I was able to interview a student, Hadil Shakhtra, who is in Physician’s Assistant School for my academic interview
In this interview I asked many questions about the GRE, applying to graduate school, and what to expect from it all. I received a lot of great advice and received a well rounded view of the next couple years for me. The GRE is a similar test to the ACT and requires a few months of preparation. I will be able to buy prep books and take a class in order to practice and be ready for this test. I will take this at the end of my junior year in order to start applying to PA schools and attend after my fourth year of undergrad. Applying for school is a long and stressful process. The application system used is called CASPA and is a general application for almost all the schools. I was able to look around on the website for Hadil’s application and learn how to maneuver the different sections to prepare for my own application. This was extremely helpful and helped to calm my nerves for the future just a little bit. We also discussed patient care hours, the most important part of preparing for PA school. Hadil worked for the same home health care company that I am working for and told me about some of the experiences that she spoke about in her interviews. She told me that the interviews are stressful, but it is important to give them a good view of who you are as a person and to focus on all your experiences as a whole, not just your grades. She told me that the first year of school is tough, but definitely doable and the second year comes a lot easier to most. Overall, this interview was very helpful for me and I still remain in frequent contact with Hadil to talk about all things PA school.