Taking steps toward my goal. What I've done so far:
1. Spoke to an admission counselor at GWU.
2. Applied for admission to George Mason U as a non-degree student in order to take prerequisite classes. Waiting to hear back. They will say yes; the question is, will they do it in time? Only one section of the chem class I need is being offered and there is risk that I might get closed out. The plan if this happens: Go see professor and beg. I will offer an hour or two a week of time xeroxing, grading, cook dinner for their family, whatever, if they will let me in. I have to be able to take this class now in order to get things to fit in time for the application process.
3. I have been online reading extensively about the PA profession, the preparation involved, and current issues they are dealing with. I am curious, of course, but also need to familiarize myself with all of it in preparation for
the interview and the application essay.
I am dreading writing the essay already. I've read examples written by others and they all strike me as very emotional and dramatic. The average age of admission to this program is 26. Many seem to tell stories of theatrical moments where family members became ill and they were saved and this made them always want to practice medicine, etc etc etc. I am not feeling particularly emotional and dramatic; I'm more eager to learn and intellectually curious. Am hoping that if I write enough about it all here, little by little I will express enough to be able to lift, cut and paste it into at least part of an essay. I have read that people do a huge amount of preparation for their essays - one person I read about rewrote his 34 times over a period of a year. With competition being so intense, people go to great lengths; it's a process that draws a lot of detail-oriented, ambitious and passionate people.
Most people have never heard of the PA profession or if they have, they don't know what PAs do. It's commonly said that they do about 80% of what MDs do, including history and physicals, ordering lab tests, diagnosing illness, performing procedures like suturing lacerations, applying casts, assisting in surgery (even harvesting the femoral vein graft for cardiac bypass as the cardiac surgeon operates on the heart), and prescribing medications. They work under the supervision of an MD, who may or may not be physically present, depending on the situation.
Many PAs work as family practitioners. Fewer docs want to take on this role because it doesn't pay as well as specializing does. Great for PAs and NPs and for the general public in helping to keep medical costs down. PAs are well-suited to serve as both gateway to the various specializing docs and healers of less complex ailments. PAs also work in specialty practices, hospitals, ERs and critical care units. There are tons of different roles out there and the numbers of jobs are expected to keep growing.
There's a lot of overlap between nurse practitioners and PAs, but they are not exactly the same. I won't bore with details, but for various reasons, I am much more interested in being a PA than NP.
One aspect I already know I will not enjoy is the turf wars, competition and one upmanship that goes on between PAs, NPs and MDs. More on that in another post down the road.
4. I have joined a message board for PAs and today wrote my first post. Commonly, pre-PA students try to find a working PA to "shadow." They spend as many hours as possible following one around and absorbing as much as possible. It is a terrific way to learn and it looks good on the resume. Anyway, I wrote a post asking if anyone was available to shadow in the northern VA, southern MD or DC area. Keeping fingers crossed someone will respond. If not, I will have to do some more digging to find someone.
5. I have ordered a book mentioned on the PA message board about getting into PA school. We are leaving town for vacation in a week. Hoping it arrives in time for me to read while we are away.
Why am I writing all this? I may put it all together into a stand alone blog one of these days - if everything works out as planned and I do get into PA school. There are relatively few blogs out there about the process, and it is extremely helpful to be able to read about the experiences of those who have done it and are going through it. I know that being able to follow the experiences of an older person such as myself would be very useful down the road for others in a similar situation.
Contrary to how it may seem, I really am not counting chickens before they are hatched and remain very cognizant of the fact that I might not make it. Am attempting to walk a fine line between remaining hopeful and optimistic (one needs a little of both to get through this process), yet keeping feet on the ground and planning for it not to happen at the same time. I am tickled by the opportunity to even be able to try to go for this scheme and plan on having fun in the attempt no matter what happens.
If it fails I will choose one of the following:
1. Look into becoming accredited to teach high school (instead of middle school) science.
2. Look into becoming accredited to teach LD students.
3. Take a nurse refresher class and aim for either ICU, ER, or hospice nursing.
4. Take art classes and volunteer in a nursing home or hospice (in the current economic climate, I think it makes more sense to work).
It doesn't really matter in the end. I'll be happy no matter what because I am free to make choices that were closed off to me for a very long time and that in and of itself is extremely cool.
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