<p>My daughter is a junior in HS right now and wants to be a PA. I love the idea of a 5 or 6 year direct admit PA program. Does anyone have a list of schools that offer this option? Anyone been through one of these programs?</p>
<p>[Physician</a> Assistant Education Association](<a href=“http://www.paeaonline.org%5DPhysician”>http://www.paeaonline.org)</p>
<p>Click on any state and it will show you all of the schools that offer programs. It will tell you which ones are graduate only and which ones are 3 + 2 programs.</p>
<p>It is MUCH easier to get admitted into the combined program than to try to go from college (or even a medical profession) into the graduate program. My kid has 4 months to go until she gets her Masters, and alreay has a job offer.</p>
<p>Great advice - thanks! Have looked at some of the schools that offer the 3+2. Any chance my daughter could talk with you kid about the program he/she is in? Is there a good deal of clinical involved so they get patient care time?</p>
<p>Most of the patient care time comes from volunteer work or paid employment. My daughter got hers by working for a home health care agency during summer and holiday breaks, taking care of a set of early elementary school twins who both had birth defects.
And in school, the profs sometimes had other projects that helped build up hours. Some of her classmates volunteered in clinics or did part-time for home healthcare agencies during the school year.</p>
<p>For the schools that I know of, the definition of direct patient contact was fairly broad. As she starts looking at schools, she can ask them what kinds of things qualify and what don’t. A good thing she can do is to contact her local ambulance association about becoming an EMT, which she can do at 17. Schools really like to see that.</p>
<p>At Marywood, they need 300 documented hours by the end of their junior year in college. Some schools require more, some less. Hours done during high school were counted, so she can start any time. Even if she shadows a PA or two to see what their jobs are like (ER, ortho, a couple of areas to see what she’d like) start recording those hours.</p>
<p>My daughter’s doing her family practice rotation with our doc now, so she’s living at home. I’ll ask her if she’s willing to interact with your daughter and contact you by private message.</p>
<p>During the first three years of school, there is limited contact with patients through the school, since they are in regular college classes. The summer after junior year my kid’s program did their human anatomy (cadaver) work and also took some classes with the local medical school. A lot of practice work is done on each other, dead pigs for suture practice, and dummies. Kid also was employed as a practice patient at the local med school, so she learned by helping them (and got paid pretty well, too). The last year and a half is spent doing clinical rotations in various fields of medicine, and there they get plenty of hands on. </p>
<p>ONE THING TO BE CAREFUL OF: Some schools have a BS program that does not guarantee entrance into the graduate phase. Be very wary of them, since it is hard to get in elsewhere right out of college. The one state school in Pennsylvania that offers a PA program limits how many of their own undergrads can get into the grad program. No way was my daughter going to take that risk.</p>
<p>Thanks again…just looked into Marywood and she’d qualify for a dean’s scholarship based on grades and scores. I’ll have her do research on other schools this weekend. Your last paragraph hits home and echos with BS Nursing programs in may parts of the country. The schools want you to start with them but won’t guarantee a spot to complete the program - scary proposition. I don’t want her to have to re-apply somewhere mid stream after she’s all settled in.</p>
<p>Most of the schools that offer the 3+2 are private - which means more money up front but the outcome is likely worth it.</p>
<p>nova southeastern university
great school on a very clean modern campus and no snow.</p>
<p>Do these Direct Admit programs require the student to maintain a certain GPA to stay in their programs. The pre-PA classes are very difficult and I can imagine that a number of kids may not end up wth adequate GPAs.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school required a 3.5 GPA. She was required to take the GRE, but there was no minimal score. They are just starting that requirement, and wanted a baseline average in order to start setting a minimum. During the summer period prior to starting senior year/first year of the grad phase, anything less than 80% was a failure, tests could be repeated once.</p>
<p>Most students knew by the end of the sophomore year whether or not they could handle the classes (organic chem, genetics and such comes early). There was only one student who finished the fourth year and left with a BS in health sciences. Three (two of them grad admissions coming from medical professions) failed that first summer session.</p>
<p>Unlike med school and pre-med classes that tend to be cut-throat competitive, PA classes tend to be cooperative. At my kid’s school, every student took every class together, and they held study groups to try to pull the strugglers along. </p>
<p>At some of the 3 + 5, the graduate proffs are involved in the freshman admit process and monitor the students in undergrad classes, so they are pretty good at weeding very early, while students have time to switch to another undergrad major.</p>