PA Schools and Employment

With regards to master's programs.

I understand that all the different programs are accredited and that some people tend to think/say that it doesn't really matter where you go in the end. Is this necessarily true from a recruiter's stand point? What types of school are preferred by the people hiring?

I gather that some schools say they have a specialty in one area of medicine, but do all schools? I thought the point of being a PA was that your education was well rounded, allowing you to take on any specialty you wanted after you graduated. Should I be more focused and decide what kind of specialty I want, BEFORE, I go into school?

Cant speak as a recruiter because I am not one, but from those that I have talked to that do hire and have been hired, it is not the degree but the certification. With that said, the type of degree does factor in witha few situtations:

1. some hospitals pay more depending on the degree you have
2. some states require a certain degree to get a license
3. do you want to teach, if yes then you should get a masters
4. do you want to go into the military, if yes then you do need a masters

In all honesty, I think if youre going to put the two years into it, then just get the masters.

As far as specialty, there are only two programs that I know of that focus on a specific specialty and even those still require you to have a strong ptimary care/family practice foundation. PA programs first responsibility is to make sure you have that strong FP/general care foundation and the PANCE/PANRE is focused on that knowledge. if you look at the clinical rotations for the programs you are interested in, you will see that you spend the bulk of your rotaions doing FP and/or IM....they tend to last at least a month longer than the others.

You do not need to know what specialty you want to do, as a matter of fact you could have that all set in your mind and then start your clinicals and change your mind! Most will tell you it is best to go through the required clinical rotations and from there see what you like best and explore that area in depth with our elective rotation and if you are interested in an area not covered in a required rotaion, then you could use your elective rotation to explore it.