The first year of physician assistant school is drastically different from the second year, in fact they are barely comparable. PA school starts in May and the first year consist of all classroom work, also known as the didactic year. There are three semesters to the didactic year, summer, fall and spring. The schedule first year follows the university schedule therefore the students will get Thanksgiving break, winter break and spring break in March. Since the first year is entirely spent in the classroom these breaks are much needed

As the semesters progress throughout the year the workload also increases. I remember thinking at the end of my first year “if I had tests this often with this much material in the first summer semester then I probably would have cried.” It is amazing how much you grow as a person and you get pushed further emotionally and physically then you have ever been pushed before. Many people compare the first year to trying to drink out of a fire hydrant; I found this analogy to be quite true. First year is tough, there is no sugar coating it and this is something everyone needs to know when they apply to PA school; however this one year will give you a life time of knowledge.

Once the first year of PA school is over everyone usually takes a sigh of relief that it is done. Majority of the class will travel to the national AAPA conference just prior to starting the clinical year. This allows for a nice get-a-away, in addition the professors and students get to enjoy time together outside of school. Last year we all went to Atlanta and this May we are all going to Las Vegas. I am excited already!

Second year is totally 100% the opposite of first year; starting in June of your second year you will go out on rotation and do nine rotations in total: seven core and two electives. The seven core rotations are psychiatry, primary care, surgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and internal medicine. Each core rotation is 6 weeks and there is an exam at the end of each rotation on the specialty that you were just in. Additionally there are two elective rotations that are each 4 weeks long and can be picked by the student in any specialty. I chose to do one in education because I want to eventually be a PA educator and the other in primary care.

The second year is fantastic! You really get a taste of what it is like to be a physician assistant as well as gaining a tremendous amount of medical knowledge and confidence.
The clinical year lasts from June to June and after the clinical year ends the final summer semester begins. This last semester consists of courses such as ethics and physician assistant graduate seminar which helps prepare you for interviews. The white coat ceremony is held in the beginning of August; this ceremony marks the end of physician assistant school and the start of your career as a PA!

--Carly

Carly graduated in 2009 from Quinnipiac University with an undergraduate degree in Health Science Studies. Subscribe to our feed for more posts from Carly!