Create your own pre-PA timeline

One of the toughest decisions when applying to competitive programs whether it's nursing, PA programs, medical school or any other health profession program, is deciding whether you should get a master's degree or take post-bac courses. The reason for choosing these paths can be because you want to raise your GPA or you want to show you are continuously putting in effort to excel in science level courses. Along with these degrees/certificates, you could also choose a post bac program yourself that is less costly.

Short answer is, it is definitely up to you to choose the path that works best with your schedule, other commitments, and financial resources. To summarize my path of becoming a PA student, I took 6 science courses (DIY postbac I created for myself) and completed my Master's in Public Health (MPH). I will share later why I specifically chose MPH, but both of the routes combined allowed me to raise my GPA from 2.75 to 3.08. Even though it may not seem like a lot, I had a lot of units which it took longer time and effort for me to raise my GPA.

Special Master's Programs (SMPs) are offered at some colleges where they include MCAT prep in their program (for medical school applicants) and some offer either an interview at PA program or medical school affiliated with the program. If you are switching careers or have little to no science courses along with a GPA less than 3.0, it can also be a good idea to consider a science heavy master's degree. For PA schools, centralized application system called CASPA calculates certain science courses as part of science GPA, so be sure to check out your particular centralized system before choosing a non-science heavy program.

From personal experience, MPH and Master's in Healthcare Administration (MHA) are less science focused but some courses can count towards your science GPA. There is also a great opportunity to get a higher paying job as you wait to get admitted into your choice of profession program, which worked out well for me. This would be return on investment; even though my program did cost a lot more than post-bac, I made more money working 2 years within the MPH field before getting into PA school.

Some of the common paths chosen by students include these degrees with moderate to highly focused science courses that will best prepare you for the graduate program of your choice. There are pros and cons to each of the listed certificate or degree route, so be diligent about the best path for you .

Make sure the schools you’re applying to accept online courses, some may accept non-core courses or may accept courses but not labs.

You can either take 3-6 month long courses at community colleges (CCs) or take a month long courses during intersession/winter break. Other online sites mentioned offer either self-paced or 2 week-1 month long courses but they’re definitely pricey! Contact the schools if you can sign up for payment plans.