The ABC's of PA school

What do I know about it? I haven't even started yet, but it seems there is a trend among pre-PA students and many PA-S's. Get the grade, by any means necessary. I know, we live in a competitive world. Only the strong survive. Here in America, our goal is to be the best of the best. We do not settle for less than that, and if by chance we miss the mark, we interpret that as failure.

I just can't agree with this mindset when it comes to PA school. Perhaps I'm being a bit naive, but there must be a shift in thinking when one goes from undergradute to graduate studies. It's true, no one can get into PA school with subpar grades. You must attempt to get the highest marks possible in order to secure a seat, and even then, the odds are slim. It's just that competitive. However, once PA school begins, it is no longer about the prestige of good grades, high GPA, and honor roll mention. It is no longer about us, it is about future patients. It is about COMPETENCY! Every exam, every practical lab, every patient encounter, every dissection, every factoid is for the sake of the patient. I don't see why this is so hard to understand. I don't know why so many fight this shift in thinking.

Perhaps we are raised to believe that grades make the person. In college we used to brag about being on the dean's list, or having a 4.0. This mindset should not exist in PA school. Am I saying that grades don't matter. Absolutely not. What I am saying is if students focus more on learning as much as they can for the betterment of their future patient population, the grades will take care of themselves. Isn't medicine about patient care after all?

So, whether the grade is A, B, or C, the student will be successful as long as he or she remembers to focus on becoming the most competent practitioner possible. It seems that younger pre-PA's are the ones hung up over grades, and the older, more worldly pre-PA's/PA-S's focus on competency. There are exceptions to every rule, however. It will be interesting to see if/how my stance changes once I start matriculating. What will be even more interesting is to see how my classmates respond to one another in such a stressful academic setting. Will we be competitive? Will we work as a team? I am hoping for the latter.