Why I chose to be a physician assistant and PA school interview tips

welcome back to my channel I hope you guys are all doing well so my last video was all about PA versus MD do in comparing the two different career paths but I didn't have the opportunity in that video without making it unnecessarily long to actually share with you guys why I chose PA personally and why I knew this was the career for me the answer to this question is not only the backbone of our personal statements but it's also what we're gonna have to answer to our interviewers come interview day for PA school I get nervous when I go back and I think of how I felt the moment I was looking at the interviewer in the eye when they presented me with this question knowing that whatever I was gonna say next was either gonna make or break my possibility of getting into this program and all of the work that I had done in the past five years all Bloor distilled into the next two minutes whatever just came out of my mouth and I wanted to make sure that they knew that I not only understood the profession knew what I was getting myself into but that I made sure that this profession was perfectly aligned with my objective as a future clinician and I wanted to walk out of that room and make them absolutely certain that I was in the right direction and I would say exactly what they were looking for the answer to this question is going to be different for everyone as it should be so I'm gonna give you my answer to that question and this is the same answer that I gave to the PA programs that hose this particular question onto me keep in mind I did not memorize it I don't have it down perfectly so it's gonna be a rough version of what I gave to the admissions committee seven eight nine months ago but I have the bullet points in my head and so I'm gonna share that with you and hopefully not only helps you get to know me better but it allows you guys the opportunity to really sit with yourself and reflect as to how you're gonna approach this question with that said I'm gonna break this video up into my reason first and then I'm also gonna add tips into how I recommend answering this question and you can take it with a grain of salt you know I'm not the end-all be-all as far as how you should answer this question this is just what worked for me and I'm pretty confident that I handled it well considering I got into PA school so hopefully it helps you guys and yeah if you're interested to know what I think then keep on watching I'm gonna be really transparent here and just give you the answer that I gave the admissions committee it's gonna be personal so here we go the biggest struggle of my adult life has been in my attention altering my parents habitual poor behavior and the progression of their chronic medical conditions my father has the risk factors in metabolic syndrome so he's got diabetes type 2 he's got hyperlipidemia hypertension he's obese all of that my mother has also been dealing with obesity since I can remember and she's currently facing decisions on whether to undergo bariatric procedures or to have knee replacements done because she walks with a cane and she is barely 60 so this was my reality growing up both of my parents have competent primary care providers they both have the correct diagnosis and they both adhere to their medication regimens but despite all this and my desire to improve their health my parents poor habitual behavior remains deeply embedded in their lives and I love them they know I love them and it's totally fine they're human and I understand but ultimately my desire to improve the health outcomes among my parents and people who are similarly afflicted is what led me on my decision to become a PA and pursue a career in medicine I desired a position where I would be responsible for developing treatment plans and prescribing medications for patients and I valued a position that embraced patient communication and education and really put an emphasis on motivational intervention in producing positive health outcomes for patients those were the primary motivating factors for why I wanted to become a clinician and it was evident to me that as a PA I would be able to improve care by increasing the amount of time a patient spends with a provider and granted it's not as if PA is themselves ultimately spend more time with the patient than any other specialty but overall because of the PA profession and its implementation within primary care in the healthcare system we all as providers will have access to our patients in addition to that I look like many of you have seen the poor health outcomes that arise from a limited access to health care whether that be in Mexico when I was volunteering with underserved communities who didn't have access to primary care almost at all or in the emergency department where I worked as described and was exposed to not only the homeless population but people who suffered from addiction to drugs or to alcohol or anything of that sort or even people who had mental health challenges these exposures and experiences have bolstered my desire to work as a clinician in areas that are underserved and underrepresented and breaking mistake about with things like alcoholism and drug addiction that is something that's a huge motivating factor as somebody who comes from a family with members who have suffered from addiction or who have passed away from overdoses who have battled alcoholism throughout their adult life I've seen what can happen and I've seen poor health outcomes arise due to these conditions and these burdens even if they just have a decreased quality of life and I understand that it's not like somebody just wakes up one morning in this position and they need help and they need someone who's not going to judge them and who's gonna be able to open that line of communication and address the issue at hand and so I felt like a career as a PA would place me in the perfect position to be able to do all of that so with that said the medical system is one that is ever-changing deficiencies arise all the time some of them can be predicted some of them not so much so an example of one that can be predicted is with the geriatric population you have the baby boomers that are getting older and you need those extra clinicians in the geriatric specialty is to assist with that deficiency so an example of something that can't be easily predicted is with the Oakley RepA Demick and the need for clinicians to work in addiction specialties so for me personally I feel as though a career as a PA would place me in the best position to fill the needs of the medical system as they arise and to strengthen the medical system and to be there for patients who lack access or are less likely to receive quality care or whatever reason so that is why I chose this profession in addition to that I have immersed myself in a PA profession as much as possible at the undergraduate level I have attended pre PA conferences I volunteered at them I've been a member and I've been on board for the pre PA Club at my university I am part of aap I am a member there and I have shadowed and I have friends who are pas and with every exposure every shadowing opportunity every pre pa Club meeting every conference all of that every time I went home at the end of the day I was more eager and more excited to pursue a career as PA and it's been motivating and inspiring in a way that no other healthcare profession no other career path has been for me and so I know that this career is exactly where I'm supposed to be and I'm just excited to do my part and representing the profession well and helping propel the PA profession forward so that is my answer to the question now I'm gonna go into how I recommend tackling this question and hopefully it helps you guys find your voice and your reason why and be able to convey your reason in a way that resonates with the admissions committee so I personally would not recommend talking about why you love the PA profession I don't recommend saying that it's one of the top career choices in the u.s. that it's on the upward trajectory it's doing great it's only gonna continue to do better I don't recommend referring to the statistics of the PA profession in any way because it's not personal it doesn't really tell the person who's asking you the question exactly why you chose this profession and what you intend to do as a PA I recommend sticking to your personal reason be specific as to what you plan to do as a PA and how the career as a PA aligns with your goals as a future clinician because those two things have to be aligned in order to convince the person's just sitting in front of you that this is exactly why you chose this profession and it's perfectly suited for you and your personal ambitions another thing I recommend avoiding is saying that you'll have work-life balance as a PA that's just not true and I am sure if you guys have shadowed pas or if you've worked alongside pas in the emergency department or in any other specialty you will know that that is not accurate some of them work 9:00 to 5:00 some of them work over nights in the emergency department some of them are on-call on the weekends a lot of them spend time Harding outside of work and so you as a PA will not be guaranteed a better work/life balance than a doctor in fact my husband in the emergency department he only works six days a month and that's it and so this is not accurate I wouldn't lead with it because working as a PA does not guarantee work/life balance any more than any other profession this one might be obvious but you don't want to compare it to medical school or say you wanted to go to medical school but you didn't do on the MCAT so now you're going for PA or it's less time to medical school and so you just felt like it really aligned with your life and your goals anything like that the truth is that doctors and pas are two different career paths they're not the same they're not interchangeable if you say that you made a lifelong decision based on a few extra years of schooling or an MCAT exam I don't think that that would present well to the admissions committee the truth is that most people who ended up on the PA path probably considered MD /do at one point or another whether it was before they realized that the PA profession existed or just to weigh the pros and cons of both career paths that's not the problem but leading with the fact that you chose PA is a second choice or a back-up plan is not gonna present well to the admissions committee even if you have the best intentions of just being transparent and being honest it's not a great way to go with answering that question so I don't recommend that so that's it that's why I chose PA over any other medical profession and those are some tips that I recommend using when trying to figure out how you're gonna answer this question when it comes time for interview season and sitting there in front of that evaluator who asks you the daunting question of why PA don't freak out just be honest have something to say make sure that you gave it true thought because while it may seem like the easiest question in the world to answer it's not easy to sum up exactly why in a few minutes and so you want to practice it if you guys have any questions at all you can da on Instagram and I will be sure to get back to you and if you guys did find this video helpful I do make a video once a week so feel free to subscribe and in the meantime stay safe keep working hard and I will see you guys in the next video [Music]

Channel: Samantha Carolyn

Views: 7,995

Rating: 4.9472528 out of 5

Keywords: paschoolinterview, interview questions, pa student, physician assistant, Physician assistant application, PA school, applying to PA school, how to get into PA school, PA student, PA interview, physician assistant school requirements, pa school acceptance, pa school personal statement, competitive applicant, pa school tips, pa school advice, prepatips, interviewpaschool, mediccalschoolinterview, whip, study tips, Why PA, PA vs NP, PA vs MD, Samantha Carolyn, whyphysicianassistant

Id: gJdkyMgWJTg

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Tue May 26 2020