Staying organized while applying to PA school is really important. Well, it was to me at least. The advice I give to every Pre-PA I encounter is to make a spreadsheet. Whether its on paper or on Excel, just do it. Trust me, the last you want to be doing is figuring out what schools you want to apply to. That is how applicants miss deadlines.
Over a year ago I began researching different schools and made a potential school spreadsheet. As application time came closer, I began narrowing down my schools to 8 and then eventually to the 6 that I actually ended up applying to. This method can save you time and money. You can prevent applying to a school that you actually don't meet the minimum requirements for.
From personal experience, I had my excel sheet filled out with my preliminary school choices. When it came closer to application time I found that one of my prerequisite courses had to be completed before my application was sent in. I saved myself time and money by not applying to this school. I could only assume that the school would've taken one look at my application and then throw it into the fiery pit where rejected applications go to die.
Below is a sample of my spreadsheet, I have sectioned it off because the spreadsheet was just too long. So this is purely a sample. If you are still exploring and researching schools you can make the preliminary schools spreadsheet. As you begin submitting applications, you can then begin filling out the final choice schools spreadsheet. These will be the schools you are applying to and this will help you keep track of how each app is going. These categories can vary and you can add as you see fit.
The Preliminary Schools Spreadsheet
- School name
- Location of school
- Prerequisite courses still pending (if any)
- No. of letters of recommendation needed
- Minimum patient-care hours
- Application deadline
- GRE? and code
- Minimum shadowing hours required
- Minimum GPA required
- Minimum Science GPA required
The Final Choice Schools Spreadsheet
- School name
- CASPA submitted
- How much money spent on CASPA
- GRE required?
- How much money spent sending GRE scores
- Supplemental Application?
- How much for supplemental application
- Under review - school will usually send an email stating the application is under review
- Email for the main contact for program
- Phone no. (totally optional)
- Total $ spent per school
- Interview (Y/N)
- Acceptance Offer
- Deposit for seat
- Attending?
- Cost of PA program
You can add or subtract any of these categories according to your specifications. That's it for now!
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