SF Bay Area PA (Physician Associate/Assistant) Prerequisites

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apkt

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I am banging my head against a wall here.

I need to take a number of science prerequisites before applying to PA school, including A&P (one semester each), Microbiology, Chem (Inorganic and Organic), etc.

CCSF (City College of San Francisco) was my first choice, but going through this semester's cattle herding was a reality check - registration for any a seat in any one these high-demand classes required literally years of enrollment at CCSF (registration is prioritized by how many semesters of attendance one has at CCSF).

Has anyone done a series of prerequisites for a PA, RN, or other program in the Bay Area? Which school did you attend for these prerequisites? What was your strategy for getting a seat in a class? ANY advice is appreciated.

As background, I live in SF - the Bay Area is a big place - and any experience specific to the city (ie schools within a commutable distance) is especially valuable.
 
There are a few CC's along the Peninsula. Do your best to find your way into the prerequisite courses. Spend the time getting your General Ed stuff out of the way. This way you can get the units you need to get into the appropriate prerequisite courses. If you've already got a degree... well, see if you qualify for some kind of priority registration program. You might get lucky and get yourself into a college that has an open seat in a prereq course. When I was last there (about 15 years ago) Foothill/De Anza both operated on that same priority system. More units = higher priority. I got into a program that gave me priority registration as there was a specific track that I needed to follow...

Good Luck!
 
Yep, you guessed it: I have a degree (actually BA + MA) already, so can't go the "gen-ed to accumulate credit hours" route.

I understand the broken nature of community college funding in California, but one would think that there would, over time, be an alignment of dollars to need - that is, that as we project a need for more allied health care providers, the state would run resources in to those educational programs.

Thanks again.
 
I'm lucky in that there are 4 community colleges in my vicinity. I was able to complete my RN prerequisites by attending 2 of them. They're all in the same college district, so I'm a student at all of them, and my registration date is the same for all of them. I sign up for courses, and I can usually get the courses I need. It's not an easy process, by any stretch of the imagination though.
 
apkt said:
Yep, you guessed it: I have a degree (actually BA + MA) already, so can't go the "gen-ed to accumulate credit hours" route.

I understand the broken nature of community college funding in California, but one would think that there would, over time, be an alignment of dollars to need - that is, that as we project a need for more allied health care providers, the state would run resources in to those educational programs.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

With what money?
 
What might be easier, albeit more expensive, is to look at the summer programs at CSU SF and UCB. Summer courses are run through the universities' extension office/college and are open to both enrolled students and non-enrolled students.
 
JPINFV said:
What might be easier, albeit more expensive, is to look at the summer programs at CSU SF and UCB. Summer courses are run through the universities' extension office/college and are open to both enrolled students and non-enrolled students.
Click to expand...
Summer courses that are run through those extension courses do provide you with college credit, and if they're a prereq course, count toward that. You do, however, have to pay the full cost per unit. If you can, that's a way to get it done!

Excellent comment, JPINFV!
 
You might want to expand your realm of commute- I have a friend in the same scenario (does EVERYONE want to go EMT--> Medic --> PA these days? ugh, we have a lot of competition!) and he ended up going all the way down to Canada College further south on the Peninsula. Know another person from my company who commutes to Santa Rose jc for the same deal.

Seems like lots and lots and lots of peeps in the same boat hustling to get those pre-reqs done to get into health care fields.
 
Thanks All

Thanks all.

I do need to look north to SRJC - I prefer the commute up, rather than down, the 101 for some reason. Maybe just the lower population density of Marin vs. San Mateo.

BeanDip, what company do you work for and are they ever looking for per-diem on-call staff?

There is absolutely a crush of folks all looking to do these same classes, and no doubt that yes, a huge number of guys are looking to go paramedic to PA as well (myself included).

As to the question above "what money?", it's only an issue of how we spend the money that we DO have. The state generates a substantial sum in tax receipts, both income and sales. The question is how we allocate money to various programs and initiatives. All I meant to say in my post above was/is that I find it odd that basic science education doesn't get a few more dollars allocated to it (yes, at the expense of some other program, I know). That's all.
 
You can also try Peralta Colleges which includes Merritt, Laney, Berkeley and Alameda. You can sign up for classes online which might alleviate the cattle hearding. There is also Chabot College in the East Bay.
 
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