A majority of physician assistant programs are organized with one year of didactic (i.e. classroom) training followed by 12-15 months of clinical rotations. As I culminate my didactic phase of PA school, I am inspired to offer some words of wisdom to current and future PA students. The didactic phase is extremely challenging but it is well-designed.
“If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” -excerpt from Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata
My first piece of advice is to trust yourself. This sounds commonsense but it is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and forget about yourself. You have a unique background that got you accepted to PA school. No one else can even compare to your background, remember that. With that being said, it is important to continue what got you to PA school. There is no reason to dramatically change your study habits or buy into all the anxious chatter that occurs in the lecture halls before class. You will feel compelled to study the same way as your classmates because it is the popular thing to do. Breaking news for you, this is just an illusion. Trust yourself. This means trusting your preparation and your intuition. Physician assistant studies, like most advanced disciplines, is simply a new framework of organizing information. You’ve heard of pancreas, insulin, diabetes, hemoglobin, etc. Now you must re-organize this in your brain, not in someone else’s. Don’t worry about grades, just pass. Everyone in PA school is used to receiving a lot of As. However, often times the difference between an A and a B in PA School is added stress. Is it worth it?
“If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” -excerpt from Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata
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