Why PA Instead Of MD

The most infamous question, answered. Let me preface this by saying this is my personal experience, opinions, and perspective. Your path inherently will look different, and you will have other needs, opinions, and values that you get to figure out for yourself. Per usual, take everything you read online with a grain of salt. But I think I’ve learned a few pearls over the years that I hope gets you to start thinking of your own season of life and schooling.

Ok enough with the niceties….let’s dive in.

As a college student, I remember scouring the internet about this exact question. I would read every blog post, watch countless Youtube channels, and ask anyone that would let me about the PA vs MD discussion. I was paralyzed with indecisiveness, overwhelmed with the unknown, and begging for someone to just tell me what to do (!)  Seriously ya’ll, I must have consumed 80-90 opinions from well meaning students or professionals (like myself right now!) describing what “their” profession is like, why they choose it, and how great it is.

I had always envisioned being a doctor. I attended college as a pre-med major *obviously* pursuing the doctor path. Take your classes, complete the MCAT, and get into a medical school. That was the plan. However, as the months and eventual years went by, I slowly learned that that is certainly not the only path a pre-med can take, and it is ABSOLUTLEY not the only fulfilling and worthy medical career.

The MD route just wasn’t sitting well with me. I was never fully in, but I was always *going to med school* if you know what I mean. What was the other option? What else would I even want to do? Everything in my path is preparing me for medical school, so I guess that is what I’m going to do…. But I’m not sure…. But I’m on the path…. But I’m not like, fully convinced of the path. Ya feel me?

One summer experience really shifted my perspective on my strong-held beliefs and assumptions and very very real truth-like opinions about the doctor and PA paths.

I was doing some service work in Johannesburg, South Africa and I found myself in a community of people who simply did not ask about nor truly care what their peers, community members, or friends “did” for a living. No one was asked right out of the shoot after a handshake, “So, what do you do?” People simply went about their day, and engaged with people who they felt pulled to. They were friends with those who they simply connected with, almost never knowing what they “did”. Basically, the complete and total opposite of our American culture. So, while in that community, I got to ask myself, “Marisa, if you lived here, and not a soul knew what you did for a living, would you want to be a doctor?” The answer was a resounding no (the sureness! Ah, it was bliss). The second question was, “Well, would you even want to work in medicine at all?” And that was a resounding yes (see, we were on to something). I had, at this point in my college life, consumed those 80-90 opinions I was talking about before, so I knew a thing or two about the PA profession. It was in my abroad experience that I finally figured out what I DIDN’T want to do first, which led me later to realize what I DID want to do. My prior chaotic researching of the two professions wasn’t all lost, as I found that my prior knowledge and consumption of material was always with me, I just needed an experience or the right question to shake me into clarity. My summer in South Africa gave me that.

Now, I’m not saying you need to travel internationally to gain some clarity (though an Eat Pray Love sort of trip is probably always the answer), however, I do think you need to start being honest with yourself, and stop asking the WRONG questions and instead ask the HELPFUL questions.

Questions To Ask Yourself

1. If no one knew what you did for a living, would you want to be a PA? A doctor? A teacher? Etc
   1. This questions gets at (part) of your motivation behind pursuing the career. If you answer no, like I did, then boy don’t become that profession. If you answer yes, you still don’t quite have your answer.
2. WHO do you want to be in life?
   1. Instead of asking yourself WHAT do you want to be, ask yourself WHO do you want to be. What type of friend, parent, student, professional, sister, brother, etc do you want to be?  Personally, I knew I wanted to be a well respected professional, attentive and present friend, partner, parent, and a person with some margin in their life to explore and mess up.
3. Which job fits into your lifestyle (that you identified with question #2) the best?
   1. This is a DEEPLY personal question that no blog post or well meaning conversation can answer for you. I personally felt like my answer to #2 did not fit with the MD route. Now, hear me when I say, there is someone out there (heck, probably tons of people) who’s answer to #2 is identical to mine, and yet they do feel like the MD route fits that. This is why I say it is such a personal question. Don’t go based off of other people, figure it out for yourself.
4. What challenges will push you towards the person you are meant to be (i.e. the person in question #2)? What challenges will be more depleting than fulfilling?
   1. Every path will have challenges, sacrifices, and negatives. It’s not so much that your positive list has to be 10x longer than your negative list, but you do need to identify if the profession’s challenges are actually going to shape you into the person you want to be, or be very depleting and unhealthy for you. Again, a personal question.

In answering the above questions, I discovered that much of my motivation for wanting to become a doctor was rooted in the prestige, the respect, and what society told me (since ahem I was a toddler) is the career to have. These were not great reasons. I discovered that it is very important for me, personally, to have my eggs in many baskets. I like to wear many hats and wear them well. I need to have 2-3 very engaging and meaningful experiences happening in my life at the same time. I like to have margin in my life for adventure and spontaneity and quick trips to visit friends. With that being said, I identified for myself that the rigors and length and training of a doctor did not align with WHO I wanted to be. I felt that those challenges would actually be quite unhealthy for me. HEAR ME WHEN I SAY THIS. The rigors and length and training for other people would be challenging, but a necessity that affords them the path they feels is most healthy for them. Does that make sense? You have to do a little bit of work to decide for yourself. I ultimately decided that who I wanted to be could not fit with the MD route. AGAIN, HEAR ME WHEN I SAY THIS. This revelation was what was right for me. It may not be true for you. It of course was not true for my many best friends who are pursuing careers as physicians. Everyone really is so different when it comes to their needs, values, and what they feel is good for them.

So, that’s that. It was with extreme intention (and multiple panic attacks!) that I decided on the PA route. It was not overnight. It took many years of discernment, educating myself, and learning how to critically consider. Let me tell you, you often have to slow down so you can actually stop and think, consider, question, and discern, what it is that you want. If you don’t stop, you might miss the question or experience that is screaming the answer to you.