Nearing the End of the First Semester

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been writing in as much as I promised, and I apologize if I've taken awhile (or didn't at all) to respond to your comments, but I've been really busy for the past 4 months. I started PA school back in July, and it has been non-stop since. Not that I didn't expect it to be like this, but it really is a lot of work! What's keeping me going right now is knowing that in the end it will completely be worth it. Right now I'm taking anatomy, physical diagnosis, pathophysiology, medical ethics, behavioral science, and microbiology. Out of the 6 classes I am taking, anatomy, physical diagnosis, and pathophysiology are definitely the most time consuming. Even though it's so much work,I'm loving every minute of it!

Here's a quick summary of what I do in each class:

Anatomy: study the structure and organization of the human body through lecture and a cadaver lab

Physical diagnosis: learn a complete head to toe exam, using lecture, a practice lab, and trips to a local hospital to interview and practice on real patients.

Pathophysiology: study the various disease states that the body can suffer from.

Medical ethics: discuss various "controversial" or tough to deal with situations that I may have to face as a PA in my career.

Behavioral science: learn about how to interact with patients on a human level, as well as about the many psychological disorders.

Microbiology: studying the different bacteria, viruses, and other organisms that can affect the body.

As you can see, I definitely have a full plate right now, and next semester will be even more intense! I'm sure I've said it many times previously, but the most important words of advice I can offer are to get as much experience possible before you begin. My experience as an EMT and as a cardiac rehab intern is probably the main reason I'm doing well right now and not going completely crazy!!!

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next, as most of my time is taken up by school right now. But if you leave a comment, I'll try to respond in a timely fashion!

Almost There!

Hey everyone! So it's been over a year since I last posted. Life has been very busy preparing for PA school. Since I last posted, I have served a year as captain of my college campus' EMS squad, graduated college(!), got engaged(!!), shadowed PAs in the trauma bay and in the ER, and completed a one semester internship in a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation clinic, where I interacted with a multitude of patients and got to observe many different specialties of medicine! Oh, and how could I forget, I also got accepted into a PA school!! Here's a brief summary of my application process and the interviews:

I made sure to submit my application through CASPA early, and I recommend you do the same. The application opens in April, and you can submit it any time after that. I finally submitted mine in the middle of July 2008, a bit later than I had hoped for. Within about a month, I began to hear back from schools. I applied to five schools. Out of these five, I interviewed at four, was accepted at two, and waitlisted at another. I chose the first school that I interviewed at because I fell in love with the program while I was there. The faculty, campus, and curriculum really sold me! Funny thing is, this program was my fifth choice when I applied, but as soon as I got there, I knew it was where I had to go! I will be beginning there this July, and it runs through September 2011. I'm very excited, and nervous at the same time!

As for now, I'm working on getting the apartment lease set up, buying things for the apartment, and figuring out financial aid. I move in the first week of July^rd, giving me about two weeks to settle in before the program starts.

Well, that's all for now. I only had a few minutes to sit down and post, so it had to be a quick one. But as always, thanks for reading, and feel free to post any comments/questions you may have! Good luck!!