Medic to PA, first time applicant.

[medicfourlife]

Any feedback would be very much appreciated! 

-Caleb

 

 

“Lost.” An unfortunately accurate description of me in the spring of 2006. After spending two years taking courses at the university, I had no direction, and my grades certainly reflected my lack of ambition. I dropped out of school and got a job working as a waiter. This was certainly not my proudest moment, especially when I had to tell my parents (who had been paying my tuition). My mother told me about an EMT class which my brother-in-law had enrolled in, then she immediately signed me up as well. I did not realize it at the time, but that was a defining moment in my life.

 

At the completion of the EMT course 6 months later, I witnessed a high-velocity car accident. Immediately I jumped out of the truck and told my friend to call 911. As I ran to towards the accident, I remember thinking, “I can help her; I actually know what to do.” I brimmed with adrenaline, yet stayed composed and was able to stabilize the patient until the paramedics arrived. I sat down on the sidewalk after the ambulance left, called my parents, and told them, “This is what I am meant to do. I want to help people.” However, the search for a job did not improve, no matter how much I looked. Having an EMT-B certification did not mean much to prospective employers. I began looking for something that would give me a leg up on my competition, something to distinguish me and get my foot in the door of the prestigious medical community. With that in mind, I joined the Army National Guard as a “health care specialist,” better known by most as a combat medic. That designation led to my first medical job, and I started looking to the future, but this time with much more enthusiasm.

 

In 2010 my unit was activated to deploy to Afghanistan. I left behind my wife, daughter, and 3 day old son. During my deployment, I had countless experiences that only served to strengthen my resolve to work in the medical field. On May 19^th, 2010, I was woken by the sounds of the base air raid sirens. It was just after 3:00 in the morning. The sound of those sirens meant only one thing, the base had come under attack. As medical personnel assigned to the hospital, our procedure was to report to the hospital to receive patients. My roommate and I quickly put our body armor on, grabbed our rifles, and ran down the street to the hospital to report in. When I arrived in the trauma bay, my commanding officer (an orthopedic PA) was already there, working on an injured Soldier to control the hemorrhage from an amputation and establish an airway. With the room filled to capacity, I watched through the windows as he worked seamlessly with the rest of the trauma team in an attempt to save this Soldier’s life. I felt helpless, watching from the outside. I longed to be in there, to have the knowledge and proficiency to function at he did. As a medic, I was always the front line of treatment in a military trauma setting, but I knew as a PA I would be able provide a higher level of care, in addition to lateral mobility to work in different specialties. Since that day I have been confident in my desire to become a PA. However I knew that if I wanted to be involved in medical care at that higher level, I needed to finish my schooling.

 

When I returned home, I began working again, and started taking classes to continue my education. In the last three years, I have moved up the ranks in the Army to a position in which I am responsible for 35 other medics. I have also been working full time, though not in the medical field. As passionate as I am about medicine, the flexibility I have had working in my current position has allowed me to finally complete my degree. With a direction and sense of purpose, I have been able to offset the majority of the poor decisions I made my first few years of college and have already signed up for additional courses to continue enhancing my knowledge.

 

Through the experiences I had while pursuing my education and advancing in my military career, I have developed a strong foundation in characteristics which I see as cornerstones of being a physician assistant. Leadership, independence and teamwork, and a continued pursuit of knowledge. My journey to becoming a physician assistant has taken me across the world and back, where I witnessed and worked with medical personnel at all levels. I was always impressed by the diversity of care provided, the scope of medical knowledge utilized, and the professionalism of every PA I had the privilege of working with. PAs are an essential part of filling our country’s healthcare shortages and I want to be a part of filling that need. I have found a purpose, a position where I find I can truly make an impact and love the work I do. I am driven to succeed and will no longer accept anything less from myself. I look forward to fulfilling my goal of becoming a physician assistant.

[Glorious_Ignoramus]

Reorder the structure of your story.  Open with an anecdote from Afghanistan to grab attention right away and immediately let the adcom know you are not just a young college kid looking for a master's degree that pays well.

 

After you establish this, toward the middle somewhere you might mention briefly that you had no real direction in U during 2006ish, as the reason for any questionable grades you may have earned during that time.  Spend your narrative word count wowing the adcom with how your time as a medic (be branch specific, but don't use jargon or acronyms) and EMT really pushed you into becoming a PA.

 

As an example, I became somewhat lost in the middle of college and suffered some Cs, Bs and a D, but I only give a two line explanation as to why (deaths, injury, had a kid) and closed the explanation by saying I pushed through it and went on with my degree.  I do not mention about how lost and hopeless I felt during that period.  As another example, I open my narrative with a story about being blown the f*** up in a giant IED in Iraq...grab their attention right away and let them know you are a serious applicant.

 

Make sure you are applying to schools like Drexel who view military service very favorably.

 

Overall, I think many applicants would be envious of a narrative with your experiences.

 

Best of luck from a fellow veteran.