Top products from r/prephysicianassistant

We found 26 product mentions on r/prephysicianassistant. We ranked the 20 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Top comments that mention products on r/prephysicianassistant:

u/Buellerina · 1 pointr/prephysicianassistant

Overall, you're off to a good start! If you're feeling lost, I recommend this book for personal statement help, it really helped me to organize my thoughts: https://www.amazon.com/Write-Physician-Assistant-Personal-Statement/dp/1517303753/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517512652&sr=8-1&keywords=pa+personal+statement

The story about your father is very compelling, and your care and concern for him is clear in your writing. However, I would try to consolidate the first two paragraphs of your paper (probably to about half the size they currently are) so that you'll have room later in your essay to discuss more about your background and experiences.

You mentioned you were in microbiology when your father had his accident, so were you already interested in medicine at that point? I'd like to hear a little more about your background prior to your father's accident.

You talked about how your father's medical team made you interested in team-based medicine, but what specifically drew you to PA? Was there a PA in particular that inspired you to pursue the profession?

Your passion for the underserved and non-English speaking population is awesome. I'd love to see some more details about why being a bilingual psychometrist cemented your desire to become a PA specifically. Did you work with PAs there? Was there one patient that really touched your heart that made you more determined to become a PA? You talk about how hearing how grateful they were made you want to pursue your graduate studies, but sometimes telling a brief anecdote about a specific time this occurred can create more of an emotional connection for the reader.

Finally, with the extra space you've hopefully gained by consolidating the first two paragraphs, what other things do you want the admissions committee to know about you? Do you have any other patient care, healthcare experience, or volunteer experience that you feel will make you a great PA in the future?

Hope this helps and good luck!

u/rbcoulis · 3 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

Yup. Adcoms tell us constantly that if they invite you for an interview, they believe you could do well at their program.

Of course I wasn't there to see you interview, but there's always the possibility that you messed up some of the important questions. At the same time, it's 100% possible you did just fine at the interview, but there were people that the adcom liked little better. Or the adcom thought you were a good candidate but ultimately not a good fit for the class. Who knows.

I highly suggest you get this book. It's geared towards med school admissions, but basically you can apply everything it says to PA schools. There's a section that lists the most common interview questions by category and provides the "right" answer. EVERY interview question I got was in this book. (Personally I don't think the popular "How To "Ace" The Physician Assistant School Interview" by Andrew Rodican is very good.)

I realize some may think my advice is overkill, but I'm just going to put it out there. If you can do all of this, and aren't some socially awkward/antisocial person, you will ace your interview:

  • know good answers to most of the questions in the book I linked
  • REALLY know good answers to "why do you want to be a PA," "tell me about yourself," and "why this school"
  • keep your answers to 30-50 seconds, you can go closer to 50-60 seconds with the important questions in the 2nd bullet point
  • make a list of "life stories," so to say, that you can draw upon when asked behavioral questions. It's very handy to have 5-6 anecdotes that can be molded to answer typical behavioral questions like "tell me about a time you worked with someone you didn't like" or "tell me about a time you used teamwork." Just google behavioral questions and the STAR technique
  • practice interviewing with anyone, preferably someone who's really good at interviews
  • be yourself. i.e. If you're a quiet person, don't force yourself to be the life of the party.

    A lot of people poo-poo so much preparation for interviews by saying stuff like... "you'll sound rehearsed" or "stop worrying so much and be yourself." Basically call you out for being a try-hard. Buuut idgaf because it worked for me.
u/self-reliance · 3 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

I strongly recommend that you take some time to travel and enjoy yourself.
No matter what you do to prepare, you are going to be studying and working constantly. Every day will be a constant stream of new knowledge, to the point where anything you study beforehand about, say, EKG's, will need to be pushed out of your mind for starting two months of intensely focusing on the kidney or liver.
I was a kinesiology major focusing heavily on anatomy and physiology. I've worked in physical therapy, an ENT clinic as a scribe, shadowed, etc before school. Despite my history, I still had to re-learn everything in fields that I thought I knew according to the way I would be tested on it or for the boards. This is especially true concerning medications, your Pharmacology or Clin Med courses will tell you what you use to treat a disorder first line, no matter what you've seen in practice.

With that said, if you really are itching to read or prep, I suggest reading Pathophysiology Made Ridiculously Simple which is a great overview of all the components of physiology along with clever ways to remember them. This is a great reference to use during school.
You can also look through medical terminology, many programs will have you "test out" of this at the beginning to continue or it will help you to more quickly identify the disorders etc. in your lectures.

It never hurts to brush up on anatomy, this will be one of your more overwhelming courses content-wise.
good luck!

u/woistmeinehose · 1 pointr/prephysicianassistant

Biochemistry was absolutely terrible. That was the hardest I worked in undergrad and the happiest I ever was to receive a passing grade. We had a similar set up where there were three or four tests and that made up the entirety of the grade for the class. Just to reiterate what others have said: CASPA will average the two grades. No way around that. Don't let that get you down though. Do well when you retake the class and do well in your other science classes and it should be fine. I would definitely look at taking other high level biology classes to demonstrate you can do well in higher level academics. Biochemistry for Dummies was actually really helpful. https://www.amazon.com/Biochemistry-Dummies-John-T-Moore/dp/1118021746 Khan Academy was also really helpful. They don't have a biochemistry topic but they do have a section for MCAT prep which covers a lot of the topics presented in biochemistry. https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/biomolecules

I had to withdraw from A&P and had to retake a psych class. Nothing was mentioned about my grades during my interview for PA school. Best of luck to you.

u/PACManly · 0 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

You aren't wrong. Many medical mission trips are a detriment to the community unless they adhere to the guidelines. This is true of anyone who intends to provide healthcare to communities for a brief period and then leave, does nothing to help create a stable system of care. It creates dependency and takes away from the distressed community and their ability to build local healthcare infrastructure. This is a good read by an Oxford/Harvard trained economist who argues against any form of aid to impoverished nations.

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Aid-Working-Better-Africa/dp/0374532125#

If you volunteer, as a preclinical student, you would be placed in a logistical or education program. These roles are encouraged by the WHO, because you are directed by the host nation. When I worked in Malawi, I did so at the pleasure of the Minister of Health under the direction of Dr. Mwanswambo and went where told. Dont discount all missions. There are ethical ways you can contribute.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5803894/

u/Yale_PA · 1 pointr/prephysicianassistant

There is already The Applicant's Manual of Physician Assistant Programs which is pretty comprehensive and written by a couple of practicing PAs from my program. (Mark V wrote like all our study guides and is amazing)

I think it's a pretty niche market if you're looking for an advice book since the one linked is already the go to book and you'd have about no chance of surpassing that book for any real market share.

u/CFRAmustang · 3 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

I'm a professional in-person and online GRE (among other things) tutor. It's best to use a recent book, especially since they are typically close in price to older editions. Depending on where you're starting your prep at (take a practice test first), and what score you're aiming for, usually 2-3 months is a great amount of time to prep.

I recommend and use this book with my students - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1259862410

And these flashcards -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1618656198

u/Geneticfloof · 1 pointr/prephysicianassistant
  1. For ethical questions, be willing to make a decision. Don't waffle. There isn't always a right answer, they're just looking for you to be a decision maker.
  2. don't let your emotions get the best of you. Control them. Act confident. You're going to be way more scared when you get out in clinic and they need to know you're can be professional under pressure.
  3. Encourage the other interviewees. Show you're a team player. Don't talk about how nervous you are.
  4. If you don't feel you can be articulate, though it's really not necessary, you can try using a book like this to help you: https://www.amazon.com/Case-Files-Medical-Ethics-Professionalism/dp/0071839623/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1504474859&sr=8-26&keywords=medical+ethics
u/EmmSleepy · 1 pointr/prephysicianassistant

This is pretty close to the one I had. I got one at my school's bookstore, but that one look pretty similar. They help a lot with the cyclohexane rings and chair structures, for me. Also, if the school you go to has a workshop section that goes with the class, that might help. My school had a section with a TA and several other students who would go through the practice problems together.

u/joev83 · 18 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/1119110661

This book was really helpful.

I had to study non-stop for Ochem. It was my last prereq. It was a good experience in the sense that studying for PA school has been very similar.

u/whiskeykilo · 5 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

How to Ace the Physician Assistant School Interview

Physician Assistant School Interview Guide

So I haven't applied or interviewed yet, I will be for the first time next cycle. But I have both of these books that I've already been flipping through, and they were both recommended to me from this sub. With the little bit of time I've spent with them, I think they're worthwhile for their price.

u/whavke · 1 pointr/prephysicianassistant

The interview books are what changed the game for me. I felt REALLY prepared for interviews after reading them, and many of the questions I was asked were in the books. Or, the questions I was asked were very similar to ones in the books. I was offered spots at 4/5 interviews. The one that I didn't get a seat at, I could tell you the exact question/moment I lost my chance. This was my favorite of the books I read. Also, practicing your answers is important. Don't memorize them, but know what you're going to say. https://www.amazon.com/How-Physician-Assistant-School-Interview/dp/0615480721

u/werdna29218 · 4 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

I graduated with a similar GPA so I bought this book and looked for schools where the accepted student GPAs were on the lower side. However, just because you're GPA is below the school's average or below their range doesn't mean you won't get an interview! I've been lucky enough to interview at a few schools where the averages are 3.6 or 3.5 - 3.7

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Also, this might help: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10DB5YytgTE6oOarGVgJQ_1Mm8Jj6g5J8eS1-yRj1CA8/edit

u/airbornemint · 2 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

There’s a (reportedly good) book about this.

u/amateur_acupuncture · 5 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

Don't buy anything until you talk to the class ahead of you. You won't need it on day 1. Once you know what you need, use amazon, it'll show up tomorrow.

The only things I use regularly are my stethoscope, pen light, $1 reflex hammer, and the Snellen chart on Maxwells.

Buying a PB cuff, otoscope, various other tools really is a waste of money.

u/jamienicole3x · 3 pointsr/prephysicianassistant

Yes! 1) PANCE Prep Pearls, 2) Step-Up To Medicine, 3) First Aid for the Psychiatry Clerkship, 4) Pathophysiology Made Ridiculously Simple, 5) Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Easy.

2) Don't be afraid to change your study habits. You probably won't study the same way you did in undergrad or even post-bacc. It's a whole new ballgame.