Hi, I am very confused about the where to go this fall, and with me being the total procrastinator I have two days left to decide. 
I originally wanted to become a nurse practitioner and go into a direct BSN program. I was set for Loyola the entire year almost. And then I started thinking about how I don’t exactly know how all the occupations in the health field function and questioned whether or not I should go into a direct program if I am not 100% down for Nursing.
I got into UW - Madison for Biochemistry and see many benefits in going there, especially for admission into DO and PA programs. If I completed my Biochem degree and still wanted to do Nursing, it would be two years extra but that’s fine by me. The BSN program would be completed in a year after my bachelors.
I like UW- Madison a lot more, but money also kind of comes into hand, along with my newfound possible future interest in the PA field. UW - Madison is 33K with financial aid whereas Loyola is 28K. Granted there isn’t much of a difference but this is including 5K in FAFSA loans that I would have to pay back anyway for both schools. Not including these loans, UW Madison would be 39K and Loyola 33K.
I also really like the environment for ER and possibly surgery, and I’ve been reading online as to how its common to see a PA in those positions rather than a NP. This brings my attention to the field, and I also like how PA is more medicine oriented while Nursing is more patient care and a holistic approach.
I also have read up online how getting my BSN and then applying to PA schools is also possible and can maayybe land me a seat in a PA school. But the thing is, if I go to Loyola for my BSN I would have to take classes over the summer to cover all the requirements for a pre PA student ( Like general Chemistry, Biology, Psychology - all the MCAT prereqs). Wouldn’t that lead to more money being spent on classes anyway? And has anyone heard of this route working, because I can honestly see it backfire on the applicant too…
So my desperate last minute multipart question is: which school should I attend if I want to consider both PA and NP? Is it safer to go into a BSN program and take the Pre PA Prereqs additionally, or is it safer to go to UW- Madison? All help is greatly appreciated I’m just a mess right now. Thank you all so much!
Are you a direct admit to the bsn program at Loyola ? If so, take it - admission to PA is very competitive and odds are against you there.
However : have you taken AP bio and AP chemistry and with which grades/scores ? What are you GPA and act/sat scores ?
Are you okay not working in a health profession if biochemistry doesn’t lead to that ?
I’m a direct admit to the BSN program. I haven’t taken any of those classes but my weighted GPA is 4.5 and unweighted is 3.54. My ACT score is a 28 and is 29 superscored. I am willing to work hard to get into pa school, I am ok if the path is difficult. I just want an easier route to it, and I wasn’t sure if getting a BSN would help me or harm me with my application to PA schools /: I really want to be in the health field as of now but if I don’t end up in the field that’s fine I must have found something else on the way. What do you think? I also don’t know what will be more valuable to PA schools: the amount of clinical hours with a BSN or the prestigious name of Madison.
PA schools don’t care about your college’s name - what they care about is GPA and hours of clinical experience.
In your situation, I’d go with the sure thing and pick Loyola. In three years you’ll be able to assess where you stand. Then, if PA school is still interesting to you, you have a good background and the number of hours. If it’s not, you have a guaranteed good job. If np interests you more, you are set to work and get your hospital to pay for it. Win-win.
Is it common to see a BSN make into a PA program though? Will that restrict me? And if PA schools are so difficult to get into, then wouldn’t applicants from a higher ranked school have a better chance of getting in? UW Madison is ranked 41 in the nation whereas Loyola is ranked 106 in the nation. Madison is also heavy on student research but would that help me with my PA application?
No, the school’s rank doesn’t matter. What matters is YOUR rank within that school.
For PA (if you decide not to go the NP route) you will need to complete a few more classes bit that’s about it. You can even complete them part time while working as a nurse or in the summer.
Alright but with PA programs having acceptance rates as low as 5%, would they pick a RN? I feel like it’s unlikely due to how they can easily go the NP route, and aren’t trained with the same model as PAs. Would my chances increase of getting into a PA school if I just went straight bio? Have you heard of RNs getting accepted into PA schools? Sorry for the many questions/: I just haven’t reseearched about PA at all this year because I was so fixated on Nursing and now there isn’t much time left. 
Well, NP = PA in terms of salary and responsibilities (and yes, I know, not tasks), so if you don’t get into a PA program, you can become a NP, and in some ways it’s even better.
(There’s a discussion about that in one of the forums…)
BUT if you go BSN-> NP you get to do what you wanted in the first place, and you’re guaranteed to work as a nurse at least.
If you go the Biochem-> PA route, the obstacles don’t stop, it’s like hurdle racing for you.
1° taking chem and bio alongside kids who’ve already taken AP Bio and AP Chem
2° having to compete with them
3° 4 years of competition for, at best, 80-90% odds you’ll be stuck with your degree without a clear path to a health program; that’s if you’re not part of the 3/4 pre-health students who give up or choose something else…
A HUGE obstacle to PA admission is the clinical hour requirements - which you will have. The obstacle for you is getting the pre-reqs for PA that aren’t covered with nursing, but that’s way easier than having thousands of clinical hours.
And you’re taking a HUGE risk with UW Madison because of something that is 90% likely to be unsucessful.
I love Madison and I get why you’d want to go there, but for your career path, direct admission to nursing sounds like the safest bet and the one most likely to result in success for you.
What made PA attractive all of a sudden, when you’ve been thinking of nursing all along?
I’ve always wanted to go into Nursing because it’s the mid level care taker in the field and the booming industry. But I’ve also found out how they are extending the amount of years to 8 instead of 6 to become an NP. I really like the ER and surgical environment, and i typically see PAs doing more work in surgery based on online forums. I have also heard that it depends on where you live that you would find more NPs or PAs in the ER room, and I’m not sure how that would work in Illinois. When it comes to surgery, NPs don’t do much and when it’s comes to the career it’s not medicine based and uses a different model. I understand that NPs have more autonomy and can open their own practice, but only ten percent even end up doing that and still work under someone. So I honestly don’t know what to do. I don’t know for sure if I want to go into the ER or OR for sure yet but that’s what I’ve been leaning towards and if I do decide that then I want to go for PA school. If I decide primary care I’m perfectly ok with being an NP, but I just want to keep my options open because I don’t know yet. And I also don’t know how Loyola will let me take the classes or not over the summer at a community college or let me take a higher level course in place of the bio or chem required for Nursing. This is so confusing and thank you for the help.