Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your July 4th weekend (I had an exam July 5th @ 7:30 am so I had to study for part of it). I am super thrilled to be sharing a guest post today from one of my friends, Shelby! Shelby took a few years off between undergrad and starting PA school. So, she has all the amazing advice about how to get amazing DPC hours and how she was able to improve her application! She would be an amazing resource if you're considering getting a masters, doing a post bacc before starting PA school, or gaining tons of DPC hours in short period of time!
Everyone’s journey towards Physician Assistant (PA) school
is unique. I am definitely a non-traditional student. It has taken me longer
than I expected to get to where I wanted to be when I first started my path.
Although, I would like to share with you how I never gave up. I only applied
once and will be starting PA school January 2018. I hope this gives you hope
towards achieving your goals. One of my favorite quotes “just because you took
longer than others doesn’t mean you failed.” Please feel free to ask any
questions and follow me on my Instagram @student_shelby Thank you again
Brittany for having me do this guest post! Here is a timeline on what I did
during my gap years, between graduating undergrad and starting PA school.
GAP YEARS
2012
·
February
o
Received a job as a nutrition assistant at local
hospital (gained >900 hrs)
·
June
o
Graduation for bachelor’s degree (there was
only a spring commencement)
·
August
o
Finished classes for bachelor’s degree (had to take
a class over the summer, I finished with a GPA <3.0 something I was ashamed
of but had many factors contributing to it)
o
Completed training for Certified Nursing Aide
(CNA) (I considered being an EMT but it was too expensive and hard to find a
job in the area I lived in)
·
September
o
Received a job at a skilled nursing facility (SNF)
(gained 800 hrs)
·
November
o
Shadowed the gerontology PA who worked with the
patients at the SNF
·
December
o
Received job at local hospital as a CNA for
inpatient oncology full time
2013
·
August
o
Took fall classes post bacc (full-time) fall
quarter
o
Through December was a Mentor for a program on
campus (volunteering experience)
·
September
o
Shadowed general surgery PA at the hospital
(loved it)
2014
·
January
o
Took the GRE for the first time (did not do well
on it)
·
February
o
Shadowed OB/GYN PA outpatient (patients were so
willing to show me their bodies)
·
June
o
Shadowed oncology PA outpatient (I passed out
during it so embarrassing. I was dehydrated from the heat)
·
July
o
Left job on oncology unit (gained >3000 hrs,
best job I ever had I loved it there)
·
August
o
Shadowed Family Medicine PA outpatient
o
Started a Master’s degree and moved to another
state
·
November
o
Had to take a medical leave of absence (LOA) from
master’s degree and move back to my home state (very difficult time in my life
but was a necessary decision)
2015
·
January
o
Started spring classes at local community
college-full time
o
Started job at a surgery center as a Patient
Care Technician (PCT)
·
May
o
Received 4.0 GPA first time ever in college and
award for dean’s list
o
Started job in the float pool for three
different hospitals as a PCT
·
August
o
Left job at surgery center (gained <300 hrs)
o
Left job for float pool (gained <500 hrs)
o
Started Masters of Biomedical Science degree at
MWU-AZ (returned from LOA)
·
November
o
Started my research project
2016
·
April
o
Shadowed family medicine/mobile clinic PA
(totally different experience)
o
Shadowed pain medicine PA outpatient (super
interesting)
o
Shadowed surgical PA (pioneered the da Vinci
machine)
·
June
o
Joined Crossfit (best decision for me)
·
July
o
Took GRE (did better but math score was lower
than I wanted)
o
Submitted CASPA application to 13 schools (First
time applying, super nervous)
·
August
o
Started hearing from schools they received my
application (initial steps, before an interview)
o
Started paying for secondary applications (some
are automatic, others are for interested schools)
o
Changed research projects (this was something
wild to do but it was totally worth it)
·
September
o
Beginning of month: Found out my medical LOA had
majorly affected my GPA, sent letters to schools explaining the situation
(majorly upsetting)
o
Middle of month: Started receiving denial
letters from schools (hard to receive this but part of the process)
o
End of month: Received first invite for an
interview (I was in class when I received the email, screamed in excitement)
·
October
o
Mock interviews with faculty in my master’s
program and with a PA friend of mine (they gave me positive feedback)
·
November
o
1st interview for PA school (felt so
much pressure, I cried after the fact)
·
December
o
Invite to my 2nd interview for PA
school (Super excited for this one)
2017
·
January
o
2nd Interview for PA school
(absolutely love the faculty, school and town)
o
Competed in my first Crossfit partner workout
·
February
o
Acceptance to MCPHS (I was alone when this
happened, opened it snail-mail, screamed and called my mom)
·
March
o
Finished winter quarter classes for my master’s
degree, the rest of the time is dedicated towards writing the thesis and
completing experiments (GPA for graduate school is >3.8, very proud of this)
·
April
o
Competed in a second partner Crossfit
competition (we placed in the top half in the scaled division)
o
Did my first Crossfit open (everyone in the
world does it super fun)
·
June
o
First Crossfit competition in advanced division
and with my PA friend “Namaste-a-PA”
·
November
o
Anticipated graduation/thesis defense (super
nervous for this)
·
December
o
Move across the country to the east coast for PA
school (excited for this)
2018
·
January
o
Matriculate at MCPHS for Physician Assistant school
class of 2019 (thankful and thrilled to start!)
Why did I take
classes post bachelors and get a master’s degree? What was it like?
I
mentioned this earlier, but my undergraduate GPA was below the minimum needed
to apply to PA schools. This was due to many factors and unfortunately, I did
not have a mentor in my life to guide me. After I graduated from undergrad and
started gaining patient care experience I knew the PA path was for me and
needed to take more classes to improve my GPA. I wrote a guest blog post on
“ThePAPlatform” about why I chose to do a masters and gain research experience,
but basically, I wanted more and other options to have if my acceptance to PA
school took longer. Taking classes after graduating undergrad was refreshing. I
did not feel the same pressure to get done as I did when I was in undergrad. I
gradually started learning that I needed to change my focus and study habits. I
advise you to never give up and if you must go back and take more classes, go
for it! I enjoyed learning about subjects I was unable to take in undergrad
also.
How was I able
to gain so many patient care hours (PCH) so quickly?
I
was on the straight and narrow to get as many PCH as possible in the least
years possible. Since I felt I came late into the game as far as gaining hours
I worked multiple jobs at several points to learn as much as possible and
strengthen my application. It accelerated my learning but I was exhausted. I
loved having the ability to work in several different units before PA schools
because I can connect to different patient populations and diseases. One of the
biggest things coming out of this is I hope to be a mentor or give guidance to
applicants because I did not have that and always wished I did. I believe I
needed to prove to myself I was ready for PA school and networked as much as I
could to know not only my job well but a numerous amount of jobs throughout the
hospital. It has really helped me well by doing that.
How was I able
to push through and get into PA should with the obstacles such as my LOA?
I
will be honest there were days I doubted myself and prepared myself to apply
for the next cycle if needed. Taking the LOA was not an easy decision, many bad
things and some good happened during that (academic) year. One day, I decided
my happiness was more important than anyone else or anything else in my life. I
could not imagine being 40 years old and have not pursued my dreams. There are
still days I must take it one day at a time but I am very proud of the person I
have become and hope to continue to grow and learn about myself. I say don’t
ever settle for the things that matter to you.
Shelby will be graduating from Midwestern University with
her Masters in Biomedical Sciences this fall and will be attending
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for PA school in January.
Her biggest passions revolved around CrossFit, coffee, being a dog mom, and
giving back. Feel free to follow her journey through PA school and beyond.
Instagram: student_shelly
Thanks for your story to PA school!
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