A little about me: I went to my local community college for about 4 years then transferred to UC Riverside. After working on my undergrad degree for ~6 years, I finally graduated with my B.S. in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology this last June! During my last year of undergrad, I worked on receiving my medical assistant certification. Shortly after graduating, I started a job as a dermatology MA and I love it! I plan on applying to PA school next cycle after gaining experience in the medical field.  

I wanted to come on here and give a little bit of advice as pre PA student! 

1. Take your ~time~! I can not tell you how many people I have spoke to that have to retake science courses because they were taking tons and tons of science classes on top of each other. Science classes like ochem, are very challenging! Try to plan ahead, if you are taking ochem, maybe try to take other general eds the same semester/ quarter instead of throwing biology and anatomy in there, for example. 

2. Find something that makes you unique. Every (almost) pre-PA student is going to have many PCE/HCE hours, healthcare volunteering, involvement in their pre-PA club on campus, etc. Find something else you are passionate about and stick to it. Admissions what to see what makes you, you! For example, I tutored biology for many years at my community college because I wanted to give back to my fellow students. I also was a research assistant studying butterflies! I now plan to start volunteering at a animal rehab soon because I love wildlife! Trust me, all the hours and medical volunteering is super important but have something else to make you stand out from other applicants. 

3. Take community college science classes to boost your GPA. During my last year of undergrad and now during my gap year, I have been taking some classes at my old community college to help my GPA out and to simply gain knowledge! For example, I took nutrition. I loved it and I learned so much! I am currently in kinesiology and I know this class will also help me for PA school. If you are taking a gap year and you have time, I would recommend to take or even retake classes at your local community college. 

If you have any other questions at all feel free to reach out to me on my instagram: madi.futurepa.c! I would love to hear from you. Good luck everyone! 😊 

I have been having an issue finding shadowing opportunities lately. I have cold called many clinics & ask to shadow their physician assistants, but have been denied every time. They don’t even take it into consideration. Is it worth it to try to shadow or should I just continue to work at my PCE? 

I am a non-traditional pre-PA student majoring in Medical Anthropology. I have taken the majority of my prerequisite classes before transferring to my university; however, my overall GPA and science GPA is only 3.07. Although my university GPA has shown an up-trend as I currently have a 3.90 at my university, I still do not think I have competitive stats. 

As of right now, I have 250 volunteer hours, 60 shadowing abroad hours from Italy, 350 PCE hours, and I am currently shadowing a PA. I graduate in March so my plan is to complete three more prerequisites (Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology) at a CC. 

My question is would it be worth doing a post-bacc program or should I do a Master's program in Medical Sciences to be a more competitive candidate? I would appreciate any advice as I am a first-generation college student with not that much guidance. 

Thank you!