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11. Special guest - Sawyer
126 Plays3 years ago
In this episode, I have a good time with another great guest. We talk about life before PA school and what it was like to apply to PA school. Please leave a review and share it with Pre-PA and PA school friends.
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Transcript
Starting a Podcast in PA School
00:00:00
Speaker
If you have been wondering how I could do this podcast in PA School, I'll tell you, I use an anchor. This is the easiest way to make a podcast. Let me explain. First, it is a free hosting platform which allows anyone to start a podcast with no upfront cost. It has built-in tools which allow you to edit and record a podcast. You can even record it from your phone.
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Speaker
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Introduction of the Host and Guest
00:00:53
Speaker
Welcome everyone to another episode of the Peace School Experience podcast. I'm your host, Sebring Sands. And again, we have another guest for you. This is the first of a few. So I don't know if you've noticed the trend of females. They're awesome. We've got many females in the program. They're all amazing.
00:01:17
Speaker
Am I even prefer them a little bit more to the males? Just kidding. But we got our first guy here with us today. His name is Sawyer. Sawyer, can you introduce yourself? Hi, my name is Sawyer. I just found out that I'm the male representation from our PA program. I would say representation, but
00:01:37
Speaker
I'm the representative. You're right. So outside of Sebring that is but yeah, I'm excited to be here. I'm from Massachusetts.
Sawyer's Background and Education
00:01:49
Speaker
I graduated 2017 from college. I went to school for undergrad at Sacred Heart as well. And then I worked a couple years as an EMT. And then I went off to PA school.
00:02:01
Speaker
Awesome. Well, thanks for the intro. You stole my first question of where you're from, but it's all right. That's perfect. I've done my homework on you. I don't know if you've ever noticed I am very sarcastic. So I hope you guys enjoy that as well. Awesome. So grew up in Massachusetts. So
00:02:24
Speaker
I don't think you're a mass hole, but I've heard of them. Is that really a thing in Massachusetts? What do you qualify as in Massachusetts? I don't know. I've just heard it before. What legends have you heard? I don't know. I think I've heard the term around, but maybe angry drivers on the road maybe. Yeah, that sounds really interesting to me.
00:02:42
Speaker
So I'm not angry enough of a driver to qualify as a mass hole. I'm not out giving middle fingers to people as I pass them, things like that. As far as other qualities of being a mass hole, I love Dunkin Donuts. I'm very passionate about it. Some people in the class would probably describe it as a personality trait for me, personally. Oh, really? I know
Dunkin' vs Starbucks Debate
00:03:03
Speaker
you do go there often. Every day. Down the road. Every day. Matt and I keep Dunkin Donuts in business.
00:03:11
Speaker
Well, that's good. It's funny. We had this poll in lecture a few days ago, whether people liked Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. If you don't know, there's really no Starbucks or there's not really any Dunkin Donuts in the West, hardly any, at least in the mid, the coast west where I lived. Not really many, mostly Starbucks, but here there's a bunch of Dunkin Donuts. It's just a crazy preference battle.
00:03:39
Speaker
I don't personally drink coffee, so I really don't. I've never frequented them at all, so I really don't, so other people have told me. But in that poll, a lot of people said they like Starbucks more, and so I had to bite my tongue a little bit, because I don't want to be the one to represent the unpopular opinion, so I just kind of took it off the chin.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of diversity in our PA school class, but yeah, sometimes you're just kind of like, oh no, just about other people's opinions. But it's fun. It's really fun.
Historical Sites of Plymouth
00:04:07
Speaker
Awesome. So Massachusetts, where in Massachusetts are you from? Plymouth, Massachusetts. Is that near Boston? It's about 45 minutes south of Boston.
00:04:18
Speaker
Nice town right on the water. If there's any history buffs out there, it's supposedly where the pilgrims first landed. Oh, okay. Has some historical context. Are there any fun museums there? Yes, there are. What people most go see is the Mayflower, so there's a replicate of the boat, the pilgrims.
00:04:44
Speaker
Came over on and then also there's Plymouth Rock, which is a big rock you can walk on There's old display for it and it's it's Supposedly the first rock that or the rock that I'm messing up the story. I'm not I'm not a very not a very good Plymouth resident if I'm getting the story wrong. That's right. I
00:05:09
Speaker
Um, the Mayflower supposedly, you know, when they first got to land, they hit the rock and then the rock broke. And then, so I, so they, they maintained that rock. And now is there's some historical context. I didn't know that mythology of Plymouth. Apparently I don't either. That way it was not a very good story, but you know, it's important. You know, there's a lot. It's okay. We know that there's a replicate boat. There's other museums as well. Okay. I obviously don't spend much time there. Awesome.
00:05:38
Speaker
Well, no, I I don't really know my east coast geography that much, but I'll sure look it up after this, see where exactly that is. That's awesome. So.
00:05:49
Speaker
Let's see here from Massachusetts, Plymouth, Massachusetts. So what was growing up like for you? Just briefly tell us about the fun things of Massachusetts growing up.
Path to Healthcare
00:06:00
Speaker
Um, so I, I grew up, um, I have two, two siblings. Okay. My, my brother is 10 years older than me and my sister is six years older than me. Oh, both of them are involved in healthcare. And because they were, um, they were so much older than me,
00:06:15
Speaker
They were working pretty much during my impressionable years when I was in high school and when you start thinking of what you want your career to be. And then my mom works as a nurse as well. There's always talk about healthcare around me. And so that's kind of what led me in that direction. But that wasn't your question though. You asked what it was like in going to Massachusetts. That's perfect.
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, so growing over the past few years, there's a lot to do. Like I said, Boston's only 45 minutes away. So that was a quick trip. Growing up on the water is really nice. Awesome. Okay, so now that you kind of want to talk about it, so what kind of led you to healthcare becoming a PA student?
00:07:06
Speaker
Tell us a
Choosing PA over Medical School
00:07:07
Speaker
little bit about that. Again, my sister works as a nurse. She worked for a long time in the ICU in Hartford. Now she's switched to becoming a packing nurse. My mom has worked for 42 years as an operating room nurse at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
00:07:26
Speaker
And then my brother works as a paramedic as his part-time job and then his full-time job is he's a biomedical engineer Yes, we're growing up there. It was always kind of around me just healthcare talk And so that's it I I knew when I was like 18 years old I knew that I
00:07:46
Speaker
I want to do something healthcare related. I worked a couple of jobs in high school, like in various customer service type realms. I found that I wasn't very good at it. I got fired from two jobs, asked to not come back. One was, I was a backdrop at a famous golf course implement. And another one, I was a bar back at a restaurant.
00:08:09
Speaker
And those experiences did not last too long. So I was like, you know what? I don't think that I want to do customer service. I want to have a skill where people come to me when they're in need, and then hopefully I can make them feel better, and I can improve their lives and do all that stuff. And so that's how I knew I wanted to get into health care. But the first path that I took was physical therapy.
00:08:29
Speaker
I think it was because I didn't really have any direction and I knew that I like sports. I thought it would be a good transition for me. And then my mom pushed it as well because she kind of wanted me to have a set path. And so that's how I applied to Sacred Heart because Sacred Heart had a four plus three doctorate of physical therapy program.
00:08:53
Speaker
And so I went off to school and the first couple of years, um, you know, I, I didn't really like physical physical therapy all the much, or I was having doubts about it. And so I kind of struggled at school because, um, I was taking classes. I re I didn't really know why I was taking them. Um, I, I didn't really see a path that I was going down in particular. And so I, I did kind of poorly on my first couple of years of college.
00:09:20
Speaker
What were your hardest classes, I guess, or the ones you didn't like very much? I took a genetics class, my sophomore year. And I think that that was a little bit of a wake-up call because I did pretty poorly. I think I got a C minus in it, maybe. And that was probably when I was at my lowest point. The summer after my sophomore year,
00:09:45
Speaker
I was still in the physical therapy route, but I knew I didn't want to be a physical therapist. My study habits weren't great. I probably wasn't as mature as I should have been at that age. I was really struggling. It was to the point where my parents were considering pulling me out of school the summer after my sophomore year.
00:10:06
Speaker
You know, I really didn't have any direction. I wasn't enjoying school. I was I was struggling and My mom said we're spending all this money for you to go off in school to school and you have no direction No direction you're not really accomplishing anything. So we might we might have to hit the pause button here
00:10:21
Speaker
Um, but it was that same summer where, um, I got my first job in healthcare, um, through, through my mom, of course. Uh, I got a job as a nursing assistant, uh, and operating room that she worked at.
Challenges as an EMT
00:10:35
Speaker
And that was, yeah, it was a pretty good gig. Um, and that was the first time where I, I got experienced, like to feel like what it was going to be like, like, like to work for the rest of my life, what it's like to work 40 plus hours a week. Yeah.
00:10:48
Speaker
And I kind of got to see what's on the other side of school. And I saw doctors and PAs and nurses, and I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do at that point, but I knew that, okay, I don't want to do physical therapy anymore. I know I want to focus on the medical aspect of things. So that kind of pushed me in that direction.
00:11:16
Speaker
It came just when I needed because it really lit a fire under my rear end when I went back to school my junior year. I knew I had to do all academically, so I took school very seriously and I slowly began to turn things around.
00:11:34
Speaker
Okay, so have you ever considered going to medical school at all during that time? Or just mostly PA or did that come later? So I think naturally everyone considered medical school at some point just because
00:11:50
Speaker
If you don't really know all that much about health care when you're first learning, a doctor is a thing that gets the most attention. It's what most people know about. It's perceived as the top notch in all of health care. So that's what everyone wants to think about. But the more you learn about the different roles and aspects of health care, you realize that there's a lot more roles and responsibilities than you ever thought of. So I very briefly did research on medical school.
00:12:18
Speaker
I think just logistically, I wasn't into the idea of, first off, to get into medical school, I know you need to do research as well. I didn't really have any research opportunities while I was off at school, so that was never going to work. Then I wasn't big into the idea of spending four years of
00:12:36
Speaker
you know, at medical school, you know, and then having four years of residency after that and having to pay for four years of school as well. So I didn't think that that was ever going to be a very good fit for me. So I decided to look at other options. And that's when I found a physician assistant.
00:12:52
Speaker
Okay, did you shadow anyone when you made that decision or just kind of went with it and then kind of did that during the process? No, honestly, so at first, I just Googled it and I said, oh, that sounds like a good idea. And I think that that's what a lot of people do. And some people will start going down the wrong path because they're doing it just because it sounds good, not because they know that they actually want to do that. And so I spent, so this was the beginning of my junior year of college.
00:13:20
Speaker
I didn't shadow a PA until after I had graduated, maybe like two years after I had graduated. That was a much, much needed experience because it helps to actually see what the job is going to be like. Not only that, but for interviews, it helps to have those reference experiences.
00:13:42
Speaker
And so I had showered a PA for I think just for a couple hours when I first applied to PA school And when I applied I I got one interview and when I went into that interview They asked me the roles and responsibilities of a PA and I really didn't have that good of an idea
00:14:00
Speaker
I think it was because I was someone who sounded like a good idea so I googled it and everything checked out and you know that's why I was doing it and so I didn't get into school that first year and I reapplied a second year and I was okay if I'm gonna do this and I had I have to know I'm getting myself into you I have to make sure that I have all my bases cover shadow PAs
00:14:22
Speaker
I have different things to talk about in my interviews and things like that. That's my shadow to PA consistently, one that I had a really good relationship with. I learned about different aspects of the job that you never could just from Googling it online, everything from patient care, the way you communicate with a patient.
00:14:43
Speaker
Things that go beyond just finding a diagnosis and treatment. It was one thing that really stuck with me was the PA that I was working with. She had to spend about an hour on the phone with an insurance company just convincing the insurance
00:14:59
Speaker
to cover a particular type of procedure for a patient, one that was absolutely necessary for the patient's outcome, but one that the insurance company deemed as cosmetic. And so I learned that whole aspect of patient advocacy.
00:15:18
Speaker
First of all, it absolutely made me more excited about the possibility of becoming a PA, but also it gave me a little something extra to talk about in my PA school interviews. I think that's what made me a much better candidate. That's really awesome.
00:15:35
Speaker
Well, we're going to just go back a little bit before we move on too much. So your job experiences. So you worked in the OR. Can you talk a little about that and then what came after that?
00:15:47
Speaker
Yeah, so that was my first gig. And then in the following summer, that's when I got my EMT certification. How long did you work in the OR just for a little bit? Just one summer, and then I went back off to school, and that opportunity ended.
00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah, so my junior year is when I got my EMT certification and then I got hired for a 911 service the summer after my junior year. And I started working out. I was going back and forth between school and home just to try and get some hours, get some experience.
00:16:23
Speaker
And then after I graduated I continued to work a couple years for for two ambulance services And I have to say EMT I think it's I I've heard you talk about it with a couple of guests already I I really think it's it's the hardest job in America And I'm not saying it just because I worked it. I I'm saying it because is you have
00:16:46
Speaker
the possibility to be in such adverse, high-stress situations. And in the grand scheme of things, I mean, it's a three-month course. So you really don't have that much training, but you have a lot of responsibility depending on the circumstance. And so you really have to learn to think on your feet and just make the best of a really bad situation sometimes. And so that experience kind of prepared me for anything.
00:17:14
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah, pre hospital. I never worked it, but it sounds brutal, stressful, but very necessary in order to help people even before they get to the hospital like very essential. So that's awesome. Yeah, I don't know how tough it is.
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome that you did that and you got some experience from it and some good, I guess, good, um, exposure to careful patients in different way. Um, before we get a more critical situations, which is really cool. That's awesome. So you worked for EMT. How long did you work for EMT?
00:17:53
Speaker
Um, I, I had been in EMT for five years, five years. Okay. That's quite a bit of time. Yeah. Yeah. Wrecked up those hours. Yeah. It's been fun. Kind of awesome. So when did you kind of use, you mentioned you applied a couple of times. How was it kind of going through the application process, maybe the first time and, and what did you do different the second time that made you a little bit more successful that time?
00:18:19
Speaker
Right.
PA School Application Strategy
00:18:20
Speaker
So yeah, I applied to PA school two times. And I really didn't know anyone who had ever used CASPA or applied to PA school or anything. My family isn't health care, but no one has ever gone the PA route. And I didn't have any friends that did either. So I kind of had to figure some stuff out on my own. And the first year that I applied, I think
00:18:45
Speaker
I won't say I wasted my time because there was a huge learning experience and it was why the second time around things were significantly easier. But I found that I was applying to schools that I really never had any chance of getting into just because I just wasn't a good candidate for that school.
00:19:04
Speaker
But I applied to schools because I'm from Massachusetts. So, you know, there's there's about 13 schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut. And I supplied to all of them, not because I was a good candidate, but just because I was close to my house. So I might as well apply. And I think I wasted a lot of time and I wasted a lot of money on those applications when I was never going to get accepted.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah. So what schools did you, so you did that the first time around. Did you change up the schools the second time around and maybe more towards the west or just kept it all east? So I, so I ended up becoming a Casper expert and that's because I, um, I, my application wasn't perfect. No, no application is, but, um,
00:19:52
Speaker
My GPA was a little bit on the lower side. I think my science GPA was like a 3.1. And so with that, it doesn't mean that I wasn't a good candidate for school. It's just I just had to be a little bit more intentional with so much school that I was applying to. And one thing that I found is that there's always so much you can do to change certain GPAs, but you can look at,
00:20:15
Speaker
prerequisite courses for different programs. And what I noticed is that, yeah, my overall GPA wasn't as great, but I had pockets of classes where I had done really well in. So I looked at school's prerequisite coursework and say that they required two years organic chemistry and they had a math component and general chem. Well, these are all programs that I found that I did really well in.
00:20:41
Speaker
You know, maybe my science GPA was a little bit on the lower side but for the purpose of courses that they were asking classes that they deemed to be important I might have had a 3.6 GPA so obviously I I did better when I applied to schools that that that had that criteria compared to just applying to a school because because it was nearby and
00:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's very smart to kind of gear towards the prerequisite because those schools ask for those for a reason. Maybe it's more heavy in that one regard. I'm not sure, I can't remember if Sacred Heart had a genetics requirement.
00:21:19
Speaker
We had a heavy genetics component in our curriculum, so that might be why they do some of these prereqs, but yeah, it's very smart. What resources did you use to look up all these schools? Did you just Google them and search for them, or did you use that book, the guide to PA schools?
00:21:40
Speaker
Yeah, so I had that and then I pretty much just made a list of every single program that I was interested in and all the requirements. So I didn't just like focus on schools around here. I focus on schools in Arkansas, California, Florida, all schools like that.
00:22:00
Speaker
because I knew how bad they wanted to become a PA, so I was willing to travel as you have, I know, to make this opportunity happen. And yeah, and it was nice. And so once you see that and you see, what I would do is I'd write out each class that was necessary or required, and I found, okay, well, I have an A already in four of these classes,
00:22:29
Speaker
But there's one class that I have a B minus in. So I would go back and retake that class, and then I would get an A in that class. And now all of a sudden, I had a pretty competitive GPA for the class that they deemed to be important.
00:22:46
Speaker
So how can you tell me that I'm not academically competitive in that sense? And so I think that definitely made a difference. The first year that I applied when I didn't do that, I applied to 13 programs and I only got one interview. And then the second time around, I applied to a smaller list of schools, but more focused. I applied to nine schools, I believe, and I got three interviews.
00:23:07
Speaker
Awesome, yeah, that seemed to work well with you. For your personal statement or any of your other essays, did you have someone edit them? How did that look like for you?
00:23:19
Speaker
Yeah, so I paid for an online service for the second time around. The first time around I wrote it myself and I thought that it was a good essay, but there's a lot of really qualified candidates who are out there applying and they all have fantastic writing abilities. So I wrote my personal statement over again for the second year that I applied.
00:23:43
Speaker
And then I use an online service. I believe it's the PA platform. I'm not entirely sure. I would have to go back and look at it, but they do fantastic work. And I absolutely recommend it just because it is your own thoughts. Everything that you're putting down is you're writing out yourself. But they, I mean, they're professional writers, so they help restructure your essays.
00:24:09
Speaker
or give you potential ideas, certain things that you can add that do make it more unique. And it's your own thoughts, it's your own structure.
00:24:21
Speaker
Okay, well now let's talk about interviews. So you got one interview your first time and three your second time. Do you know kind of what the difference was or you felt the difference was and maybe the things you were successful in the second time around that maybe you haven't done the first time around?
00:24:41
Speaker
Yeah, so I will say that there are some people that they can sit down for an interview and they're just really, really skilled with it. They're someone that they can be very at ease. They know exactly what they want to say and they're able to communicate that.
00:24:56
Speaker
I was not one of those people, um, especially for the first time around. And I was nervous because I had put so much effort into applying and I want to become a PA so bad that when I sat down for the interview, I was like, Oh man, this is my shot. I better not blow it. And that was the worst thing that I could have possibly done. Um, so I did that the first time around and even to some extent, the second time around as well, even though I had known what to expect a little bit still until you're sitting in that seat, you never really know how you're going to react to things. Um,
00:25:26
Speaker
And I had three interviews. The first one I thought went okay, but I didn't get accepted. And then the second one was here at Sacred Heart. And I remember that I was really nervous about it. But then the morning of, probably maybe three hours before the interview, I had gotten another interview invitation to a different program.
00:25:55
Speaker
So I was, oh, maybe this isn't my only opportunity. Maybe the other program, I'll get accepted. And so I had more than one shot here. And that caused me to be more at ease during my interview. And I think that's everything that I needed. So I think whatever advice that I have for people is, A, first off, I think the more preparation you put in, the more at ease you'll be. Because the more time you put in, the more ready you are.
00:26:24
Speaker
Chances are they're not gonna be able to ask you a question that You know that you won't be prepared for so you'll have rehearsed your answers that they'll be they'll be your own thoughts And you can answer them honestly And so that's why I had done just the fact that I was a little bit more at ease because I knew okay This wasn't my only opportunity You know it helped me be myself a little bit more and be able to be a little more confident in my answers And I think that that's what made the difference
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, I can't really speak for any other schools, but if you if you get an interview at Sacred Heart University, just chill and relax because they at least unless they changed it and they made it so inviting and non-competitive.
00:27:07
Speaker
And you could just be yourself is great. Like there was an era of professionalism about just because everyone was just like, I got to look my best with other people because the, you know, the faculty are looking at us and how we interact with one another. It was pretty low, low stress for, for most of it. You know, some of the one-on-one interviews were a little bit more intense just because they're like, I don't want to blow it in your internal stresses and things like that. But yeah.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yes, that's a great idea to de-stress. I feel like most things in life, if you're not stressed about it, life goes so much better and you don't suffer twice. A great quote I heard, I can't remember who said it, but if you stress about things and worry about tomorrow, you suffer twice. You suffer the actual result and leading up to it. So I've been trying to internalize that. Absolutely. And it's also important to remember that
00:28:01
Speaker
You know, you're not the only one who gets stressed out about things. Everyone gets stressed out. If you're, this is, you know, a very unique opportunity, especially, you know, on a daily basis when we're facing, you know, important classes, important tests and things like that, everyone feels nervous. So you're not weird or, you know, for feeling like that. Everyone feels the same thing. So that should put you at ease a little bit.
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that's great. Sometimes it's hard in PE school because everyone kind of, at least I put my head down. I just can't get through the days and through the tests and things like that. And it's cool to hear some other people vocalizing what you've been feeling and maybe feeling alone, but it's cool to see those things. That's why I keep telling everyone this. This is why one of the motivations for this podcast is to
00:28:49
Speaker
reassure other people, other PA students that this is totally normal what you feel and everyone else is feeling it. And just this common struggle of getting through PA school because it's stressful. We can't really say compared to other programs because we've never been in them unless you have been in them. Then you could compare it to your program, I guess. But PA school, not the minimize PA school stress, it is a real thing, but it's doable.
Challenges and Motivations in PA School
00:29:16
Speaker
So Seabree, so do you think that since you started the podcast and you had these interviews where you're interviewing our classmates, has that helped you? Has that put you more at ease and knowing some of the things that you've been experiencing that everyone else is going through them as well? Because as someone who just listens to the podcast, when I started listening to your episodes, it made me feel a little bit better. Because everything that I was going through, I wasn't weird for thinking that. Everyone's going through the same thing.
00:29:41
Speaker
Oh for sure and especially knowing like people's GPA and statistics backgrounds of getting in like oh like we're so much alike in those regards and yeah we had different experiences we were just locations but we both succeeded we all succeeded in getting to this one place and we're not as different as I once thought
00:30:02
Speaker
And like in the very beginning, I actually thought about this. It was cool. I talked about this in one of the other earlier podcasts that it was cool to see that I felt like I were all kind of starting from the same level, even though I wasn't empty and I wasn't in these like pretty intense and
00:30:20
Speaker
looked like they're probably more exotic, you know, clinical experiences. I was just a CNA doing the grunt work of what CNAs do, but it was cool to see other people bring what they've learned into the program. Like today, there's someone that was an advanced EMT and kind of short shared her knowledge and some of the things we were learning. And that was really cool. And our program really put together a really awesome diverse
00:30:51
Speaker
group of not only our backgrounds, our, you know, our genders and other things, other those demographics, but also experiences and just our personalities and what we bring to the table, which is really cool. I really appreciate it.
00:31:09
Speaker
I will say for sure, I'm a better man today than I was when I walked in here in August. And part of that is because yeah, there are so many different types of people here. You learn to get along with everyone. And a lot of us, we have different beliefs on a lot of different things, but at the end of the day, we're all working towards the same common goal and we all want to get along. We want to make this experience as awesome as it can possibly be. And so we just make it work and it's fun.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah, we've had a really good time. Well, that leads us perfectly to PE school. So how was it like, you know, like, you know, traveling from Massachusetts, can I get so far away? How was the move and kind of your first impressions of PE school and the beginning in PE school for you? Well, since you asked about the move, the move was awful because I live in a high rise apartment, well, what I consider to be a high rise apartment building.
00:32:05
Speaker
I'm from the suburbs. And I live on the 12th floor. So just here in Stanford? Yes, in Stanford. Oh, man. 12th floor. So just having to lug all of our stuff and all of our furniture and everything like that. It was very, very stressful. And I think I moved probably like two days before school started. So I was already freaked out about school and everything like that. The last thing that I need to worry about was going through that difficult moving process. So I probably waited a little bit too long.
00:32:33
Speaker
But there's one what once once the move was out of the way and I got settled though. Well, then we started school And it was and it was tough. It was awesome that we were in person just because like you got to meet people and you got to be in the room and you got to you know experience everything and You know that PA school has to offer but it was also difficult because
00:32:55
Speaker
I mean, you know, like we were all in one room. We were, we were wearing face masks, sometimes face shields. So as awesome as it was that we were able to be in person, you know, it was a little bit of a unique, different experience. And so I think it did take a little bit of time just to get used to it. Um, I love the way that, that the program slowly integrated us in into things. The curriculum wasn't all that fast. When we first started, they kind of eased us into it. And I think that's exactly what we needed.
00:33:24
Speaker
Yeah, you might hear a lot about last semester because it was really rough in some parts. Second semester. There was like three or four exams every week for like six weeks. And that might not seem so crazy, but you have to remember we're learning things as we're going around. So we're studying for like three or four or five tests at the same time. And we were in class most of the day.
00:33:52
Speaker
So there was a lot of time to study and we're just felt like we're just, I felt like I was just constantly cramming because there just wasn't enough time to do things. So that was tough. And it was cold and it was dark because it was February.
00:34:04
Speaker
I know it was cold but luckily I felt like we were on break for a month just because they took away our spring break and that was partially part of the reason why it was hard because they took away a break in the thick of it which would have been nice but they put it together so we didn't start until kind of mid beginning mid-january
00:34:25
Speaker
I mean, like a few weeks before it started getting lighter, which I really appreciated. It wasn't so dark all the time, but it was cold. It was super windy. And I wasn't used to that. Even though, um, like I said, last episode, I'm from the Rockies. I'm not exactly from the Rockies. I've lived in the Rockies for like most of my adult life. And, but this was cold. Um, but yeah, that's, yeah, it's cool too to see.
00:34:49
Speaker
Yeah, they the program really eased us into it. They they told us up front. They've been very transparent about what they kind of their technique of working us through our didactic gear with also like pants prep because they incorporate a lot of those pants
00:35:08
Speaker
principles into our curriculum like we do white boards along we can write on when we're taking a test because that's what you can do on the pants and they kind of told us when we're taking exams we're gonna like put you at like one minute maybe 25 seconds to start and we did that for the first semester then they eased us into a minute per question so that's what's kind of been like for
00:35:34
Speaker
since then because that's what you get on the pants. So that's been really nice that they've really incorporated what we need to do to be successful and what we'll see to be able to graduate and get our license as a PA. So that's been really awesome as well.
00:35:50
Speaker
Are you, do you find that you're like surprised at like the rate at which you operate now? Cause I remember when we first started school and we were first taking tests, when I heard that we were going to have one minute per question on an exam, I was like, Oh no, I'm never going to finish the test. Like no way. And then now we're able to do it and we have time after.
00:36:09
Speaker
You know, so I, that's one thing that surprised me is that you just get so used to taking tests and it's very, very daunting at first, but then you get a rhythm for it and you're, you're doing it every day. Like we did, like you were saying, we didn't second semester, we were taking three really difficult tests a week with real over really difficult modules. And we were just making it happen.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, my test-taking skills have definitely improved. My rate at which I can process information on tests has improved. I usually just skip, the ones that take most time, I kind of, I look at it, try and answer it, skip it, and I come back to it, and that's been really successful for me.
00:36:45
Speaker
But yeah, my stan was increased. I guess when he takes so many tests, I can't remember how many tests our program director mentioned that we take during direct active gear with Sponge. We had 30 in the second semester. That number is burnt in my brain. But when we take your hands, it's like, oh, no problem. We'll take six-hour tests, no problem. So that's been very nice to do.
00:37:08
Speaker
What has been your top few challenges of PA school and maybe top successes of PA school for you? Um, so I would say the top challenges of PA school, um, we're probably just figuring out how to study because I, like I said, when I, when I was younger in my early academic year, like my early college years, you know, I wasn't really all that creative a student didn't really have great study habits. So my freshmen, sophomore year I struggled. And then for junior year.
00:37:37
Speaker
You know, that was after I, you know, I had worked as a nursing assistant. So I had all the passion in the world to do well in school, but none of the study habits. So I started doing a little bit better. I think I got B's and you know, I didn't start getting A's until my senior year or so.
00:37:54
Speaker
So I thought I had my study habits down, and then I got to PA school, and I was like, okay, maybe I wasn't working as efficiently as I thought I was. And you learn what works for you. Every semester has been different, so the things that I did first semester, well, they weren't going to necessarily work second semester.
00:38:14
Speaker
And then even the things I was doing second semester, well, they might not work for a third semester. So it's had to change each semester. I think just that learning curve has been the hardest thing for me.
00:38:29
Speaker
If any advice that I have for, you know, for people who are going to start PA school in the future is just ask the people around you.
Advice on Study Habits and Classmate Collaboration
00:38:37
Speaker
We, you know, we have 40 people in this program and all of them are, they do exceptionally well academically and they don't just do it because, you know, we're the smartest people in the world. I do it because they work really hard and they have really good study habits. Um, and you know, there's, there's 40 brands that we can put together. So you might be doing one thing that is working for you, but
00:38:55
Speaker
maybe someone else has a different idea that you can try and implement some aspect of that and then it's going to improve your study habits and it's going to give you more time to study. You're going to learn the information more thoroughly and then you'll be better off and you'll start doing better on tests and you'll start feeling better about your overall situation.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yeah, it's been, it's been really cool. Um, we share a Google drive together and we all put post stuff. People post study guides, people post other things. So it's cool to see what people put together, um, collaborate on things. I highly recommend that if you're able to do that, to do that, um, to do that in your program, if you're, if, if you're not, if you don't have that suggested, cause it's amazing and there's nothing wrong with it and very helpful. Cause it does save you time. Cause sometimes it's just the numbers game of,
00:39:41
Speaker
Having enough time of the day to do things and if you can all pitch in to do something I still I think it's too late for our program, but I like Kahoot has been amazing But I felt like it could have been Done in such a way where everyone contributed. It's wouldn't be such an issue for people to make them yeah, because those are so fun and so awesome studying but
00:40:03
Speaker
But we're kind of past that now in our program and our training right now. But for those that are going to PA school, Kahoot's amazing. It's fun. And at least it helps you test those high yield, maybe buzzwords that you might see on exams and other things that might be good to know, good to remember. So I suggest that as well.
00:40:27
Speaker
And it's just another form of seeing the information because what I'm learning is that you can read a PowerPoint 30 times and you think you know the information and then you face a question on it and you don't know it as thoroughly as you thought you did. So just trick your brain a little bit. Get used to seeing it in one setting, in one context, maybe on a PowerPoint or something like that.
00:40:47
Speaker
and then find a source where you can answer a question on it. Maybe it presents, if you're learning about a condition, maybe it asks a question about certain signs and symptoms and see if you can pick up on it. And then, yeah, go through cahoots. There's a couple other things. There's Rosh review that we use, which people do really well on. The most important thing I think is just study a couple different ways. Don't do one particular way, because I find that you won't know the information as well as you think you do when it comes time to take the test.
00:41:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's very true. So successes, what have been some of your successes at PA school that you've really, I feel like you've really overcome some things or really enjoyed some aspects of PA school? So I think it's just the fact that knowing that, you know,
00:41:35
Speaker
I personally, I mean, like I said, I'm a better version of myself today than I was when I first started. And it's because you don't know what you're capable of until you're put in a situation where you absolutely have to accomplish something. And something that you want to do, so you'll put the time in. You don't really mind about dedicating hours and hours to working towards something.
00:41:58
Speaker
During the peak of second semester, me personally, I was waking up at 6 a.m. I was studying for a couple hours before class. I went to class for eight hours a day, took good notes, and I was coming home and studying after. If you compare that version of me versus what I was doing in college back when I truly knew what it took to be successful, you'd be talking to two different people.
00:42:21
Speaker
And I'm excited that I've had that opportunity because I don't think that I ever would have had this development, this personal development on my own. I need to be in a situation where, you know, you did have to put your blood, sweat and tears into something.
00:42:38
Speaker
You know and and fail a little bit as well, you know, if you know if you're if you're Succeeding in every single thing. Well, then you don't know what you have to change It wasn't until I you know, I did poorly on a couple tests where I was okay. Maybe you know, maybe this isn't working I should probably change something and when I would make that critique when I would make that change I Became better on the other end for it
00:42:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's very cool. Yeah. I've been learning this because I've always been so afraid of failure, but realizing like it's a universal principle of if we have to fail in order to learn, and that's how we learn from our mistakes. We have to be able to do something wrong.
00:43:17
Speaker
and that's all right. Like we fail so much during didactic year but also like when we're doing patient assessment stuff we fail a bunch because we're practicing how to do techniques and things like that. Clinical skills we're failing a lot and we're not succeeding in doing these skills. It's very very humbling. Yeah it's humbling and it teaches us that you know this is part of learning the learning process and
00:43:41
Speaker
And I think that is, that is good that we are willing to learn to willing to try again. Cause if we don't, we feel like we are perfect and we feel like we have mastered it. That's when we are really not learning and potentially harming patients, which, and that's why being a PA is kind of cool because we're, we're just, our role is embedded in a team and where you can learn from other people. You can also have, you have a scope of practice, which is,
00:44:11
Speaker
I feel like is great and it helps you facilitate that continual learning, which I'm excited for. Absolutely. And also just, you know, the more you struggle for something, the more you appreciate things on the other side. Not that, not that we're at the finish line yet, you know, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and didactic here. We got, we got 37 days left.
00:44:33
Speaker
Oh, you've been counting. But who's counting? Who's counting? But yeah, so it makes it, you know, the more effort, you know, and, you know, that you put into something, it feels better when you when you get through it and you appreciate it more on the other side. Yeah, that's true. Very true. So do you have any other advice for pre PAs, PA students?
00:44:55
Speaker
So people who are applying to PA school, that is. Could be applying to PA school or just in the pre-PA path or starting PA school soon. Yeah, so I'll say for people who are applying to PA school,
Encouragement for PA Applicants
00:45:12
Speaker
I just really don't get discouraged. It is very, very difficult to get into PA school, and there's a lot of really qualified candidates. Just because you're not having any luck when you first start applying doesn't mean that you're not cut out for it. It doesn't mean that you'll never get accepted. Remember, life is long. Life is short, but life is long.
00:45:33
Speaker
I know that spending an extra two, three years applying to school seems like a lot for right now, but you have to realize that it takes one phone call to change your life. It takes one acceptance and then all of a sudden you can start working towards your goal and you'll be able to work for 40 years
00:45:53
Speaker
for your plan A, for the job that you wanted all along. So it's definitely worth it. And with each year that you apply, you become a better candidate and it becomes easier to apply as well, because all your information is saved to CASPA. So you don't have to go and manually enter in your entire transcript again. So it just becomes easier. So if you're applying and you're not having any luck right away, just keep with it and it's gonna work out eventually.
00:46:21
Speaker
Awesome. That's some good words of wisdom. Yeah, that's very important. It seems hard and when you're going through it, it seems like a grind, but it's worth it and you can do it. We can all do this thing together. So before we finish, what are some things that you like, some of your hobbies, some things you like to do to de-stress or just relax and enjoy life during PA school?
00:46:45
Speaker
Um, so I, I love going to the gym a lot. I haven't been very good this week though. I took the week off, but, um, yeah, sorry. It's all right. You can skip some days diet starts tomorrow. Um, but yeah, so I, so I love doing that. Um, I, I am obsessed with, with sports, uh, specifically basketball. Uh, so I, I love watching basketball. I love watching YouTube videos and on basketball and all things like that. I play video games.
00:47:11
Speaker
And I listen to music as well and I always find time to hang out with my friends. Um, the one thing that I'm really lucky for is my roommate, um, is, is not involved in PA school. He is a, he's a, he's a cybersecurity specialist. I have to make sure I get the title writer also get mad at me.
00:47:27
Speaker
Um, but, uh, so yeah, so I, I'm able to come home and, you know, just kind of hang out with him a little bit and just talk about nonsense, completely detached from school. Um, so that's, so that's been, that's, that's been really easy. Um, and, and really fun. I also kind of feel bad at times because he's in a different stage of life. So he goes to work, you know, for 40 hours a week, then he comes home and he wants to hang out and watch movies after.
00:47:50
Speaker
Um, you know, and I can't really do that right now. Cause I'm in a stage of my life where, you know, I have a year for in the classroom portion, I have to do as well as I possibly can to get through it. I'm, I'm sure you kind of go through the same thing. Cause I heard that you have some roommates who are in TA school either. Yeah. My wife's the same way. My daughter too. They're like, Oh, they're so disappointed when I come home and have to study, but I've been limiting that I've just been staying longer at school and then going home and just being free. But sometimes that.
00:48:19
Speaker
I get home later and that's hard too, but the weekends are a little tricky too. Cause I try to study Saturday, at least during the morning and then have Saturday afternoon free and doing other things on Sunday. We do stuff together, but yeah, you know, when you do live with someone or know someone that isn't in PA school does make it a little difficult because they want you to do stuff. And then all those PA school memes are very true when your friends like.
00:48:46
Speaker
Let's hang out. And you're like, I want to, but I can't. And then, yeah, those are very real. Um, but you know, it's, it's not so bad. You can work through it. Just have to prioritize your time, but also like focus and focus as much as you can on studying when you're studying. Um, so you're not taking, you know, twice as much time or three times as much time to do the same thing. You could a much quicker if you were focused. So that's also very important.
00:49:15
Speaker
Well, awesome. Well, thanks so much for agreeing to come interview, um, with me. It's been a pleasure to kind of get to know you a little bit better, even though I sat next to him for like, I have sat next to him for weeks. Also Sebring cannot escape me lately. We are, we are.
00:49:32
Speaker
Capstone partner projects. We are, we are pop health assignment partners. He, he sits next to me in class now. He, every, everywhere Sebring turns, he sees me, he cannot hide from me. And now here we are doing a podcast together. It's great, but he makes me look good. Um, he's the more handsome of the two. So it's been so great to talk with you.
00:49:53
Speaker
And I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I hope you guys come back next time for another great episode. See you later.