Moving away for Physician Assistant school…Should You Do It?
In short, yes you can! Don’t be afraid to expand to new areas in order to pursue your goals. Many students can be intimidated by this, but there are a lot of hidden positives in moving away for PA school. There are both personal and professional benefits that can be found.
That being said, you don’t want to be miserable, so perhaps a place you can see some positives in, but overall it is good to go outside of your comfort zone. You can search and filter PA programs by location on MyPAbox. A lot of people end up liking areas or programs that they did not initially expect.
Let’s go over some of the potential benefits…
Personal development
Leaving one’s comfort zone is one of the most direct ways to grow. There are a lot of unexpected positives that come with originally intimidating changes. In addition, PA school is only about 2 years. Overall, 2 years is a relatively short amount of time, and before you know it, you’ll be done. You’ll see new places, try new foods, and meet new people you otherwise wouldn’t have.
Networking in an additional area
Networking is a big part of how you will find your jobs after graduation. Oftentimes students may already have a network in place near their home, undergraduate university, shadowing experiences, or prior healthcare jobs. By attending a PA program elsewhere, that provides the framework for an additional network. Afterwards you can still work in whatever area interests you (one major benefit of the PA profession), but it doesn’t hurt to have additional options.
New populations
An often overlooked factor is that the patient population changes regionally. That can include the patient demographics, culture, language, environmental factors, and prevalence of different diseases which varies by area. By attending PA school in a new place, you will get experience with a varying patient population than the one you are likely accustomed to from your pre-PA experiences. This will lead to increased knowledge and versatility as a future provider.
Potentially rotate in another area
Sometimes during the clinical year (year two), rotations can be in different areas. Sometimes there is one “away” rotation, or even a traveling rotation program where you can go to different areas for multiple rotations. This can potentially mean being able to have some rotations by your home state or other areas. This does vary by program, as many programs do have rotation sites only by the school, but this is a feature worth looking into if it interests you.
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Check out are article “How to choose your PA program” for more insightful tips on navigating through PA school.
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