Accepted

Over two years ago, my life was quite stable, but stability can be dangerous. I had a full-time, well-paying job. I was a homeowner. I was engaged, even. I eventually gave up all three of those things. I realized I wasn’t where I wanted to be, at all. I took a huge risk and decided to quit my job and move back in with my parents in order to pursue a career in medicine. I became a full-time post-bac student at Thomas Jefferson University and thus began the two most challenging years of my life.

Today, over two years later, I received a call from the Physician Assistant Program at DeSales University, where I interviewed just 8 days ago, informing me that I had been accepted to the program.

I’m in many ways speechless. I truly feel that I am a strong candidate, but I’ve spent the last 8 days overthinking every aspect of the interview day. Did I sit in the best seat during the group sessions? Did I participate enough during the class observation? Did I participate too much? Did I send enough thank you emails? Should I have written what I wrote during the ethical writing sample? Rest assured, whatever I did and said worked. I feel like my experience over the past 11 years speaks for itself. I am a non-traditional candidate in most definitions of the word and I sincerely think that worked to my benefit.

It’s such a strange feeling. First off, I plan to see if I receive any other interviews at other programs. However, what I’ve seen at DeSales has blown me away. Their pass rates, statistics, facilities, faculty, and everything in between are wonderful. I can truly see myself being a student there. I’m considering moving closer to campus, finally getting the other part of college experience I never got since I commuted for undergrad (with no regrets there, by the way). Returning to school, though, gives me a chance to get the best of both worlds. Just thinking about such a massive life change, going away to grad school, makes me so unbelievably excited about the future. I have 13 months until I would start the program and I know it’s going to absolutely fly by. Unfortunately, all of this joy is underscored by my father’s brain injury. Two months ago, he suffered a cardiac arrest and is currently recovering in rehab. His long-term prognosis is unknown at this time but I am remaining hopeful. I know he would be amazingly proud of me.

Here’s to the future. Here’s to never settling. Here’s to my Mom and Dad and my family for always supporting me (and for allowing me to move back in at the ripe age of 30). Here’s to the wonderful world of healthcare, namely Abington Hospital which has been my home away from home for the better part of 11 years. I’ve learned so much from those within those walls and hope to one day give that all back as a PA. Much more to come. I’ll see you on the other side.

P4... It's Finished

If you’re a prospective or current P4 student, you can view my survival guide here.

So there it is. Just minutes ago I submitted my final assignment of Thomas Jefferson University’s Postbaccalaureate Pre-Professional Program. It’s over. It’s done. As has been my custom for three semesters now, I listen to Explosions In The Sky’s “With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept” the night of the end of the semester, which is what I’m listening to as I write this.

Where to even begin? What a strange feeling. And this all comes just one day after I passed the NREMT psychomotor exam, which is by far my greatest accomplishment this semester. But back to P4. Just looking around my desk a year later, I’m in a different house, I have a different computer, the remnants of my first semester still lie about my parent’s basement, which has been my “lab” for most of this year. The seven functional groups sit above me, from hydroxyl to carboxyl, to methyl, names that were foreign to me in Bio I and became like a primary language in Orgo. Large post-it notes are still on the walls, detailing cell communication, the citric acid cycle, and more. And my trusty iPad, my greatest technological tool this entire year is lying right in front of me, having been the canvas to everything I’ve written and drawn this year. Of course my iPad is also where I recorded countless videos that now populate my YouTube channel, which became a stream of consciousness of what I was learning. It’s incredible to look back at the first general chemistry videos that I made. P4 has been one of the wildest rides of my entire life. And I can’t believe it’s over. When it began, I wanted to quit so bad. It was one of the most difficult experiences of my life, getting over the learning curve and shaking off the dust that comes with being a career changer student. Change isn’t easy. But here I am, now with the ability to take on a chapter of entirely new information, make it my own, invent mnemonics, make connections… and learn.

I don’t honestly know what PA School is really going to be like. Learning is such a funny thing. What am I really going to remember about the last 12 months? What truly did enter into my long-term memory? I’m just so incredibly relieved for the bulk of my pre-reqs to be OVER. The grunt work, the grind, to even have half of a PA application is done. I’ve officially brushed up on my sciences.

So what’s next? Well, I’m one NREMT exam away from being a licensed EMT-B. That’s WILD. I didn’t anticipate picking that up this year. My plan is to volunteer as an EMT this summer to both sharpen my skills, but also pick up volunteer hours. Then my plan is to return to the birthplace of my healthcare career, Abington Memorial Hospital, now Abington-Jefferson Health, as a Clinical Associate in the Emergency Trauma Center. That’s where I plan to pick up 1500 patient contact hours. And then, just four weeks from now I start my next class, Anatomy & Physiology which I’ll complete over the summer. So yea, it’s going to be a busy summer. The fall will bring microbiology with the spring bringing statistics and psychology, my final two pre-reqs. That will complete two entire calendar years of nothing but preparation just to apply to school. And you know? That’s fine. My goal is to become a great Physician Assistant Student. That is the goal. I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I plan to apply to: Jefferson Center City, Jefferson East Falls, USciences, PCOM, Drexel, West Chester, and Rutgers. That’s 7 schools, all within driving distance, and all without requiring the GRE! If I somehow find the extra energy and take the GRE, I unlock Arcadia, Salus & Temple. And applications are going to open for my cycle in April of 2022. I have 365 days to prepare my application for Physician Assistant School. Whoa. Applications are open until like January of 2023 though, and then interviews. I wouldn’t start until either pre-fall or fall of 2023. So I am still 2 or more years away from even starting school. But that’s okay with me because I’m on a path and a journey and I am loving every second of it.

So thank you P4. Thank you Dr. Barrows, Dr. Belani, Dr. Jensen, and most importantly Drs. Heine and Byrne. You’ve all shaped me from a business student into a STEM student. And thank you to all of my P4 friends; we were able to make a connection online in the middle of a pandemic. That’s incredible. We’re all moving onto bigger and better things.

Roll the credits. I’ll see you in the next one.

On Organic Chemistry

So, days after my last blog post, something happened. Organic chemistry became organic chemistry. A workload unlike anything academically I’ve ever encountered unleashed itself on me like an unstoppable force. My life suddenly became organic chemistry; I spent 5 days straight, 8-12 hours a day doing nothing but organic chemistry, and still got 25% of the exam questions wrong. Thanks to the magic of curves, I ended up with a 90.

So what even is organic chemistry? If general chemistry is math (because it is), organic chemistry is art (because it is). There’s not one exam in orgo that you need a calculator for (except for maybe some basic division or something). There are no mathematical formulas to remember. It’s true that if you hated gen chem, you could love organic chemistry. If you’re into art, drawing, 3D modeling, legos, photography, anything like that really, there is a great chance that you will enjoy many aspects of organic chemistry.

Anyway, that’s really all I had to say. This semester is an absolute grind but I’m surviving, excelling even. I’m already starting to plan my next steps of the spring into the summer and fall with the end goal of being accepted to PA School.

Onward I go.

I'm Still Here... We're All Still Here (??? Weeks In)

I’m still here! Surviving (thriving?) It’s been a heck of a semester so far. I can’t believe I’m learning organic chemistry and just days away form sinking into the Krebs Cycle in biochemistry. I never thought I’d be here but here I am.

I had a lot of big breakthroughs in terms of studying this semester. Last semester I discovered that recording myself learning / teaching topics increased not only by comprehension but my retention. I adopted a modified version of this and started creating videos with my iPad, drawing out and commentating on concepts. Here is one about memorizing all 20 amino acids. The greatest thing about these videos is that they’re not just for me. I shared some of my videos from last semester with the new students and I am sharing my current videos with my fellow students. A couple of them even told me they memorized the amino acids using my video. So cool!

I also stopped taking handwritten (well with Apple Pencil) notes from lectures. I now take notes on Google Docs. The first benefit I saw here was collaboration (the theme of this semester). The value of sharing information with other students is incredibly useful and rewarding. Also, it’s just easier to input screenshots, pictures, etc. And accessing the files from any device is a bit easier. Also, my handwriting isn’t always the best. I can also revisit notes and build an entire journal from a chapter; I keep adding all the way to the exam.

The other new thing this semester is that I’ve been studying on campus. A lot. And it’s like a 50 minute drive but it is absolutely worth it. Doing a problem on a white board just hits different. And collaborating on a white board in person with other students is simply incredible. The simplicity of returning to something like this after quarantine has made collaboration such a powerful moment.

I’m really starting to start to see the light at the end of the tunnel (though still very far away) of going to physician assistant school and becoming a physician assistant.

This semester has been more difficult when compared to the summer in many ways. But with that difficulty has come a lot more fun. Meeting students for the first time after being online for months is an incredibly unique and rewarding experience.

Five Weeks In

Tomorrow is five weeks in to the P4 program at TJU. And to put it simply, I’m surviving. I did really well on my first Biology exam and I feel incredibly proud of that. Each day I learn more and more about how to study, how to manage my time, and how to make sure I save time for what is most important, my loved ones, my family, and myself. There was a point in this last week where I finally felt ahead. It was amazing. Then I quickly feel behind again. That’s how quickly this program moves. I’m starting to plan two weeks ahead of time so that I can keep rolling with the punches. Chemistry I is over next week. An entire undergraduate semester of Chemistry nearly finished. That’s mind blowing.

I can’t end this post without a shout out to the following people:

These wonderful group of people have been my most valuable teachers over the past five weeks. I wouldn’t be surviving if it weren’t for them.

P.S. My laptop died this week which is pretty bad timing. I’m very happy I invested in an iPad Pro which has been an incredible tool this semester.

Two Weeks In

So I’m two weeks in to the post-bac pre-med program at Thomas Jefferson University. I have to be honest; this is unlike anything I’ve ever gone through in my life. This program has so far been the most overwhelming, stressful, frustrating experience of my life. Yet, each day it gets ever so slightly easier.

There is a taste here of the overwhelmed and “on” feeling I had managing the Jefferson Health Hack. That was non stop for weeks. But the stakes here are so. much. higher. I feel like I am furiously trying to outrun a hungry Lion, or trying to out swim a tidal wave, and I am just barely staying ahead. It’s my hope that I can keep increasing that gap.

It’s tough that we are starting this thing as “distanced learning” via online means and Zoom. There’s just so much to do. Homework assignments take 8 hours. I am supposed to remember algebra that I haven’t used since college, even high-school, nearly 15 years ago. Chemistry so far isn’t science; it’s math. So much math. I’m proud of myself though because I’ve all but mastered dimensional analysis (except for some of those density problems) when two weeks ago I had never even heard of dimensional analysis.

During orientation, P4 alumni said this program was hell. They were not joking. Every aspect of my life has now become this program. It’s all I think about. And honestly I think that’s a good thing. Stress can be good; it shows that you care. And I do care. But I have so much riding on this. I am in the process of moving out my own house into my parents basement.

I am trying so hard to rewire my brain and stay positive and realize that spending 2 hours on a single problem is absolutely fine. I am just quickly learning about time management like I have before. I’ve already forged some strong connections with some fellow students which has been so helpful. It’s very easy to feel lonely in this program.

I’m keeping my eye on the prize. I keep thinking about the hundreds of medical and PA students I’ve met and worked with over the years. Even the pre-med students. They all did this. This is so incredibly possible. I know it. I’m keeping a vision in my head of donning a short white coat and diving head first into PA school. And I’m also keeping a vision in my head of one day returning to Abington Hospital, the place I’ve spent so much of my life already, but not as a payroll intern like I was when I first started. I’m envisioning myself returning as a physician assistant, finally able to combine everything I’ve ever learned in my whole life. everything I’ve learned as a patient advocate, as an Innovation communications coordinator, as a UGME manager, and everything in between.

Let’s go.