The last time I gave an update on the PA school front I had just been accepted to A.T. Still's program and was so excited that I could finally have the opportunity to move forward in my education. Since that time I have interviewed at 3 other schools, namely, MEDEX @ University of Washington, Duke University, and Yale University. All 3 schools are much higher in the PA school rankings than A.T. Still. Duke and Washington are in the top 10 and Yale in the top 20. After all was said and done I really loved my interview at Duke but unfortunately was not offered a spot in thier class. I was however accepted at both MEDEX and Yale!!!!
Now to some of you that choice might be a no-brainer. Undoubtably you hear the name Yale and you think Ivy League, super selective, and a whole lot of name value. For those of you who think that, let me refer you to the paragraph above; MEDEX is a higher ranked program and one of the oldest in the country.
Tiff and I found ourselves with a very hard decision to make because both programs really are outstanding and have alot to offer. Tiff and I have always wanted to end up in WA and choosing MEDEX would have been the perfect opportunity to move up there and settle down. And as I have said, they have one of the oldest most established PA programs in the country. MEDEX focuses a lot on bringing in a diverse class of students who all have a team work attitude that creates an environement in the school where everyone is very friendly and willing to help when they see other students start to slip. The lectures at MEDEX are mostly taught by PA's who are able to provide a PA's perspective on how the matierial will be of use in practice. Yale, on the other had, also has a very old and very prestigous program. Yale also has alot of things going for it that MEDEX doesn't. For example, they have a full cadaver lab including disection, they have a soft-tissue rodent lab where students can practice suturing. Yale also has a WIDE diversity of clinical rotation sites offering clinical experience in anything from neuro-surgery to global health in 3rd world countries. All the lectures are taught by PhD's who are leaders in their respective fields. Along those lines, the lectures students get at Yale are basically the same ones given to the med students just in half the time. That really seemed to us like a great opportunity.
Both schools also had some negatives as well. New Haven, CT has one of the top 5 crime rates in the nation, not exactly where we envisioned ourselves starting a family. As you can imagine, cost of living and tuition at Yale are also significantly higher than at MEDEX. MEDEX on the other hand has a LARGE focus on training PA's to work work in rural or underserved communities; this is an area that I am not very interested in. They also don't offer a cadaver or soft-tissue lab, in fact, their anatomy class is taken on-line in the months before the program actually begins.
Ultimately this was the deal breaker for me. While I have not made a final decision on what area I want to practice in I know that I am interested in areas like Orthopedics, Cardio-Thoracic surgery, or Emergency Medicine. I felt like that in all of those areas it would be very advantagous for me to attend a program that would prepare me for that type of practice. Yale fits that bill more than MEDEX does, and so Tiff and I decided to keep BYU's colors and make the short jump from being Cougars to being Bulldogs. We even get to keep the same colors!!! It will be kind of fun to tell people that I went to the "Y" and actaully have that mean 2 different schools, haha.
I also want to say how grateful I am for Tiff, who was nothing but supportive throughout this process. I am a lucky man to have her by my side.
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