The 5 Things You Need to Do Before You Start PA School

My Story

When I was gearing up to start PA school, I made the decision to move and live with my husband (then boyfriend) for a few months. At that time, I had already been accepted to a PA program. We wanted to make sure we were a good fit living together before embarking on a 27-month long-distance relationship. I also decided to continue working as a dermatology medical assistant for a little extra cash during that time period. There are a few things I did right and a few things I wish I had done differently prior to starting PA school. A few changes would have smoothed the transition from pre-PA to PA-S. I hope these 5 tips help whoever is reading this prepare to start PA school! Congrats by the way! 😉

1. Spend time with family and friends

I wish I had taken more time off to maybe travel and spend time with friends prior to starting school. At the time I was more worried about making a little extra money. The thing is I didn’t really have many opportunities during school to see friends that lived a little further away. If you are going to school far away from home make sure to spend quality time with your loved ones before starting! I was fortunate that my program was only about 3 hours from my parent’s house. That allowed me to make the trip home on weekends.

2. Connect with your future classmates online or in person

I wish I had reached out to people that were going to be in my class prior to starting. Our class was so small, around 30 people. A lot of my classmates had already talked to each other before the program started and had begun to form connections. I didn’t really think to do that. It would have been nice to have already formed some connections prior to day one.

3. Talk to the current PA students to get insider tips

The reason I ended up in the program that I did was that my best friend started the same program the year before me. She gave me a ton of tips about pretty much everything. She informed me about the professors, books that were absolutely required to purchase versus books that were “optional”, places to live, etc. Thankfully for her, I felt well prepared for what to expect going into school. I saved a ton of money by not purchasing unnecessary textbooks and medical supplies that were on the to-buy list but were never actually used by her or her classmates.

4. Complete any necessary paperwork or unrelated tasks beforehand

Do not wait to do all of the tedious things that need to be done when someone moves. You will likely need to update your mailing address, set up utilities, find a new doctor’s office nearby, or simply fill out paperwork for school. Make sure that it is done in advance so you don’t have to worry about It once classes start. Remember this is a graduate-level program and you only have a short period of time to learn as much as you can about medicine. Your program will likely not start off slow. You will be thrust into the thick of it with immediate studying. Have all of your ducks in a row with other tasks unrelated to school ahead of time. Then you can focus your attention on doing what you came to do- study medicine.

5. Look at the syllabus and begin filling in your calendar

Having a plan going into school will help mentally prepare you for what’s ahead. The schedule may change as time goes on but one thing I recommend to all PA students is to mark your calendars with all of your scheduled exams and quizzes and their weight of importance, so you can start to plan where you need to focus your time when it comes to studying.

Along with exams and quizzes make sure to also make a note of any major events coming up such as weddings to see how they coincide with exams. If you are trying to make it to your cousin’s wedding and you have an exam that following week then you know you’ll need to schedule extra time for studying in advance.

There you have it! Those are the 5 tips I recommend for anyone about to start PA school. Notice that studying is not on the list! I had grand plans to study anatomy before starting school (I even bought coloring books)! The books never got used, and I promise they wouldn’t have made a difference. I am so excited for you as you start this journey. PA school is challenging but oh so rewarding when you are finally out in the world making a difference for patients. You are going to have your ups and your downs, everyone does. Just remember why you started and be kind to yourself along the way. You got this!!