>> It's a pretty standardized process.
You know, almost all programs now are master-level programs.
Generally, PA education is -- is about just over two years.
It's usually about 24 to 28 months, depending on the program you're going into.
And what pretty much all of them require is a certain amount of basic science courses
and prerequisites that are already done.
And the reasoning is that PA school is short, and it's rapid fire.
They get you through very quickly and there's a lot to cover,
so all of your basic science level, anatomy, physiology, biochem, those type of classes,
are already completed before you even enter the program.
So you need that to even apply.
Because it's become so competitive,
most students have some level of healthcare experience.
They've either worked in the field, they volunteered,
they have some patient contact experience, which it really is attractive to most programs, and,
in some cases, required to even apply to school.
And once you get through that, then you're -- you're in the program.
We have a year of didactic classwork and then a year of clinical rotations.
And there's no breaks, it's just all the way through, whereas with medical school,
it's probably two years of didactic, two years of clinical,
and then you move onto your residency.
So it's patterned the same way, it's just condensed.
So after completion of your PA program, there is a national certifying exam that we all take,
that most of us end up doing anywhere from immediately after graduation from PA school
or within six months, while our knowledge is still [chuckling] fresh.
But once you pass that national certifying exam, you really can work anywhere at all.
You know, the -- the nice thing about PA programs are --
are designed is that year two of it is clinical rotations in every speciality.
Well, not every speciality, but most of your basic specialities.
So you have exposure in emergency medicine, in family practice, in OB/GYN, pediatrics,
and they're usually in different environments.
And one of the side benefits is that as you get to network and meet a lot of different people,
most PAs in -- in school end up landing their first job out of those clinical rotations,
of a preceptor they've worked with, or someone they've come into contact, if a job opens up,
they -- word of mouth sort of thing really goes a long way in the PA profession,
and so that happens for a lot of us.