Posts Tagged ‘fall’

Fall Fun

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

So its getting nice out. By nice I mean quite brisk and the leaves have almost completed their transition from beautiful to ugly. The pumpkins are for sale everywhere, apple picking is winding down however apple cider doughnuts areon the rise. Football makes up most of the Sunday’s activities, I admit to playing in a PA softball league and my attendance fluctuates based on my exam schedule. It is really important to maintain doing the small things that produce joy on a daily basis. For me I jog or I was jogging until a minor setback with my left leg that has relinquished me to spinning on a stationary bike. The downside of a stationary bike is that they view never changes and you are in a gym somewhere with a lot of sweaty people that you don’t know. The upside is that you can STUDY while you cycle and it has done wonders for me.

On any given evening (prior to injured leg) I would attempt to study in my bedroom and average leaving my desk every 7 seconds just to see if there was anyone in the kitchen. Inevitably there was never anyone in the kitchen, as I live alone but it was a way for me to take a break and it became highly distractive to my studies. While on a bike I never feel the need to get off. The fact that I am biking on a simulated hilly road course while reading about endocrinology is more stimulation and constant distraction that I need. I have finally found a method of studying that works for me. I used to be ashamed that  I was unable to sit still and study for hours on end. I have no trouble cycling for a couple hours and I never feel the need to get off. Now, I just need to work on building up my endurance and strengthening my legs so that I can spend more than just a couple hours on the bike. I guess I could try a stair-master or an elliptical machine but in all honestly I’m terrified that I might fall off and the women that dominate those machines look really serious. They look so serious that I whole heartedly believe that they are all in some sort of higly competitive league. A league in which there is a ton of free Ben & Jerry’s and a lifetime’s worth of buffalo-chicken pizza with ranch dressing for the woman who logs the most time and has read and absorbed the most gossip from US Magazine. Oddly enough I’m not all that serious about anything, I am also not female, I don’t eat pizza and I can’t read.

On a completely unrelated note, I spent the better part of yesterday learning and DOING male genital and rectal exams. Not a lot to say about that right now other than the fact that it was a great learning experience and my heart goes out to those that volunteer their bodies and body cavities for the learning of others. I made it this far in my life without ever placing a finger in another man’s rectum. But by this time next year I would say a safe bet would be upwards of somewhere in the 200+ digital rectal exams. 

My future was looking bright……. but now its looking dark, hairy and over the age of 40.

Art of interviewing…..(Part 1)

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

The time of year has arrived to start the process of Interviewing for PA Programs. I have not finished the Post on Interviewing but I will post what I have  so far.

I was reminded that I had started to put together this post a while ago but it remains incomplete. This fall a couple of my fellow students and I will be meeting Fridays before weekend PA Program Interviews. We have small, informal Q&A sessions for all of the prospective students that are in town the night before interviews. During these meetings it is an open floor for (with no faculty present) questions about how our PA program works. Most questions are directed toward the nature of the interview and what interviewing at our program was like. Stories are told of other interviews and the jobs that we had that got us a letter of acceptance. With these “meet and greets” come the joy of being questioned and the feeling of helping out as the classes before did for us. These are Faculty Free meetings of which nothing is passed along and the questions you ask bear no weight on any decision. We are just students trying to help and give any guidance we can which will hopefully help you in your interviews to follow!

With that….here are some tips for interviewing:

I don’t think there is nor should there be any ART involved in interviewing. There need be only common sense, some quick wit and a boat load of respect. NO ART. There are two very different places to sit during an interview. You can be the one conducting the interview or the person being interviewed.  The advantage is held by person that exudes the most confidence, and eludes to having what the other wants.

(Interviewing for Physician Assistant Programs is going to the focus of this piece of writing) I will revisit the role of  the Faculty member/School Representative, but for now lets enjoy the other side of the table, or the “hot seat”.

For starters you have to be invited to interview. Physician Assistant Programs do not interview potential students that “just drop by” or “happen to be in town visiting an Aunt”. To be granted an interview at a PA Program you first have to submit your application (See Post on CASPA Application Aid). Upon review of the application and acknowledgment of  acceptable levels of achademic and professional achievement the student is sent and email or letter informing them that they have been offered an interview.  There are a couple different routes that schools can take when conducting interviews. There are some schools (though few) that will send out a letter and the prospective student can choose from a short list of dates to interview. Most schools will send out a letter and in the body of the letter will include your interview date of which unless there are phenomenally important extenuating circumstances (i.e. death or dying) you will be unable to reschedule.

The invitation to interview should be met with joy. You will not get in to a program without interviewing so the offer to sit and discuss your potential candidacy with a program is a direct  yourself as a desirable student. Not only should you be excited about the offer to interview but the offer itself is reaffirming of the fact that your application was done well and complete. In the piece that I wrote about the CASPA application I stress the importance of needing to make sure that the application is done correctly the first time.

Most interview award letters will arrive a couple weeks before the interview. The timeline is often difficult for those that will require plan fare to make it to the interview. Advanced notice is always appreciated, however I did interview will a couple students that were  informed only 36 hours prior to the interview. When interview letters are sent they are sent with the idea that the school has decided on a magic number of students that it feel comfortable interviewing on a given weekend. It is the schools hope that all those offered interviews will accept the interview. It is often the case that students will have accepted at  a school already or are not able to make it to the interview date they were assigned. In these circumstances there are now more available spots to interview and more letters are sent out and if real short on time, emails and phone calls can be made.

The interview is often made in to a weekend, full day event or just a couple hours. No matter the festivities or tours or speakers present the INTERVIEW will only be an hour or so at the most. Schools will combine the interview with lunch or breakfast and sometimes rather lengthy informational sessions. When you arrive on campus you are so excited to be interviewing and you want to make a great impression, however you are going to be quite surprised by how much the school is trying to sell you their program……..

MORE TO COME…