The Pre-PA Club

The PA Platform

The Pre-PA Club Podcast is real talk about getting into PA school from people who did it. Host Savanna Perry, PA-C, founder of The PA Platform, interviews practicing PAs, program directors, admissions coaches, and recently accepted students about the CASPA application, personal statements, interviews, patient care hours, GPA, and reapplying. The PA Platform has coached pre-PA students since 2015 and has reviewed more than 10,000 personal statements and essays. Find every episode, the free CASPA GPA calculator, and the PA program directory for all 50 states at thepaplatform.com.

  1. 4d ago

    How to Prepare for Your PA School Interview with Avery Tinsley

    Avery Tinsley, PA-S and former Teach For America recruiter, has sat on both sides of the interview table. In this workshop she walks through exactly how to prepare for a PA school interview: the formats you will see, the mistakes that sink strong applicants, and her recipes for the questions you will definitely get. In this episode: Traditional, MMI, group, and writing stations, and why PA programs put their own twist on the MMIThe four pitfalls: no mock practice, rehearsed stories instead of real reflection, filler words and wandering eyes, and the missing humble bragInterview day basics: you are on from the minute you leave the house, wear your power color, research your interviewers, take notes, send the thank-youThe journaling prompts to run on every CASPA experience so you can answer anything, not just the questions you rehearsedWhy info sessions and 15-minute calls with alumni beat "I read your website"Tell me about yourself: the traditional and the non-traditional versionWhy PA and why this program without repeating your personal statementThe one question Avery always asks at the end of an interviewSTAR answers with the full-circle bow, and how to show up in a group interview as leader, secretary, or timekeeperListener Q&A: switching from pre-med, explaining a failed grade, how long answers should be, and asking a program about probation Mentioned in this episode: Book a mock interview with a PA Platform coach: portal.thepaplatform.com/checkoutAvery's MMI workshop is on The PA Platform YouTube channelSavanna's PA school interview book and interview worksheet: thepaplatform.com/newsletterPre-PA Club Community - prepaclub.thepaplatform.com A waitlist is a yes. Go get ready.

  2. Oct 23

    Paying for PA School in 2026 with Juno

    Grad PLUS loans are gone for new students, and the rules for what replaces them are still being decided in court. So how do you actually pay for PA school in 2026? Savanna sits down with Leah Young, Head of Student Success at Juno, to walk through federal vs. private loans, what your credit score needs to look like before you borrow, how compound interest sneaks up on you, and the questions to ask before you sign anything. In this episode: What happened to Grad PLUS and what the new federal limits ($20,500 vs. $50,000 per year) mean for PA studentsThe federal loan rate this year is 8.07% plus an origination fee. Juno's average private rate for PA students on a 10-year term is about 7.5%Why your own credit score and history (not your parents') decide your rate, and the 640 to 670 FICO floor most lenders look for83% of PA students who apply through Juno without a cosigner get approvedIn-school payment options and how program length changes your total costWhy nobody should pressure you into a loan, and how to compare offers without hurting your credit Links from the episode: Check your rates with Juno (no credit impact): joinjuno.com/p/thepaplatformPaying for PA school hub: thepaplatform.com/junopageWatch the full interview on YouTube: youtu.be/_bxrjsTe9IQ Leah Young is Head of Student Success at Juno, with a background in financial aid administration and nonprofit financial education. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Juno.

  3. 11/01/2024

    Brittani and Cameron - Married PAs in GYN and Interventional Radiology!

    I'm back, and I brought two people I really wanted you to meet. Brittani and Cameron are married PAs. She's in gynecology, he's in interventional radiology - two specialties that could not look more different from each other. They also became foster parents, which is its own enormous thing to take on while building careers in medicine. We talk about what it's like going through PA education as a couple. Studying next to someone who's just as exhausted as you are helps. It also means nobody is holding down the rest of your life while you're gone. Interventional radiology is a specialty almost no pre-PA has heard of, so Cameron explaining what he actually does is worth the listen on its own. And they're honest about the emotional side of fostering while working demanding jobs. It's not a tidy story, and I appreciate that they didn't make it one. What we cover: Two PAs, two very different specialtiesWhat a gynecology PA does day to dayWhat interventional radiology actually involvesGoing through PA school as a coupleBecoming foster parents alongside medical careersBuilding a life around two demanding schedules Resources: Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling Mentioned in this episode: CapYear Training Get $200 Off CapYear Academy Looking to boost your clinical experience this summer? CapYear Academy offers a flexible, 100% online medical assistant training program with optional externships and CCMA certification included. 🎓 Use code PA200 for $200 off your tuition! 👉 Enroll now at capyear.co

  4. 04/05/2024

    Low 2.99 CASPA GPA to PA School Acceptance! (How She Did It!)

    2.99. One hundredth of a point under the number everybody says is the cutoff. Sarah Matthews applied with that GPA and got in. She's now practicing in OB-GYN and urogynecology. I want to be careful here, because this is not me telling you GPA doesn't matter. It does, and a 2.99 makes everything harder. What Sarah's story shows is that programs read whole applications, and the rest of yours has to be strong enough to carry the number. So we get into what she did - how she handled the GPA question head on, what she built around it, and how she chose where to apply. Being strategic about your program list matters enormously when you're below a threshold. If you've been told a low GPA disqualifies you, this is the counterexample. Just don't mistake it for permission to stop working on your grades. What we cover: Applying with a 2.99 CASPA GPA and what that felt likeBuilding the rest of an application strong enough to carry itAddressing a low GPA without making excusesChoosing programs realisticallyLife as an OB-GYN and urogynecology PAWhat she'd tell someone sitting just under a cutoff Resources: CASPA GPA Calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling Pre-PA Academy: https://prepaclub.thepaplatform.com/landing/academy Mentioned in this episode: CapYear Training Get $200 Off CapYear Academy Looking to boost your clinical experience this summer? CapYear Academy offers a flexible, 100% online medical assistant training program with optional externships and CCMA certification included. 🎓 Use code PA200 for $200 off your tuition! 👉 Enroll now at capyear.co

  5. 03/29/2024

    Becoming a Dermatology PA with NO Experience

    Dermatology is one of the hardest PA jobs to get with no derm experience. Amanda Lark got one anyway. And she didn't do it by applying to postings and waiting. She got creative about how she reached out, which is the part of this episode I'd rewind if I were you. Most good first jobs are not filled off a job board. Her road to PA school wasn't smooth either. She hit obstacles and kept going, and she's clear that stubbornness is an underrated qualification for this whole process. We also talk about what a derm PA actually does all day, because it's a specialty people picture completely wrong - it's not all cosmetics, and skin cancer is a serious part of the job. If you already know you want a competitive specialty out of school, start building toward it now. What we cover: Landing a derm job without derm experienceHow she approached practices instead of waiting on job postingsWhat a dermatology PA does day to dayObstacles on her path to PA school and how she got past themWhy hands-on patient care shaped her more than anything elseAdvice for anyone targeting a competitive specialty Resources: Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling Mentioned in this episode: CapYear Training Get $200 Off CapYear Academy Looking to boost your clinical experience this summer? CapYear Academy offers a flexible, 100% online medical assistant training program with optional externships and CCMA certification included. 🎓 Use code PA200 for $200 off your tuition! 👉 Enroll now at capyear.co

  6. 03/22/2024

    @lyssllo from TikTok! - Alyssa - New Grad ENT PA!

    We recorded this right around Alyssa's first day as an ENT PA. You can hear the nerves. You might know her as @lyssllo on TikTok. She's a brand-new grad, and this is that specific window where you've passed the boards, you have the credential, and you still feel like someone's going to figure out you don't know anything. Everybody feels that. It passes. The people who do well in it are the ones who stay curious and keep asking questions instead of performing confidence they don't have. She also talks about how shadowing and working different roles in healthcare shaped her, and about how much of this job is teamwork. Nobody practices alone, and being easy to work with is an actual clinical skill. ENT wasn't on her radar at first, which is its own good lesson. Stay open. The specialty you end up loving might be one you've never thought about. What we cover: Day one as a new grad ENT PAThe gap between graduating and feeling competentShadowing and different healthcare roles before PA schoolWhat PA school was hardest atTeamwork and collaboration in a real clinicEnding up in a specialty you didn't plan on Resources: Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling Mentioned in this episode: CapYear Training Get $200 Off CapYear Academy Looking to boost your clinical experience this summer? CapYear Academy offers a flexible, 100% online medical assistant training program with optional externships and CCMA certification included. 🎓 Use code PA200 for $200 off your tuition! 👉 Enroll now at capyear.co

  7. 03/16/2024

    Personal Statement and Interview Tips with Pre-PA Coach, Peter Alfano, PA-C

    "I want to help people." That sentence has never gotten anyone into PA school. Peter Alfano is a family medicine PA and one of our coaches, and he's back to talk about the two places applicants lose the most ground: the personal statement and the interview. The pattern he sees over and over is vagueness. Vague reasons for choosing PA. Vague descriptions of experiences. Vague answers in interviews that could apply to literally anyone. Specificity is the fix for all of it - one real moment, described in detail, beats three paragraphs of general enthusiasm. In interviews, the same rule holds. Don't tell them you're a hard worker. Tell them about the shift where you stayed late and what you did. Peter reads a lot of these and sits on the other side of a lot of practice interviews, so this is what he's actually seeing go wrong. What we cover: The most common personal statement mistakesWhy "I want to help people" isn't a reasonTurning an experience into a story with a pointBeing specific under pressure in an interviewAnswers that sound rehearsed versus answers that landHow coaching changes what you can see in your own writing Resources: Free Personal Statement Worksheet: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-personal-statement-worksheet-download Pre-PA Essay Review: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-essay-review PA School Interview Guide: https://www.thepaplatform.com/physician-assistant-school-interview-guide Mock Interview: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/mock-interview Mentioned in this episode: CapYear Training Get $200 Off CapYear Academy Looking to boost your clinical experience this summer? CapYear Academy offers a flexible, 100% online medical assistant training program with optional externships and CCMA certification included. 🎓 Use code PA200 for $200 off your tuition! 👉 Enroll now at capyear.co

  8. 02/02/2024

    Money and Finances as a PA with Kristin Burton, PA-C of Strive with Kristin

    Nobody teaches you money in PA school. Then you graduate with six figures of debt and a real salary for the first time. Kristin Burton is a PA who runs Strive with Kristin, and she came on to talk about the stuff we all avoid. Student debt and how to think about paying it down. Investing when you're starting late because you spent your twenties in school. And salary transparency, which is still weirdly taboo in medicine. That last one matters most for new grads. If you don't know what the job is worth, you will accept less than it's worth. Talk to people. Ask numbers out loud. Standard disclaimer, and I mean it: I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice. Kristin shares her approach and her experience. Talk to a professional about your specific situation before you make big decisions. What we cover: Why financial literacy is missing from PA educationApproaches to paying down student loansStarting to invest when you feel behindSalary transparency and knowing your worth as a new gradNegotiating a first PA contractBuilding habits now that matter later Resources: Free PA School Application Timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map Free Resume Download: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-resume-download Pre-PA Counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling Mentioned in this episode: CapYear Training Get $200 Off CapYear Academy Looking to boost your clinical experience this summer? CapYear Academy offers a flexible, 100% online medical assistant training program with optional externships and CCMA certification included. 🎓 Use code PA200 for $200 off your tuition! 👉 Enroll now at capyear.co

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About

The Pre-PA Club Podcast is real talk about getting into PA school from people who did it. Host Savanna Perry, PA-C, founder of The PA Platform, interviews practicing PAs, program directors, admissions coaches, and recently accepted students about the CASPA application, personal statements, interviews, patient care hours, GPA, and reapplying. The PA Platform has coached pre-PA students since 2015 and has reviewed more than 10,000 personal statements and essays. Find every episode, the free CASPA GPA calculator, and the PA program directory for all 50 states at thepaplatform.com.

Information

  • Creator
    The PA Platform
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    228
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 The PA Platform
  • Show Website
    The Pre-PA Club

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