 You don't want to do all of that, go through that process, get your hopes up, and then find out, like, no, we can't take you because you have this on your record. What's up you guys? It's Madonna. Welcome back to my channel. Hit that subscribe button and hit that notification button so you can know exactly when I post new videos. All right, so if you don't already know this, like, I hope you know this already, but if you don't already know this, I love it when you guys leave me a comment. One of my subscribers asked me about felon. So if you are a felon, can a felon become a PA? When I heard the word, I was like, a felon. So, like, I had to do a little bit of research myself on it. And depending, again, like, this is all depending on your charge. When you got the charge, is it a misdemeanor crime or is it actually a felony? Are you, like, a criminal that you're continuing criminal activities? You, you know, you just kind of made a bad decision at one time. With all of that being said, I'm going to do my best with the research that I've done to answer this question. And hopefully I do it justice, but at least if not that I'm able to point you into the direction that you can go to get the answers that you need. Okay? So, felons being somebody that committed a crime, that's, you know, the term that we're going to use. Can they become a PA? Uh, like, so the short answer is yes, um, however, uh, there's, there's a long answer to that and there's a little bit more that goes into that. So, again, like I said, like I mentioned before, it all depends on the crime. And when you actually committed that crime, my particular subscriber said that they, uh, got pulled over for a DUI and they had that as like a felony charge. DUI. And I know like a lot of physicians that get pulled over for DUI, so I don't know about that one, right? Like that's, that's like a common charge that people get. Not like the best thing to be doing, driving on the influence, but it happens. And so with that being said, one thing that I saw that you can do is try to get your record expunged. So if it was like one offense, it was, you know, 10 years ago, uh, try to get that thing expunged. It's not an easy route to go. It's not, um, easily done, but it's doable and many people get their records expunged. So that may be an option for you. Another thing to do is depending on if it was like as a, like you were a youth, you know, below the age of 18, um, and you committed this particular crime, you know, make sure that those records are sealed. Here's like the important thing, okay? And the thing to know with any and most PA schools that you're going to apply to. So they do background checks, just like jobs do background checks, PA schools do background checks because when you're going into your clinical year, you're going to be working with individuals, you're going to be working with kids. You're going to have to do like psych rotations and they're going to do a background check on you. And it depends on what is on that background check, whether or not you're going to be able to like pass the background check and be able to actually complete your clinical year, which is essential in you graduating and becoming a PA. But that being said, that is something that I would divulge or ask the school themselves. Like, do you take people that have a record or this is what happened and is that okay? Like to still apply? You don't want to get in on like false pretenses, you know, because they don't do the background check immediately when you're applying. But I know when you get in, they do a background check. They'll send you like provisional acceptance and then they'll do a background check on you. They'll ask you to complete a background check. So you don't want to do all that, go through that process, get your hopes up and then find out like, no, we can't take you because you have this on your record. It's important to just kind of like divulge all that information or get all that information requiring what the school's policy is on crimes committed in the past and see what you can do to ensure that you're able to be as forthcoming as possible, but also put yourself in a position to get into PA school. Now you're going to have to talk to your state board, your certification body because even if your school allows you to go through, if you're not able to be certified by the certifying board in your particular state, then that's going to be a problem. You're going to have wasted, you know, like 50 plus thousand dollars going to PA school and you're not going to be able to do anything with that particular degree because you're not able to be certified. So it's important to call your state board and see what they say with respect to certifying people who have committed crimes in the past as PAs. Also again, like look at the severity of your crime, look at how recent it was. Are there signs of rehabilitation? Those are all things that are going to play into your favor or maybe be part of your detriment if you didn't rehabilitate yourself, if you committed this crime just last week and if it was something like, you know, murder, right? So those are all things that you all, you're going to have to look at. Once you've called the school and asked them about that, once you've looked at the certifying board and made sure that it is a possibility for you to still get certified, then go ahead and make the steps and do the steps to apply. You're really going to have to do your due diligence to make sure that you're following these steps correctly and to make sure that you're doing everything that you need to to be forthcoming, but also put yourself in a position to succeed. Hopefully this answers your question or at least points you into the right direction. And again, short answer is yes, long answer, you're going to have to do some work, but it's doable. And you know, one crime or one accident in the past does not make you a criminal or like a felon, which sounds so much worse, oh my gosh. But that does not dictate who you are, okay? Thank you guys so much for watching. I love these questions, you guys. So if you have any other questions like this or any questions in general that you would like me to answer, go ahead and leave that in the comment section below right now. Follow me on Instagram at AdanaPA and hit that like button if you like this video. All right, thank you guys so much for watching and following me on this journey. I will talk to you guys next time. Bye.