Monthly Archives: December 2025

Two down…

Posted on by
Reply

A couple of hours ago I finished taking my Medical Comprehensive Exam for the second semester. It was a doozy. But I passed. Technically I have a paper, that was submitted to two different classes, that I’m waiting for grades on, but mathematically it won’t change my GPA. So, that means this semester is in the books.

I go back and forth on talking about my GPA and individual grades in this blog. There’s several reasons. I don’t think there’s much purpose served by bragging about a particular grade, especially because the next exam could go in the other direction. On the other hand, I do hope folks thinking about applying to PA school end up reading my blog and I think it’s important to have some transparency.

So in interests of transparency, my GPA this semester is a 3.0. Last semester was a 3.3. To progress forward, one needs a minimum of a 2.7. So I’ve got that covered. (And even then, if that happens, they have a remediation step.) However, going into the last few weeks, I was in the solid 3.3 territory. So what happened?

Here’s where I want to be very transparent. The last few weeks have been difficult for me. Thanksgiving break couldn’t have come at a better time. I was burnt out and needed a change. Picking up a few shifts in the ER had a big benefit on my mental health. But the last two weeks still got to me. I had a pharmacology exam which I did about as well as I had hoped on, but it definitely pulled down my grade. Pharmacology is simply a hard subject for me. I have one more semester of it. I’m going to struggle, but I’ll make it happen somehow. This is probably what dragged down my GPA the most.

But what nearly broke me is what happened on my birthday. I had an exam in a class called Diagnostics and Clinical Procedures. Going into the exam I had a 90.97 average. This one I knew would be tougher. I thought I was prepared. Then that afternoon I got my grade back. 66%. A failure. This requires a remediation meeting with a course director. This brought my course grade down to an 83.11. That was a huge drop. This is what really dropped my GPA from a solid 3.3 territory into the 3.0 territory. A couple of my professors and mentors had warned me in the past that “everyone fails at least one exam.” I was confident going into this one that this wouldn’t happen. Well, it did. It was devasting. I really lost my mojo.

That didn’t help considering I had the Med Comp exam coming up this morning. Now, the truth is, even with that failed exam, I knew I was safe from failing out. I had enough of a GPA to guarantee at least a 2.7 no matter how I did on the Med exam. But obviously I wanted more. But I will admit that I was on the edge a nervous breakdown. I was in a tough place mentally, questioning my self-worth, my abilities, and even if PA school was meant for me.

Wednesday night was very rough for me. I’ll admit that I thought about just tossing it in. PA school has beaten many. We’ve already had at least two students in our cohort who have left the program this year. At least in my case, I could fall back on being an ED Tech or going back into IT. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I make far better money in IT. And have far better hours. So quitting wouldn’t be the end of the world.

I write the above, not for sympathy, but for any potential (or current) PA students who are reading this. I want you to know, if you feel this way, it’s ok. You’re ok. Sometimes PA school can just break you that much. Sometimes you hit a limit. It’s ok. We’re all human. This is something I have to remind myself of time to time. I had people to reach out. If things didn’t improve, I even considered talking to my university’s counseling center (even though my campus is remote and I wouldn’t do much in person.)

I also reminded myself of one of my best friends. Back in our undergrad days he had a GPA of 4.0 for the first few semesters. He was acing everything. And then… the first none 4.0. He admitted it hurt. But also told me something that I found interesting. It was freeing. Since perfection was no longer a possibility, he could relax a bit. He’s still one of the smartest people I know; a polymath even. And he’s gentle, kind, and a wonderful person. He’s more than his GPA would ever show.

My remediation session with the course coordinator went well and ironically, afterwards I realized I was glad I had failed the text rather than just barely passing. A failed test requires remediation. Just barely passing makes it optional. Had it been optional, I honestly doubt I’d have gone to it. But by going to it, three things happened. The first was, I learned where I had a fundamental misunderstanding of a couple of concepts. Yes, a few answers I had just remembered the wrong thing, or put down the wrong answer. But on a couple of concepts, I had a fundamental misunderstanding that we were able to correct. So the failure actually helped me learn and improve.

The second thing was I decided to walk over to campus and back. I almost regretted the decision, given how chilly it was with the windchill, but I’ve found being outside like that helps my mood. Simply getting out of the apartment did help, but combining that with over a mile walk in each direction is what really made a difference.

Finally, there’s a new noodle and dumpling place on the way that I decided to try. I got some pork and vege (sic) dumplings in spicy peanut sauce. They were AMAZING. Some good food goes a long ways to improving ones mood.

So all that helped me to improve my mood. I can safely say I’m not in that place now. I’m content. I’m relaxed. I have three weeks to spend with friends and family. Three weeks to recharge my batteries.

Three other things have also helped.

  • Friends and family. You know who you are, the ones who take my panicked texts and reassure me. The ones who give me kind words of support or care packages. They mean a lot to me. More than you can possibly imagine. Knowing I had people in my corner made a huge difference.
  • The confidence my professors have expressed in me. I trust them. They’ve helped a lot of students become PAs. If they think I can do it, then they must be on to something.
  • Finally a bit of a humble-brag. Without going into details, but an incident at work where the attending later told the Charge Nurse, “thank God Greg was in the room.”

So the semester is over. I survived. I’m two-thirds of the way through my didactic year. This semester was 25 credits. Next semester is another 25 credits. I won’t be easy. But after that, are clinicals. I look forward to that. The testing doesn’t stop for awhile, but I’m getting there.

So the takeaway, especially for fellow PA students or potential ones: yes, it can get tough. But you can survive. Make time for yourself. And don’t let any single setback put you off. We all have our good days and bad days. Wednesday was a bad day for me. Today is a much better day.

The End is Nigh!

Posted on by
Reply

I really should be studying. And after this and a bite of lunch, I’ll be back at it. But I need to get out of my own head for a bit. My second semester of PA school is nearly done. I have one paper to submit to two classes (it gets judged separately in both classes) and then two exams. One is a comprehensive final. Oh and some dang fool volunteered to help develop the slide deck for the comprehensive final and lead the study session for that final. Perhaps not my smartest move from a time management point of view, but it does go with my goal of trying to help others. At least I hope my classmates get something out of the study sessions.

What’s on my mind right now, besides cramming some last bits of information into my brain, or at least working to remember what I already learned earlier this semester is my overall GPA. I shouldn’t, but I do. Here’s the deal. I’ve probably mentioned we need a 2.7 or better to progress on in the program. Barring some sort of catastrophe, that’s not an issue. I’ll clear that bar. My first semester GPA was 3.3. I had hoped for a 3.7 (or even a 4.0) but it was quickly clear that that wasn’t going to happen. That said, a 3.3 isn’t to bad. It’s a whole point higher than my overall undergrad GPA. And assuming I continue my trends in the remaining tests and paper, I’ll solidly hit that. (note my program only measures ranges in GPA, <2.7, 2.7, 3.0, 3.3, 3.7, 4.0, hence my fixation on those particular numbers.) A 3.0 still isn’t impossible, but I don’t think I’ll do that poorly. But honestly, even if I do, I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it. Our professors continually tell us as long as we’re getting 80s and above, we’ll pass the PANCE and that’s all that matters. So, I’m good in theory.

Ok, I haven’t gotten out of my head obviously, but let me get away from numbers a bit and talk about the actual classes.

Medicine 1 – This is the meat of the semester. 8 out of 25 credits. I’ve generally enjoyed this. This is obviously a huge part of what we’ll do as PAs. I was doing great until my last exam. Basically I fell about two days behind in terms of studying. But that’s on me. I wouldn’t say the class is difficult per se, but there’s a LOT to learn in a small amount of time. The fact that I’m learning something struck home over Thanksgiving break when I was able to correctly diagnosis one of the ER patients as having COPD and in another case, correctly read a blood gas. (note this was practice, I wasn’t actually involved in any patient care).

Physical Diagnosis I – This honestly was the most fun class I think. Here’s where we actually put hands on bodies (in a consensual way of course). 5 credits, so also important. Whereas Medicine I is a lot of theory, this is more practice. Unfortunately in both practicals my brain skipped a beat and I forgot to perform some of the required exams. But I did well enough. I enjoyed this class and am looking to the follow-up next semester.

Pharmacology and Therapeutics II – this is my Achilles Heel. For me, this is my hardest class. I walked out of the first exam convinced I had failed it. Ironically it was my second best grade in the class. This class is hard for me because it’s basically a LOT of rote memorization. Something that honestly at my age I find harder. It is reassuring that one of my mentors, a triple-board certified ED attending (with one certification in toxicology) admits she has to look up pharm stuff all the time. This is one class I’m NOT looking forward to for the Spring. But I’ve already given some thought about how to tackle it a bit differently and hopefully do better. Only 3 credits, but it’s the biggest drag on my GPA.

Behavioral Health – Honestly, one of the easier classes for me. Some of it was simply “common sense” or stuff I had learned over five decades of living. Some of it was stuff that I honestly had learned working in the ER. I don’t plan on going into this field, but the skills I learned will be helpful in the ER settings I hope to find myself in. 3 credits here.

Diagnostics and Clinical Procedures I – Another class I really enjoyed and found fairly easy, in part because of my ED experience. There’s a few times I’d have to remind myself that what I learned in the ED was not always the same as what the class expected. But it’s a good class. I look forward to the next part in the spring. One area that I did particularly well in was EKGs. Again, experience in the ED, plus some of my own self-education, as well as RPI math and physics helped. Only 3 credits, but sort of countered my Pharm grade. I have one last test to go. This should be the hardest of the tests in this class.

Evidence Based Practice – This class a mixed bag. I referred to it as our version of the “Defense against the Dark Arts”. It is in my mind, actually one of the more important classes we’re taking. A lot of it is focused on why and how we do certain things, i.e. what’s the evidence for certain practices. It’s not something that can be taught “in the field.” (which honestly, a lot of the above classes can be to an extent.) There’s important stuff in this class. For example, we examined the original “Wakefield” paper that sort of started the “Autism is caused by vaccines” movement (hint the paper is terrible on several standards and actually doesn’t come out and say that.) I knew I was old when none of my classmates recognized the name of former Dr. Wakefield. But the structure of the class left many of us a bit frustrated. This was apparently true last year and they had restructured it for this year. My understanding was even two years ago had issues (hence my DaDA comment above). I’m doing great in the class, so it’s not a matter of sour grapes. But I do hope they find an even better way to teach this class to future cohorts. Only 2 credits because of the amount of work, but an important 2 credits I think.

Professional Practice II – another important class. This is about how to be a PA. This is the other class the same paper is due in. I’m doing great in it, but being only 1 credit, doesn’t influence my overall GPA at all.

So that’s my semester in the books. What’s Spring look like?

  • Medicine II – 6 credits this time – more of the above
  • Physical Diagnosis II – 3 credits this time – more of the above
  • Pharmacology and Therapeutics III – 3 credits – Hope to do better this time
  • Clinical Decision Making in Primary Care – 3 credits – This will be less multiple choice and more written answers so should be interesting
  • Diagnostics and Clinical Procedures II Certification – 3 credits – One detail here, is I get ACLS certified. Which means in theory I can run a cardiac code. In practice I can’t because I don’t have my PA certification
  • Emergency Medicine – 3 credits – Ironically, because of my experience, I expect this to be a difficult class. Not because of the material but because I’ll definitely have to separate what I learned and saw from what they are testing us on.
  • Surgery – 3 credits – I look forward to this. As a PA I can’t do surgery without supervision, but I will be able to assist and I will be able to do things like sutures, etc. So this should be fun.
  • Professional Practice III – 1 credit – more of the same.

If you do the math, you’ll see it’s another 25 credits. Then on to clinical rotations which I’ll write more about in the future.