 All right, so you guys know that we're in the CASPA cycle, we're in the swing of things, and you have so many questions about this CASPA cycle. When's the best time to apply? When should I be putting in my information into CASPA? And so all of those questions are valid questions. But a really, really good question is, should I take a gap year or should I apply this year? How does that whole application cycle work? So that's what we're going to be talking about in this video. What's up you guys? It's Amanda. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you guys so much for joining me. If you were with me yesterday and the team, I hope you saw all of the questions that we were able to answer because there were some really valid questions in that meet and greet. If you missed it, it's up on the channel, so go look for the meet and greet with the GTCU team. Go check them out on their respective social medias, you guys. And please join GTCU so that you can get more interaction with them. Like I said before, we are rolling out that six-week virtual shadowing program. So I know it's something that you all are going to benefit from, so definitely take a look at that. I wanted to talk to you guys today about essentially how the CASPA cycle works. So a lot of the questions that we had yesterday were about CASPA. They were about applying to PA school. And I mean, that's really the big question, right? What are my stats going to need to be? What do I need to do with my personal statement? What's a great personal statement? When should I apply? Should I retake these hours? And those are all surrounding the application because you're trying to apply to PA school, to get into PA school, to get that C. So with that being said, I had a question posed by Trinay Gibbs. She said, hi, if a program starts in the spring of 2023, would I be applying the 2022-2023 cycle? I'm trying to determine if I should start just looking into taking a gap year for more PCE hours, shadowing and volunteer hours. Thank you for your advice. Love your channel. All right. So this is not super complex in terms of when you should apply. So yeah, if the program that I wanted to apply to is actually starting next year, 2022, then I would be applying to this CASPA cycle, the 2021-2022 cycle. Because what happens is you apply this year, CASPA has opened up in April, as many of you know that because I've been saying that for the past, I don't know, a few weeks. So you apply this year, you will get interviews this year, right, Lord willing. And then from those interviews, you would get acceptances. Your acceptances would be either for a January start, a May start of 2022, or like a September-August start of 2022. When you are thinking about applying, just keep all of that in mind. Because you don't want to kind of knock yourself out of an application cycle because you thought you were applying for the right year. You thought, hey, I can get all of these prerequisite hours in and these different classes that I need to get done. And then you miss the boat essentially, okay? So yes, Trinay, if you are planning on attending PA school in 2023, then you would start your application next year, April of 2022, okay? So that is the answer to that question. With respect to taking a gap year to get more patient care experience hours and shadowing hours and volunteer hours, that's a really great option for you. You have all of this year to do that. I don't know if you're taking a gap year because you just graduated and so you want to take this year to apply for jobs and apply for shadowing opportunities or volunteer opportunities at hospitals and clinics in your area. But if that is the case, then yes, you would essentially be taking one gap year to do all of that. And then kind of sort of you would be taking another gap year, like two gap years if you have already graduated, right? Because in that next year, you would be applying to PA school and you're not in PA school. So you would be doing all of the various necessary things to get into PA school. So you have two years to get your hours in and get your stuff together, okay? So that is what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I wanted to make sure you understood the concept of how the CASPA cycle works. It opens up every April and it closes every April, but it's not for the current year that you're in. It's for the following year. So again, if you're trying to apply to PA school in 2022 for a school that opens up that year, then you need to be applying and putting in your CASPA application in 2021. Do anything that you can to continue to boost those hours. It is important that you continue to update the CASPA application because schools do have the opportunity to look at that and they'll be able to see, oh, you know, when she originally applied, she had 500 volunteer hours, but now she has 700 because time flies and so you don't want to sit up here and just be like, oh, that's my application. That's it. I'm not doing anything else as I wait to hear back from interviews. You're still going to be a crew in those hours. So it's important for you to actually, you know, claim them, okay? And claim that victory on getting into PA school. So much luck to every one of you. The winners of our CASPA giveaway were announced yesterday. So if you don't know that you've won, please go and look at that video from yesterday because I mentioned who the winners were at the end of the video. So go ahead and check that out and see if you were one of the winners. One of you has responded to Rinda. I think you've not responded to me yet. So if you want to claim the scholarship, please, please, please reach out at itonethepa.com. Okay. Thank you guys so much for watching. Please continue to like my videos, subscribe to my channel, follow me on Instagram and on the PA and on Instagram at Get That See University and I will talk to you guys next time. Bye.