I have a couple of questions because I’m interested in PA school but also live with hypermobility in all my joints that affects my daily physical performance .
If anyone here has gotten an accommodations and could give me clarity, please let me know. I am about to graduate with my bachelors in business with a 3.9 GPA. I took some science prerequisites because I thought I was going to go into nursing school, but I changed my mind. I do not have any student loans, but I’m planning to work for a year so I could buy a car and I’m still unsure if I wanna go to grad school or not.

Questions

1. How many hours are surgical rotations ?

   I searched it up and it said depending on the program the surgical rotations could last 4 to 6 weeks.

2. If you have a Disability, that doesn’t let you stand for long periods of time under the ADA, does a physician assistant program need to provide you with a place to sit if standing for that many hours will hurt your physical health rather than having you standing all the time.

Additional information

I’m interested in going to PA school because it seems like a high demand and stable career that’s hard to lose compared to other jobs/ careers/ masters programs . Also, I already have to learn a lot about health related topics due to my condition. I just find it a little bit unfair how they make people do a surgical clinical rotation when you don’t even have to specialize in surgery once you graduate..

I just started my clinical year and I've really been loving it so far! However, I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and have found myself being a little too critical of myself. Like sometimes my preceptors pimp me over simple stuff and I don't always have to right answer and I feel dumb bc I should know. Or when I make a mistake during an exam and while scrubbing. I guess I've been lucky bc my preceptors haven't been mean about anything but idk I feel like with any little mistake this jist think I'm an idiot.

I know I'm a student and I'm going to make mistakes sometimes since I'm learning and I know this sounds ridiculous but any tips on how to not beat myself up over the little things?

Below average/average student just got their C!! So crazy that I've just been transitioning through the subreddits for PAs. Now, I'll be able to join the cool kids!

PANCE: 466. Avg 458. Took the PANCE 9/30, 2.5 weeks after graduating. Got the results 10/6, 1 week later (4 business days).

Less than 10 questions were no brainers each section. 30 questions: I was stuck between 2 answers, some I could figure out. 20 questions, I had no idea. Flagged around 22-25 questions each section because I couldn't decide between 2 answers or I simply didn't know. Felt terrible after, thought I failed.

Uworld definitely helped me understand the concepts stronger. The UI also looked exactly the same (however, you have to learn keyboard shortcuts to highlight and strike through). The test questions reminded me of ROSH more than it did Uworld because of the randomness "low-yield" questions. There was nothing more I could have prepared for the PANCE because I wouldn't have even thought about studying for it. Around 50 questions are experimental on the PANCE and don't count towards your score if you get them wrong, so those might be the questions I had no idea about.

Don't think my school was too hard. Never failed a test during didactic, but I think my school's standards were low. During didactic, I never used ANKI. Only did practice questions and used cram the pance, osmosis, and PPP as supplement. Wrote down each condition in my iPad and reviewed.

EOR Scores:

• Peds: 416, avg 417

• IM: 383, avg 414

• EM: 400, avg 414

• Surgery: 400, avg 417

• FM: 417, avg 411

• Psych: 416, avg 417

• Women's health: 394, avg 408

• Packrat 1: 134, >10 month grad avg: 133

• Packrat 2: 154, <10 month grad avg: 164

• EOC: 1455. Avg 1520. Took it before starting my 2nd to last rotation. School told me I was in the danger zone of failing.

• NCCPA practice form A. My bar was right above the yellow zone, fully green. The questions on the PANCE strongly resembles this style. Left taking this practice form so confused and bewildered.

• School paid for CME resources. Thought it was not great because some of the instructors were bland. Had a test at the end of each day. I was also in the zone of not passing. Did this review course 1 week before graduation.

  I was also able to watch some Blueprint Rosh PANCE review through a friend, and found it more helpful. I think these reviews are only good once you've reviewed the material because they go so fast and it's so dense.

Felt super discouraged after EOC and had a bad last rotation. Locked in 2 weeks before graduation. Started with cardio, pulm, and GI. Did brief review with PPP and Cram the PANCE. Then did Rosh questions based on the systems. Then worked down the list of other body systems over the next 2 weeks. I tried to do review of the system and questions on the same day. Took notes on things that I kept consistently missing based of previous EORs. I would also rewrite stuff that I struggled to memorize, like random heme conditions, MSK one liners, pneumonia treatment, pneumoconiosis findings, etc. Studied for around 4-6 hours a day for the last 2.5 weeks. I think it was the perfect schedule for me. Any more time studying and I would have gone crazy. I also started to nosedive for my scores for uworld because I was so burnt out and I would make careless mistakes.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a quantity over quality type of person (but I did try my best to review the ones I got wrong. I just really tried to push through all rosh and Uworld questions). Almost finished all of the questions for ROSH for systems, excluding most of the infectious disease, pharm, and professional questions. Would get around 65% avg. 100% completed on Uworld with 72% average. *I still have a reset that expires in Jan 2027. *

Overall, yolo I'm a PA-C. Took my pance, packed my bags, and flew out the next day for a month long vacation to reclaim my lost time. Found out that I passed during the trip. Job hunting will begin after returning because I am in a fortunate situation where I'm able to live with my parents rent-free. Scared as shit starting a job though. Imposter syndrome never stops unfortunately.

Happy to answer any questions :)