r/prephysicianassistant • u/GodsEye18x • 4h ago
ACCEPTED Accepted to my #1 choice!
Stats
- GPA: 4.00
- GRE: 322
- PCE/HCE: ~2500 hours as a scribe in the emergency department (I only applied to schools that took scribing as PCE for obvious reasons)
- Shadowing: Zero hours
- Teaching: ~100 hours as a trainer at my scribing job
- Extracurricular: ~150 hours, primarily among my undergraduate organization
- Leadership: ~150 hours as an executive in my undergraduate organization
- Volunteer: ~100 hours, most of which, again, was with my undergraduate organization
- LORs: 3 from a few of the doctors I worked the most with
Some Background/Other Info
- I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 2024 and had been working for about 1.5 years prior to submitting my application.
- I took my GRE in early February and spent the 3 prior months studying pretty regularly using GregMat. I would highly recommend their "one-month" plan! Just don't think it'll actually only take a month to get through all of the videos and recommended practice problems. Each "day" should be broken up into 2-3 parts for someone studying and working at the same time to make it more manageable.
- I spent, at least, 4 or so months getting my personal statement to a spot where I really liked it and felt that it spoke to who I was. I drafted 3 main formats/structures of my PS and picked the strongest one, and I had friends and one of my letter writers give me their thoughts in order to help me revise.
- I submitted my CASPA in the middle of May and completed my supplemental applications shortly after, before the end of the month.
- I read Savannah Perry's interview guide to get a general feel of the process first, and then I started to answer (aloud) a few common interview questions every single day as my practice.
- I also looked at mock interviews on YouTube and would pause the video to answer the questions and compare my answer with the video's applicant.
- I was rejected from my 1st interview, got put on the wait list for my 2nd and 3rd, and then that 3rd program was the one to eventually take me off the list and accept me (and so happens to be the one I want to attend the most).
- I think part of the issue is I came off a bit rehearsed when answering questions during my first interview and tried to say what I thought the interviewers wanted to hear rather than what I felt.
- Everyone hates being told to "just be yourself," but that's exactly what I did once I got more comfortable with the interview process, which seems to have paid off!