Missing SQL Summit

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I’m not going to be at Summit this year. And I have mixed feelings about that. This would have been my first in-person Summit since 2019.

I had hoped to go. In fact moreover, I had hoped to present. I even had a topic submitted on exiting the industry. As many of you know, my plans are to get into Physician’s Assistant school and change careers and become a PA. You can read about my adventures in numerous posts here. So I figured, instead of the plethora of talks on “So you’re new to being a DBA” or similar, I’d offer the opposite, how to exit the industry in a positive and productive way. But as a hedge, I made sure to buy a ticket at the early bird pricing, figuring if I was accepted to speak I could get a refund then.

Sadly, my topic wasn’t chosen. That said, if you’re interested in hearing it presented, let me know. Just give me enough time to actually finish writing the presentation.

But at least I had a ticket. I was set.

But then I started to wonder. Was it worth the time and money? I don’t make a whole lot as a ED Tech, and I’d be using vacation time, so I wouldn’t actually lose any money, but I also wouldn’t be able to pick up extra shifts. And of course I’d need flights, and a rental car (I stay with friends so lodging was covered). And I realized that the main reason I wanted to go was to see my #SQLFamily. And I’ll say, that’s not a bad reason. But it’s also not inexpensive.

I finally started to put feelers out about selling my pass, but wasn’t really pushing it. And then, Grand Jury duty happened. There’s a decent chance I could have impressed upon the judge how important it was for me to attend Summit, but I didn’t think that was really right. Though, had I been selected to speak, I think I’d have made that argument. It wasn’t clear exactly when my Grand Jury commitment would end, but it was fairly clear it would overlap with Summit, and it has. Though, in a cruel twist of fate, it appears that we will in fact finish up this week!

But enough about why I’m not there. I’m here to say, I miss you all. I miss the lack of sleep, the plethora of food, hanging out on the couch at Minionware, getting massages at the VMWare booth, catching up with friends, oh and actually learning about SQL Server and the entire Microsoft data platform.

I’ve been giving my departure from the SQL arena a lot of thought and a phrase keeps popping into my head, “the long goodbye”. For now it’s not a binary process. It’s not “one day I’m a DBA, the next a PA”. For now it’s more of a DBA by day (and sometimes nights and weekends) a student taking pre-reqs (and in fact just took notes on a prerecorded genetics lecture this morning) and an ED Tech by night and weekends (and sometimes days). But I’m drawing back. I can’t recall the last presentation I gave. I haven’t signed up for SQL Saturdays. I barely attend my own local User Group. Even my consulting hours have been cut back.

But every day I’m more and more sure I’m making the right career move. I find myself missing my IT work less and less.

I’m saying good-bye, slowly. And sometimes it’s bittersweet.

This is not my final goodbye. I don’t know if there will ever be a final goodbye to any of you. But for now, however, you all… I miss you. Enjoy Summit for me!

Life is Grand…. jury

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Up until now, every time I’ve gotten notice about possible jury duty, I’ve been passed over. In NY, at least in my county, they have had a fairly sweet setup for decades. In the early days you’d receive a card in the mail with two numbers on it, one was your juror number, the other a phone number. You’d call the phone number on Sunday evening and listen to hear if your juror number was among those being called. For example, if your number was 190, the prerecorded message might be something like, “Jurors numbered 1 through 85 are required to report to the courthouse at 9:00 AM. Jurors 86-150 have to call back Monday night for further instructors. If your number is 151 or higher, your services are not required and you are excused for the next 6 years from jury duty.”

Up until this time, my number was always high enough I never had to report. But this time it was different. It was also for grand jury duty. And, being 2023, this time I could call in or check a webpage. I even received a text message the day of, to remind me to check. Sure enough, I was instructed to report Wednesday morning at 9:00 AM to the county courthouse.

This was the first time I had been inside and it was as I expected, lots of oak woodwork and portraits of judges overlooking the courtroom. And of course, uncomfortable chairs and benches to sit in.

After waiting what seemed like an interminable amount of time things finally started moving. We had to watch a video about implicit bias and how we should try to avoid it. Then the judge came in and gave us instructions. She then asked everyone who thought they met the criteria for excusal to form a line and she’d speak to them. I didn’t meet any of the criteria, and honestly, I was a bit curious about being on a jury, and I feel that it’s an important part of our civic duty to try to serve when called, so I sat, and admittedly fell asleep during this time.

Finally the excusals were done and 23 of the remaining 60-80 folks waited to be selected via lottery. For our grand jury there are 23 members, 16 of which constitutes a quorum and 12 required to move forward on a vote (so a majority if all 23 show up.) I was I think, probably about 18th to be selected.

After one final question regarding anyone being unable to serve and one woman being excused and replaced, we were given final instructions. Among these was the selection of a jury foreperson. Some poor fool volunteered for that role. So now I have to swear in each witness and when it comes time, take the votes on indictments report them to the judge.

A little aside: for those not familiar with what a grand jury and what it does, a little background. When post people think of a jury, they’re thinking of what’s known as a petit (small) jury or a trial jury. In the US, this typically composed of 12 jurors and usually all 12 are required for a verdict. This is what you see on most criminal tv shows and what Perry Mason was always able to (except once) convince of his client’s non-guilt. From talking to friends here in NY, those who have served on such have often served for a case lasting 1-2 days. It’s not a lot of commitment and as I said above, I think it’s a critical part of our duties in our civil system.

A grand jury is a bit different. In this case, only the prosecution is present and the goal is simply to determine if there’s enough evidence to go to trial. For example, a prosecutor might think that John Smith is guilty of robbing a grocery store. Before this can go to trial, the prosecutor has to convince at least 12 jurors (out of the 23) that she has enough evidence that a petit jury would likely find Mr. Smith guilty. Say, the prosecution has a video tape of John going into the grocery store at the time the crime took place, video of him inside the store holding a gun, and then video of him leaving with bags of goods. It’s very likely the grand jury would move forward with an indictment. The case would then go to trial. At the trial the defense can then present their evidence and argument.

But let’s say the prosecutor simply says, “well I know John is a criminal and two days later he deposited $500 dollars in his account, and we think that came from the robbery.” Well the grand jury probably wouldn’t be convinced and vote against moving forward with an indictment.

Also, during a grand jury, the jury can and in fact is expected to ask questions. This may be done to clarify a point or to try to get more information to help us make a more informed decision. And in fact, if we think there should be additional charges, we can recommend those to the prosecutor.

Anyway, back to my grand jury. I can’t speak of any details for a variety of reasons. Among them, simply saying, “Oh yeah, I was on a grand jury looking at if John Smith robbed a store” would be unfair to Mr. Smith. People might stop associating with him even if it’s determined there was no evidence supporting the claim. And of course if I said something during the grand jury proceedings and Mr. Smith IS in fact guilty, he might flee the area to avoid arrest.

All I can say in my case (and the Assistant Attorney General has clearly stated we can say this) is that my service is required 3 days a week, most likely for a minimum of 4 more weeks. In theory I’m supposed to be available until December 30th and if necessary they could even extend that. But, all expectations are that we’ll be done in the 4 weeks.

What I can add is that most if not all of us are taking our responsibilities quite seriously. After the first witness for one case (grand juries may or may not sit for multiple cases) was called, I had some questions I wanted to ask, but didn’t want to be the first person to ask a question. Fortunately someone else was willing to be the first and asked their questions. Then I asked mine. And from then on we were off to the races.

So far, out of the 23 of us, I’d say maybe 6 of us are the most likely to ask questions. The prosecutor has the legal right to deny an answer however, or to reword it. For example if a juror simply wanted to ask “Witness Pimba, what’s your favorite color?” That would be denied. It’s not a fact related to the case.

The prosecutor might reword the question in order to better meet certain legal requirements. “Witness Pimba, can you clarify what the speed limit was in that location?” The prosecutor might turn that into two questions, “Witness Pimba, what is the speed limit in that location and how are you aware of it.” This might be phrased this way in order to introduce into the record that the witness saw the speed limit sign there, or that that’s some statutory reason for their knowledge.

This relates to one of the details I find very interesting and that’s how evidence and testimony is introduced into the record. Sometimes there are a bunch of questions that seem trivial or irrelevant, but are there in order to form the building blocks to a bigger question, to set the foundation as you will. This means if there’s 3 similar charges, say on check fraud, the witness might be asked the same or similar question 3 times, one for each charge. For example, “When you received the check from Stacy Fromme, how did you handle it as evidence?” Since each charge is separate, the question has to be asked for each, otherwise subsequent questions couldn’t be introduced into the record. Even if the same procedure was done every single time, the question has to be asked each time.

Right now we’re in the listening and questioning phase. The only folks allowed in the room are us, the prosecutor, the witness, a translator if necessary, and the court reporter. The judge can be called upon to clarify a particular aspect of a law, but otherwise is not there. Technically there’s no defendant because they haven’t been charged yet. And of course because there’s no defendant, there is no defense lawyer. Even if a janitor walks in by mistake to empty the trash, all proceedings stop. Again the idea is to ensure the confidentiality of the proceedings.

So, for now, 3 days a week, I sit in a closed room listening to testimony and examining evidence. At one or more points, even the prosecutor and court reporter will leave the room and we’ll deliberate and votes on charges.

So, in the meantime, life is Grand… jury.

One Year In

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Officially tomorrow, the 17th, will mark one year as an ED Tech for me. Unofficially, that’s not quite accurate. The first week was spent in a lecture hall on the first day, and then 3 of the next 4 days in a classroom learning some basic skills, including some I’ve honestly never used in the ED. The one skill I learned that I have used multiple times since, on Friday a year ago, was CPR.

Since then I’ve marked some milestones, such as 100 hours in, 500 hours in, a big one, getting my Red Badge so I’m allowed to be a lead tech on traumas, and of course 1000 hours, which was important, since that was the minimum required to apply to several of my top choice schools. I’ve at times felt like between my IT job, school, and this I’ve been running as fast as I can. Last week was such an example, over 56 hours in the ED as well as school and other work.

But, that 56 hours allowed me to hit another landmark. I’ve mentioned in the past that technically my job in the ED is only part time. I’m a .6 FTE, i.e. I’m scheduled to work 24 hours a week. That means in a year, I should 1248 hours. A full time job is typically 2080 hours in a year. I’m proud (and tired) to say, I hit the 2080 mark sometime mid-shift on Saturday night. I’ve picked up the extra hours for a number of reasons, but among them, I really am enjoying what I do and really am dedicated to showing the schools I’m applying to that I’m serious about my efforts. That said, I’m not averse to taking a bit of time off in the future. We’ll see. I have several more goals to hit, but this was one I didn’t really expect expect to hit until a few weeks ago when I did the math and realize it was possible.

I should note too that in theory for the first 7 weeks I couldn’t pick up any overtime.

In this year I’ve done and seen so much. I’ve done:

  • EKGs – more than I count, one shift I counted at least a dozen and that wasn’t all that atypical, so I’ve probably easily done several hundred by now
  • Traumas – these have ranged from the guy that came in with what was really not much worse than a nick to the neck (but at the time since the depth was unknown it was called in as a trauma) to stuff that I won’t describe or get into.
  • Sits – these can range from easy to difficult to even violent. I did get a black and blue from one psych patient that forcibly grabbed my arm.
  • Covid Swabs – again, more than I can count and while over the summer it became rare to do them, the number is ticking up again.
  • Intubations – I’ve written about this. It’s an amazing thing to see and I’m still in awe of the whole process
  • Deaths – yes, it’s a sad part of my job. I’ve seen those who have died peacefully and those who have died despite our best efforts. There’s a lot more I mean to write on this subject at some time. But the reality is, if you make it through our doors, you’re probably going to make it.
  • Raced stretchers to the OR – while a very rare thing, occasionally we have to get a patient to the OR as quickly as possible. We had one such event several weeks ago where the assistant nurse manager and I had to move one such patient. She was so busy doing a manual pulse check and then blood pressure on the patient as I was pushing the stretcher I had to warn her more than once when there was an obstacle in the way less she get squeezed between it and the stretcher.
  • Responded to Stroke Pages – among my duties here, besides gathering vitals, is to sit with the patient and nurse while they perform the CT and then getting the patient to their room and getting an EKG. Fortunately, most of the stroke pages turn out to be false alarms, but not always, and even then, if we get them in time, there’s a lot that can be done. As an aside, if you think someone is having a stroke, get help as fast as you can. Time matters.
  • CRP – I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve had to do compressions. I’ve also lost track of how many times I’ve gotten ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation). I did get one just a week or two ago as a matter of fact. Honestly, it’s pretty much the drugs and other efforts, I’m just circulating the blood until they can take effect, but it’s still a great feeling when it happens.
  • Emptied Hampers – yeah, part of the job. I do it pretty much every shift.
  • Restocked IV and linen carts – not fancy, but a necessary part of the job. It sucks to be in the middle of care for a critical patient and have a nurse ask for something, say IV tubing and realizing the cabinet in the room doesn’t have any!
  • Procedures – I’ve helped with a number, including some spinal taps, some suturing and more. Now to be clear, helping is pretty much limited to “hold the patient or this equipment…” but it’s still great to be in the room.
  • Made some great friends – I really love working with the folks I work with.
  • Had some fun along the way – yes, we’ve had our fun moments.
  • And so much more – Honestly, the stuff us techs do is pretty diverse and I’ll be honest, I probably couldn’t list it all (and if I did, I’d bore you more than I already have.)

So, what’s next?

Good question. Right now I’m still waiting to hear from a number of the PA schools I’ve applied to. If I get into any of the ones with a January start date and I decide to attend them, then I’ll probably break the 2300 hour barrier. One I’m interested in has a start date of August of next year, so that would mean breaking the 3000 hour barrier most likely. If I end up going into a second round of applications, I suspect I’ll have 4000 hours of Tech experience under my belt by then.

But until then, I’ll keep plugging.

As always: none of my statements here are endorsed by or reflect the views of my employer, Albany Medical Health Systems.

No CPR Tonight

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Tonight there would be no CPR. I know often I promote the virtues of CPR, but it’s not always the answer and tonight was certainly one of those nights.

The overhead monitor was telling the tale. The patient’s blood pressure was currently 64/40 and the cardiac monitor was showing she was basically in asystole with a pulse measured sometimes in single digits per minute, sometimes a bit more. Right now only the drugs and fluids coursing into her were keeping her alive. Attached to her were the pads from the defibrillator.

At least twice the button on the defibrillator would be pushed and her body would jump as her muscles would spasm. She was dying. She had been dying all day. Her blood pressure and pulse had been up and down all day long. her body had been fighting to stay alive and a few hours ago it seemed like it might win the battle. But not now. Now it was just minutes instead of hours.

She had indicated she didn’t want CPR. So we stood there, waiting. For us she was a patient, but for the stranger in the room, she was his mother, she was the grandmother to his kids, the aunt to his cousins and the wife of his father. He watched, silently, a tear forming. The doctor was explaining to him what was happening and how she wasn’t in pain, but without the drugs her body would die in minutes, but meanwhile the drugs could keep her alive a bit longer if the rest of her family was on the way. They were. We left, as there was no more we could do in the meantime, and he needed to be alone with his mother more than he or his mother needed us.

I saw her family file into the room; quietly. I recall my own dad passing. Me sitting there, waiting for his final breath. More than once I thought his body had quit, but one more time he’d draw a breath. Finally he drew his last. I knew they’d watch the same thing.

It’s never an easy thing to have to say goodbye to a loved one. But sometimes you know it’s the right thing. Their body has given up the fight and to prolong it would only be a cruelty and indignity. Yes, perhaps with CPR and the right combination of drugs we could have given her another day, but it would have been a day of unconsciousness and sadness, not a day of joy and happiness, for her or her loved ones. Sometimes we just have to say good-bye. Tonight was such a night. She died surrounded with her loved ones, her ribs and cartilage intact, no bruises for the coroner to see, no sweat falling on her from techs giving her CPR. But she would did surrounded by her loved ones and that was right.

Disclaimer: My views and writings do not reflect those of my employer and in this case especially details have been fictionalized or altered.

Shared Pain

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For this post I’m going to do something a bit different, I’m not going to talk about only my experiences, but also that of two friends, one I’ve known for years and lives further away, and another for just over a year and lives closer, we met in a class together and now have taken two classes two together and work at the same hospital (though literally at opposite ends of the complex.)

We all share one thing in common: we are all in the midst of applying for PA School.

Due to where we live and ultimate life goals, we all share some overlap in schools we’re applying for, but also there’s a number of schools we’re applying to that we don’t have in common.

All three of us have our first choice. In all three of our cases, it’s in part geographically driven; being close to home would keep expenses down, it would mean we’d have our support systems close by, and the choice itself is a fairly highly rated school, i.e. we’re not really compromising our choice.

Alas, I think for two of us, if not all three, the answer for our first choice has been a no. That’s always frustrating. One of my second highest rated choices gave me a no yesterday. My friend who lives closer is still waiting to hear from them, so I’m rooting for her.

My other friend, just heard from the same online program that rejected me a few weeks ago. I can’t speak for her, other than we both share the same frustration, but I know for me, while it would have been a good program, I’m sort of relieved. I’m not entirely sold on the idea of an online program. Yes, they have weeks where you’re required to be on-campus, but overall, most of it’s virtual. My recent experiences have taught me I can handle virtual learning, but even then, I don’t think the learning experience is nearly as good and in a case like PA School, I think the collaboration is much harder and would impact my learning experience. So, perhaps that rejection was a blessing in disguise.

As I said above, in some cases I’m applying to the same schools as my friends (as far as I know, there’s no school all three of us have in common). This means of the few slots at all these schools, I’m actually in competition for a seat with someone I know. Now, in an ideal world, we would both get into the same program. I know I’d really love this as it would mean I’d have a ready-made study partner. But, at the same token, there is also the possibility only one of us gets in. And while it might hurt a bit to know I didn’t get in, the truth is, honestly, I’d be THRILLED to hear from either one of them if they got in to a school I had also applied to. To borrow a term, it would be a form of compersion.

One thing I know all three of us have been told is that often it takes multiple “rounds” (read years) of applying to get into PA School. This can be very frustrating. For those who aren’t aware, PA programs are masters level programs and most schools have cohort sizes varying from two dozen to perhaps five or six dozen. Most appear to be on the smaller size. And often they’re getting thousands of applicants. My first choice often fields over three thousand applicants for a total of forty-two slots. This means that if it were just a random chance, an applicant would have about a 1.5% chance of getting in. Obviously it’s not random, so they have to take into a lot of factors, one of course being “if we give you one of the few spots, how serious are you about taking full advantage of it.” This is why applying more than once can increase your odds, you’ve shown you really want that spot. In fact, looking around, I see anywhere from only 20% of first time applications to 37% overall, get in in a particular year. That can be a bit discouraging.

I won’t say I’m resigned to applying for a second round, but the truth is, unless I get accepted at one of my top choice programs and get some decent money, I will probably end up applying again. This means there’s one or two schools that even if they accepted me, I’m no longer sure I’d be interested in them for various reasons, and there are some that I’d jump at a chance to go to if I were accepted, but I’d have to get some good scholarship money to make them worthwhile.

I think my odds of getting in on a second round would be better for several reasons.

  • Rather than being just above the minimum number of patient contact hours necessary to apply, I’ll end up well above their stated averages (for example, my first choice has a minimum of 1000 hours, but an average of 2300 hours. I should be well above that by the time I apply again.)
  • I’ll have a few more classes under my belt, this will overall help my transcript and should raise my GPA (not above the necessary 3.0 that some schools claim they require).
  • As per above, I’ll be showing I really am serious about attending and working hard at the program (I know that, I simply need to convince them.)
  • I’ll understand the process better and be able to make some changes to my application process (things like when I apply, some of my essay answers, etc.)
  • I will most likely have some better letters of reference.

In addition, there are some other advantages of waiting another year:

  • I can build up a bit more savings to cover more of the costs.
  • I have some events next year that will be easier to attend or manage if I’m not also studying.

If it doesn’t happen this time around, I can’t speak for my friends, I think one may move on to other goals, the other, I suspect if necessary would give it another shot, so there’s still a chance we’d end up in a program together.

That said, I’m still hoping for the lightning to strike for myself and my two friends in this round.

In any case, we all will know our fates over the coming weeks. I’m keeping my finger crossed.

I get a No, I get a No, and I get another No.

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As I mentioned in a previous post, one can’t hear a yes if you don’t try.

So far I’ve heard back from three of the PA schools I’ve applied to (out of close to a dozen now).

The first I’ll be honest probably hurt the most. This was in part because it was the first. It’s tough getting your first rejection. It does get a bit easier. But that wasn’t the main reason it hurt. The main reason was because it was one of the few schools that doesn’t absolutely require a 3.0 undergrad GPA. It was at or near the top of my list of schools I wanted to get into. I was hoping at the very least to get to the interview stage because if I did, I felt very confident I could sell myself at that point. But alas, not even that is happening at that school. However, if I don’t end up at a PA school in this round, I will definitely re-apply next year. They’re fairly competitive and by then I’ll have well above the average number of required patient contact hours and I’ll have some more classes under my belt and they look favorably at folks who try again. So we’ll see.

I honestly felt more insulted by the second rejection. It wasn’t exactly a long-shot, but it was a mostly online program which I’m not entirely sold on, but they school itself has an excellent reputation. The reason for insult wasn’t the rejection per se, it was the email. I applied at 11:30 PM. At 9:30 AM the next morning I received the rejection letter. My guess is I automatically tripped their minimum GPA requirement. That’s fine. It was some of the wording in the email:

This decision was very difficult, and every consideration was given to your application.

Given no one got in until probably 9:00 AM for the workday, I have to wonder how difficult the decision really was and how much consideration they really gave me!

The third rejection actually was the most honest and as a result, I appreciated the most:

School requires a minimum 3.0 for the overall GPA and science GPA. Unfortunately, one or both of your GPAs, as calculated by CASPA at time of application, did not meet this minimum requirement

Hey, that at least was honest and clear and no pulling of the punches. I’m fine with that. I mean I knew beforehand I would almost certainly get rejected based on my GPA, but this left no doubt. It also means I will leave them off my list for the next round if there is a second round of applications. I’m fine with that. It’ll save me $61.

Ironically however, the last two emails actually give me a bit of hope. Most of the schools I’ve applied to have a 3.0 GPA cut-off, but I haven’t heard from them yet. This means my application apparently hasn’t tripped any automatic “GPA Cut-off” filters. That’s hopeful.

Now, I still expect most if not all of the remaining ones to reject me this round, but there’s still hope.

So the record it’s NO: 3, YES: 0 and Hopeful: quite a few.

We’ll see.

Summer is almost over

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Just a reminder!

Sadly, I have to admit I haven’t done many of the things I wanted to do this summer, work has consumed my time. I still hope to find time to do an overnight hike, but I’m not sure when I’d do it. And honestly, I’d need to find time to buy some new hiking shoes first too.

I’m a bit behind on my biking and today it’s not great weather for it. So that’s bugging me.

I finally mowed the lawn yesterday, but it was so high, I had to put the blade higher than I normally do simply so it wouldn’t bind up on all that grass. So I have to find time again to mow it.

There’s a piece of trim on my garage door I need to find the time (and let’s be honest motivation) to fix.

Can we extend summer another 2-3 months please?

If you don’t try, you can’t fail

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As of today, I’ve hit submit on the applications to 5 different PA schools. There are at least a half-dozen more on my list I’d like to hit submit to, but probably won’t. I’ll explain why in a few.

But let me say, the first was the hardest. There are two reasons. The first is that it’s my first choice. I wanted to make sure everything was in order. I proofread everything multiple times and had at least two others review my submissions for content and for grammar errors. Once I felt those had been handled, I was ready.

Except, for the hardest part: I couldn’t be denied if I didn’t apply. I mean that is sort of obvious. But it’s true. Up until that point there was no way that school (or any) could say no. Sure, they also couldn’t say yes either. But the yes doesn’t really scare me and if I hear a yes, I can shout to the world “I’m accepted”. But the nos… those are hard to hear.

Years ago, when I was in college, before I really started dating I was afraid to ask a woman out on a date. I didn’t want to hear no. No would be soul-crushing. But then I realized that it also meant I’d never hear yes.

So, one day I screwed up my courage and asked a woman I was attracted to if perhaps I could make her dinner. And she said yes! I can’t recall the dinner, but I recall afterwards we ended up on the couch cuddling and falling asleep. Afterwards I walked her back to campus. I recall that in part because my contacts had dried out so much from napping in them that the streetlights appeared as sort of halos until the moisture returned.

That particular relationship didn’t last, but it did reinforce the lesson that to hear yes, you have to risk hearing no.

And so, I can’t hear yes from any PA school if I don’t risk hearing no, even from my primary choice.

After hitting submission on that first one, the next one that night was far easier. Then last night, I hit submit on three more.

Now, why do I hesitate on the rest? Well because in most cases they have a firm undergrad GPA requirement which I fail to meet by a wide margin. At least two I’ve emailed directly to confirm and have received a very clear response that the GPA requirement is a hard limit.

I’ve received a lot of support here and on Facebook in my quest and many have said, “Oh, don’t worry about your GPA, trust me, your life experiences will counter that.” And for the five I’ve applied to, I hope and expect that’s true. But for the others, I’m less sure, especially the ones that have replied to my email inquiries.

That said, this is actually another reason I didn’t want to hear no. I’ve got such a huge crowd of cheerleaders that I don’t want to disappoint them or even honestly face them if every school says no. While I appreciate the support, and at times I need it, I also fear at the end of the day it may all be for naught and I’ll feel guilty for raising their hopes.

But that’s a problem that may not arise, and if it does, is for another day.

So for now, I keep looking and considering what the next schools I will apply to.

In the meantime, I will risk the nos, while hoping for the yes.

Still Running

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Last week I wrote about my PA School application process and the CASPA site used to apply. Since I wrote that, I’ve made more progress. I am technically at the point where I could hit “send” on 8 applications. But I haven’t. Yet.

And it’s a good thing! Since this is so important, I wanted to make sure I had others proof-read some of my submissions and comment on them. So first a call out to my wife Randi who gave me some good feedback on the general tone. One of my concerns was my general essay. The general essay answers the question: Please explain why you are interested in being a Physician Assistant.

I had written two versions and felt my second one was much stronger, she agreed. The best way I can describe my first one was that it was very pedestrian. The second one I think far better reflects why at this point in my life I want to be a PA. I think I’ve said it before, but in case I haven’t, I will here: To make a difference. Yes, I suspect everyone wants that, but after 30+ years of basically pushing data, I want to have a direct impact on people’s lives. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much it motivates me. It’s one reason I work with the NCRC and teach cave rescue (and perform cave rescues). It’s a direct impact. It’s a reason why I like teaching. Even now, before I’m a PA, every shift in the ED I know I’m making a difference. It might be getting a cold patient a blanket or assisting in a trauma, but I know at the end of every shift, I’ve made a difference.

The second call out is to my friend Alma. I’ve relied on her for years (I won’t say how long as that might give insight into how old we both are) for her editing prowess. I’m thankful I did so since she caught a number of minor typos, but also a major one that at best would have elicited some laugh, at worst, doomed me. I had meant to say underserved communities, but had written undeserving communities. Quite the difference!

So, does that mean I’ll hit submit today to those 8 schools?

Not quite. I have to reload my edits and then still review the submissions and decide if I really want to apply to those 8 or just a subset. In any case though, come this weekend I think I’ll be hitting submit and I’ll admit I’m excited.

Running to Stand Still

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To apply to PA School, one uses a common application called CASPA. Pretty much every PA school uses this platform for their applications. They also, for the most part follow a similar timeline, of allowing the application process to start on May 1st. My goal had been to have as much completed as I could by May 2nd, or barring that, May 31st. Well here it is June 20th and I’m still working on it.

It’s not for the lack of effort. Even though I finished up the prior semester, I was busy with a lot of other stuff and found myself travelling or working every weekend in May and the first two weekends in June. Between consulting and working in the ED work, I often find myself working 60 or more hours a week. So it’s not like I’ve been lazy.

Now, that said, many of the hours in the ED are actually hours I’m picking up to gain the experience and to expand the numbers on my applications. As noted previously, some schools only require 500 hours but a few require 1000 hours. A number I surpassed a while back. But that’s a minimum, and often below the average. So I definitely want to boost it.

I was actually planning on going in last night for an extra 8 hour shift, but finally convinced myself to slow down and take the night off from work. Or at least from paying work. I did end up, as I had promised myself, working on my application and knocking out some essays. As a result, if I submit the essays as written, I am fully complete with applications to two schools. That said I will be waiting a few more days so I can review the essays and possibly improve them.

And I also now have to consider, in order to apply to a few schools that might be on my list, if I want to take Genetics come fall. And possibly a Medical Terminology course. Most that require that will allow a certificate program, but at least one school wants a 2 credit minimum class. And I’ll be honest, that particular school is not high on my list of schools I’m considering.

But meanwhile, I feel like the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

I’m running as fast as I can.