My PA School Experience

I feel like this post could be a few, because let’s be real - PA school is SOMETHING. A lot of my followers are thinking about PA school, pre PA students, current PA students, recently graduated - basically all stages of the game. I’ve had a bunch of requests to share my experience in PA school and I figured, I’m not getting any younger?! No better time to reflect and write some thoughts down than now!

I went to Yale PA school in New Haven, CT and graduated in 2016. Two things that made my experience a LITTLE different. First, I went directly from undergrad. This was more of an anomaly because I felt like a lot of my classmates had been in the work force and had more working experience. At the end of the day, we all excelled at one thing or another when it came to classes or rotations. The second difference was I did a dual MPH/PA program, which changed the length of the program from 2.5 to 3.5 years. I was accepted to Yale PA school in November of my senior year of college, then applied to the public health program in the spring. When I begun at Yale the following fall, I did a full year of public health prior to beginning the PA program. I call it my “buffer year.” It like let me dip the toes in the water of graduate school. I met a lot of people, did a lot of research, and could not wait to get started in a more medicine based study.

PA school was great (something I can say 2+ years out!!), but it was seriously really, really hard. Someone told me once it was like drinking from a fire hydrant, and I never understood quite what that meant until I was there. The first month of didactics, the whole class was all over the place, trying to find what worked best in their study habits, personal lives, and finding a balance between it all. I truly studied every. single. night. As a PA student, you quickly learn the difference between ACTUALLY studying and saying you are “studying.” We had exams 8 am Monday mornings (killed the weekend). Monday evenings were my day off from studying. During that year, my social life took a pretty solid hit. The nice thing was my entire class stuck together. We would all just text each other from our library tables asking, “Are you done studying yet?” If we did go out, we went out all together. Halloween parties included the whole class, Yale/Harvard games included a class tailgate, trivia night was for everyone.

At Yale, we had a “big” program. I was partnered with someone in the class above me, and later would be partnered with someone in the class below me to, in turn, help guide them. This aspect was a LIFE SAVER. When I failed a test, I texted my big. When I was unsure about something, I texted my big. Before my rotations, I texted my big. I never felt a sense of competition with my classmates, which was huge. We were in it together, and I am forever grateful for that. Didactic year is a grind. There is no other way to describe it. The amount of information you are given is insurmountable. Remember what you can, dig your heels in, and just get through it. Know your resources and ask for help when you are struggling. Classmates and faculty want you to SUCCEED. You will get to a point that you eventually become good at taking tests (because you take SO MANY) and may begin to feel like didactic year will NEVER end. I’m here to tell you, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

That light is your first rotation. Terrifying day, exciting, but pretty nerve-wracking. You just have no idea what is going on. When I was at Yale, the rotation curriculum consisted of 10 4-week core rotations, and 4 4-week rotations (2 of them having to be in a surgery field). Rotations go a bit something like this: Week 1: Confused, all the time. Is it the weekend? Week 2: Getting the hang of it. I can do this. Week 3: Oh yeah, I’m doing great. I know where things are now and I am being semi-helpful. Week 4: Oh no, I’m nervous for the next rotation.

The first day of every rotation is terrible. You don’t know where the bathroom is, you don’t know when you will eat lunch, you don’t know when you are going to leave. I’m going to tell you something you may not realize- your preceptors KNOW YOU ARE A STUDENT. They know it’s stressful. Some preceptors are nicer than others in regards to this concept. Now, when we have a student in our office, the first thing I point out is the bathroom and kitchen. They laugh nervously as if it’s funny I’m telling them this, but I know they appreciate it. Every rotation is different and every student has a different experience. During my emergency med rotation, I never did a night shift, whereas my best friend had to do multiple. The elective rotations I chose were - GI, Dermatology, Ortho Surgery, and Radiology (full disclosure - I chose this as my last rotation. It provided me a lot of time to study for graduation exams and my best friend and I did it together. It was one of those cushy rotations. You gotta do what you gotta do.) I did not do a plastic surgery rotation, and ended up working in this field!

Your rotation truly depends on your preceptor and what you make of it! As a student, you want to be semi-invisible in a sense that you are never in the way, but helpful enough that they are happy to see you come back. It’s an art and definitely a balance. Be respectful of those around you who are working and probably are stressed with their schedule, pending unwritten notes, and wanting to teach. There were many rotations that I said to myself “I could see myself doing this!” It was a very rare experiences where I would say, “I don’t like this at all.” Do your best. Ask what’s on the agenda for the next day so you can read up on it. Find classmates who have done that rotation and ask them if they have any pointers. Don’t be discouraged if someone (especially a surgeon) yells at you. On my general surgery rotation, the surgeon firmly scolded me as we walked out of the OR, to never scrub with him again if I didn’t know the case and anatomy. I MEAAAAN…. you can imagine my face in response. I will forever remember that moment, but I cannot remember what the case was. Don’t fret, and don’t let it crush you. I had to brush it off or I would have easily been in tears hiding in the bathroom for the rest of the day.

My one piece of advice: ENJOY THESE MOMENTS. Enjoy getting out of class at 2 pm on a Thursday. Enjoy anatomy lab even if you have no idea what you are looking at. Enjoy having a morning (or even better a day) off for a random reason. Enjoy switching specialties every 4 weeks. Enjoy meeting new preceptors (they may help you with a job some day!). Enjoy gossiping with your classmates over what rotation seems hard or easy. The whole experience feels forever, but one day you will look back and cherish all those times. Don’t wish it away too quickly.

Originally posted October 4, 2019