PA Program Director Q&A! 

James, I'm sure many PA students and non PA students (like myself) can attest that you are helping to lead the way when it comes to bringing awareness and removing the stigma against PA's. I am a "Doctor" by name sake as well as a PhD candidate majoring in Public Policy and Administration, I've learned soo much about the PA process through this channel. Keep up the good work, it is making a difference!

Peace be to you James! This was AMAZING! It was so COOL of your program director to do this! I love when we "old guys" openly communicate with you PA students and younger PAs. I think we have a responsibility to be PA mentors. I see you DEFINITELY being an older mentor-type of PA in the years to come! You are AWESOME! I have enjoyed watching your progress.! 😊

Great video, James! Thanks to you and your director for taking the time to do this. Keep it up!

This is extremely helpful! Thank you so much for taking your time to do this and helping others get on the right track toward PA school!

Thank you so much for making and uploading this video. I have learnt a lot! It was eye-opening to watch!

I think this is an easy one. MD = Medical Doctor, PA --> Re-brands to 'Physician', NP --> Re-brands to 'Medical Practitioner'. Initials being: MD, PA, MP. BOOM! I'll take my 1.5mil now.

These were some really helpful tips for pre-PA students!! Keep up the great work!

Hey James! I stumbled upon your channel while researching about PAs and I just want to let you know that your channel has given me a lot of insight on PA school and all that. I'm a high school senior and I'm really interested in going into this profession. Again thanks for the videos!

Thank you for sharing this video. It is such a relief hearing him mention Medical Assistants being a good precursor to becoming Physician's Assistant. I'm pursing becoming a Medical Assistant and knowing being a PA ( of course while completing a BA ) is also an option in the future. Something to look forward to, thank you!

Thank you so much for your videos! They're super helpful to me, I appreciate it!

this video was so helpful! thank you for posting this!!

Great video! Thank you and your director so much for taking the time to inform others taking the PA path.

Great video! Awesome to get information directly from a program director

This was such good insight on the PA profession that I didn't even realize I needed, thank you so much!

this video was amazing. thank you so much!

Thank you for sharing this video. This inspired me a lot to this career path.

Great video James! Very informative!

Awesome to see someone who made the transition from the military medical field to civilian! I’m currently a surgery technologist in the Navy and am striving toward the PA program here. Big fan of your videos and can’t wait to reach the stage in my career at which you’re at!

Very insightful. Thank you for a great video!

Thank you for this video. It was really helpful and informational.

Thank you so much for all of this insight!! So helpful! I've had my associates in health sciences and medical administrative assisting diploma. I'm about to start my bachelor's in health sciences next month. I have experience being a resident care assistant taking care of the elderly, and a community health technician at our county health department. I also worked in a lab as a lab assistant for like 3 months and Now I work in a doctors office and i do receptionist work and i'm a medical records specialist. I've been thinking about possible healthcare careers.. And i've always wanted to do hands on patient care, just be the one to help the patient! And I feel like this is my dream job. It honestly makes me want to cry😭 It has taken me a little longer because I am a single mom and have to work and support my daughter, which just started kindergarten. I work with 2 PA's at my job and they are amazing and so inspiring to me. I cannot wait to be done with my bachelor's and apply to PA school. It will be so worth it and so rewarding😊 I can't even imagine that feeling.

Loved this!

Thank you James. Appreciate the video

Such a great video! Super insightful!

Thanks! It was informative!

Excellent interview. You really got a great admissions adviser. 💕

This is super helpful. Thanks for providing the great insight. Your program director is awesome!

I greatly appreciated this video.

I’m so happy I found this video and your channel! Thank you for doing this and helping us pre PA students succeed!

I'm not B Positive, but I'm A Positive so maybe that counts? In any event, I'm heading to Touro (TUN) for interviews in about twenty hours so I'll give my thanks in advance for your interview with Dr. Phil Tobin. Your videos have been a HUGE help even before I realized we were on a similar path. Wish me luck!!!

I’ve had an interview with Dr. Tobin at his new program. Dr. Tobin is very cool, passionate and I hope one day I can be his student.

Good job !!!

Great video!

Great video thank you

Thank you so much for this video! I’m applying next year and I feel like this clarified a lot of questions I had regarding my GPA, PCE hours, etc. especially with trying to explain to patients (constantly) what a PA is, and they think it’s similar to medical assistant 🙄

ER nurse here applying this cycle to PA school 😀

medical practitioner

Where I’m at, people prefer a PA over a doctor. We grew up with PA’s due to a massive physician shortage, so they grew to trust PA’s more

Great video.

Hi James. Is healthcare experience such as CNA, RN, paramedic, medical assistant a compulsory condition for PA school? I plan on applying for PA school. But I heard that clinical experience is important which means I have to spend 2 or 3 extra years to get a job in a healthcare field first before applying. Is it true that it has to be clinical experience? Not just simply volunteering? Thank you.

So I just recently found your videos, and it has helped a lot listening to what PA school is looking for, and so on. A small background about me is, I'm 28 years old considering PA school. My mother has been in the medical field for so long, and I have been interested in it for a very long time. And I think it's time to get out of my comfort zone and do something about it, that being said. I do have a few questions that hopefully get answered. I'm a high school drop out, but I went back and got my GED. Could that ruin my chances at PA school? I also have a small learning disability, I don't pick up things as quickly as others I really have to work at it, But I do work really hard, do I even have a shot? And the last question is, since I am 28 years old, I have a family of my own, I do not have any medical background, and I can't just pick up and move. I have ONE school that I can apply to, beside from the basic pre-reqs, what could I do or classes can I take to make me really stand out without taking (example: MA school courses)?

I am currently a criminal justice student pursuing law. I don't think I want to do this anymore and I really think possibly becoming a PA is what is for me.

Would being a personal trainer with sports medicine too be accepted by hospitals? and what area do you need to work medically? cause I know a level 3 personal trainer isn't allowed to do any medical stuff.

Do PA’s have designated doctors that they are normally attached to when working in the hospital?

Hi James. A decent number of PA schools do not require the GRE. I am studying for it and intend to take the test. But for the schools that do not require it, should I interpret that as "highly recommended/encouraged." Currently just calling up each PA school individually to ask this about this.

Just a thought but how does the name Provider Associate sound? So patients can references PAs as their Provider instead of as their Doctor. Then the name Physician can stay with the Physicians and PAs can stay with Provider since that is what their main focus is, to provide for their patient.

I have a ton of college credit in various classes, and I also was a corpsman in the Navy. I am now a Radiology Technologist. I am struggling to pick what bachelors degree to finish to help me become eligible for most PA programs. Obviously I want to maximize my time for my money.

Will it be possible to be a PA after becoming a Perfusionist ? Or reverse ?

Independent Clinical Practitioner (ICP) or ICProvider

How about instead of them being called physician's assistants (PA's) they can be called physician's representatives (PR's) or medical practitioner (MP's)? If the first job title seems a bit unfitting, the second job title seems more suitable because PA's shouldn't be perceived as "the hired help" like a janitor/maid or something. They're actually respectable highly educated/trained healthcare providers who know nearly as much as a physician knows but clearly they strive to help people get better just as much as any other healthcare provider does. Other than that, I truly appreciated how educational and informative this video was because most people don't know what a PA does until they're being treated by one.

What are the best degrees to get a bachelors when applying to PA school? Does it have to be just math and sciences? If not do students with those types of degrees have a better chance of getting accepted? Or is it mainly based off the prereqs for the school you’re applying to? Thanks!

Hey James, I just stumbled upon ur channel and its really helped me a lot because ive been seriously considering being a PA. I have one huge seemingly small concern though: i am phobic to needles when drawing blood and i faint. will that get in my way? im so worried

What is the procedure for an international Pharm.D graduate to become PA? What is the procedure and duration? Is Pharm.D accepted as undergraduate degree? Pls reply.. thank you.

Hi sir . Am Geoffrey, from Kenya. Our equivalent here in Kenya to PA is clinical officers. It is a diploma course for 3years and one year for internship,.. I am clinical officer now what happens when I come over to US.

What about toxicologist?

Does social science count. I have a masters in psychology do i have to go back to undergrad school to become a PA.

hi

Would hours worked as a speech language pathologist count towards PCE?

Does being a transporter or patient care assistant in the OR, count as PCE ?

Auxiliary Physician

I am 51 years old. I want to go to PA school. Am I too old? Does anyone know any “old” PA students?

where do you see the PA industry? going in the future?

Assistant of Physician

What GRE prep materials can you recommend?

How old will you when you graduate?

I disagree with the way the Dr is weighting the medical experience. It sounds like he is conflating CNA, EMT and medical assistant to RN, respiratory therapist and the various radiology tech licenses. The former programs take only a few months to complete while the later take 18-24 mos and have much more responsibility. The pay scales for those positions also back up my argument. Perhaps the good Dr's facility has internal statistics to nullify my argument but I believe that a better candidate would be a person with an RN, rT or RT(R).

A doctor= Dr. Physician Assistant=Physician/MP (Remove the assistant part). Now, where's my $1.5m???

I definitly think the name should be changed to medical practicioner as to deviate from sounding like a physician and standing as its own profression.

How about "Assistant Physician" 🤔 lol

Great video!