In a lot of our classes at Quinnipiac, the professors will highlight what they call a “clinical pearl.” This is usually a bit of information that they have learned throughout their clinical careers that they use to emphasize a point for us or to make a concept clearer. Since starting PA school 4 months ago, I have come up with a few of my own pearls that might help prospective students both with the application process and in choosing a school.
My first bit of advice is to have as many school options as possible, and this usually means applying to lots of schools. There is a lot of competition for a small number of spots at most schools. Talking to my classmates there was a universal feeling of not being able to predict which schools we got into and which we didn’t. Some people didn’t even get interviews in places they thought they were shoo-ins, and others got accepted into their long-shots. A lot of times it depends on you fitting a specific spot that the school is looking to fill. The good news is that most people had a few places to choose from and, not surprisingly, those that had the most choices had applied to the most schools. I know it costs a lot of money to apply to each school, and to travel for interviews, but the extra money up front will be well worth it in the end. And when you compare that cost to the total cost of PA school, it’s just a drop in the ocean.
My second pearl is for after you have gotten an interview at a school. Most places have a “meet and great” of some sort the night before the interview. These usually don’t count for anything towards your acceptance, but they can be very helpful in getting more of a real sense of the school. Admissions documents and contacts are going to portray the school in the best light possible. It’s with the students that you can get a better idea of the school. Students at these events are obviously not going to tell you everything they hate about the school, but they will probably tell you what’s hard or what they would change if they could. Participating in the meet and greet and getting to know the student helpers during the interview itself will also help you to see what sorts of students this school admits. These are the types of people you’ll be spending the next few years with and you want to make sure you like them! I wouldn’t base a decision solely on these experiences, but they can help you to have a clearer picture when you do decide.
My final pearl is to pay attention to the school’s mission statement because that can give you great idea as to what is important to the school and what to expect when you arrive. There are some schools that highlight their focus on rural medicine, others that focus on primary care, and others that talk about international medicine. If you aren’t interested in these things, then that school is probably not for you. But if you are, then you should definitely apply. One of the things that drew me to Quinnipiac is their commitment to community service. Since being here, I have been blown away by how central community service is to everything we do. If a school feels to strongly about an issue that they put it into their mission statement, then you can be sure you’ll be doing a lot of it during your time at that school. The schools go through a long and in depth process deciding which students they want to accept. It is up to us as students to put in just as much work and research to make sure that the school we choose is the best match for us.
-Katrina Hull Physician Assistant 2013
