Your PA school wants to learn more about you and your past experiences. One last note: Some of your experiences may be long ago, and maybe you can't find your supervisor's information or specific details about the experience. In CASPAs Identifying Information section you can provide some information on your upbringing, but most students dont. I have been involved in nursing research in the past through my participation on a project focused on improving the efficiency of the discharge process from the emergency department. Enter additional details about the experience, including the title of the experience and the time commitments. Considering not only what you did (like take vitals), but how you interacted with patients, worked as part of a team, or lessons you learned in a particular role will help you to distinguish one position from the next. For each experience, you should discuss your title/role, your key responsibilities, the skills you have gained during this role, and (if you have room) how this experience will benefit you as a PA. Providing these details on your application will leave no room for questions or doubt when admission committees are reviewing your application. For each entry, you'll add experience type, organization information, supervisor information, beginning and end dates, experience details (compensated/volunteer, weekly hours, total hours) and, finally, a description of your responsibilities in the role. transcripts, references, and your personal statement). It's equally important not to overstate your duties in a role as PA schools will see through this and question your integrity. All rights reserved. So sorry I'm just replying, I'm in my 2nd week of PA school and getting my ass handed to me lol. Edit these descriptions until you are confident that they describe the experience in a way that will make the admissions member excited to learn more about you and want to extend you an interview offer! Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. This was my first experience working with patients and it ignited my passion for helping others.". Options to categorize you experiences include non-healthcare employment, research, volunteer, patient care experience, healthcare experience, shadowing, leadership experience, extracurricular activities, and teaching experience. Contact (LogOut/ Stocked supplies for patients on isolation and followed appropriate isolation precautions. Learn more. Maintained a clean environment for each patient and followed standard precautions. When all of your supporting documents have been received, your application will be designated as Complete. Note that your experiences will not display on your application in any specific order, regardless of the dates entered. Step 1: First, you'll add an experience in CASPA's Experience section. If you have any questions about your experiences fulfilling an individual program's prerequisite requirements, contact that program directly. Click Contact Us up top. How to use this in your personal statement: Bring together shared experiences - in this example the author hints at her medical heritage when she says: "I gleaned some insights into the profession from my father", and ties this into her shadowing experience. You should also go over how your family life was when you were growing up. Trying to squeeze in unnecessary impassioned information will only exhaust you and anyone else who will eventually be reading through your application. myPAresource inc.,2020. The application process is painful enough. Research Applicants dress up their experiences with descriptions that try to inflate their experiences or sound educated. You want to jam-pack this section with details about the experience and your role. By definition, these experience will be non-health care related, but you can be the judge on what skills may be useful to your future as a PA. Many rely on generalizations or fail to show readiness for PA school. Upload or insert images from URL. The experiences section of CASPA is a crucial part of your application. Again, if you have a comment, leave it below. It is your chance to go into detail about the diverse experiences you have had leading up to PA school. : describing your experience. But it can make or break your chances at getting interviews for PA school. Shadowing Get right to the point and leave the reader impressed by your involvement in these experiences. In the supporting materials section of CASPA, you are given the opportunity to list and describe the various roles and work experience that add to your CASPA application. If your university offers grade forgiveness, your college GPA may appear higher than your CASPA calculated GPA. You can either use a bullet format or paragraph but stay consistent throughout all experience descriptions. The Advice You Can Ignore When Crafting Your PA School Application Essay, How to Prepare Now for a Potential Second Application Cycle, How to Assess the Impact of Geography on the PA School Experience, What to Know About Interprofessional Opportunities Offered by PA Programs, How to Increase Potential Employer Interest When Exploring a New Specialty as a PA. What insights you gained, etc. Direct patient care duties included taking vital signs, blood glucose monitoring, and answering patient calls. PAI 20: Rejected by PA Schools! Some essays they read are very basic. hbbd```b``+@$6,oA$.XefS0L`,} ; Allowing PA programs to contact these people gives your experiences more validity. CASPA experiences 2022-2023 cycle - describing the same job at different locations. You never know who will be reading your application and whether that certain experience might catch the attention of the reader! There is no limit to the number of experiences that you are able to enter, but you will want to add experiences that you feel are relevant to your PA application. So, if position duties encompass more than one section, enter the position in both sections and divide the hours and duties accordingly. CASPA will count both grades, the poor grade and the higher grade, in the cumulative GPA. Once you add the experience, you'll be prompted to categorize the "Experience Type" based on the following categories: Non-Healthcare Employment Research Volunteer Patient Care Experience* Healthcare Experience* Shadowing Leadership Experience Extracurricular Activities Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences (Mary Baldwin University) 2022-2023 Cycle. Describing your background in this way will allow the person reviewing your application to better understand the breadth of your experience. Also, if you have taken courses outside of the main college you earned your degree at, you must use these in your cumulative/science GPA calculations. Every week or so you should log into CASPA to check your applications progress. Options to categorize you experiences include non-healthcare employment, research, volunteer, patient care experience, healthcare experience, shadowing, leadership experience, extracurricular activities, and teaching experience. CASPA has added an optional essay question so that applicants can describe the ways COVID-19 has impacted them. You don't have to avoid sentences completely in your descriptions, but overall, your descriptions should be direct and to the point, whether you are using bullet points or not. Enter information about your supervisor at the organization. Check this list when the application cycle opens and make a plan that will guarantee your application is received by the admission committees before it is too late. Along with applying too late in the cycle, this is probably tied for the most common problem. Not describing invites the reviewer to skim through this section without spending time thinking about the great things you have accomplished. Describing your experience in succinct points will help you to collect your ideas and avoid "fluffing up" your experience with unnecessary information. We think this is a missed opportunity. (And Why It Should Matter to You), How to Describe Your Experiences in Your CASPA Application, How to Avoid Application Misconceptions as a PA School Candidate, How to Conquer the Length Limit Struggle with Your PA School Essay, How to Use Passive Tactics to Create a Better Future Application Essay, The Easy Right-Now Steps to Take If Not Applying to PA School Until Next Cycle, How to Wipe Out Vagueness to Improve Your PA school Application and Essay, How to Create a PA School Essay That Helps Readers Follow Your Story, How to Plot Out CASPA Entries Using Real Candidate Examples, 3 Methods for Starting Your PA School Essay When Writing Is a Struggle, How to Plan Your Update Strategy Before Applying to PA School. Please read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) before submitting questions. I've been a practicing PA for many years, and I help future PAs, like you, get ready for PA school & practice as a new PA. January 12, 2018 in CASPA. Plus, some schools might have different or additional requirements which you will need to make sure that you're not missing anything. For more help, consider our ebook on essays, or hire us to coaching you through the process. Designed by Social by Design. You should, however, always say "yes" to authorizing contact with the organization or individual when prompted on the CASPA application, even if you don't have all of the details available. Through this role, I have gained valuable clinical experience, strengthened my communication skills with both patients and fellow medical colleagues, increased my medical knowledge, and learned the art of team-based care. So, what does that look like? Experiences are documented through CASPA and we do not project hours for the future. If you showed up for the day to volunteer, keep the description simple and don't embellish. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Like listing volunteer experience, how you describe non-health care related work can be vague or specific, depending on the circumstances. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Send the few descriptions into the writing center at your college, send them over to a former professor, or a knowledgeable colleague. You can post now and register later. Check out the r/PAstudent subreddit once accepted and r/physicianassistant after graduation. Enter information about your supervisor at the organization. 311 0 obj <> endobj Related activities you would like your selected programs to review; for example, academic clubs and competitive teams. I would put in any experience you've had since college. This is the only information that PA programs are given about your patience care experience, so the information that you provide in this section will serve as the only reference a program has when determining your quality patient care experience. This is the part of the Experience section that you want to pay very close attention to while completing. My key responsibilities include taking patient vitals, recording patient medical histories, discussing current patient medications, administering vaccinations, and performing electrocardiograms. For example, if you worked as a CNA at your community hospital, describe what you did, what other healthcare workers you were on a team with, how it has inspired you to continue your journey to become a PA, general skills and values you gained, etc. A question? There are stages to the process. Conclusion sentence connecting the experience back to your goal of being ready for PA school. This post will discuss a few CASPA tips and strategies to approach the CASPA application that will ease stress when the application cycle opens, and make sure you can avoid any potential application mistakes. CASPA will use grades from every course youve ever takencourse grades from undergraduate classes, random online courses, community college courses, etc. Stay tuned for the answers to all . and your supervisors information (name, title, contact information). In this post, you'll learn exactly how to approach that application blank space. Notice how all of these examples sound complicated, biased, or use sales words like liaison or successful. Once you add the experience, youll be prompted to categorize the Experience Type based on the following categories: Non-Healthcare Employment Step 3: You will then be prompted to enter the Experience Dates, which will give you the chance to enter both the start and end date, whether it is a current experience, and the status of the experience (full-time, part-time, per diem, temporary). As anyone who has tackled the CASPA application in the past can attest, it's not something that can be done in an afternoon. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Completing CASPA (Central Application Service for Physician Assistants - online application service of the Physician Assistant Education Association) takes a lot of effort, but there are ways to make the application process more manageable. You never know who will be reading your application and whether that certain experience might catch the attention of the reader! Some applicants wait to submit while one last grade comes in so it can be included. Most students list them but leave the experiences description blank. Remember to include skills that may help you as a PA or PA student that might not be directly caring for patients, like training new employees, being familiar with billing or diagnosis codes, or working with other types health care providers. You cannot paste images directly. Your CASPA GPA may be slightly different than your universitys calculated GPA for a few reasons. Your description of any experience should be factual. 2018 PhysicianAssistantForum.Com. The blank space is just about the facts. Feel free to add as many experiences that you would like. Copyright 2022 Be a PA Consultants, All rights reserved. Include any procedures you watched (keep it short) and the types of visits (follow-ups, new patient evaluations, presurgical assessments) you witnessed. I achieved a timely and successful setup of services according to client needs, objectives, and contract specifications. List what you observed, accomplished, or learned without describing how you felt about it. (LogOut/ Step 4: Next, youll be prompted to enter in the Experience Details. CASPA will ask for your Title at the experience and the Type of Recognition you received through this experience (compensated, received academic credit, volunteer). example: experience is a CNA, and along with describing the job duties, you would include how you learend to work with different personalities and work in a team better. Teaching Experience, *if you find yourself confused about the difference between, PCE and HCE, please refer to [Pep Talk #8] for clarity. Inside PA Training offers a comprehensive CASPA Application Review service so your application will look its absolute best. This may include student research positions, research technician positions, summer research student, masters rotational student, etc. Enter information about the organization where the experience took place. Did you also write about what you learned from the time you spent shadowing each specific person or just what you witnessed? As always, Im happy to help! Options to categorize your experiences include non-healthcare employment, research experience, volunteer, patient care experience, healthcare experience, shadowing, leadership experience, extracurricular activities, and teaching experience. "my duties at this job included 1.23etc") I feel like they won't know me unless I'm able to say subjective things, but I also feel like that could be against "rules"..or whatever 2018 PhysicianAssistantForum.Com. Think about how what you've done in the past can align with what you will do as a PA. Instead of giving up on your dream, consider applying at the schools on our list. June is early enough to stay ahead of the masses, and just late enough that youll have your Spring course grades. Leadership Experience (ex. Both paid and unpaid work in a health or health-related field where you are not directly responsible for a patient's care, but may still have patient interaction; for example, filling prescriptions, performing clerical work, delivering patient food, cleaning patients and/or their rooms, administering food or medication, taking vitals or other record-keeping information, working as a scribe, CNA (depending on job description), medical assistant, etc. This is THE subreddit for all pre-physician assistant students seeking help with their applications. In the supporting materials section of CASPA, you are given the opportunity to list and describe the various roles that add to your application. Remain neutral and factual. If you are going to share an experience make sure it is not a clich and it is absolutely necessary as to why this experience played a role in wanting to become a PA! This takes an idea that is an inspiration and turns it into something more concrete, which is more factual and applicable to future practice. Review the definitions below, consider the duties you performed, and choose the category that you think best fits the experience. All Rights Reserved. . Many applicants are surprised by their CASPA calculated GPA. It also asks for how COVID-19 has impacted students academically and personally. First, lets break down the Experience section of CASPA. Hey all, Im curious if the use of "bullet points" are encouraged instead of typical narrative paragraphs in description of experiences. The method to document this experience is through the CASPA online application. We will review each applicant's hours on a case by case basis and it will be dependent on how an applicant describes them on CASPA. Here is a quick guide to constructing an experience description that adequately communicates your time in that role: Introduction sentence to summarize what the experience was. Your recent experience is most important, so don't stress if you can't find the phone number for your boss from six years ago. The level of detail you should include for a volunteering entry depends on the relevance of that experience to a career in medicine. Here is where you will explain to the admissions committee your responsibilities, job duties, level of involvement, etc in this particular experience. Allowing PA programs to contact these people gives your experiences more validity. The quality of the description short responses can elevate your application as a whole. Learned the importance of taking time with each patient and that each patient has different needs and expectations. Pay particular attention to the difference between the first two, which are frequently confused. Do you think it would help get an interview? The "supporting information" section is where you'll list volunteering, patient care experience, health care experience, non-health care work, shadowing, and extracurricular activities. It is best to aim to have your application submitted a few weeks prior to this deadline, so that by the time that December 1st deadline rolls around your application is submitted AND verified. Your personal statement is the place to describe the impact of your experiences. Be very picky about the words you use to describe your experiences and avoid using any filler words or sentences. demographics, experiences, grades, and courses), but some information cannot be transferred (i.e. If one of your reference hasnt submitted their letter and a schools deadline is approaching, you can call him/her and encourage them to turn in in ASAP. and your supervisors information (name, title, contact information). Your experience's individual job description and responsibilities should determine the category you select; however, it is not guaranteed that your experience will be accepted by every program in the way you categorize it. For shadowing role description, would it be wrong of me to simply put "Observed the role of a PAin the sickle cell clinic". Question: Describe your experience of (or your interest in) research, in public health or nursing. A great way to assure that each description is filled with as much meaningful information as possible is to jot down your responsibilities, what you learned, how these experiences helped you grow, etc. Its important that you use the 600 characters in such a way that gives PA programs a clear understanding of the specific experience that you are describing. Typical candidates (1000-3000 hours PCE and 3.2-3.5 GPA) should apply to 12 or more. Maybe you led a team of volunteers or you worked with another organization on a project, either of which shows a higher level of responsibility in your role requiring skills that could help you in a future career as a PA. I suggest keeping a file on your computer dedicated to drafting and editing experience descriptions so that once CASPA opens, they are polished and ready to go! Or maybe they havent received a transcript from University of Whateverville. Leave out irrelevant details that are non-specific to this particular experience in order to leave room for the necessary material. List what you observed, accomplished, or learned without describing how you felt about it. Select the appropriate experience type from the drop-down. We are also in the planning stages for a webinar on making your CASPA application shine. About two weeks after that your courses will be checked, CASPA GPA calculated, and your application will be Verified. All Rights Reserved. Anticipating that your CASPA calculated GPA will be either higher/lower/or about the same as your undergraduate GPA will keep you informed and prepared when deciding which programs you should ultimately apply to. Feel free to add as many experiences that you would like. In mine, I wrote specific things that I witnessed - lacerations, sutures, MVCs and so on. If you are looking for the best PA schools in Minnesota, here is a guide to top-notch schools. Paid work done outside of the health care field or a research lab; for example, a retail or restaurant job. This is THE subreddit for all pre-physician assistant students seeking help with their applications. I work at a doctors office and my responsibilities include interacting with patients and performing different tests on them. Therefore, writing descriptions that are loaded with valuable details and examples will not only benefit your application, but will help give admission committees a true picture of your experiences. %%EOF Feel free to add information you gained from your observation or in discussion with the PA, but remember to frame it as a fact rather than a magical moment. I have gained many qualities that will help me as a future PA. Can you see the difference that a thoughtful description of your experiences can make on your application? Aim to be as descriptive as possible when completing your CASPA application. Everyone else (those with lower GPAs and minimal healthcare experience) should apply to 20 or more. You know this is a competitive undertaking, so cast a big net. Liaison International. But, this is not the place for mini, unsolicited supplemental essays. If they dont know you, they cant like you enough to invite you to interview. Grade forgiveness is sometimes offered at universitys and allows students to repeat a course that they did poorly in and only use the most recent course grade in the students overall GPA calculation. Redefining the description as we did also can help you to see the distinct skills or experiences you may have gained from a role. If you've had a few CNA roles, you want to convey any new skills you gained in each position. A Touch of Humor As a resident of Colorado, the Colorado Reproductive Equity Act has had a positive impact on my life. Time spent officially following and observing a health care professional at work, preferably in the physician assistant field. Instead say: I helped to managed needed patient services such as. Agreed with both responses above. Describe your duties and patient responsibilities, which may include taking vital signs, drawing blood, charting, and transporting and assessing patients. Save time & gain momentum along your path by getting the kind of everyday support that a future PA needs. Make this part easy by not stressing over the blank spaces. Instead, try to submit around mid June. Whether youre applying for the first time or youre a re-applicant to PA school, its important to follow CASPA application best practices to you dont make critical mistakes or delay your Caspa application status for PA school. I'm trying to fill out my experiences, is it okay to use subjective information/words? By lenn19 Started June 23, 2022. But, if you were instrumental in coordinating a blood drive or participated in a medical mission trip, you should provide some more detailed information about that activity. Enter information about the organization where the experience took place. As another example for a non-healthcare related experience entry, if you were a teaching assistant for a college course, consider expanding on how you guided students to the correct answer using critical thinking skills, kept open communication with the professors and team you are working with and managed your time efficiently! I assist each doctor with a variety of tasks, which include aiding them in dressing wounds, chaperoning breast and pelvic exams, and contacting patients with lab work results. endstream endobj 312 0 obj <. The Act ensures that reproductive health services, such as birth control, abortion, and emergency contraception, are available to all . Experiences in which you held a leadership role within an organization, such as the president of a club, fraternity/sorority, etc. Im curious if the use of "bullet points" are encouraged instead of typical narrative paragraphs in description of experiences. How should you word your experiences? Powered by Invision Community, Welcome to the Physician Assistant Forum! Step 5: Next you will enter the Description/Key Responsibilities of the experience. If youre not a born writer, not to worry get help. You can all Whateverville and to figure out whats going on. 0 While this may appear straightforward, if you open up the "supporting information" section and the menu unfurls, you'll start to see what takes so long. What it was like to live in a medically underserved area. If you are going to share an experience make sure it is not a clich and it is absolutely necessary as to why this experience played a role in wanting to become a PA! My key responsibilities include taking patient vitals, recording patient medical histories, discussing current patient medications, administering vaccinations, and performing electrocardiograms. This is how I formatted my experiences on CASPA to give myself the best chance to get selected. By Your link has been automatically embedded. In mine, I wrote specific things that I witnessed - lacerations, sutures, MVCs and so on. If you have any specific questions about a particular experience, feel free to shoot me an email [here]. The tough part is that the experience descriptions are limited to just 600 characters, which correlates to roughly 100 words! Applying to PA school can be challenging and time consuming. As DarcyJ stated, save the stories for your essays/ interviews! If it's important enough for you to include, you should allow it to be verified.