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What should I bring for PA school?

I recently reflected on my first semester of PA school, and one of the things I should have mentioned was being prepared with the right supplies. So, here's a quick list of the supplies I found helpful during my first semester of school:

1. The right laptop

I had this great touchscreen Lenovo Yoga laptop that I loved, but I accidentally shattered the screen mid-way through the semester and needed to buy a new laptop (cue the tears!). A friend who works in IT graciously helped me find a new laptop, and after a nightmare of a shipping debacle, I got this great HP touchscreen laptop that has a pen and everything.

Now, lots of my fellow classmates have Apple laptops, and I'm sure they're great. However, I've always been a PC user and don't have the kind of money for that brand. Plus, I really wanted a touch screen and a pen, because I found that taking notes using OneNote was going to be both convenient and efficient. So far, so good!


2. A sketch pad, colored pencils and dry erase markers

Maybe it's because I'm a visual thinker or I like seeing concepts in multiple ways to understand them, but I really like drawing things out. This seemed to be especially helpful during anatomy! I drew everything from blood flow through the heart to the brachial plexus to the bones of the skull and even the cranial nerve routes! For me, looking at a picture is fine, but if I really want it to stick, I draw it.

When doing group study, we would often go into study rooms with big ol' white boards in them and practice writing or drawing things out. However, either the markers were missing or there was only one or two colors, so I had my own slew of colored dry erase markers in my bag so I could make things both pretty and memorable!


3. Stethoscope!

We needed this for our History & Physical Examination course during the second half of the summer. I went back and forth about whether to get the Littmann Classic III or the Littmann Cardiology IV (Littmann, though, was a non-negotiable based on lots of anecdotal feedback from friends in healthcare). I ended up going with the Classic III for a couple reasons. First, budget (which ended up being a good reason since I had to buy a new laptop shortly after...). Second, I don't think I want to go into cardiology. And third, this is going to meet my needs just fine during school, and if I do end up needing a really high quality stethoscope later down the road, I'll buy a new one (and by then, I'll have more money to afford it, ha!).  P.S. I found a good price on Amazon, so don't be afraid to shop around.


Other thoughts:

  • Notebooks: I'm still a big fan of hand-written notes (I review the slides and take new notes as my main study method), so notebooks was a must-have for me. 
  • Folders/binder: I printed out very little through the course of the semester (one exception - I printed a lot of practice EKG strips since they're just easier to look at on paper). But otherwise, I'd say skip it. 
  • Notecards: If I was making "notecards" ever, I was using Quizlet since that was quick and I could add images easily. The only thing I ever used physical notecards for was drawing out my cranial nerves. So, you can probably skip it. 
  • Other medical accessories: I adopted a reflex hammer and tuning fork from a friend, and while I might use these things regularly later on, I just ended up using the ones provided in our exam rooms during my H&P course. 
  • Noise-cancelling headphones: Some of my classmates used these when studying in less quiet areas or coffee shops, and even though this is something I might consider getting in the future, it wasn't an actual must-have for me. 
  • Textbooks: Big point of advice? Wait to buy textbooks. I found that a lot of textbooks I didn't actually need, or I could get through my school's library (either online or physical copies). So, that was a big money-saving area for me. It has been STRONGLY recommended to me to buy the PANCE Prep Pearls and LANGE Q&A Physician Assistant Examination books for the fall, so I have purchased those!

PA students: Anything else you'd recommend students have for their first semester? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
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