticize it. She researched hard, sat with it, and eventually weighed the risk of regret against the comfort of a stable paycheck. Then she went and retook science courses and built patient care hours from scratch, which at that stage of life is not a small thing.

If you're mid-career and wondering whether it's too late, this is your episode.

What we cover:

• Leaving a thirteen-year career for PA school
• The moment she realized sales wasn't going to be enough
• Retaking science prereqs years after undergrad
• Building patient care experience as a career changer
• Weighing regret against stability
• What she'd tell someone stuck in the deciding phase

Resources:

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

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 Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy

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Graduating PA school is not the finish line. It's the start of a career nobody taught you how to run.

Jordan and Shane wrote The PA Blueprint to cover the parts that fall through the cracks after graduation. Job negotiation, career moves, money, and not burning out before year three.

I keep putting episodes like this on the feed for pre-PAs on purpose. If you know what the job and the career look like on the other side, your reasons for wanting this get sharper, and sharper reasons make better applications and better interviews.

On the money parts, they're sharing their perspective and I'm not a financial advisor. Take it as a starting point for your own research.

What we cover:

• What The PA Blueprint covers and why they wrote it
• The parts of a PA career nobody prepares you for
• Advancing without leaving clinical work
• Protecting your wellbeing early instead of after you crash
• Why new grads should think about this before they sign a contract
• What they'd tell someone still trying to get in

Resources:

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

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

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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Ethical questions are not asking you to be right. They're asking you to think out loud.

This is another live webinar session, this time focused on ethical scenarios and the MMI format. We ran mock stations with participants and gave feedback on the spot.

The MMI throws you into a scenario with no clean answer, on purpose. A coworker is cutting corners. A patient refuses treatment. A friend asks you to do something you shouldn't. What they're evaluating is whether you can see multiple sides, name the tension, and reason your way to a defensible position without panicking.

The worst thing you can do is answer instantly and confidently in one direction. Slow down. Say what makes it hard. Then decide.

What we cover:

• How the MMI format works station by station
• Ethical scenarios worked through live with participants
• A framework for reasoning out loud under pressure
• Why acknowledging both sides scores better than certainty
• Common mistakes people make in ethical stations
• Real-time feedback on real answers

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

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

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