Hello everyone. I've finished my time as a PrePA and am officially a week into PA school! Since I'm a PA-S now, I started a new blog. This one will be mostly videos about my experience. I'll still update this blog with PrePA thoughts and some interviews from time to time.
here's the URL: http://pastudentblog.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
How I got in
Here's feedback from some students who are just starting PA school this summer.
A) I think that it is a difficult task to set yourself apart from the thousands upon thousands of CASPA applicants since the application is very standard. If I had to choose one thing that set me apart, it would have to be my lengthy clinical experience (10 years) and my personal statement, since I didn't have an amazing number of shadowing or volunteer hours.
D) I made sure to have something in every category. Leadership, volunteering, shadowing, health care experience, etc. Also I had 3000+ hours of health care experience in the ICU and several volunteer medical mission trips. I made sure to really elaborate on the experience that was most valuable: PrePA leadership, what I got to do and what kind of patients I got to work with during my HCE, etc.
B) For starters, it got chopped in half. After I poured my heart out into my first few drafts I had almost twice the maximum character limit. I had to really focus on what mattered to be able to eliminate all of the "fluffy stuff" that made the statement so long. During the later rewrites I changed the some of the paragraphs to be more precise and more effectively written and polished the grammar and punctuation.
C) My personal statement didn't change a whole lot throughout the writing process. The central theme stayed the same, but the layout and rhetoric changed quite a bit. I made sure to have as many people read the statement as possible!
B) I only applied to two schools: UNT Health Science Center and UT Southwestern. I got interviews to both but I only attended UNT Health Science Center's because the deadline to accept UNT's admission offer was one week before the UTSW interview. At my UNT HSC interview I felt like I was among friends. They split us into three groups and each group would do a tour of the school, a file review, and the interview in different orders. My group was chosen to interview last, which I liked because I could see the reactions of the people who interviewed before me. The interview turned out to be more laid back than I thought it would be. It was held by two of the PA Program Staff members in a personal office setting, a 2 on one interview. The only questions that I was asked in my interview were "why did you choose to become a PA?", "I see that you have a lot of shadowing experience in Cardiovascular Surgery, is this the field that you wish to go into?", and "is there anything that you would like to explain about your application?". The majority of my interview was spent talking about random things such as food (I was the last interview of the day for them and it was lunch time) and where we were from. It was a great experience and everyone there made me feel comfortable from the moment I arrived.
D) I interviewed at 4 school around the country. They were surprisingly very similar. I think my application resonated with similar minded programs. I spoke with a couple of faculty or one faculty and one student, and they had 2 types questions for me: general questions (Why PA and not MD?) and questions based on my application. I had done several mock interviews and had worked through a lot of practice questions, so I was ready to talk about my application. I also did as much research on each school as I could. I made sure I had 4 or 5 questions for each program that couldn't be answered on the website.
1. What do you think set you apart on your CASPA?
A) I think that it is a difficult task to set yourself apart from the thousands upon thousands of CASPA applicants since the application is very standard. If I had to choose one thing that set me apart, it would have to be my lengthy clinical experience (10 years) and my personal statement, since I didn't have an amazing number of shadowing or volunteer hours.
B) I was well rounded; a lot of people focus on one or two categories (direct patient care, shadowing, etc) and load up on hours in those, but I had a decent amount of hours in every category. I also had leadership experience in undergraduate organizations - I founded the UNT Pre-PA Club and I was an officer for Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Health Professional Honor Society. Not many students can say that they started an organization at their school geared towards Pre-PA students.
C) I know that my GRE scores held the biggest influence on my application with a 85 percentile on the math and 86 on the verbal. During the first half of undergrad I goofed around too much, and consequently, my GPA reflected it. I knew that I had to nail the GRE to offset my mediocre GPA so I could prove to the admissions committee that I was worthy for their program.
2. How did your Personal statement change during rewrites?
A) My personal statement changed at least 5 times before I decided it was acceptable and truly reflected me. I had numerous folks from all disciplines read it and tell me what they get out of it or what they would like to see more of to get to know me on paper. I ended up giving a couple of personal experiences that touched me and pushed me in the direction of physician assistant and gave grounds on why I would be successful in this role. I think the personal statement is undoubtedly the most difficult part of the application since it is your one true shot to capture yourself on paper and grab someone's attention.
B) For starters, it got chopped in half. After I poured my heart out into my first few drafts I had almost twice the maximum character limit. I had to really focus on what mattered to be able to eliminate all of the "fluffy stuff" that made the statement so long. During the later rewrites I changed the some of the paragraphs to be more precise and more effectively written and polished the grammar and punctuation.
C) My personal statement didn't change a whole lot throughout the writing process. The central theme stayed the same, but the layout and rhetoric changed quite a bit. I made sure to have as many people read the statement as possible!
D) Drastically. I have about 3 completely different personal statements and the last version had more than 10 rewrites. I had 10 people look at it and 2 people really dig through it with me. I'd advise that you get lots of eyes on it and also make sure (if you can) someone who knows your top choice school looks at it and talks about what the school wants.
3. Tell me about your interviews experience(s).
A) I only applied to 2 places and received an interview offer from 1 of the 2 quickly after submitting my application. I knew in my heart that this place (UNTHSC) was a great fit for me. My interview experience was pretty casual compared to some of the horror stories I heard. I was made to feel at ease by the staff and current 2nd year students before the interview. I found out that I would be interviewed simultaneously by 2 faculty members. When I went in to the interview both ladies greeted me and I began the conversation by thanking them for their time and letting them know that I was excited to be there. As far as interview material went, they asked me about my clinical experience and questioned me on what I felt was the most pressing issue in healthcare today. That was pretty much it. I left feeling pretty good, but not truly knowing what they thought of me. Exactly 4 weeks later I got an acceptance call!! The rest is history. Now the hard part begins.
B) I only applied to two schools: UNT Health Science Center and UT Southwestern. I got interviews to both but I only attended UNT Health Science Center's because the deadline to accept UNT's admission offer was one week before the UTSW interview. At my UNT HSC interview I felt like I was among friends. They split us into three groups and each group would do a tour of the school, a file review, and the interview in different orders. My group was chosen to interview last, which I liked because I could see the reactions of the people who interviewed before me. The interview turned out to be more laid back than I thought it would be. It was held by two of the PA Program Staff members in a personal office setting, a 2 on one interview. The only questions that I was asked in my interview were "why did you choose to become a PA?", "I see that you have a lot of shadowing experience in Cardiovascular Surgery, is this the field that you wish to go into?", and "is there anything that you would like to explain about your application?". The majority of my interview was spent talking about random things such as food (I was the last interview of the day for them and it was lunch time) and where we were from. It was a great experience and everyone there made me feel comfortable from the moment I arrived.
C) Interviews. Everything boils down to the interviews. Mess them up, and your stellar resume goes out the window.
My biggest piece of advice for interview preparation is to practice public speaking. During some of my interviews, I was in front of a panel of 6 or 7 people! Normally, I don't address large groups of people on a day to day basis, so I had to be very cognizant of proper eye contact with each and everyone of the interviewers.
Other interviews it was only me and one interviewer, such as at UTSW. However, this school had such a unconventional interview process. It was a series of 12 interview stations consisting of puzzles, chart interpretations, scenario questions, ethical questions, etc, that I rotated among. So by the end, I had met 12 (I think) different representatives from UTSW and they each got a chance to evaluate me.
Other than these two, most interviews were what you would expect - me and two or three people from the admissions committee. They gave me typical questions like why I want to be a PA and why their school.
D) I interviewed at 4 school around the country. They were surprisingly very similar. I think my application resonated with similar minded programs. I spoke with a couple of faculty or one faculty and one student, and they had 2 types questions for me: general questions (Why PA and not MD?) and questions based on my application. I had done several mock interviews and had worked through a lot of practice questions, so I was ready to talk about my application. I also did as much research on each school as I could. I made sure I had 4 or 5 questions for each program that couldn't be answered on the website.
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