So I will be attending St. John’s University in the Fall, in their accelerated 4 year PA program. The thing is I don’t want to be a PA! My parents want me to be one because its faster! Personally, I would like to go to a different college on a pre-medicine track. I don’t want to stop short and just become a PA. I want to become a doctor and school after becoming a PA doesn’t seem like an option. So I’m hoping to transfer in between the two semesters or at the end of the first year but what can I do as of the time being?!
Take the pre-reqs.
To expand on Frigidcold, the coursework required by St. Johns’ program covers most (if not all) of the pre-reqs for medical school (I didn’t see physics, but I might have missed it.) So doing your first two years at St. Johns won’t put you ‘off track’ for medical school. You can decide after the first year if you still want to transfer.
The larger issue here is that your parents are paying for your education and they have made a decision for you about your career. Until something changes here - either they change their minds or you become a financially independent adult - you have very few options. Perhaps if you are still committed to medical school after two years and have the grades (a GPA of 3.75 or better) to get you there, they will be persuaded that you should be allowed to transfer and pursue your goals.
I have a good friend who started as an EMT, saving money for college to get a degree in Nursing. He did that, graduated fine, and practiced in the field for a while. Decided to go for Med School – graduated as a DO. Now has risen to be the head of Emergency at a regional hospital.
You don’t NEED to be a med school graduate at 26 years old. You’re getting to go to college. Be thankful. Becoming a PA or whatever, doesn’t preclude becoming a physician later on.
As a matter of fact, a family friend has just become an empty nester. Before marriage and kids, she had applied to and gotten into med schools but opted not to go. Now, in her mid 40s with the last kid off to college, she’s going to be a first year med student! Bravo for her!
@T26E4 Really? That’s awesome!
" I want to become a doctor and school after becoming a PA doesn’t seem like an option."
Wherever do you get that notion?
As others have written above, people do go to med school years after completing other kinds of degrees and working in other professional fields. Just make certain that you get the pre-med coursework you will need while completing the PA program. Then work for a while, and think about whether or not your personal goals are best achieved by attending medical school. If so, apply then.
You have not written anything about how St. Joes is being paid for. Are you or your parents borrowing any money for this, or are they paying for it without any loans? If debt is involved, then that is a whole other problem. You may be better off taking a gap year, and looking for a less expensive place to study. No one should be going into debt for an education that the student is feeling iffy about.
Is money part of the decision to go to St. John’s? If so it may be hard to afford a different school, especially since transfer students generally get little or no merit aid. Keep in mind that many students would love the opportunity to attend a 4 year college even if it isn’t their top choice.
I agree, start at St. John’s and if you like it or if you can’t afford a different alternative, you can go through the PA program – just be sure you have the requirements needed for pre-med. That way you will leave the door open for med school. I actually think a PA background will be well-received by med schools and it could be an excellent back-up plan if you don’t get into or decide that you don’t want med school. In college (admittedly years ago) I had a roommate who was a PT – she took the required pre-med courses and MCATs and got into multiple med schools.
You’ll probably be taking the prereqs for med school by becoming a PA. A PA is a great career and will be able to get you good job experience/money in order to make a decent living for yourself and possibly move on to med school. School after becoming a PA can ALWAYS be an option.
I’m thinking of changing my major to biology and working on the premed track. I don’t think i can do the pre reqs in my PA schedule. @TheDidactic Money isn’t a huge problem but my mother says if I don’t do PA then I have to take out loans. @happy1 @happymomof1 @T26E4 @Frigidcold @N’s Mom
I would stay on the PA track and not take out loans.
PA covers the premed pre-reqs. As for the classes it doesn’t cover, it’ll be your responsibility to
In addition, its curriculum is an EXCELLENT preparation for med school, especially with all the medical and clinical experiences it provides.
The pre-reqs you need to complete are (* = already included in the PA program)
2 semesters each of English* (composition, rhetorics, communication, Freshman seminar all count, as would philosophy and literature classes), Biology, chemistry, and Physics; one semester each of psychology, sociology, calculus, statistics, biochemistry, organic chemistry, a diversity-focused class; and, preferably, fluency in a language spoken by an immigrant group.
In short, just by doing your PA program, you complete most of the requirements. You’d have to take 2 semesters of Physics, biochemistry, and statistics over 2 summers (1 class per summer session, 2 classes per summer), and plan for a semester when you take organic chemistry on its own (it’s a killer). You can, alternatively, choose to switch after 2 years, but you’ll have decreased your need for loans by two. Win-win.
Note that majoring in biology has several downsides, the main ones being that 1° you don’t need to major in bio to be premed, 2° it’s even less employable (and less prestigious) than, say, classics (bio majors without jobs are a dime a dozen unfortunately), and 3° bio majors tend to have less success on the MCAT and in med school admissions than other majors including English and Math.
For some reason, this thread reminds me of the graffiti I once saw scrawled on the bathroom wall in the Biochemistry building;
“Help!! I am being held prisoner in the Genetics wing!”
S had classmates in 30’s and one in 40’s, all married with kids.
Do you like biology? Med schools would tell you to pick a major that you’re interested in, not to please them.
Is that major related, or due to the fact that people made poor choice and picked a major like bio because it was the “premed” thing to do, or because bio major doesn’t really prep you for MCAT as much as individual prep does?
Both of them.
^ Also, bio majors have to be very very good to distinguish themselves from the thousands orher bio majors.
For the MCAT specifically, I think it may be due to the fact that they have less exposure to math than math, physics, and engineering, while having less exposure to linguistic subtleties than English and Foreign Language majors and less exposure to logic than the above plus philosophy majors.
@toojatt4u You need to make your own decisions about your future life. If it will cost you more then that is something you must weigh in making your decision. You may have to work, you may have to spend an extra year, but in the end, it’s your life.
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don’t think i can do the pre reqs in my PA schedule.
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What? Of course you can. They’re practically the same.
YOu don’t have to tell your parents that you don’t want to be a PA…you don’t have to tell them that you’re including a few classes that may only be for premed. Keep your mouth shut. Go to St. John’s, let your parents pay for it…and then when later on, apply to med schools.
You can’t take out loans w/o your parents signatures. Not only is that a BAD IDEA, but likely they will refuse to sign.
You’ll have loans for med school, you won’t want them for undergrad.
There is no such thing at premed or prePA when it comes to undergrad majors…you major in bio or whatever, and take the prereqs. If you’re concerned about your schedule, then take a non-pre-req class over the summer.
I doubt that med schools would care if stats, psych or sociology were taken over the summer. anyone know? I know that they won’t want the hard sciences taken that way, but I doubt they’d care if those three were.
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
It sounds like the OP has been admitted to a direct entry PA program which is 5 year combined BS/MS program.
The issue may be that the 5 year combined program already uses the summers for coursework and mandatory hands-on experiences. Since students in 5 year combined program start their clinical training beginning in Year 5 , they need to cram in a full BA/BS plus a year’s worth of MS level coursework into the other 4 years. It 's quite possible there is absolutely no leeway in course selection to take any additional pre-med requirements.
It does not appear that the program requires summer classes. If that is the case, then the student can take non-required or “soft” premed classes in the summer…like stats, psych or sociology if those aren’t in the PA program reqs.
Also, this is not a guaranteed admissions. 125 frosh start, but only 75 are allowed to continue, so there is a down-selection at some point.
I don’t see where in this program the student earns a MS, but maybe I overlooked. It looks like this is only a BS program with clinicals, and the student is allowed to take the exam with just a BS. Maybe I’m wrong.
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Money isn’t a huge problem but my mother says if I don’t do PA then I have to take out loans
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Only a kid would say something like that. lol
I thought all PA programs required a MS in order to be accredited. It appears this is an evolving issue and the issuance of a Master’s degree for program accreditation won’t be required until 2020.
http://www.arc-pa.org/documents/Degree%20issue10.2011fnl.pdf