Enter information about the organization where the experience took place. The "supporting information" section is where you'll list volunteering, patient care experience, health care experience, non-health care work, shadowing, and extracurricular activities. 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. Related activities you would like your selected programs to review; for example, academic clubs and competitive teams. 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. Applicants dress up their experiences with descriptions that try to inflate their experiences or sound educated. The goal of undertaking PA programs is to ensure people live healthily. I'd say stick to your roles/ responsibilities! The experiences section of CASPA is a crucial part of your application. You start by selecting the programs you wish to apply to, then you submit one application that includes all necessary materials. This standardization is achieved by using your coursework to create a standard set of GPAs, ensuring you are compared to other applicants fairly and equally.. The FAQ spells out what counts as: Make sure you use the right category when you describe your experiences. This may include guiding students to the correct answer using critical thinking skills, always keeping open communication with the professors and team you are working with, and managing your time efficiently! Applications open in April, and much of your competition will submit their apps in April. I used bullet format, job title - job description. When all of your supporting documents have been received, your application will be designated as Complete. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Conclusion sentence connecting the experience back to your goal of being ready for PA school. Example 2 (lacks sufficient detail): I work at a doctors office and my responsibilities include interacting with patients and performing different tests on them. This may include student research positions, research technician positions, summer research student, masters rotational student, etc. You want to jam-pack this section with details about the experience and your role. This is the part of the Experience section that you want to pay. If you want to be a physician assistant but you feel that your GPA isn't high enough, you still have hope. There are many reasons why applicants apply late. CASPA will use grades from every course youve ever takencourse grades from undergraduate classes, random online courses, community college courses, etc. 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. Experiences that are typically accepted primarily include evidence of direct patient care: obtaining manual vital signs . Here is where you will explain to the admissions committee your responsibilities, job duties, level of involvement, etc in this particular experience. Applying to PA school is stressful which makes it easy to procrastinate. Copyright 2022 Be a PA Consultants, All rights reserved. You never know who will be reading your application and whether that certain experience might catch the attention of the reader! 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. All Rights Reserved. You want to make them see you as a real person theyd like to meet (interview). CASPA will tell you if your application hits a snag of some kind, and if it does, you can fix it quickly to avoid delays. The application process is painful enough. It depends a little on your exact responsibilities, but in most cases ER volunteer work should be classified as Healthcare Experience (because the Volunteer category is for non-medical types of volunteering, and you had patient interaction, but were not responsible for the patients care). If something is important enough to mention in the description, you should give specific details. Instead say: I communicated with both providers and scribes. Learn more. Most students list them but leave the experiences description blank. 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 Step 5: Next you will enter the Description/Key Responsibilities of the experience. In mine, I wrote specific things that I witnessed - lacerations, sutures, MVCs and so on. 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). If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. 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. Include any other impressive aspects about this specific experience. Remember not to overstate your role. How do you calculate your hours? But, that doesn't mean you are required to spend hours figuring out what to include or mulling over what to write in the sometimes-intimidating "description" section of each entry. If you want the reader to take you seriously, dont try to sell them a used car. It is your chance to go into detail about the diverse experiences you have had leading up to PA school. Healthcare Experience* Think about it: thousands of hopeful applicants are all vying for the same attention. "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 That's what the essay is for. To give an idea, here are two contrasting examples: Example 1 (loaded with details): For over three years, I have been working as a clinical assistant at an Internal Medicine practice. Display as a link instead, List it as a "Current" experience. Agreed with both responses above. Conquering the PA school application process is a rite of passage for every future PA student. List what you observed, accomplished, or learned without describing how you felt about it. For this reason, many applicants are tempted to expand on their experience in narrative or emotional ways. 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. Your PA school wants to learn more about you and your past experiences. Upload or insert images from URL. This is the part of the Experience section that you want to pay very close attention to while completing. Your personal statement may touch on some of your experience entries, but this part of CASPA is where you can elaborate on each one individually. PAI 20: Rejected by PA Schools! Do you think it would help get an interview? Question: Describe your experience of (or your interest in) research, in public health or nursing. All rights reserved. At this part of the PA school application process, youll have to brush up on your interview skills. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk. If you volunteered at a 5K run, we don't need to know that you helped fold chairs, handed out race bibs, or passed Gatorade to participants. If you are looking for ways to prepare for the upcoming CASPA application cycle, then this post is for you. Next you will enter the Description/Key Responsibilities of the experience. Here is where you will describe to the admissions committees your responsibilities, job duties, involvement, etc. Your CASPA GPA may be slightly different than your universitys calculated GPA for a few reasons. The Central Application Service for Physician Assistants. Otherwise, leave it out. Press J to jump to the feed. This portion of your application will be discussed in detail below. 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. (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. Contact 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. Options to categorize you experiences include non-healthcare employment, research, volunteer, patient care experience, healthcare experience, shadowing, leadership experience, extracurricular activities, and teaching experience. Im curious if the use of "bullet points" are encouraged instead of typical narrative paragraphs in description of experiences. . Aim to be as descriptive as possible when completing your CASPA application. Paid work done outside of the health care field or a research lab; for example, a retail or restaurant job. Which is correct, bullet points or paragraph form?? Learned the importance of taking time with each patient and that each patient has different needs and expectations. Most students list them but leave the experience's description blank. While you should be detailed with every experience that you add. Review the definitions below, consider the duties you performed, and choose the category that you think best fits the experience. Since patient care hours are a huge element of your application for many PA programs, its important that you carefully and strategically explain your experience so that PA programs get a clear understanding of that specific experience. A PA personal statement is really a personal essay that offers you a time to shine. In CASPAs Identifying Information section you can provide some information on your upbringing, but most students dont. These categories are broadly based on feedback from various physician assistant programs and are not a comprehensive list of every type of experience. They should be concise and informative. I have a similar question. This is a person that programs can contact to verify that this experience occurred. Certain information from your application transfers over from one application cycle to the next (i.e. Experience Title: Use same title as original entry, but add "Continued," such as "Ambulance EMT, Continued" Experience Description: No need to repeat what you already told them about this . My key responsibilities include taking patient vitals, recording patient medical histories, discussing current patient medications, administering vaccinations, and performing electrocardiograms. 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. This takes an idea that is an inspiration and turns it into something more concrete, which is more factual and applicable to future practice. If the experience was a student-organized group and there was no advisor, list a member who can verify your experience. For shadowing role description, would it be wrong of me to simply put "Observed the role of a PAin the sickle cell clinic". 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. Enter additional details about the experience, including the title of the experience and the time commitments. 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! I suggest keeping this information saved on a Microsoft word document or on a Google document. Volunteer Select the appropriate experience type from the drop-down. With only 600 characters, it may be hard to include everything you want. You want to jam-pack this section with details about the experience and your role. If you showed up for the day to volunteer, keep the description simple and don't embellish. hire us to coaching you through the process. For example, a 40 hour a week position with 10 hours a week of research and 30 hours a week of direct patient care would be entered under both Research and Patient Care types with the appropriate hours and duties listed within each entry. In the supporting materials section of CASPA, you are given the opportunity to list and describe the various roles that add to your application. If you have any specific questions about a particular experience, feel free to shoot me an email. 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. 0 Third, be familiar with the difference between CASPA application submission and verification. Keep in mind that it is important to balance your healthcare experience with other experiences that make you unique as an applicant and accurately reflect the person you are. You can post now and register later. The goal is to pique the admissions committee's interest in you, in hopes they will contact you for a school interview. We had an AI computer write a 5000 character personal statement. 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. 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! While you should be detailed with every experience that you add, being extremely descriptive is vitally important for the experiences that fulfill your patient care experience category. Hi, I saw on a YouTube video that someone suggested to describe the experience and include a brief explanation of what they also learned from that experience. 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! If you feel you have an experience that may not relate to PA school, but may make you stand out as an applicant, then definitely add it! This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. First, lets break down the Experience section of CASPA. What it was like to live in a medically underserved area. Every week or so you should log into CASPA to check your applications progress.