 It's been so difficult coming to this decision after spending the last four years post grad gaining patient contact hours shadowing hours and Etc. And retaking classes, but I don't want to continue to live in limbo. Hey guys, my name is Boris I'm a physician assistant and today's video is called giving up on Becoming a PA giving up on PA school the reason I'm making this video is because I read a Very sad pretty heartbreaking post in the PA school application cycle 23 24 Facebook group basically if you're not familiar It's a community of pre-PA students PA people applying to PA school just kind of supporting each other Sharing tips talking about individual programs and advice and whatnot Just basically a very very wholesome kind of supportive community for people hoping to become PAs and to get into PA school And so once in a while you get one of these and it always breaks my heart just because I remember being in this person's shoes Considering, you know, am I cut out for this? Am I gonna make it after my second rejection second year in a row? It was like I Should probably just give up right do something easier because there's like a 2% admission rate overall in PA schools And it's like alright. I'm probably just not gonna make it right. Well, I mean spoiler alert. I made it I've been practicing for two years. It's a great job. I'm very happy with my choice I wouldn't be able to do anything else. I love my job But you know the road up here is uphill and it's very very It's very scary to try to put in that much effort and sacrifice that much time and money and effort and Just like commitment and hope for the future and put all of that all of those eggs in one basket of one day Getting into PA school and on top of that also getting through PA school getting licensed and actually starting to work as a PA It's terrifying and so I definitely feel for this person that wrote this post And I'm gonna put it on the screen, but I also want to read it, you know verbatim and then talk about it just a little bit So here's the post. It's by an anonymous member. Obviously this person didn't want to share who they are for very good reason So here's the post that being said also. It's a public post, you know, it's available to the public So I don't think anybody would mind that I read it here a bunch of people have already seen it So here we go The person says I am moving on from the PA path I applied to 13 schools this cycle and early to mid-August due to finishing a course due to my GPA Blah blah blah. Okay. I was ghosted by three schools six rejections without an interview got four Interviews two wait lists and two rejections post interview So just gonna stop right there and say four interviews is pretty dang good, you know applying to 13 schools very admirable That's a lot of money. That's a lot of a commitment all those secondary applications and everything But getting four interviews is fantastic two wait lists, which is also very very good You could always get off the wait list and at least you did well enough to get on the wait list You know, most people don't and then two rejections, of course So I mean this person is like right there. They're just right there, you know, they're so close So it's it's very sad to me just with these statistics alone that the person is giving up Because they got four interviews. That's already very very very high That's like top 10% of all applicants and then two wait lists So this person is like top 5% of all applicants, you know If they took some feedback from these schools that they were rejected by did a lot this year to kind of fill in those holes I don't see why next year. They wouldn't get in, you know, but you know, they're choosing to give up right now So they go on they say I'm a low GPA applicant So I knew my chances of acceptance were lower from the beginning just true But you've got four interviews and two wait lists, you know It's so sad to me that they're quitting but so they said that I think I I Think my application is well-rounded though, which is why I think I got four interviews I did one paid mock interview to prepare for To prepare and in retrospect, I think I should have done more and applied earlier Yes, especially to rolling admission schools. You do have to apply as early as possible August is way too late Depending on their their timelines, but I would say August is too late if their deadlines are September October November August is way too late So yeah, definitely applying earlier and yes I highly recommend mock interviews with somebody who's good at doing mock interviews and has a track record of doing good mock interviews such as myself Boris the PA comm if you want to do a mock interview they go on to say to be honest I'm terrible at interviews because my mind goes blank due to nerves. This is why you practice This is why you practice practice practice first with friends and family And then you do a mock interview and treat it like an actual interview when all the pressure is on dress up Be on time check your Wi-Fi connection if it's online and just treat it like a real interview and the more you do that The less nervous you get at your actual interview So I highly recommend mock interviews not just because I do them professionally And then they go on they say I got my second rejection post interview today Which is honestly I was honestly expecting but it still is somewhat crushing. Oh, yeah, somewhat crushing is an understatement It's terrifying. It's a huge blow to your ego. It's a just pit in your stomach saying oh my god. I didn't get in I actually really like the program. Yeah, so it's it's a pretty sad rejection when that happens They go on to say I don't want to keep applying for years to come So I think I'm ready to move on from the PA path now It's been so difficult coming to this decision after spending the last four years Post-grad gaining patient contact hours shadowing hours and etc. And retaking classes But I don't want to continue to live in limbo. I know there's a chance I might get off the waitlist But I honestly don't think that I will So I really like the way that they described it as living in limbo Because that's kind of how you're living, you know You're putting in all this work spending all this money doing all this crazy stuff to Maybe not even have it pay off. So living in limbo is a good way to put it and it's just so sad when that happens Especially if you know your work doesn't all pay off and you get into PA school give me one second Sorry, I have to plug my laptop in because it's about to die But yeah, and again, I just want to emphasize that I really wish they weren't giving up because they're so close So close, but anyway, the person goes on to say I've been looking at local ABSN So that's accelerated bachelors of science and nursing programs and the price and time it takes also is very appealing I'm sad that I won't be a PA, but it really I really just want to start my career I wish you all the best in the rest of your process Yeah, ABSN is definitely definitely a good idea if you think that you may not make it into PA school Or if you just want to Like this person is saying start your career sooner because the they're much less competitive than PA school There's so many of them and they're quick They're like one year maybe one and a half years max and then you're a RN BSN making 70 80 90k a year You know not exactly what a PA makes but pretty dang close And also at that point nurse practitioner is always an option and also after a year or so of working as a BSN RN You know PA school should basically be a shoe into I'm not promising that But you'd be super duper competitive as an RN applying to PA school and I've seen it happen a few times But usually RNs go to nurse practitioner route just because it's a much easier Easier admissions process than PA school much less competitive. So I mean this person's head is in the right place They want to be in medicine. They want to start their career. So they're considering this ABS RN ABSN program Which is a good option. I actually anybody that I'm advising into PA school unless I really truly think that they are a shoe in I really do I really do Recommend almost every PA school applicant to also apply to one of these ABSN programs as a backup Because worst-case scenario you don't get in and then this ABSN program is one year You don't get into PA school spend that year getting experience and getting a very terrific backup option of being a BSN RN Instead of just taking a bunch more undergrad classes, which will do basically nothing for you and getting you know low-level PCE experience as like a medical assistant Whatever like it's good experience, but not nearly as good as a nurse as a BSN You know, so I actually really highly recommend these ABSN programs Even if you think that you are gonna get into PA school just as a placeholder You know to at least apply and have that option if the worst should happen and you do not get it. Okay, so That's the first part of this video The first thing I wanted to talk about is just this very tragic very heartbreaking story about the person Wanting to get into PA school spending four years after graduating from undergrad Trying to get in getting experience retaking classes just getting to be the best applicant that they could possibly be and a lot of it paying off For interviews to wait lists like damn, they're close So heartbreaking that they have to stop now But either way I wanted to talk about that and then also very quickly. I wanted to share my own pre-PA timeline Just to kind of put it into perspective saying that this person took four years to retake classes and get experience and you know They're giving up after four years, which it's a very long time to be in limbo as they said and Also, I just wanted to show you my pre-PA timeline to show you that my 15 years in limbo Eventually paid off and now I'm a PA So let's just talk about that real quick and the whole reason I even have this graphic made up is because I'm applying for my PA license in North Carolina every state makes you do different things And so I'm applying for my PA license in North Carolina and they actually make you put in your entire timeline of everything You did from high school all the way to the present day So I'm not going to talk about every one of these in detail. I want this video to be you know, five or ten minutes max But I just wanted to show you, you know from high school graduating high school in 2007 going into an engineering program 2007 to 2008 Hated it didn't want to be an engineer And so I wanted to be pre-med basically from that year on and then becoming pre-med biology major from 2008 to 2011 So I graduated college with a biology major 2011 very low GPA 2.98 no hours no clinical hours No patient care experience not even all of my pre-PA prerequisite course is done just total train wreck of an applicant and just didn't even apply because I knew like I'm not Gonna get in so it was useless and also I had all the student loans and like I just I was not in a good place to try to apply to graduate school And so After graduating from college in 2011 the summer, you know, I was looking for a job The economy was kind of crappy at that time. So I did some waiting waiting tables. I did some other little odd jobs I delivered food for food fetches, which was like grub hub way back in the day Like you had a page or you didn't even have like a smartphone. So Yeah, I did all of that and then finally landed a job using my degree with a national prion disease pathology and surveillance Center and PD PSC at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a cool job But I was like, you know, basically a lab tech and I didn't like it And so I didn't like it so much that I quit and became a bartender because it sounded like more fun at the Matt Greek Also in Cleveland, Ohio and like I don't know. I mean, I knew I didn't want to be a lab cut a lab tech I knew I didn't want to be a bartender, you know forever I just I knew I wanted to still be a medical provider But I had no idea how to get there because I had crappy grades a bunch of student debt and essentially no hope for the future I knew I needed a change. So I joined the military. Why exactly there's a bunch of reasons But I you know, I joined the military. I joined the Navy Spent two and a half years in the US Navy ceremonial guard in DC two and a half more years as a yeoman for HSM 37 out of Kaniyia Hawaii Basically doing like travel arrangements and budgets and whatnot for our helicopter pilots and Then had a very short break and then did a post-bac program to improve my grades at Cornell University That was two semesters and then immediately upon graduating from that program barely even catching my breath I immediately started my job as a scribe for physicist scribes and with my experience. They needed a new chief Basically like a supervisor scribe for that team. So I did that You know hindsight probably shouldn't have done all that responsibility at once, but it'd be would it be And then where is it? Oh? Yeah, I don't know why this is out of order But basically about six months into that I got an opportunity to be a medical assistant for way better hours and way more money And also just a different skill set more hands-on than being a scribe So I went to go do that and during that time is when I finally got into PA school Took a couple months off and then there's PA school and then you know, there's my history as a PA You know the two years that I've been practicing so basically from 2008 to 2019 when I finally got into PA school was What is that? 11 years 11 years and I guess you would call it limbo. I mean I was constantly moving forward. I was getting life experience I was having the time of my life in DC and in Hawaii like I was doing cool stuff You know, it's not wasted years by any means, but it was years not spent as a PA or even in PA school But either way, I guess you could call it limbo. I just call it life But my point and sharing all of that is whatever your personal journey has to be if practicing medicine is what you want Never stop don't stop until you get there whatever path that may be whether you keep firing away at PA school or whether you become a Bachelor's trained nurse in one of these accelerated bachelor programs for a year a year and a half and then become a nurse practitioner down the line Or you do a few different things and go to medical school Whatever the path is for you Just if you have it in your heart and soul and blood to become a medical provider to practice medicine It's really a calling and people like us. We can't do anything else. This is the job that is meant for us So if you are one of those people, please do not give up Please do not give up and just whatever it takes for you to get there. Just do it one step at a time Let me know if you need help. I'll see you guys in the next video