The PA Mentoring Project

While I was at the national AAPA conference in May in Washington DC, I learned about a new mentoring project that was recently launched. It is called the National Physician Assistant Mentoring Project. Their tagline is "PAs helping PAs". It was started by Robert Smith, PA–C and Habia Collier, PA–C.

The idea is to have more seasoned PAs be mentors for younger/new to the field PAs and PA students. These two physician assistants were very passionate about this program when they came to speak to the AOR.

This mentoring project is in its infancy, however it needs more PAs that are willing to be mentors in order for it to grow.  Check out their website at: www.PAmentoring.org


Hats off to these two for getting such a great idea up and running!

Pic Source: www.euphoricbirth.com

Preparing for PA School Interviews

'Tis the time for interviews at many PA schools and quite a few pre-PAers have emailed asking how to best prepare. Each interview process is slightly different so I would encourage you to reach out to current PA students at the school that you are interviewing at to ask them specific questions. PA school is difficult to get into - so don't waste the opportunity - PREPARE!



Below I have listed some generalized advice to help you prepare for your interviews:

• Know the history of the profession. Even if they don't ask you about it directly, try to incorporate it into an answer or two. It shows that you've done your research.
• Have a good (and genuine) answer of WHY you want to be a PA. I have heard many "generic" answers and those are boring and don't set you apart from anyone else. Be able to say not only why you want to be a PA, but why you don't want to be a nurse/MD/radiology tech/etc.
• Come up with good questions for your interviewers. Remember, you are interviewing them too. Why *this* and not another school? 
• Ask what their pass rate for the PANCE is and how they prepare their students to pass - after all, that's the goal of your education!
• During the group session - assert yourself, but don't be too pushy. You need to be remembered.
• Know about some of the changes in healthcare. Be able to speak intelligently about the role of PAs in national healthcare law as well as state.
• Be aware of any recent legislation in your state affecting PAs (visit your state chapter website for more info)
• Be able to answer the "standard" interview Qs: what are your strengths/weaknesses, tell me about a difficult encounter with a patient or boss, etc
• Wear a suit. 
• Be able to explain any weird parts of your resume (if you have them) - for example, if you got a "C+" in biology or you took 2 months off to backpack around Europe - come up with a good REASON why, not an excuse.
• If you had a medically relevant job/career prior to applying to PA school - mention it.
• Bring several copies of your resume. If no one asks you for it, no big deal - but you don't ever want to be asked (even once) and not have one.

Pic: http://www.snellingnj.com/blog/bid/53533/The-Characteristics-of-a-Great-Interview