George is a current PA-S attending SUNY Downstate’s Physician Assistant Program and will be set to graduate in 2021. He had an incredibly successful first-time application cycle and sat down with us to detail his experience in applying to PA school, give advice, and much more!
How many schools did you apply to? How many schools did you hear back from and receive interviews from? How many acceptances did you receive?
This is the most common question! I thought I was going to get nothing. I applied to 10 schools. I got 9 interviews, but I did not attend 2 of them because there was no point. I got 7 acceptances. Pretty crazy! This whole year was crazy for me; the whole experience this whole year was crazy for me. If you asked me last year if I would have 7 acceptances, I would be like, “yeah, okay… where?!” It’s a huge blessing to be able to make a decision, to be able to choose between schools. It's such a great advantage. I know a lot of people pray to even get into one school. I'm really, really happy and just very blessed.
Why did you choose to attend SUNY Downstate over other programs?
There are many factors such as distance and my personal goals as a PA. I want to work as a PA in Brooklyn, in the city, with a particular patient population. I just felt like SUNY Downstate would do a better job at preparing me since their hospitals are primarily in Brooklyn and in New York City. I felt like the best way of preparing myself for my actual career is just literally working with the same patient population that I'll be working with the rest of my life.
The campus is just 20 minutes away if I drive, and it saves me a lot of money. Overall, when I went to the interview, the location, the vibe, it just felt like home. Honestly, I was like, “wow, I feel home.”
Something else I really liked is that SUNY Downstate starts off slow-ish, and then they pick up the pace. The first semester is summer semester, and I only had three classes then it picked up. You don’t just jump in, like some of the new programs here in New York start in the Fall with 9 classes. In addition, I'm actually saving $50,000 in terms of loans! My tuition for SUNY Downstate is about $40K for the entire program.
Everyone wants to know how you got in! Give us a rundown of your stats please.
For undergrad, I went to City University of New York, Brooklyn College. I was a psych major and a chemistry minor. My overall GPA was 3.51. My science GPA was 3.47. I didn’t transfer schools. I took all my prerequisites there, and I think that shows consistency. I took every single science class that Brooklyn College offered. When I was a sophomore, I had a D in Orgo Chem 1 Lab and a C+ in Orgo Chem 2 Lab. I knew that on interviews, I would get asked about those, but I wanted to get it together and show them I am ready for the intense coursework of PA school. I took every single science course that I could as a prerequisite, I took all of those and I got really good grades in them. My last six semesters I was a 4.0 student. So I think that looks really good because you have that upward trend. In addition, I did not retake those classes that I got a C and a D in.
When I was about to start my junior year in college is when I realized that I wanted to be PA. That was the first summer that I started volunteering. That's when I met a PA for the first time and I did my research. I realized that that is what I want to do. Having that sense of direction and being goal driven; that certainly gives you the push to get it together and do what you have to do to get to your goal. That’s exactly what happened to me.
In terms of hours, I had 630 hours of volunteering in general as HCE (health care experience). With PCE (patient care experience), I had about 4,500 plus hours. I spent three years working nonstop at different jobs. I submitted my resume to about 50 clinics. Then I became a medical assistant at a vascular interventional radiology clinic. Finally, I became a medical assistant at a pain management office.
I also did research at Maimonides Medical Center. I didn’t like research at all; it wasn’t for me. I went around asking, “What else should I do?” I networked and found this research position. I did research for only 38 hours because it wasn’t for me. I had a total of 8 letters of recommendation, and I know that CASPA only allows 5. However, the other 3, you can take them to interviews with you because that’s allowed. Most of the schools took them. At the end of the interviews, I told the schools that “I have other letters of recommendation – these 3 over here. These are also like people that I worked with.” Most schools shouldn’t have problems with that. I think that’s it!
I just want to clarify that you got a C and a D on your transcript, and you still got so that many acceptances. That’s one of the main questions I get is, “I have a C in this class. Can I still get into PA school?”
Yes! These grades definitely came up in the interviews, and I was prepared to answer the questions. I was very honest because honesty is always appreciated. I told them that I was lazy. I didn't do what I was supposed to do. I was late to class, I didn't do my assignments.
They like honesty. You know, I didn't sugarcoat it. I just told them the way it was. I wasn't prepared for like the intensity of the class at that time because I didn't have the right study habits to tackle the science classes. And I was not the right kind of student. Then as I went on, as I became more driven, I definitely develops strong study habits and was able to prioritize academics over everything.
Would you say those grades were the most concerning part of your application? Are there other things that you are worried about?
Yeah, those grades were the most concerning part. They were the biggest red flags of my application.
Did you take a gap year?
Yes I did!
One of the questions we had is that people feel like they aren’t ready to apply. My rule of thumb is that you can prepare your application forever, but if you meet the minimum requirements for a program, go ahead and apply. How did you deal with just feeling like you weren't good enough, or knowing that you were ready and competitive enough to apply?
That's a great question. I was actually asked with myself. I thought I was going to apply back in 2017 but I didn't. I still didn't take some prerequisites. I had four classes that were still outstanding. I literally just didn't feel like I didn't feel confident. If I had applied back then, I don’t think I would have gotten in.
This time, it took me like 6 months to work on my personal statement. It took me a while to get my hours together. I think I made the right decision back in 2017. I improved my GPA from a 3.4 to a 3.5. I think overall it’s a feeling that you feel, if you feel confident in your application and if you meet the minimum requirements. If you just feel good about what you are putting out there, just go for it!
What would you say made your essay stand out? Did you use anything to help you prepare? What resources did you find helpful?
Actually, every single day, I was on the PA Platform website. There’s so much information on there. I was on Ashley Kay’s page all the time! She helped me a lot. I also attended your IG lives, and I would take notes. For the personal statement, I talked about how my life has changed from living in Armenia, experiencing loss, and then coming to a whole different country and starting over. I talked about how that experience back home sort of influenced me to go into medicine, have that interest in medicine, how that experience back in home sort of influenced me to go into medicine, and how I came about choosing the PA profession.
I knew that I wanted to be in the medical profession, in the medical field. I just didn't know which career path to choose. Those are really the same exact words I use in my personal statement. Then after shadowing, working with all these difference healthcare professions, you kind of figure it out for yourself. That’s what I did.
You have to like discuss these things briefly because you are only given 5,000 characters.
You have to really spend time on it. It took me a while because you have a very limited amount of words, and you want each character, each word, to really make sense in your personal statement. Each word really counts, so you have to choose your words wisely and use them well.
You have to connect your life story plus how that led you to the PA profession. For the conclusion, you bring it all together. You have to keep it short and sweet because the admissions committee reads thousands of letters. You have to ask your friends, people with better grammar skills than you, to read it.
Let's talk about interviewing. One question was, how did you afford to go to your interview? Did you plan for that?
I worked throughout my college career, so I saved up some money. Also, I applied to schools only in New York State and one school in New Jersey – Rutgers University. All my interviews were around here. That's why it was easier for me to because I didn't apply to schools in California. At a lot of the schools I went to for interviews, other applicants were from Alaska, California, Texas. I remember I went to Cornell for an interview, and we had a girl there from Hawaii. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay for hotels and have to pay for flights. It was very convenient.
As far as interviews, what was the hardest part? What is your best advice for interviews?
Interviews are exhausting because you have to maintain yourself. You have to be smart, and you have to be super nice. You want them to like you, and you have to dress nicely. It’s stressful. I was worried about my accent and worried if I would articulate myself properly.
For the Stony Brook interview, I remember they were super nice. That’s the one thing that was surprising to me. They’re all super nice and trying to get to know you. They’re not trying to intimidate you. They’re just trying to get to know you and have a conversation. It's just that simple and you talk to them like you’re talking to your friends, but a little more professionally. The interview season wasn't the toughest. For me, it was the application part that was tough for me.
The Physician Assistant School Interview Guide by Savanna Perry was basically my Bible. As long as you try your best and are being truthful, the admissions committee sees that, and they really like that. I liked interviews. You sit there and talk about yourself!
Do you consider yourself a traditional or non-traditional student?
Traditional.
I think so too. So how long did it take you to fill out your application? And when did you submit?
When I applied, CASPA opened April 24. I submitted mine May 12th or May 13th. I prepared beforehand. You have to prepare for this! The first day, I would really just to enter your grades and make sure it's correct and start to get your letters recommendation. Be on top of that! It’s the only part of your application that you’re not in control of; you’re waiting for other people to submit it for you. I submitted it within 2-2.5 weeks.
What else do people have to know?
I have this rule, the 75:25 rule for your PCE and HCE. When entering your information on CASPA, I say 75% of your job is PCE and 25% of your job is HCE. That’s how I divided it, and it worked for me! For example, for my medical assistant job, I was mostly with my patients and taking care of them. There's 25% of the job where you're doing correspondence, calling prescriptions, talking to other doctors, setting up appointments and scheduling, and all of the administrative aspects of the healthcare setting. I actually was keeping track of my hours because when I got a paycheck, it says how many hours I worked. I would just like add them up, and I would keep my pay stub. I didn't overestimate, which was fine.
In terms of shadowing and asking, you are going to have to be prepared for rejection. You have to just take it, and try your best. My advice is just don’t get discouraged!
Contact George on Instagram here: @george.shian
