Undergraduate education: Bachelor’s in Science in Health Sciences
Overall GPA: 3.58
Science GPA: 3.85
GRE: N/A
Total HCE hours: 0 hours
Total PCE hours: 8000 hours as a physical therapist assistant
Shadowing hours: 15 hours in orthopedic surgery and 25 in dermatology 😊
Other volunteer hours: 230 hours (30 volunteering at races and 200 as a clinical instructor)
LORs: 5 (Dermatology PA, My home health clinical instructor, PTA school instructor, academic advisor, and my former rehab manager)
How many times did you apply?: 1 time !!
Age: 27
Gender: Female
How many programs did you apply to? 1 program
How many programs did you interview with and what were the outcomes? 1 program/accepted!!
Where will you be attending? Eastern Virginia Medical School
Any red flags on your application? Well, I had some typos—oops, but otherwise no red flags.
Anything you found surprising about interviews? It was actually really laid back like everyone said, so that was good. I was surprised that all the interviewers were nice—there were no tricks! During the group interview, we didn’t all get asked the same questions, so it was kind of an “on the spot” situation.
Were there any helpful resources (books, websites, apps) you used to get through prerequisite courses, the application or interview process? I used Kaplan MCAT books (affiliate link) to get through General and Organic Chemistry. I read the books the semester before basically and by the time the professor taught it, I already understood the concepts. Books: I used “How to Ace the PA interview” by Andrew Rodican and the “Physician Assistant School Interview Guide” by Savanna Perry. This book by Savanna truly gave me the confidence to ace my interview. This book was my Bible!!
Any other advice for other pre-PA students? The journey to getting into PA school should be slow (it took me 4 years). There’s no rush and once you get bad grades it’s going to take more effort to try to raise your GPA. Start working on PCE early on, don’t make it something you just have to check off to get accepted. Practice interviewing with other Pre-PAs via skype—that’s what I did. When interviewing always try your best to be the best you.
Where can we find you? (website, instagram, etc) Instagram: @yolandathepagem
If you've recently been accepted to PA school and would like to be featured in an "Accepted!" post to share your story and advice with other PA hopefuls, send an email to savanna@thepaplatform.com
