Ask a PA-S: What do you wish you knew before starting PA school?

Part Two!

What do you wish you knew before starting PA school?

It’s not about grades and regardless of how much you stress yourself out, you’re going to end up with the -C after your name. Study hard, but don’t forget that life still happens while you’re in school. Make good habits (both studying and personal health) before starting because there isn’t much time to change once you’ve started. Before school, do things you love and enjoy and remember that joy when things get hard in school. Ask questions to PAs you’ve worked with and see what study tips or mnemonic tools they recommend. Possibly consider a speed reading course (YouTube, etc.) or a way to play lectures at 2x speed to minimize wasted study time. ASK QUESTIONS IN CLASS! Most of all, take time to enjoy school; it can be exhausting and difficult, but if you learn to enjoy the material and the people you’re studying with, you’ll never be tired of what you do.

• Brandon Johnson, PA-S

• Instagram- @bsjohnson23, Email- brandon.johnson@westernu.edu

Take a vacation, because you wont get one during PA school

You hear that school is intense, and it is, but you don’t really see it until you are in the program. All you here is that “it’s tough” and “you have no time”. I think the only thing that would have eased any of that was a better way to create a daily planner, other than what I already knew how to do.

• Roger Braun, PA-S

• roger.braun16@gmail

I was well-informed about the rigors of PA school so I went backpacking throughout Europe before school started (highly recommend travelling before school). Some people recommended brushing up on anatomy/physio before going to school but I honestly did not feel like it was worth it. I would also have liked to be smarter about money rather than blowing it all on my trip. I didn’t realize how much of a struggle it would be transitioning from working to just studying all the time. I now can’t afford to go out on the weekends and barely have enough money to go to coffee shops to study. I would have liked to have budgeted my money better before starting school so I can last until I get a job. It is important to be able to make time in your schedule to do the things you love (for me its snowboarding), so make sure you account for that in terms of finances and also keep that in mind when you start school so you can stay sane.

• Lydia Lau, PA-S

• lydia.lau@westernu.edu

I wish I recognized that I knew my study habits more clearly. I’m still figuring out what works best for me with the time that we have to study. I used to write everything out and that is NOT possible in grad school. Now, I write down only what I think is important and I do a lot more quizzing review online.

• Katie Parkinson, PA-S

• IG is katie_parkie- I’m on private but you can shoot me a DM or a follow and I’ll answer any questions you have:)

I wish I had known that my studying style in undergrad would not be effective in PA school. There is a lot of flexibility and adjustment required in school and I kid you not, I study differently for EVERY single class. I also wish someone would have told me it’s ok to feel down and out sometimes, but I promise you it gets so much better!!! Spend a lot of time with friends, family, loved ones! Travel and do things you’ve always wanted to because once you start school, you’re essentially putting your life on hold for two years while you go through this rigorous marathon sprint. Also, stop stressing over grades and focus more on learning the information – it will make a world of difference and somehow your grades get better too. Spend time with your classmates, you’re only together for such a short amount of time, find a cool little group and just enjoy each other’s company!

• Lili Tran, PA-S

• Instagram: @lilpalife (preferred – I’m faster at replying here) Email: lilpalife@gmail.com