While showering this morning (right after listening to a lecture on women’s health for pharm) I got thinking about my journey to becoming a PA and reflected on how far I had come. I thought I’d share some of those thoughts.

The official “start” date was I believe December 28th, 2021. I think that’s the day when I sprung upon my wife the idea of a dramatic career change. I’m grateful that she was supportive from the moment I suggested it, even if neither of us fully understood what was involved.

I didn’t really announce it until January 1st, 2022. Looking upon that post, I’ll have to admit I was a bit optimistic. I thought I might be able to finish it by 2025, 2026 at the latest. Well it’s going to be 2027. But, short of something traumatic happening, that date is pretty much set in stone. I know the date of graduation, but I will still have to pass the PANCE after that. So the exact date is still up in the air a bit.

Unofficially, I can’t say when I started. Was it in 2015 when my dad was sick and folks kept asking me if I was in healthcare, or when I met with a friend and now colleague to talk about medical school, which at the time we agreed wasn’t practical?

Was it earlier when I got involved in the NCRC or a bit later when I became an instructor, often helping teach the medical curriculum?

Perhaps it was when I first took SOLO at RPI. Or perhaps earlier? For example, I think my first aid class and CPR class was in elementary school at Lee H. Kellogg.

I think I’ll stick with the December 8th, 2021 goal. I do know that after graduating RPI, the thought of grad school wasn’t in my mind. My GPA was so low that I had ruled it out. But by 2021 I was ready for change.

So what have I done since then?

In January 2022, after jumping through some hoops, including getting vaccine titers, I started taking my prereqs. It quickly became clear that I wouldn’t be able to get all the prereqs in and get in the necessary patient contact hours in time to apply in 2022. So the goal of getting accepted in 2022, starting in 2023 and finishing by 2025 was quickly dropped.

It wasn’t even until October of 2022 that I could start acquiring my patient contact hours.

In the meantime I kept taking more classes. By December of 2023 I had ended up taking 41 credits for prereqs. In May of of 2023 I started submitting my first applications for PA school. And shortly after I started to receive my rejections. I had known my GPA would hurt me, but I was hoping the rest of my application and story would be get me a spot. The closest I came was being put on the waiting list for the school I currently attend, Arcadia. But there was no movement there.

So I went into 2024 already planning a second round of applications. By now, I had taken pretty much all the requirements I could, let alone needed. This did let me focus on working more in the ED, so that was nice. I slowly wound down my consulting. I was at this point very much committed to getting into PA school. Honestly, if I hadn’t, after dealing with a second round of defeat, I might have gone back and retaken some of the more basic classes from undergrad that I hadn’t done well in, but I was hoping to not have to do that.

I had a number of submissions in in May of 2024, basically as early as possible. And then I waited. And waited.

I finally heard back from one of my top choices. It was a no. I exchanged a few emails with the program director, but there was no change. The day after the last email from him, which honestly, I found a bit dismissive, I received an email about another decision. This is the one that changed my life. July 9th, 2024: It is our pleasure to offer you acceptance for admission to the Physician Assistant Program (the “Program”) at the Delaware campus for the class matriculating in May of 2025. It was from Arcadia. I don’t think my feet touched the floor for a week. The only hard part about this decision was whether to put down the required deposit and secure the spot, or wait and to hear from other schools which might tempt me. I didn’t want to risk the spot, so I put my money down. And it’s a good thing too, since it was my only acceptance. From then on, I could relax. At least until May of 2025.

As May 2025 approached, I started to make plans. One of them was forming my Council of Moore. Another big one was a road-trip. I’m so glad I did that. It really helped me clear my head. And then in May of 2025 I showed up and met my classmates.

May 2025 is less than a year ago. But honestly, it seems like it was both a decade ago and yesterday. I’ve often described PA school as like drinking from a firehose. And it has been. I’ve had my ups and downs. Since January though, things have generally be on the upswing.

We’re just over 10 weeks from starting our clinical rotations. I have a number of exams and quizzes between now and then (roughly 2 dozen quizzes, tests, other grades between now and my com). But I think I’ve got a handle on them. With the growing light of spring and the end of the didactic year so quickly approaching, things feel good. Yes, I’m realistic I still have a lot of exams and I could do poorly on any of them, but I’m at the point where clinical year is all in sight. And I can’t wait.

And now, back to studying for Pharm and my other 3 exams/quizzes this week.