Sean Childress has a great story. He is a husband, dad, former high school coach and teacher, and now he is a PA student! Following a lingering dream, he made decisions and sacrifices to reach his goal. After moving from Texas to North Carolina, Sean started PA school recently at Campbell University. We discuss what that was like for his family, how he decided when the best time to quit his job was, and how he completed organic chemistry in 3 weeks! IG - @sean_childress
Listen or watch this interview on The Pre-PA Club Podcast
Sean: I'm 33 years old. My name is Sean Childress. I am a husband and father of two. And I did not take a traditional route to this. There have been a lot of twists and turns. But I actually spent a decade working as a high school football coach, baseball coach, and I taught every subject you could imagine. This was not really necessarily what I went to school thinking I was going to do, but it’s where I ended up. I still love spots, even though I'm kind of leaving that realm somewhat.
That is where I spent 10 years non-stop and it kind of ran me into the ground. My family and I just moved to North Carolina for PA school from Texas. My wife is on board, and my kids are on board. And it’s really a team in our house. So everybody's really been supportive from multiple levels. But this is a dream that I've had for a long time. And it's just now coming to fruition at age 33. And I couldn't be more excited. We actually start class this week. So we're about 48 hours away. So I'm pretty excited and nervous, but I’m ready to go!
Savanna: Okay, so you went from teacher and coach to PA. I actually get a lot of messages from people who are teachers who want to make that jump but aren’t sure how to. First let us know your mindset and how you decided that you wanted to pursue the PA profession and what that looked like.
Sean: If you go back when I was an undergrad, I actually started out as a journalism major. This is how into sports I was; I wanted to be like a SportsCenter anchor or something! I never really lost that desire necessarily, but I was introduced to the medical field and amazed by it all.
Coincidentally, in one of my writing classes, one of my classmates was a physical therapy tech at a clinic. I got really into fitness at that time and was interested in helping people. I thought that would be a cool part-time job.
That's just kind of how it started. So I took on this job during my sophomore year college as a PT tech. And initially, when I first start working there, I thought I wanted to become a physical therapist. It seemed like they had a blast, listening to music, talking all day long. Also, I didn't even know what a PA was. I've never had an encounter with a PA until I worked at the clinic. The first exposure I had to the PA profession was when another PT tech I worked with got accepted into the PA program at Texas Tech. She was my age, and I asked her what that was. She kind of explained it a bit. It really registered for me because she basically said you can choose which avenue you want to go instead of being kind of stuck in one area. You can use your degree to do a variety of things; you can work two jobs at once. I definitely didn't see myself doing the same thing for the rest of my life. I don't have any desire to do one thing for 40 years or whatever. Then I actually broke my hand. And I was treated by a PA, kind of pro-bono through our clinic. I actually spent a couple days shadowing a PA at that time. And I switched from journalism to a health promotion major, which is what I graduated with.
I gotta be honest though. The first red flag on my application was when I took anatomy & physiology. I went to high school where I never had to study once. I didn't have to study until that point in college at all. Long story short, I didn't do well in the class, but it was the first time in my life where I was definitely afraid that I was going to fail. I was definitely discouraged. I spent about one year on the pre-PA track. I just didn’t move forward after that. I thought I genuinely couldn’t do it and thought I needed to go a more comfortable route. I finished my degree, but my degree did not require a lot of PA school pre-requisites. I ended up having to take all the pre-requisites, including the few classes that did cross over. Again, I was quite intrigued by the profession but the first time I faced failure and adversity with it, I quite simply gave up. So that led me to teaching.
Savanna: Well, I think that's a very relatable thing. I don't think you're alone in that. And even someone I was working with recently kind of said the same thing. You know, it was just in her mind that she couldn't do this. So that led her down a different path into respiratory therapy. So I don't think you're alone in feeling that way. I think the classes that are required kind of make us all think that way at some point throughout the process. So you ended up teaching, and at what point did you decide to switch? Was that always in the back of your mind? Or did you revisit it later and felt like being a PA would fulfill you more?
Sean: It’s kind of a combination of all of that. So I’m a super positive person. I try to make the most of everything. When I got into teaching, I tried to look at the bright side of it all. I didn’t feel like I let anyone down or let myself down. I just felt like I was suppose to be there at that time. Even throughout the whole process, I don’t have a ton of regret because I learned a lot in those 10 years of being a professional. I think throughout the years, staying in touch with other people who went into medicine, those thoughts never went away. They slowly continued to grow. At one point I wanted to be a head baseball coach, and I did that. And I didn’t feel fulfilled. In fact, I was coaching in the state semi-finals. And we won! But I just didn’t feel like I was fulfilled. I mean, of course it is fulfilling to make a huge impact on kids. But I just felt like I wasn’t giving everything I could to my life.
Ultimately, was there a trigger point for my decision? So there kind of was. Like I said, I would periodically reflect and think about it, and it would weigh on me at times. But in my last year of teaching, I made a decision that I was going to step away from teaching right before spring break. And on that day, I was nominated for teacher of the year. So I spent this whole spring break, sitting there thinking, “Am I making the right decision? Is this a sign I am suppose to stay?” Then the day after spring break ended, I talked to the principal before school and told her that I’m going to step away; I gotta pursue this. I’m going to make it happen. And the very next day, one of my students actually committed suicide. And it was like the most eye opening -- something I think about every day. It made me realize, obviously, like how fragile life is, how fragile time is. It definitely made me think that I was probably making the right call to kind of move forward and try to pursue the PA profession. I did think like, “What if I never go for it? What does that teach my kids, that I didn't go for a dream and I didn't try to accomplish a goal?” So you know, essentially, it kind of took off from there! So that was the Spring of 2017. I started taking pre-reqs and stuff that Fall.
Savanna: So a couple things there. I think it's really easy to get comfortable. And we get comfortable in our circumstances. We see these other things as these big hurdles, even if they’re things we have to overcome to get to where we want to go. I think that’s why a lot of people don't even take those steps towards just their goals and dreams. I probably have 100 new ideas a day that everyone at work, my husband, and my parents have to listen to. And they all think I’m crazy. But I think the only way we grow and can see what we are capable of is to try things and take those big steps. Another thing I talk about a lot or when I do mock interviews, is the pivotal moments. Maybe you did not have a dramatic experience with a PA saving you on the side of the road or something. But there are these points in our lives where everything makes us think about stuff and kind of pushes you in one direction or another. Maybe it’s not one event, but it’s multiple things that kind of culminated. I think those pivotal moments encourage you to move forward. It sounds like you went through some of those steps.
Sean: Even when I wrote my essay to apply to PA school, I was doing a lot of reflection. Some people sit on the sideline their whole life, and you can live your whole life on the shelf. But you don’t have anybody to blame but your own self. That’s kind of the thought I had. If I look back, I at least tried. So I agree, totally.
Savanna: I get a lot of emails about that. “I don’t know where to even start. I don’t have any hours. I don’t have any coursework finished. I’m a teacher.” So how did you start? What did you do after you quit your job? I mean that’s a huge decision. What happens next?
Sean: Yeah, so I just want to point out that I did have an advantage with thousands of hours as a PT tech, just sitting in the bank, if you will. So the first thing I did was to attack my biggest hurdle and mental block at the time which was tackling anatomy & physiology. I also needed to find a part-time job. I found a part-time job with a PT I used to work with to accumulate more hours. I didn’t necessarily care about how long it would take. I was just going to do one class in the fall – anatomy & physiology. At the time, I was 31 years old, and I went into a college class with all these 19-21 year olds. And they don’t really know how to work and focus well. It seemed easy to me. I had a lab partner and I would basically coach him along. So I took that one class. And I realized very quickly that having worked full-time, really double full-time as a coach, that taking one class and working part-time felt like nothing. So the next semester, I went kind of crazy! I signed up for A&P 2. I also took statistics and knocked that out. I was also taking Chemistry I. I also had a mental block about chemistry as well. But I got in there and loved it, that’s when all of this clicked for me. There was no turning back now. I could do this. The mental hurdle was cleared that summer.
During that whole time, that’s when I reached out to you. I heard about this book on your podcast, and I definitely recommend it: The Applicant's Manual of Physician Assistant Programs. It makes the process a lot easier. Every time that I would apply to a school, I would put a sticker in there. My wife cracks up at my OCD. I would write out the pre-reqs over and over, just to write them out and check them off because I wasn’t sure. I’d email the admissions staff at the school to ask if my prereqs worked before I submitted the application fee. From there, I started applying shortly after the cycle opened. I didn't want to do it too early, because I had quite a few hanging pre-reqs on deck that were still pending. But I think I applied to 21 schools.
I got waitlisted to interview to three schools. I was straight up denied from a lot. And I started thinking this wasn’t going to happen. I knew like I prepare myself for this – that it may not happen the first time. But along the way, I got an interview invite. The first one was in July to be set in October. Then I got a last minute one in August. And that was like the following week in Pennsylvania! So I bought your interview book. It helped tremendously. I only had 3 or 4 days to prepare for that one, and it went okay. I got waitlisted, but I was a nervous wreck. I felt a lot of pressure. But in many ways, it felt a lot just like a job interview. It was good exposure. I went to another interview at a school in NC in Sept. And then I got an interview late October at another school, which I got accepted to, which is Campbell University. Before I got accepted, I really didn’t think I was going to get in. So that took a lot of pressure off. It was late in the cycle for them, so I just kind of went for it. I was just going to go and be myself. When I went there, I wasn’t afraid of anything. During the introduction when I had to introduce myself, I just thought that I wanted to stand out. I just said to everyone, “I'm older than all of you in here. I have two children at home. And they're both named after famous baseball, iconic, historical things. My son is Nolan named after Nolan Ryan. And my daughter is named Wrigley after Wrigley Field.” And that stuck with everybody. Later on, there were people who didn’t interview me who asked about that. I thought that was cool.
Now are back to organic chemistry. I had enrolled in it thinking I was not going to get in this cycle. It was an online, self-paced course and we had 8 months to finish it. At that point, I got the call on a Monday from Campbell that I was accepted. And I was fired up and excited. Then I remembered that they had an organic chemistry requirement, but I was already enrolled in it, so that was good. But it was November 6th, and they needed everything done by the end of November! So I told my wife, and she was like, “There is no way you are not going to do it. You’ve come so far.” She was so supportive. At that point, I just needed to pass the class. I did not work those entire 3 weeks. I would wake up everyday at 4:30 in the morning, study until my kids got up, get them ready for school, and then everyday, I studied until 4:30 pm. I didn’t feel good during that. I was just so sedentary, reading and reading and reading and drawing all those hexagons. I planned to take a test every 2-3 days because there were 5 tests total, and you got to take each test twice. I would take the first once, and I planned to take it no matter what. The first pass gave me some exposure to the material. The first two tests went great, and the third one wasn’t good. Then I rebounded. So at the end, I passed, and now we are here. So it can be done. I took me 3 weeks. I would not recommend it. I basically had to just make it happen.
Savanna: This is why I always say like, do not put a course on your application if you are not actually taking it or planning to complete it. I’ve talked to a few people who had to give up their acceptance because their acceptance was pending completing of passing this one specific course! And at that point, they either couldn’t enroll in the class or couldn’t complete it in time. Your wife sounds super supportive by the way! Also, can you share which online school you used?
Sean: Yeah, we moved across the country, left her job, all that. She is second to none! And I took the organic chemistry course at University of New England. It was expensive, but it was great. It's super user friendly, and very flexible!
Savanna: Okay I’ve heard of that one! So go back to your mindset when you were trying to decide if this is something you wanted to do. What tips would you give to others in your situation? Someone who has a pretty stable career, maybe a family, but has other interests in medicine or becoming a PA?
Sean: Well one of the things I had was the support from my family. My wife carried the weight of me worrying and financially quitting my job going from two incomes to one. I don’t think we could have done it if my son had not started kindergarten; we had to have daycare. And daycare is like a mortgage. The timeline wouldn’t have worked out, and I would’ve had to wait longer. But you got to make sure you've got a financial plan. And you gotta have support from your family, and I also had support from my extended family – my mom and my aunt Kelly were absolute saints. So my advice for others in my situation is to go for it. It sounds generic, but you can sit there and think you are going to do it when you are ready. But if you wait until you are ready, you will never do it. I don’t even know if I’m ready right now! And I start PA school this week.
But if I could change anything about it, I wouldn't. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. In fact, I was just talking to my wife. She asked how I feel about starting school this week, and I actually said that the journey to get here was such a road, and that has all been lifted from my shoulders. But I kind of miss it in a way. And now it’s going to be a different journey. It just seems surreal that this is all happening. And I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Savanna: So what are you most nervous about with PA school?
Sean: I think it’s quantity of work with being a dad. Basically I’m going to have Saturdays open, and that’s family time. That’s how I’ve operated through all of this, and that won’t change, period. It’s just going to be lack of sleep and all that. I’m not necessarily afraid of the material because I am so excited. I think being 33 and having a set goal and leaving a career… Just being a student is nothing compared to tacking on your full-time job and being a parent. I think I’m in a different set of circumstances than if I was 23. So I'm just a little bit afraid of the balance. My wife is super supportive, and we have talked about didactic year being THE year. It’s more of the unknown than anything. If you give me a month, I feel like I’ll be more adjusted.
If you are a non-traditional applicant make sure to check out my Youtube video the Non-traditional PA School Applicant and How to Handle Anxiety in PA School with Deceleration and make sure to check out my interview with Neurology PA and Non-Traditional PA Applicant, Brie!
