“I graduated in May 2018 with a degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. I decided to create APPAS in 2017 and served as the founding president from 2017-2018. My goal was to bring together a collaborative community of like-minded pre-PA students determined to lift each other up and make a difference in the healthcare field.
During my time at USC, I also served as a pre-PA student advisor for the Office of Pre-Professional Advising (OPPA) and was an active member of the Capstone Scholars community, where I met (the now retired) Dr. Hickey who helped create APPAS. As a freshman, I joined Dr. Hickey on a medical service trip to Nicaragua and greatly enjoyed serving a rural, underserved population. During my senior year, Dr. Hickey invited me to return to the same community as a group leader with a group of APPAS students for APPAS’s first medical trip.
For my PCE, I began working as an EMT in 2012 and rode as often as I could when I came home to NJ. When I graduated from USC, I began working as a nursing assistant at an NJ hospital on the trauma/spine/ortho unit for 6 months then transferred to the pre-operative unit for another year. Working as an EMT was a great way to build my medical confidence!
By the time I had been accepted to PA school, I had applied in 3 separate application cycles. My first was the summer prior to my senior year. In the summer of 2019, I was finally accepted into my top program: Rutgers PA Program. I began in August 2020 and am now set to graduate in 2023. At the time of writing this, I am about to start my clinical rotations, with my first rotation at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell campus (a dream of mine since high school)!
Creating APPAS and working alongside so many great students has reminded me of the importance of support systems in building your success. Applying to PA school can be incredibly overwhelming and a support system like APPAS is critical to setting yourself up to achieve your highest potential!”