 If you're looking for a video on a specific topic, simply type in what you're looking for in my channel, Search Bar, and if I have videos addressing that topic, it will take you right to them. I am back with another video for you guys. So, you know, I do a lot of videos, obviously, on PA School, but I wanted to do this video just to kind of give you guys a little bit of insight on the differences between PA School and undergrad. So that's what this video is going to be about. It's going to be, like, my PA School versus undergrad video. If you haven't already done so, go ahead right now and subscribe to my channel and follow me on Instagram, edit it on in the PA, and, you know, join me on this journey, you guys. Join the family. Come on, let's have some fun. So, with respect to PA School and undergrad, obviously, they're both schooling systems, right? But they're different. And the first difference that you're going to notice is the material. So in undergrad, you're obviously getting to choose your major. Some of you can go, like, some people choose to go and decide it for a little while as they continue to figure things out, because they're different kind of like prerequisites and standard things that you have to take anyways. And then once you take your major, choose your major, then you do things that are more geared towards that major. So for me, I was a biomedical sciences major with a minor in chemistry. So the majority of my classes were science-based courses, correct? However, I still had to take, like, public speaking, and I had to take, you know, world literature, and I had to take, like, a music appreciation class. Now, does that really have anything to do with my major? No. But, I mean, I guess they wanted us to be a little bit more of a well-rounded student, well-versed and well-learned student. So you had to take all of these other courses. And I also had to take, like, some PE courses. I took, like, physical conditioning in tennis and badminton. So with things like that, that's, like, your undergraduate experience. However, with respect to PA School, it's obviously a specialty. I am going to be a PA in the near future, right? I'm a PA student. And all of the material that I'm learning is geared towards that. So everything is PA-related. All of the material is healthcare-related. How to treat, diagnose, manage these patients, and understanding the dynamics of the different diseases. And that is a more specialized and specific approach, as opposed to the general approach that you're going to see in undergrad. Also with respect to PA School, it's a whole lot of information. So the material that you're getting is a lot. You're getting thrown a lot of stuff at you while in undergrad, although it may feel like a lot of information, it's very, very manageable. And, you know, if you just kind of put your time together and make yourself a nice schedule, you can get all of that information down. But with PA School, it's just a constant flow of information. So that's also something to be aware of when transitioning from undergrad to PA School. So another difference is the time. Now in your undergraduate years, you kind of get to choose your schedule. You make your schedule, essentially a lot of times you get to go in and you say, hey, I want to take this class here, do this class there, so I can have a gap here. I don't want to have classes on Tuesdays or however you set it up. But you're the one that's making this schedule. You're choosing it. You're trying to get in as early as you can, so you can get the best class classes that you can, right? In terms of time, you don't want to be left with just whatever is there because all the classes are full. And so with respect to that, your time is kind of your own. You manage it, how you see fit and how you chose your schedule, you know, that's what it is. However, with respect to PA School, your time is not really your own, right? So everybody is on the same schedule. You go in, you all have the same schedule. It's been already pre-set for you. You're going to classes at the same time, ending at the same time every day. You're seeing the same people every single day for a whole year and, you know, you're kind of just like at the mercy of whoever sets these schedules up. So it's not really a matter of like, I can choose this, I can choose that, no, it's already set for you. And that's something that you have to be mindful of as well because, you know, you may go in thinking, oh, like, I'll probably not start class until like 10 o'clock when you might be in for a rude awakening because you're used to doing that in undergrad. But in PA School, you're starting class at 8 o'clock, maybe sometimes even 7 o'clock depending on what professor or guest professor they have coming in for that day. So another difference is the type of semester system or the type of class slash schedule system that you're on. Now it varies from PA School to PA School, but for the most part, your undergraduate degree is on a semester-based system, right? You are in school from fall to May, so most schools start in August and they'll end in May. That's usually how it works. With PA School, it tends to be a little bit different. You can have a January start date, you can have a May start date. Some schools have July start dates and then a large number of schools have August start dates. So there are schools that are on trimester systems. There are schools that are on semester systems. There are schools that have summer breaks. There are schools that don't have summer breaks. So it's kind of like a hodgepodge of like all, it's like however they saw fit, however they felt like they wanted to actually put this PA School together, that's what they decided and that's how they chose to set up their class schedule and their semester or how you're going to school schedule. In understanding that, let's say you got out of undergrad in May, early May, because it's usually around like Mother's Day weekend or so or late April, and then you know you applied to PA School while you were in undergrad and then you applied to PA School and got accepted to one that starts at the end of May. So you have a very, very quick turnaround. You have to be mindful of that. You have to understand that, hey, I'm only going to have a couple weeks to actually go through and get myself together for school. But you can also choose for yourself to say, hey, you know what? I want that year. I want to start PA School in January so you can apply to schools that have January start dates and that might be a better option for you. So with respect to how the school starts, it can either be again May, January, July, or August as opposed to your just solely semester based system that you usually see in undergrad. OK, another difference is the type of standardized test that you see or you use to get into the different schools. So PA School is a grad school while obviously undergrad is undergrad. So in high school for your undergraduate degree, you're taking your ACTs and your SAT. So you're getting kind of just an understanding of how standardized testing works, you know, it's kind of like low stakes in a sense. It's not really, it's not as like super stressful in my opinion as taking the GRE or MCAT because you can take either GRE or MCAT to get into PA School. Although it is graduate school, you can also take the MCAT. So that is, you know, something that you should keep in mind for those of you who are planning on going to med school and you already took the MCAT. There are many schools that they'll accept your MCAT over your GRE. So that is something to keep in mind. But with, like I said, PA School, it's GRE. That's mostly what schools want. And so you're going to have to study for a long period of time. The GRE is a, what, three hour exam. You're going to be in there. You're going to have little breaks here and there, but nothing super significant and you're going to have to study hard to pass that exam so that you can get into your particular school. You know, there's an average score that different schools kind of have. It's not like your SAT or ACT where if you get like a, you know, I'm not even sure what the system is now with the SAT. For me, it was like 1600, but I know it's changed. But depending on what you get, if you're in that range, then you're, you know, geared for some scholarships. But with the GRE, the PA Schools have different grading systems. I get you, I guess you can say. So on average, they're asking for at least a 300. For most schools, other schools have higher standards, you know, 310, 315 up there. Some schools may have like a slightly lower standard of 298, but rarely do they go like super low. So you just have to keep that in mind. But those are the different standardized tests that you'd have to take for both. You're either SAT or ACT for your undergraduate degree or your MCAT or GRE for PA School. So a major difference that you're going to see between undergraduate degrees and PA School degrees and schooling is your financial aspect, right? So what does it cost to go to undergrad as opposed to PA School? So for most undergraduate programs, anywhere from like 20,000 a semester to 50,000 for the higher, you know, more Ivy League type schools, you might get a little bit higher in some of those those schools. But generally, it's around that range, right? But for PA School, it's anywhere from like 50,000 plus for your entire schooling, right? It's usually two years, sometimes three, depending on the particular program. But you're spending upward of like 70,000 for both years, 80,000 for both years, 100,000, 160,000, you know, 106,000, depending on the school, depending on the location, depending on the cost of living in those locations. Also kind of drives prices up as well. So you have to make sure that you can pay for these different schools and programs, right? After you've gone through your undergrad, you're usually, if you do well on your ACT or SAT, you're getting like a really nice scholarship. You're help, you're able to pay for some of that. But with PA School, there's not that many scholarships per se geared towards like PA School specifically. So you have to go search them out. And like I said, they're few and far in between. So you're in you're more than likely. It's not to say that you won't get it, but more than likely you might not get it, right? So therefore, you have to figure out, all right, so am I getting a loan? Am I taking a loan out for this? And how much of a loan am I taking out? It's similar to Med School in that a lot of students take out these loans that will supplement their entire life while living and going to PA School. And so that's something that you have to be mindful of when choosing between the different schools, but with respect to finances, again, it can run you anywhere from 50,000 and up. So be aware of that. So the grading system is something it's kind of the it's kind of the same depending on the different schools that you're going to. A lot of it is with your undergraduate degree, you have your, you know, your 4.0 GPA grading scale. You have, you know, A's and A minuses. Some schools don't, but, you know, most schools do go through the A or A minus route on B, B plus, B minus. And it's pretty much the same for PA School. Different PA Schools have different grading scales, but for the most part, it's on a 4.0 GPA grading on my particular school is like that. We do A minuses and A's. It depends on the school, though, where your A and your A minus falls. So I know that different undergrads have the same issue where some may have an A starting at, you know, your 94 or some may have an A starting at 93. So it's it all depends on the school. But the grading system is fairly similar. However, it's kind of like depending on like, is this like low stakes or high stakes? So, you know, depending on PA School, in undergrad, it's kind of low stakes. You know, yes, you're trying to get yourself prepared and ready for these higher educations and these terminal degrees, your masters, your doctorates. But in PA School, I mean, you're trying to pass. So if you get a C, if you get underneath the 73 or underneath the 75 or underneath an 80 for some schools, then you're failing, you know, it's not your 60 percent as in your undergraduate degree. So a fail for a lot of PA Schools is generally anything lower than a C. And I know that that is not failing for undergrad, you know, having a C minus is not failing, but it's failing if you're in PA School. So that is something to definitely be mindful of. So ultimately, there are many, many changes that you're going to have to go through and many differences that you're going to have to navigate while going from undergraduate degrees and your undergraduate learning experience to a PA School learning experience. But, you know, you'll be fine. There's ebbs and flows. There's a learning curve, but you should be OK if you just do your research and you're understanding the different changes that you're going to see and you prepare yourself and that's part of doing the research. So if you prepare for that, prepare that, you know, how you're going to study, how you're going to sleep, how you're going to work in terms of like working out, if that's what you need to do to kind of get some of the stress off, understanding all of those different dynamics that play a role in you succeeding, you should be fine. So hopefully this is helpful to those of you who were trying to figure out that whole transition state. If you have any other questions, leave them in the comments section below. And thank you guys so much for watching. Please continue to follow me on this journey. Subscribe if you haven't already done so and follow me on Instagram at Adana, the PA. Thank you guys. I will talk to you guys next time. Bye.