OJ the PA

PA school is generally a 2-3 year program. Cool, right? In a short amount of time you can be a practicing provider! But have you realized and accounted for all the pre-requisites you need to take? I think this question is especially relevant for people like me -- working adults who didn't decide they wanted to pursue this dream until after their college education was complete. In my last post, I talked about how I started as a copywriter and then went back to become a registered dietitian . Luckily, my dietetics education included a lot of science courses, which meant I already had a good number of pre-requisite courses checked off my list. But I still had plenty of classes I needed to get done. A&P lab... brains, anyone? Here's how I figured out what I needed to do (and, importantly, how I needed to make some big adjustments in my life to get it all done).  1. Make a list of your top schools and get their list of pre-reqs.  What's super annoying as a pre-P

I would call myself a non-traditional PA student. Here's why: My bachelors degree is not in the sciences. My undergrad is actually in Journalism & Mass Communication.  I went back to school for my certificate in dietetics. It's only after that that I discovered the PA profession.  I'm going back for this third degree in PA studies as a 31-year-old. Yes, being in classes with students who are 22 does make me feel old! I'm a distance education student. I watch lectures online, take proctored exams at a local public library, and go to campus twice each semester for labs and hands-on activities.  See? Not exactly your everyday PA student experience. So maybe you can't relate to me. But maybe, just maybe, you're a working adult wondering what might be next for you. You've dreamed of a job in healthcare or one with more responsibility, but you're not quite sure how this whole PA school thing could work out. That's why I decided to write a s

This past Tuesday evening, I took (and passed!) my Neuro Module exam. WHEW. What a huge weight off my shoulders that was. This also marked approximately one month since the fall semester started, and I took a little time to reflect. I mean, I was forced to reflect on what wasn't going well. Because I had a total meltdown the Saturday before my exam and desperately needed to do a little check-in with myself to get back on track. As many of you know, I'm a distance education student. That means I am doing school "part time" (ha) while working part-time as well. I totally underestimated how challenging this was going to be. I started a job at a new hospital (still working as a dietitian) and the learning curve has been monstrous. Different charting, different processes and protocols, and a different level of learning. This hospital is a teaching hospital and that permeates even into the dietetics department. I wasn't prepared to get pimped as an RD, but here