How to Afford Pathologists' Assistant School

With the economy being sour for the past three years, the cost of pathologists' assistant school can become a very real factor in deciding whether to apply and where to apply. The majority of pathologists' assistant programs are two year master's programs, during which you'll have no time to work on the side, so you can expect your wallet to cry.

As of 2011, these are the following tuitions that you can expect to pay over the course of two years.

Drexel University: $44,000
Duke University: $46,000 + fees
Indiana University: $11,328 + fees (in-state)    $34,096 + fees (out of state)  
Quinnipiac University: $70,575
Rosalind Franklin University: $47,186 + fees
University of Maryland: $16,380 + fees (in-state)    $29,295 + fees (out of state)    
University of Western Ontario: $14,900 + fees (Canadian resident) $32,000 + fees (international)
Wayne State University: $24,270 (in-state)     $52,119 (out of state)
West Virginia University: $40,000



The above information was taken from the AAPA Training Brochure.
http://www.pathologistsassistants.org/public_content/Training_programs/AAPA%20Training%20Brochure%20-%20Single%20Pages%281%29.pdf

We can see from the above that if you're living in Indiana and are accepted into Indiana University's PA Program you might only have to pay a little over $11,328 for a two year course, whereas if you are accepted into Quinnipiac's PA Program you'll be paying as much as $70,575. On average, you'll be paying close to $50,000 in tuition and fees over the course of two years. This figure doesn't include textbooks, rent, food, transportation, utilities, health insurance and the like.

If we assume that rent will cost close to $400 per month and food bills will cost close to $150 per month, then adding it all together with other miscellaneous costs you can expect to pay about $15,000 in living expenses for two years.

Assuming that two years of PA school will cost around $65,000 is not unreasonable and even perhaps on the low side.

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If you qualify, there are three types of government loans that may be able to help you out. As of 2011, they are:

Direct Stafford Loans: (up to) $20,500/year
-Direct Subsidized Loans: (up to) $8,500/year        interest: 6.8% (begins after graduation)
-Direct Unsubsidized Loans:(up to) $20,500/year   interest: 6.8% (begins immediately)

(Subsidized and unsubsidized loans together cannot exceed $20,500/year. In other words, if you qualify for maximal assistance, $8,500 will be subsidized and $12,000 will be unsubsidized.)
(There is a 1% loan fee associated with each Stafford Loan.)


Direct PLUS Loans for Graduate and Professional Students: You can withdraw up to your cost of attendance minus any other loans/year      interest: 7.9% (begins immediately)
(There is a 4% loan fee associated with the Direct PLUS Loans.)



You can find more information at studentloans.gov


Since interest and fees are associated with loans, you'll want to use these only after you've spent all of your own money and raided your family members. If you have money in any kind of investment, I would take it out and use it paying down these loans. There's no telling if you'll be able to beat 6.8% per year, and if you are beating that in these tough economic times, then please share that information with the rest of us!

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So you've just got your bachelor's degree, you're in an average of $23,000 in debt http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_e0d6d586-f8f8-11df-849d-00127992bc8b.html and now you're going to take on more? Going straight to graduate school means that your undergraduate school debt will likely increase even more because of interest. If you are prepared to work off close to $100,000 in debt over the course of a decade, then going straight to graduate school might not be a big problem.
However, it has been recommended by many people that you don't let your debts of any kind exceed more than your annual gross income. An ASCP certified pathologists' assistant can expect to make from $70,000 to $80,000 starting out, so it would be recommended that you don't go over that amount in debt.

Working straight after getting your bachelor's degree and saving up can be a viable, though not guaranteed, alternative. Now is an especially bad time for new graduates to enter the workforce as two million recent graduates are unemployed and 17% of people aged 20 through 24 do not have a job.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/no-one-needs-you-class-of-2010.aspx?page=1
Although you may have to join the ranks of the 318,000 waiters with college degrees or the 365,000 cashiers with college degrees http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-great-college-degree-scam/28067 you could end up staying out of debt in the end. Working will necessarily delay your graduate education, so it's best to work as many hours as you can and save up as much money as you can. If you spend too much time outside of your field of study after graduating, interviewers could frown on your gap and you may have forgotten many of the things that you learned. I would say spend no more than three years working after graduating with your bachelor's.

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There is a better way to save money and you can do it in style. Put to use a skill that you've had since you could talk as a baby. Teach English overseas.

That's right. This small window of opportunity after you graduate from undergrad but before you enter graduate school or start a family is the only time in your life where you will have the chance to live in another country and experience another culture for any significant amount of time. Many foreign English schools require that their applicants have at least a bachelor's degree and you probably won't be able to go after graduate school since you'll need to pay off student debt.

A variety of countries hire English speakers but the viable options that come to my mind first are Japan, South Korea and China. My own personal experiences are limited to Japan so I will elaborate on Japan the most.

In my opinion, the absolute best way to teach English in another country and still save money for graduate school is to teach at a public school in Japan via the JET Program. http://www.jetprogramme.org/. Having minored in Japanese during my undergraduate days I was very eager to go to Japan and luckily I was accepted. (Approximately 1 in 4 applicants are ultimately accepted. Half are eliminated during the written application process and another half during the interview at your local Japanese consulate.) Although you don't need to be able to speak the native language, I would highly recommend it so as to fully enjoy your experience. Teachers on the JET Program have a monthly remuneration of 300,000 Japanese yen and thanks to the weak US dollar and the strong Japanese yen, (currently ~80 yen - 1 USD) you'll have that much more purchasing power when you come back. (When I was there the currency conversion ratio was ~120 yen - 1 USD.)

Now it must be said that your primary purpose for teaching overseas cannot be solely for monetary gain. If you are not earnest with yourself and genuinely motivated to learn another language and culture and interact with people from another country, you'll be miserable. There are a significant number of people who return to their home countries within one year due to homesickness and culture shock. I had been personally interested in Japanese culture since my junior high school days so everyday in Japan was a wonderful adventure. I worked there for three years, made so many new friends, learned a whole different way of thinking from what I had previously known and really was able to integrate into their society. One of the compliments that I received during my time there was, "Forrest-sensei, are you sure you're from America?". Apparently, most of the previous foreign English teachers they had wouldn't take their job seriously, leave work early and act ambivalently towards the students. When my fellow teachers saw my work ethic and amiability with the students they commented that I was "more Japanese than the Japanese."

If you cannot get into the JET Program there are other private English schools in Japan which will definitely hire you, such as NOVA and AEON. The working conditions are not as great as being a teacher on the JET Program, but I have heard from people that they were glad to have gone to Japan via these companies.

In conclusion, by teaching English overseas not only was I able to save up a couple thousand dollars, but I was able to make friends and memories that will last a lifetime. Your interviewers for graduate school will also probably look more kindly on your application if they see that you've spent your time working in a foreign country rather than working at Starbucks. I highly recommend anyone who considers graduate school to live overseas for a couple of years first. You'll be glad that you did and your wallet will thank you as well.

The Anatomy of a Bed Bug War

Currently, all NAACLS accredited pathologists' assistant programs are located on the east coast. Unfortunately, the east coast is also the home to a growing tide of crawling, blood-sucking, satan-spawn known as bed bugs (Cimex lectularius). As a native of California, I had never had the displeasure of experiencing a bed bug infestation and if you are accepted into a PA program, there is a very real chance that you too will need to fight off these alien invaders.

It started when I responded to a Craigslist ad for a used futon. The student that previously used it was graduating and I bought it for a lowly sum. Later on throughout the week I would wake up with multiple itchy bites in a row that resembled mosquito bites. One night, I was so irritated that I got out of bed, turned on the lights and looked on the internet as to what it could be. Just then, a small bug ran across my textbook on the ground. I caught it and realized that this was indeed a foot-soldier from hell, a bed bug.

Bed bugs, once nearly eradicated from the US due to DDT, have been making a resurgence because of international travel. Since bed bugs feed off of blood and are attracted to the CO2 that you exhale, they don't care how clean your room is. If you discover bed bugs and you're not willing to move, it's time to go to the tactical operations center.

Upon discovering the first bed bug I immediately threw out the futon, but I knew it was too late to prevent my apartment from becoming infested. Bed bugs are active at night and don't fly, so if you erect physical barriers that will prevent them from getting you while you sleep, mission accomplished. While netting might prevent adults from reaching you, bed bug nymphs are incredibly tiny and may be able to pass though. I set out to the store and promptly bought a camping style cot, a sleeping bag and a king size white mattress sheet cover. 

Since my apartment room is carpet, I needed a way to visualize the bed bugs. Using double-sided carpet tape, I laid out the white sheet and taped down the whole perimeter. This would serve both to visualize the bed bugs and hinder them from coming onto the white sheet.

For the cot, I wrapped the legs with the double sided carpet tape as well as some extremely gooey fly paper strip traps. And if that wasn't enough, I put each leg into a plastic container filled with liquid dish soap. I have read stories that because of the surface tension of water bed bugs are able to "float" across a surface of water. The dish soap is much more viscous and I doubt that any bed bug would be strong enough break free of the surface.

In addition to all of this, I've wrapped my clothes fresh from the dryer into plastic bags. Hopefully, this should keep them from hitching a ride on me into the sleeping bag. 

To keep the white sheet clean you'll definitely need a lint roller.

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Last night I enjoyed my first uninterrupted sleep with no bites! I was curious as to whether or not bed bugs had gathered around the base of my bed, so at 4AM I got up, turned on the lights and found these two uninvited guests. They were very easy to find on the white sheet. (They must have developed teleportation technology to have got past the tape perimeter.)

After catching them I needed to see if my defenses were adequate. I experimented by shooing the adult towards the carpet tape and it would always turn around before crossing over. The tape seemed to be working. With the small one, I put it in a square tape prison to see if it could get out. It would travel onto the tape for a couple of millimeters, get stuck and then backtrack. With the big one, I dropped it in one of the plastic dishes filled partially with liquid dish soap. It avoided the soap and tried to climb the plastic walls of the container, but could never make any progress. Eventually, it partially climbed about 1/4 of the way to the top, fell down into the pink liquid soap and actually died within 5 minutes! (Bed bugs have been known to survive all kinds of pesticides, nearly freezing temperatures and adults can stay alive for as long as a year without feeding.) I will need to rename this liquid dish soap to "Pink Death". 

Thus, my first victory over the bugs has come at a small price to my wallet (~$100) and a few hours of set-up work. Now that this has become a war of attrition, I am certain that these bed bugs will rue the day they ever set foot into my home.

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Update 12-31-2010

Today I saw a bed bug that was a casualty of the carpenter's tape for the first time. This confirms two things for me.
1) Tape can not only deter the bed bugs from crossing, in some cases it can entrap them.
2) The bed bug became caught in the tape that I had laid over the entrance to my room and it was pointing towards my room. This suggests that the source of infestation is not in my room, but rather coming from outside of my room. If I fortify this area with more tape, I should become even more protected.

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Update 03-24-2011

Man, these bugs just don't give up! I was sure I had seen the last of them when mysteriously I woke up with three new bites a couple of days ago. I hadn't been bit for nearly two months.
For those of you battling bed bugs, I can say that the double-sided carpenter's tape at the entrance of your room (that is if the source is from outside your room) and the plastic containers filled with fluid underneath the legs of your beds are the two best barriers to the little devils. Insecticide doesn't work at all so don't waste your money.

Of course, the best way to beat bed bugs is to not encounter them in the first place.

Modern Ambrosia: Resveratrol

A couple of years ago, I had done a little research on caloric restriction during my undergraduate animal physiology class and came across this sweet little polyphenol. It turns out that when mice fed on a high fat diet take resveratrol, they lived significantly longer than mice just fed on the high fat diet. The mice on resveratrol were also more energetic, weighed less and were healthier. Could this work for humans as well? If the rewards are greater longevity, more energy, better cognition and fooling people to think that you're 60 when you're really 80, count me in.

Whether this will really work or not is anybody's guess. I've started off this morning on my first pill of 100mg. Resveratrol has been associated with a number of side effects, but I'm happy to say that I don't feel any different, yet.

You can watch the famous 60 Minutes episode that put more fire on the craze.
Wine Rx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3TGKOQeTrc

Wikipedia: Resveratrol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol

Resveratrol is also found in red wine and may play a part in the "French-Paradox". (The French have a diet higher in fat than Americans yet manage to stay healthier and live longer). I'll say, taking a pill sure beats drinking gallons and gallons of red wine to get the same amount.

Youtube Online Pathology Course

A while back I was looking to get a head start on studying for pathology and, lo and behold, I found this series of lectures on Youtube. I currently don't have enough time to view all of them, but they really seem to be an invaluable resource outside of the pathology classroom.
http://www.youtube.com/user/WashingtonDeceit

Thank you Dr. Minarcik for all the work you've put into this series.

Using Flashcards

For anatomy, there's just no getting around rote memorization. One of the best study aids that I have used to memorize thousands of names has been flash cards.

While studying Japanese, flash cards were incredibly useful. I would cut paper into small strips that were easily handled and create thousands of flash cards. I still have a box with every card that I've ever made. On the front, I'd write the kanji with the accompanying furigana and on the back I'd write the meaning, plus a few example sentences in how to use the word. One drawback was that creating each card took an inordinate amount of time, but it was well worth it.

Anatomy poses a different challenge for using flash cards. Since anatomy is often a visual exercise, pictures of the target muscle, artery, nerve or other landmark need to be visualized. Drawing a picture for each name would be too infeasible.

In comes this nifty flash card program.
http://www.vendant.com/FlashCardManager/program.aspx
Not only can you write words, you can also include pictures. Practicing by looking at a picture, then naming all of its parts is a bit more effective than looking at a word and then trying to visualize a picture in your head. Eventually, with enough reviewing you should be able to visualize in reverse as well.

Creating your own cards takes time, but you should be able to master your creations soon enough.

What to Study in Preparation for Classes

I can't speak for what classes each path program offers, but a list of courses for the path program at WVU can be found here.
http://www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/PA/Curriculum.aspx

It looks like the first year will be spent studying texts while the second year will be spent in hospital laboratories around the Pittsburgh area.

I've heard from a lot of students that the class which will eat up the most of one's time is anatomy. There's just no getting around the volume of information involved. So to prepare for the incoming volley of obscure words I've been studying daily in my apartment.

I arrived in Morgantown a month early to get used to the town and get everything settled in before classes start on January 10th. That leaves about a half month left to study as much anatomy as possible. I looked online for a source to study gross anatomy and I've run across two websites that have been great so far.
http://anatomy.med.umich.edu/
http://ect.downstate.edu/courseware/haonline/toc.htm
It seems that the University of Michigan Medical School has an online anatomy course that you can view. In conjunction with the other website from SUNY Downstate Medical Center and my old "Human Anatomy & Physiology, Elaine N Marieb. Fifth Edition", a person can get a pretty good head start on anatomy. I've been studying about one lesson a day off of the Michigan Med School website and seem to be making good progress.

I'm still a bit peeved that I spent so much time studying for the GRE rather than material related to these hard science courses. Does one really have to know the meaning of words like "agog" and "muezzin" or how to solve complex mathematical formulas without a calculator to be a successful graduate student? PA Programs and other health science programs would be better off requiring students to take the MCAT biology section as a way of screening for students.

I'm glad that WVU and a few other PA schools have seen the light and don't require their applicants to take an exam testing for knowledge and ability outside the scope of medicine. (I still studied for the GRE just in case I wasn't accepted into WVU and now I have a bunch of unnecessary vocabulary stuck in my head that I'll never use. For those who say that the more you know the more power to you, I reply that there's a difference between useful knowledge and trivial knowledge. I want to keep my trivial knowledge to a minimum.)

What a philistine thing of me to say!

So Why Pathology?

I've always loved anatomy and physiology and in fact it was my favorite class during high school. The time spent studying about the human body in high school led me to want to learn more about the human body and disease. At the time, I had no idea of the existence of the profession of pathologists' assistant, so I had in fact intended on studying to become a pathologist.

During college I was able to satiate another deep interest of mine, the Japanese language. While studying at California State University Fresno I was able to participate in an international exchange program with Tokiwa University in Fukushima Prefecture for a semester. My experience in Japan had left such an impact on me that I just had to go to Japan again. After graduating with a BS in Biology and a minor in Japanese, I applied to the JET Program. Miraculously, I was accepted and spent three years in Japan teaching English in a public junior high school called Shoei. That I stayed in Japan for three years attests to how amazing my time there was. Leaving my friends, students and coworkers was bittersweet, but I knew inside that I could not teach English forever.

While still in Japan, I had researched into the field of pathology and learned the existence of the profession of pathologists' assistant. To become a pathologist, one must go through four years of medical school and then go through another five to six years of residency. I'm a very patient person, but I'm not patient enough to wait ten or so years to begin working. The pathologists' assistant programs along the east coast offered me a much better alternative. If I were to be accepted into a pathologists' assistant master's program, I would only have to study for two years and then I would be eligible to sit for ASCP certification. The hardest part would be getting in.

In the state of California where I lived, there are no PA programs so I would need to apply to all of the schools to have the greatest chances of getting in. The competition is stiff and very similar to getting into medical school. (Makes sense since PA students study the same material and share some of the same classes as med school students.) There are currently eight schools in the US (and now one in Canada!) that have received accreditation from the NAACLS and I intended to apply to most of them.

You can download a nice little brochure here for information regarding all of the programs.
http://www.pathologistsassistants.org/public_content/Training_programs/AAPA%20Training%20Brochure%20-%20Single%20Pages(1).pdf
Note: These programs are for a Master's Degree with the exception of Wayne State which is for a Bachelor's of Science
Drexel University (Pennsylvania)
Duke University (North Carolina)
Indiana University (Indiana)
Quinnipiac University (Connecticut)
Rosalind Franklin University (Illinois)
University of Maryland (Maryland)
University of Western Ontario (Ontario, Canada)
Wayne State University (Michigan)
West Virginia University (West Virginia)

Have you noticed that there are no schools on the west coast?

Also note that there are private laboratories which will train you directly without having to go through a master's program. Each place differs so you'll need to do some calling around. Keep in mind that there are also advantages and disadvantages regarding whether one studies at a university or is on-the-job trained. (The most important thing is that you are competent!)

Immediately after arriving back in the US in August of 2010 I studied like a mad man for the GRE. The first place I applied to (which was also my #1 choice) was West Virginia University. Some of the things that attracted me to that school were that their schooling system started earlier than the other programs, they have access to a wide variety of facilities during the clinical rotations and their cost of tuition was more reasonable than the other schools.

I was accepted for an interview and two weeks later, while still studying for the GRE, received a phone call that would change my life.

In our lives there are certain points which we will always remember. If you ask someone, "Where were you on the morning of 9/11?" or "What was your first kiss like?" we all remember these events that have been imprinted in our minds as clearly as if it were yesterday. Hearing the magic words, "You've been accepted" was certainly one such occasion.

Why a blog?

Although I have found many blogs concerning what life is like in medical school, I have yet to come across any blogs about those in a pathologists' assistant program. (I have a hunch that it's because they are busy studying!) I intend to write my experiences and any useful bits of information here in this blog so that those who are considering a career in pathologists' assistant might have a better understanding of the field and its curriculum.