The Narrative

Generally, the narrative gives you a chance to tell the admissions committee of your desired institution why you want to be a PA and what makes you special as a candidate for admission.  You may think that no one reads these....but they do! 

The best thing I can tell you is be HONEST and be CREATIVE!!!  Generic, lengthy regurgitations of what the literature says about being a good PA do not make you unique.  Tell an interesting story...something that the committee will remember about you.  Think of a creative way to describe yourself  and your attributes that will stick in our minds! 

TOP 5 NARRATIVE STATEMENTS TO AVOID:

1.  "I have wanted to be in medicine since I was a little boy/girl".....No, no, no, no!!!  We already KNOW this about you...it is true of about 90+% of people who are applying.  How do we know this, you ask?  Because EVERYONE puts it in their narrative!! Remember...we said BE CREATIVE!

2.  "I want to help people".....see reasoning from  #1.....very over-used! 

3.  "I am fascinated with the human body"....See #1 and #2.  I usually stop reading when I see any of these three statements!!

4.  "I want to have a better work/life balance" or "I want to have more time with my family"  While it may be true of a few practices, many, if not most PAs work long, hard hours right alongside their physicians.   You might be lucky enough to walk into a "cushy" job with no call, no nights, no weekends, and no holidays, but in my experience, that would be the exception, not the rule.  When I hear these statements, it immediately screams "LAZY"!!!  Patient care is difficult and requires a lot of passion and dedication.  If you want the "easy road", don't go to PA school.

5.  "I tried to get into medical school, but couldn't so I decided to be a PA"  PA school is not a med-school "fall-back plan".  In many institutions, including mine, the average GPA of entering PA students is HIGHER than that of the incoming med students!  It is more competitive to get into PA school here than it is to get into med school.   We, as a profession, do not like to think of ourselves as a place for med school flunkies.