Covid and PA School – Susie and Charlie

Hello everyone! Our names are Susie and Charlie and we are currently second-year PA students at Marshall B. Ketchum University. We met in high school and have been together as a couple for 15 years now. We graduated from UCSD in 2013 and 2012 with a B.S. in General Biology, but with low GPAs and thought it would be impossible to become PAs. However, we continued to believe in ourselves and spent the next five years improving our application through extensive clinical experiences, serving in medical missions, and taking over 80 units of courses to improve our GPAs. After numerous rejections and applying to PA school for three cycles, we both finally received the best acceptance call in 2018. Today, we are thrilled to share our PA journey with you and also wanted to talk about how COVID-19 has impacted our learning in PA school.

As three-time applicants, we understood the struggle of getting accepted into PA school, but the adversities allowed for an even more special experience when we finally became PA students. It was because of our failures that we were able to work even harder and appreciate how far we had come. To this day, our journey helps us realize how blessed we are to even be able to study and focus on our dream career as PAs. With every program, there may be certain things that you may not always agree with or enjoy, however, we believe it is important to trust the process, stay grateful, and remain humble. YOU have come so far and YOU are able to make your PA school experience the BEST it can be based on your positive ATTITUDE. Once COVID-19 guidelines were set and we switched to online-learning in March, we were filled with many emotions such as uncertainty and fear. We were concerned about how transitioning to online learning would affect our PA education and our clinical exam skills. There were moments where we felt disappointed because we had certain “expectations” of what our PA school experience would be like. It almost seemed like there was a neverending list of reasons to be upset with the pandemic and how our lives had been turned upside-down as a result of it. However, we quickly realized that there will always be a light for every bit of darkness in this world and that we just had to look for it. From then on, we saw the pandemic as yet another obstacle we needed to overcome and adapt to.

Our faculty and program provided us with constant communication and assurance that

the quality of our education was not compromised. Yes, the transition to online learning had its challenges, but there were many advantages as well. For example, one of the benefits of online learning in PA school was the flexibility to complete lectures at your own pace. Having pre-recorded lectures to view, we had the freedom to pause, speed, or slow down the material. By doing so, we were able to clarify topics utilizing various resources and making study guides simultaneously. Although it was time-consuming, we felt that we actually retained information better because we were actively learning. The best part of switching to online learning for PA school for us was having the time to do things that we enjoy to mentally de-stress. Prior to COVID-19, we were on campus from 8-5 M-F. When we would get home, our “break” was walking our dog and having dinner before we get back to studying until 10-11 pm at night. Now, we are able to start our day with something that we enjoy such as exercising or making a delicious breakfast with a fresh cup of coffee.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that life is full of surprises that are both for and against your favor. You can endlessly plan how you want your day, week, or year to go, but life will often catch you off-guard. When it does, it has the ability to push you down and then pin you down. Now, will you rise, adapt, find solutions, and plan new routes to get to your goal? We believe this is essential, especially in the world of medicine. Remember, if it were easy you would not be here. Never stop looking for that light during difficult situations and we promise you will come out stronger every time. It’s worth it.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog post. We wish everyone good luck with the application process and interviews for this cycle. Feel free to ask us any questions through email us at couple.of.pas@gmail.com or our Instagram @couple.of.pas.