r/PAstudent

Hi all! I'm 22F and I failed out of my ASN RN program due to outside life stressors (having to take care of my father as POA/Proxy and losing my job with no savings)..... I prioritized a roof over my head, finding a new job, as well as figuring everything out with my father rather than school, and well, by the title you can guess what happened.

In my state, we're not allowed to reapply to an RN program (ASN or BSN) for 5 years after failing out. I do not want to go into an LPN program. I always wanted to do med-school but could never afford it. I'm thinking maybe PA school could work as now I have a little inheritance money.

For my support system, I only have my boyfriend whom I live with. He's fully supportive of me going to PA school which I'm very thankful for...

I just feel like a failure for flunking out of the RN program right now and I'm trying to come up with ideas. How hard is PA school? Should I try to do a BS/MS dual program or just do my undergrad and then apply to PA school? Or should I just go for a surgical technician 1 year certificate degree? Any advice would be helpful !!!

Hi!

Starting school in August and I already have mostly all I need for a place to live but I’m just curious about what I need as a student for comfort? I’m waiting for Apple to have their back-to-school event for the IPad Air (with pencil and Magic Keyboard) and buying a brand new backpack and I got a stethoscope for Christmas. Anything else? I heard buying a whiteboard is also smart?

Thank you for anyone who responds and sorry for any grammar mistakes!!!

Hey everyone,

I’m a practicing PA-C and recently built something I wish I had when I was studying for boards.

It’s a free PANCE/PANRE baseline exam that doesn’t just give you a score; it maps out exactly where you’re losing points (by system + topic), so you can stop studying everything blindly and actually focus on your weak areas.

Just trying to create something genuinely useful for PA students and PAs preparing for boards/recert.

👉 www.beyondpance.com/free-practice-exams/⁠

If anyone here is studying right now and wants to try it, I’d seriously appreciate honest feedback, good or bad. Still improving things and want to make it as high-yield as possible.

Also curious:

What’s been the most frustrating part of your PANCE prep?

Do you feel like most resources actually show you what to fix, or just give more questions?

Appreciate this community 🙌

I start PA school soon and I’m gonna be commuting. The commute is 80 minutes back and forth. So 40 minutes one way. Theres also the option of taking the train if I don’t want to drive, but it’s an hour one way. The program is super rigorous and fast paced. Is this doable or should I find an apartment close by. I spoke to the head of the program about this and she said my house is located in a good area especially for rotations. She recommended I commute. My biggest concern is being too tired from driving to study. I looked at apartments in the area and they’re basically houses that rent a bedroom for 1k-3k a month. If I commute I’d be living at home. Any tips? Anyone have any experience commuting? Is it doable ? Pls feel free to share ur stories

Also the first 2 months of didactic year classes start at 1pm and end around 5pm

I’ve been a slightly average-above average student during clinical year EORs. I struggle more with standardized testing compared to didactic focused exams. But by no means was I struggling on the EORs. All above 400, highest 440. I know these numbers SHOULD make me confident for the PANCE but i read on here (mistake) that 350 on the pance is a 75%. This is based on people counting their missed keywords or whatever after getting their score back. 75% feels super high. Doing that math, a 75% on an EOR (based on my missed questions) was when I would score around the national mean. So is everyone just getting super smart before the pance? I’m doing Uworld and have about a 75-78% average with 40% done. Still have 2 weeks to study. I thought i was doing great.

but now im spiraling. Someone talk me off this ledge 😭

To those who weren’t really “top” of their class in undergraduate school, how are you doing in PA school?

I got accepted with a relative low GPA, but was able to retake courses & get a masters so that’s how I got accepted. I wouldn’t say I’m naturally smart.. I can retain information but have never been the best test taker. So, to those who weren’t amazing in school, how are you doing in PA school? Is it doable? Or am I scaring myself out of it.. my biggest fear would getting dismissed.

Hey guys, I’m about to start rotation #4!! I really need some advice..😅

I’ve failed 2 out of 3 EORs so far (FM + BH), and honestly I think it’s because I didn’t take studying as seriously as I should have/wasn’t consistent.

I’m about to start IM and I’m kinda mortified because I really need to turn this around.🥲

For those of you who are passing/doing well, HOW are y’all studying?? What resources are you using? What does your weekly study schedule look like? What actually worked for you??

If anyone would be willing to share their schedule or tips, I would seriously appreciate it 🫶 Please comment or private message me!!

I’m at peak didactic fatigue, i’ve gained 15+ LBs since starting 9 months ago. I used to work out intensely daily for years before PA school, Its lowkey making me depressed how sedentary this year feels.

How do you stay active? What’s your gym routine?
I have classes from 8am-12pm or 3pm & I bought a walking treadmill and it sucks lol I still do it but I prefer going to the gym.

I’m thinking about getting a gym membership close to school so i can go between breaks/lunch etc.

hello all, i was dismissed today from my pa school for failing my anatomy course with a 67 needed a 70 to pass. in my program there is required remediation if we failed an exam and this professor never fully gave us that when i failed the first 2 exams. i reached out to him had a basic meeting of oh u should spend more time with material and he had told me and multiple other students he would follow up with and email list of missed concepts. i have also failed exams in other courses where the professors followed through on their promises and i did good enough to pass in those courses. i want to appeal this decision on the basis of him not providing me proper remediation and me rly just now knowing how to do good enough to pass on his class. for the argument that he did technically remediate i wanted to say that in his email exactly he says to successfully remediate you must attend a review session and before this review session i will send you the list of missed items so you know what to focus on. i never got those things. i really believe if i had gotten those things i would have been able to pass. also is it worth to ask other family for letters of support and if appeal is denied or withheld does anyone know what it looks like?? i hope this doesn’t come across as me not taking accountability because i definitely acknowledge where i messed up but also feel like the professor violated the student handbook as well. any advice would be appreciated please

So I’m about to start my first clinical rotation in a few weeks, and I can’t get the imposter syndrome mentality out of my head! Does anyone have any tips for going into clinicals and appearing competent and confident? I know I’m smart, it’s just hard to not be anxious about looking like a complete clown out there. I feel like I’m going in a little bit blind to how these places work, so any help and advice is much appreciated!

I looked at hundreds of these posts when I was going through it so thought I’d make my own now that I’m done!

EORs:
Emergency Medicine: 387
Psychiatry: 442
Surgery: 415
Family Medicine: 421
Pediatrics: 419
Internal Medicine: 392
Women’s Health: 401

Packrat 1: 112
Packrat 2: 149

EOC: 1470

Katy Connor Half Pance: 484

PANCE: 451

I took the PANCE 2 weeks after graduation, I studied primarily with UWORLD, and Cram the Pance, PPP.

Good luck to everyone! Don’t stress too much, it will be fine!! :)

I take my peds eor in 2 days and was wondering (to anyone who has already taken it) how it is +/- any advice to score well. Milestones are my weak point so I'm hoping the exam isn't full of that

lol I saw this on tik tok but question for clinical preceptors: is me believing that my preceptor enjoys my company or them telling me I’m being helpful the equivalent of thinking the stripper likes you?

I’m always engaged and come in on time with a positive attitude but I can’t help but feel like I’m the most useless person in the room and always in the way.

My girlfriend starts PA school in two weeks and I’m really proud of how hard she worked to get accepted and finally get to this point. I want to get her something meaningful/helpful for her as she starts this new chapter

For anyone in/been to PA school, what’s something you received or bought that ended up being super useful or memorable? (She already has a stethoscope)

Has anyone else at their PA program experienced being assigned rotations in areas where they didn’t have housing, even after submitting location preferences? Just frustrating cuz some students were placed in areas they specifically said they didn’t want or couldn’t live in, while other students who actually had housing in those areas weren’t assigned there. It’s created a lot of confusion about how placements are decided. We were also asked to fill out preference surveys beforehand, which is part of why many students are feeling disappointed with the final assignments. Many people received electives they didn’t request while some received lower-ranked choices instead of specialties they were genuinely interested in.

I’m also curious how common it is for programs to assign core rotations like Family Medicine or General Surgery as electives even when students didn’t request them as elective choices.

Also factoring in housing/transportation cost, it gets super expensive.

I’m trying to see the bright side and understand whether this is just a normal part of clinical year logistics. Has anyone else experienced something similar? How much input did you realistically have in your rotation locations and elective selections?

So I got cancer in the middle of my clinical year (womp womp). I’m still dealing with it and deciding on more treatment options. However, I feel like through the past 3-4 months not studying, I’ve fallen quite behind. While I’m feeling good, how do I begin getting into the swing of things again? I feel like I’m back at square one…. But I want to learn again. I’m sick of sitting around being sick.
Any thoughts or suggestions?

stats:
- packrat 1 (end of 2024): 131
- packrat 2 (end of 2025): 160
- eoc (2mo ago): 1520
- uworld: 65% at 28% completed

my pance is scheduled for the end of this month. i only started getting into uworld a little less than 2 weeks ago.. i'm trying to get through 60qs a day (idk how to manage 120 without completely losing my mind) but i have a really busy week with badly timed personal stuff coming up and i'm worried i won't be able to keep up. i feel like if i'm going to reschedule i should start looking now but idk if i'm freaking out unnecessarily and i also wonder if pushing back would do more harm than good.

i def have a lot to refresh on because my last eor was late last year (my program is longer than most), so uworld has been helpful for that and i'm worried i should aim for more completed. my packrat2 and eoc were basically done with no prep. i'm a very average student, thanks in advance for any advice 🙂

i want a private place to study but I can’t fathom pulling out a ~$20k loan with an interest rate of god knows what with this shitty state of our government

I just got scheduled for a neurosurgery interview, and I’m looking for all the tips, tricks, and common questions to prepare for. I’m a new grad, and I’ve had about 20 screening calls that didn’t progress to interviews except this one, so I really want to prepare well.
For background, I have prior surgical technology experience, which I think helped me stand out. I also scrubbed neuro cases as a scrub tech, so I do have OR exposure and some familiarity with neurosurgical procedures/workflow.