Professional Blog
Entry #1
Today I chose what math class I'm going to be taking my freshman year at Albion College. I took the placement test and got placed into Math 120 (College Algebra), which isn't exactly an intense class. You're allowed to retake the test to try to improve your score after three hours of working with a study module, but I wasn't sure if that's what I really wanted to do. The placement test had concepts that I haven't worked with for years, and I know that I would place higher after some review since I've always done well in my math classes, but I was torn on whether or not it was even worth it for the career I'm going into (physician assistant).
I decided to email my advisor, the head of Health Sciences at Albion, and asked him how much math is necessary to get into a good PA school and what he thought about my dilemma, and I couldn't have been more pleased with his response. He gave me a ton of information that was completely new to me, including how the only math that might show up in PA school is statistics. Basically, I only need to have a general knowledge of basic math, like algebra, and be good at statistics to succeed on my path to PA school. He said that I definitely could retake the test if I wanted to, but it wasn't really necessary for the field I'm going into. According to him, PA schools really only care about your science classes, your GPA, and your clinical hours. So, I decided to stick with Math 120 and focus my time and energy on the classes that are most important for my future.
Entry #2
For every PA school, a certain amount of clinical hours are required; this number of hours can reach up to 3,000 for some top schools. Because of this, it's important to start working on gaining clinical hours early so you don't have to try and cram them in your senior year of college. At Albion College, there is this three-week program that I take after my freshman year that allows me to become a certified nurse's assistant (CNA). Then, whenever I have breaks from school, I can work as a CNA to get paid clinical hours. Not only will this give me thousands of clinical hours that will help me get into top PA schools, but it will also provide me with money to help me pay for school. I'm really looking forward to this experience; I can't wait to work with real patients in an actual hospital setting and see the amazing opportunities that result from this job.