Next you will enter the Description/Key Responsibilities of the experience. What insights you gained, etc. Once you fill out the required information, such as your position and the number of hours gained, there is a textbox to describe the entry. In the CASPA application for documenting shadowing hours, what should be written in the description/key responsibilities section? Conclusion sentence connecting the experience back to your goal of being ready for PA school. 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. This is the part of the Experience section that you want to pay very close attention to while completing. 13. If you have any questions about your experiences fulfilling an individual program's prerequisite requirements, contact that program directly. Also, the last bullet point takes a vague statement from the original paragraph and describes a direct lesson. ^lW(y $k^ r x#1, 0 | 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. My tasks included, but were not limited to, taking patients' vitals signs and blood sugar checks. Todays post is going to discuss the ways to properly and strategically describe your experiences that you enter into CASPA. In this section, you can enter your professional experiences in several categories, or types. If you submit an application to a program that has a hard cutoff cumulative GPA requirement of 3.2 and your CASPA calculated GPA is a 3.19, your application will basically be automatically rejected, which means if youre a low GPA applicant, youll have to attend community college in order to raise your GPA to a high enough standard to get into PA school. Allowing PA programs to contact these people gives your experiences more validity. Describe everything. Describing your experience in succinct points will help you to collect your ideas and avoid "fluffing up" your experience with unnecessary information. Powered by Invision Community, Welcome to the Physician Assistant Forum! (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. All rights reserved. How to Choose Your Best Programs: Understanding Curricula, What Is Optimal Team Practice? The Act ensures that reproductive health services, such as birth control, abortion, and emergency contraception, are available to all . Youll check either the yes or no box. 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. 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. Applications may be need to be submitted with the CASPA application, they may have different deadlines than the CASPA application or be an invite-only that the program will send via email after reviewing your CASPA. It seems strange if you don't. Many applicants are surprised by their CASPA calculated GPA. When you were cared for by a physician assistant. Avoid this mistake! 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. Even if a community service activity was outside of the medical world, the skills you gained from it might still be relevant. This post will discuss a few CASPA tips and strategies to approach the CASPA application that will ease stress when the application cycle opens, and make sure you can avoid any potential application mistakes. Want more help on your CASPA application? Considering not only what you did (like take vitals), but how you interacted with patients, worked as part of a team, or lessons you learned in a particular role will help you to distinguish one position from the next. Without making a huge leap, expand on those prior experiences that helped you build skills that will be useful in the future. Applications open in April, and much of your competition will submit their apps in April. . In this section you list all of your experiences, from PCE to HCE to volunteering to shadowing and more! laurentx3 Lets say the program you are applying to has a December 1st deadline for your application to be verified. Volunteer work done outside of the health care field; for example, working for Habitat for Humanity, tutoring students, participating in or working for a fundraiser walk or blood drive, etc. You start by selecting the programs you wish to apply to, then you submit one application that includes all necessary materials. 311 0 obj <> endobj By Think about it: thousands of hopeful applicants are all vying for the same attention. 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. I have been involved in nursing research in the past through my participation on a project focused on improving the efficiency of the discharge process from the emergency department. Basically, your goal should be to succinctly describe your setting (including the types of patients you cared for), the general scope of your patient care, and any areas in which you went above & beyond that. You cannot paste images directly. If it's important enough for you to include, you should allow it to be verified. The CASPA application has separate sections where you are asked to list your achievements, memberships, certifications, and licenses. List the additional number of weeks you have completed since originally submitting your application. comment sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment . In mine, I wrote specific things that I witnessed - lacerations, sutures, MVCs and so on. Some programs list a submission deadline and some list a verification deadline, some have whats considered rolling admissions. This is THE subreddit for all pre-physician assistant students seeking help with their applications. From your own experience, describe how the Colorado Reproductive Equity Act has impacted your life. 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! Third, be familiar with the difference between CASPA application submission and verification. The experiences section of CASPA is a crucial part of your application. The blank space is just about the facts. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Direct patient care duties included taking vital signs, blood glucose monitoring, and answering patient calls. endstream endobj 312 0 obj <. Please try again. 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). Learn more. While you should be detailed with every experience that you add. For example, this section allows you the opportunity to prove why specific entries will be categorized as patient care compared to only healthcare experience. As always, Im happy to help! Completing CASPA (Central Application Service for Physician Assistants - online application service of the Physician Assistant Education Association) takes a lot of effort, but there are ways to make the application process more manageable. Once you add the experience, youll be prompted to categorize the Experience Type based on the following categories: Non-Healthcare Employment So, what does that look like? Now What? (LogOut/ Include any other impressive aspects about this specific experience. Do you think it would help get an interview? If one of your reference hasnt submitted their letter and a schools deadline is approaching, you can call him/her and encourage them to turn in in ASAP. You will be given a 600 character limit, not including spaces. Your personal statement is the place to describe the impact of your experiences. My key responsibilities include taking patient vitals, recording patient medical histories, discussing current patient medications, administering vaccinations, and performing electrocardiograms. PAI 20: Rejected by PA Schools! Copyright 2022 Be a PA Consultants, All rights reserved. I'd say stick to your roles/ responsibilities! 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.. CASPA will automatically calculate the total number of hours based on these numbers, and this calculation will show up directly under the numbers you have entered. (LogOut/ Let's cover what to do for the most common experiences you might include in your application. Time spent officially following and observing a health care professional at work, preferably in the physician assistant field. . myPAresource inc.,2020. Display as a link instead, Clear editor. The application process is painful enough. In mine, I wrote specific things that I witnessed - lacerations, sutures, MVCs and so on. Limiting your description to one or two sentences may come off as lazy and underprepared to apply to PA school. This is known as the experiences section. Maintained a clean environment for each patient and followed standard precautions. If you have any specific questions about a particular experience, feel free to shoot me an email [here]. For this reason, many applicants are tempted to expand on their experience in narrative or emotional ways. Or maybe they havent received a transcript from University of Whateverville. Sentence mentioning skills and values gained from this experience. You never know who will be reading your application and whether that certain experience might catch the attention of the reader! Many schools accept lower GPAs or have less stringent admissions requirements. Step 1: First, youll add an experience in CASPAs Experience section. Step 3: 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). 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. List what you observed, accomplished, or learned without describing how you felt about it. CASPA will count both grades, the poor grade and the higher grade, in the cumulative GPA. We are also in the planning stages for a webinar on making your CASPA application shine. Several schools offer PA programs. Note that this may take a few weeks, but the average time it takes for your application to be verified is two weeks. "I really enjoyed talking with patients and getting to know them throughout myyears thereit always made my day when I was able to make someone smile and feel better even though they were sick") or should I keep it strictly objective, (ex. I have a similar question. These categories are broadly based on feedback from various physician assistant programs and are not a comprehensive list of every type of experience. The quality of the description short responses can elevate your application as a whole. When you're faced with the CASPA experience descriptions, just stick to the facts and only include what's relevant. Verified means the fat lady has finally sung. Do You Share These Burning Questions of PA School Applicants? The method to document this experience is through the CASPA online application. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com. Save time & gain momentum along your path by getting the kind of everyday support that a future PA needs. There are many reasons why applicants apply late. Here is a guide on the best PA schools in Louisiana to help you build your career. Both paid and unpaid work in a health or health-related field where you are not directly responsible for a patient's care, but may still have patient interaction; for example, filling prescriptions, performing clerical work, delivering patient food, cleaning patients and/or their rooms, administering food or medication, taking vitals or other record-keeping information, working as a scribe, CNA (depending on job description), medical assistant, etc.