PPASO's Ex-Social Chair and Now PA School Applicant - Tyler Nguyen

Hey everyone! My name is Tyler Nguyen, a UCSD alumni from the class of 2023. I graduated in the Fall 2023 quarter w/ a Bachelor's in General Biology. As a General Biology major, I was able to fulfill almost all of the major prerequisites at UCSD just through my major and gen-ed courses. I ended up taking Anatomy + Lab and Human Physio + Lab through community colleges (Miramar and Mesa respectively). Although you’ll hear this a lot, researching what classes your ideal PA school requires is absolutely necessary. If you want to maximize your “application net,” consider taking some or all of the following: a psychology course (school specific), a sociology course, and the full organic chem series (3 courses + lab). Some experiences during my undergrad were obtaining my EMT certification (Miramar CC), finishing a volunteer rotation at Scripps Green’s urgent care, and attending various PPASO events while being the 2023 Social Chair. During my graduate career, me and some PPASO alumni formed a graduate student organization (GAPPA), which is aimed to serve pre-PA students. In particular, the leadership experience I’ve gained from running the org combined with hosting and attending a ton of community service events has been priceless for me.

I applied with just about 2000 PCE hours, around 400-500 volunteer hours total, and have about a 3.4 GPA. I got my LORs from my PA at work, a community service leader for a non-profit I partner with, and my anatomy professor at Miramar! I took the mindset of applying to whichever school I could apply to and didn’t place too much emphasis or effort on researching the best school for me. Admittedly, I applied half-heartedly during this last cycle - starting a little too late and with less effort than I wished, in hindsight. I finished my 8 applications sometime late July-October and have added some applications here and there since. Definitely start early when you can - CASPA is simply time-consuming above all else! You don’t have to start writing your personal statement super early, just even thinking about your answer to “Why PA?” is daunting. Take it slow and be patient with yourself. It’s going to take time regardless. Every successful applicant and all admissions teams I’ve talked to have placed some type of emphasis on making yourself unique, impressionable, and memorable. For me, I find that it’s my dedication to community service. For others, it might be their unique experiences in health care, a focus on their extracurriculars, or maybe something super non-traditional. You can spin who you are in whatever way you want! I started my personal statement not knowing what my “value” was, so I promise you: you will find it.

GPA isn’t everything, but focus on it while you can. It’s super easy to add extracurricular experience later on, but it is exceptionally difficult to raise your GPA. Leadership experience is also really useful when it comes to answering CASPA and interview questions. Be it as an undergraduate leadership position or an office head MA, try to find some element of leadership. Try your best to finish your application early. CASPA opens in April, and applying before June is the most ideal. Sometimes you can’t avoid it (maybe you’ll have outstanding classes), so it is not the end of the world if you can’t apply by then! There are TONS of programs out there, and you only need 1!

If you have any further questions and want to reach out, please feel free to contact Tyler at tylernn1tyler@gmail.com!