Why I Chose to be a PA

Part of my job as a supervisor in an urgent care is to hire providers. Whenever I am interviewing a prospective PA for a position I ask them why they wanted to be a PA. A lot of them are taken aback because they haven’t thought about it since they applied to graduate school. The passion, the drive, and the love for medicine is still important 10 years into your career as it is was during CASPA season. When I hear candidates respond, my own motivations for being in medicine reignite.

You can count on this question being asked for your PA school interview. There are good ways and horrible ways to answer this question. Here are a few responses broken down.

I didn’t want to spend the time to become an MD.

Yikes! PA schools don’t want your sloppy seconds. Becoming a PA should be a deliberate choice because you love the profession, not because you didn’t want to go to 4 years of medical school.

I want to help people.

Yawn! This may be very true but is also very generic. Make sure to follow up this answer with the reason why you want to help people. It would also be wise to give some examples about how you are currently participating in activities that would substantiate this claim.

I want to have a good work-life balance.

This answer is a common response and it definitely should not be your starting point. It’s fine to talk about balance, but don’t make that the number one reason. You don’t want balance to be mistaken for laziness. Feel free to include this in your answer but just don’t lead with it!

NPs just aren’t as good as PAs.

Do not knock another profession in your answer. Schools look for professionalism and the ability to collaborate. you may not want to be an NP. You can still respect what they do while expressing your desire to become a PA.

Here are some key factors that make a good response-

1. Authentic
2. Deliberate
3. Well-researched
4. Heartfelt
5. Concise

As always, the key to being an expert interviewer is to practice! PA trek offers individual mock interviews and also online group classes. Contact us for more info!