Accepted! Advice #4 - Lili T.

This is our 4th blogpost featuring a UCSD student, Lili Tran, who recently got accepted to PA school this cycle. Read on to hear her acceptance story, stats, and advice! -AS

Hello! My name is Lili and I was involved with PPASO during my last two years of undergrad. I was a transfer student from Miramar and graduated UCSD in 2017 with a degree in Human Biology. I applied to PA schools this cycle right after I graduated in June.

Being born and raised in San Diego, I knew I wanted to stay somewhat close to home. I applied to 5 programs around California. The first one at the end of June and the other four after I finished my anatomy pre-requisite at the end of July. The waiting game… is grueling… waiting months and months to see if any school would offer me an interview. Then, a random Wednesday afternoon in September, I got an invitation to interview!!! I scheduled my interview for January and in between that time got rejected from two schools, but I kept my eye on the prize, the one school that offered me an interview was actually my top program! January came around and I went to interview and after the four hour session, I felt like I bombed it. Another applicant had asked the admissions representative what made the students that were already accepted this cycle into the program stand out, she said to get accepted immediately (aka finding out before the end of March like everyone else), you’d have to KNOCK THEIR SOCKS OFF during the interview, I did not feel like anyone’s socks were knocked off. Five days later, I received an email from my program that said, “An update has been made to your profile”–that was it, my heart was racing, I started sweating, and worst of all, I didn’t know my password to my profile to log on using my phone. I grabbed my laptop, logged in and there it was, a single line that said, “an update has been made to your profile”, talk about suspense!!! I clicked the link expecting a rejection or waitlist because it happened too fast, there was no way. I opened it up and there it was – Congratulations on being accepted to the Western University’s MSPA program, class of 2020! I couldn’t believe it. I spent the last five days after my interview going over my answers, how I should have answer this that and the other better. It didn’t matter anymore, I got accepted and my dream was coming true!! I went to share the news with my parents and brother and we all spent the next hour celebrating. I’ll definitely remember that day forever – all my hard work was worth it and I am so ready to start PA school and continue pursuing my passion of helping others!

Applicant Profile

• Miramar Community College Degree: AS Chemistry Studies

• UCSD Major: BS Human Biology

• cGPA: 3.75 sGPA: 3.65

• no GRE

• Hands on Direct Patient Care: Pathmaker Internship, Diabetes Clinic, PT Aide (at the time of my application I had ~560 PCE hours)

• Leadership Experience: Pathmaker Leadership Team Department Coordinator (~1000 hours), Alpha Epsilon Delta Treasurer

• Volunteer Experience: Healing Hearts Across Borders, (I included my leadership team hours as volunteering)

• Shadowing: 20 hours (3 PAs in 3 specialties)

• Letters of Rec: 1 supervisor of Pathmaker, 1 physiology professor, 1 PA

PA school: Western University of Health Sciences, Class of 2020 – Pomona, CA

After getting accepted to PA school, I wanted to start giving back immediately to the pre-PA community and started an Instagram @lilpalife. I wanted to start sharing tips and advice that I found useful during my PA journey. Here are some pieces of advice that I think may be useful during your journey! 1. Be sure to have some documentation of your experiences so that you are able to quickly recall them when you start writing your personal statement! After 4 years of undergrad, you’re going to have a lot of unique experiences and you want to be sure you remember every detail. 2. Apply Early! If you can, I’d recommend applying early. However, if you can’t due to pre-reqs, PCE, etc., apply ASAP once you finish up the classes or hours. You want to be sure your application is not left behind if you apply too late in the cycle. 3. Start contacting your LOR writers at least two months before the application cycle opens. Chances are, your writers are very busy people and giving them more time to write your letters will allow them to take their time when piecing it together. Also, don’t get too hung up on their “title” – it’s better to have a letter from someone who knows you really well than a letter from someone with a prestigious title that barely knows you. 4. The most time-consuming part of the application is probably going to be your personal statement so, start early!! Do your best to get started on this 2-3 months before the application cycle opens. Don’t think too much about how you want to format it when you first start writing, just get all your thoughts and ideas down on paper (that’s when the documentation of experiences will come in handy)! Get everything on paper and figure out a logical order that showcases your unique experiences and why you want to be a PA. Send this to friends, family, and even friends of friends who are willing to edit and give you feedback – feel free to reach out to me if you’d like an extra set of eyes! 5. If you get an interview, I highly recommend getting Andrew Rodican’s “How to ‘Ace’ the Physician Assistant School Interview” and practice those questions. I wrote down many of them and came up with my own answers. After writing them down, practice answer them with friends and in front of the mirror. The more practice you get, the less nervous you will be! 6. On interview day, be the best version of yourself! Dress professionally, be kind and respectful, and stay away from the BS factor! Don’t just assume that if you have an amazing resume that the school will automatically accept you – stay humble. Be sure to smile and have a positive attitude–when I told some of my patients that I had an interview coming up, they all said, “be sure to bring that smile with you, you’ll be sure to win them over!” which gave me a boost of confidence. Also, bring water, a small snack, and a pen! 7. Believe in yourself and trust the process. You’ve worked so hard to get where you are and if you happen to not get accepted this round, it’s not the end of the world. Like my mentor, PA Mark, shared with me, just because you get rejected doesn’t mean you can never become a PA, you’ll just try again next time and you’ll be even better.

I hope that this has been helpful and I’m wishing you all the best!! I can’t wait to be working alongside some of you all one day! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, catch me on Insta @lilpalife! Best of luck everyone!!!