Thank you to Atlantis for sponsoring this post!
Do you love to travel? Me too. Not sure what you’re doing next summer? Me either.
Wondering if there’s a way to combine seeing the world with bulking up your med or PA school application? Well, there is!
My love for traveling started young thanks to my parents. I remember them going to different places and then taking me out of the country for the first time in high school to Brazil! They also encouraged my travel bug allowing me to visit England in high school and take volunteer trips to Amsterdam and Jamaica during college, helped me raise money, and successfully made me obsessed with visiting new places.
Going into college, I really wanted to study abroad. At the University of Georgia, the trips offered didn’t fit with my major at all. The classes I could take in Italy or New Zealand weren’t science-based and would have used up all of the electives I needed for completing pre-PA prerequisites. It just didn’t work out, so that’s why I ended up on some volunteer trips, but I’m excited to tell you about another option!
Atlantis Pre-Health Shadowing programs give you a little bit of everything – a safe opportunity to travel with local guides, a great experience to include on your application, and meeting new friends from all over with similar goals. With trips ranging from 1-10 weeks in line with summer and winter breaks, there are lots of options to get between 50-200+ shadowing hours and you can even go on multi-country programs. Alumni have gone on to 40 of the top 50 medical schools, and many of the top PA programs as well.
It’s important to acknowledge that PA programs require many hours of (often paid) patient contact. As a PA school applicant, it is important that you get those hours. But with that said, if your grades are strong and you already have a plan for gaining the number of basic clinical hours needed, shadowing with Atlantis may be the perfect type of clinical experience to compliment those and help you stand out from typical PA applicants.
“I could have worked at a hospital in New Jersey to get patient contact hours for PA school, but I thought the Atlantis program would set me apart from other PA school applicants because I would be able to bring such unique experience to whatever graduate school I go to.” – Marlayna S. Atlantis ‘20 University of Delaware ‘20 (PA)
We recently hosted a webinar to talk with an Atlantis alum, Karsyn, who is about to start PA school after her first application cycle, to give us her review and insights into what to expect on an Atlantis trip, how she decided to sign up for a trip, and next steps for anyone who is interested in learning more to see if it’s a good fit. You can watch it here:
Karsyn visited Rome, Italy with Atlantis in the summer of 2019 for three weeks. She spent Monday-Thursday shadowing until the afternoon with different healthcare professionals. Since Italy hasn’t adopted the PA position, Karsyn was with 3 doctors and had a surgical focus for her shadowing hours. She saw cardiology, emergency, and internal medicine surgery specialties.
One of the main things Karsyn emphasized was how this experience allowed Karsyn to understand how public healthcare works and see the differences in medical systems. This unique perspective gave Karsyn interesting talking points in interviews when similar subjects came up.
Students arrive on Saturday and use Sunday to get acclimated – learning how to get around the city, find their housing, and meet other students in the program. Karsyn said she felt safe the entire time, even though she was a little scared at the beginning to do something new in a new place. Atlantis has staff in their locations to help students with anything they need so you don’t have to understand the local language. I asked Karsyn about the housing, and she only had amazing things to say about the huge 4-bedroom apartment that she shared with 8 students.
To balance out the beneficial experience, the nights and weekends were for exploring and cultural immersion experiences in the city. So there is some fun built-in also! Karsyn chose to describe and categorize her experiences as Healthcare Experience for CASPA to fulfill that category.
There are some programs in the US, but the majority are in Europe – Italy, Spain, Croatia, Switzerland, and Portugal. Atlantis also offers research-based programs as an option.
Let’s talk about the cost! Atlantis is a summer study abroad program, and costs about the same as other study abroad programs, with the catch that it packs a lot in a short time (about 60 hours of shadowing in 3 weeks), so that means that if you just want to do a study abroad program that costs the least on a per-day basis and you want to stay in Europe for a long time, then just traveling on your own or on a less healthcare-focused program is best. Atlantis programs start at about $2,899 right now, and the longer 3-week programs cost about $4,999, which is actually less than the average summer study abroad program. If you went on a very long Atlantis program, then it gets more expensive.
We can’t ignore the fact that taking a big trip is going to cost money. Think about your Atlantis trip as an investment in your future. Not encouraging that you overextend yourself, but plan accordingly and get creative. You never know who wants to help you out unless you ask! Birthdays and gifts are a great time to let your family and friends know about this cool trip you’re planning, and you may be pleasantly surprised by who wants to help!
Here’s the good news – one day as a PA, you’ll be able to afford to travel as much as you want, right? Well, kind of. Unfortunately, at that point, you also have to think about fun things like taking PTO and allocating your hours just right. A 3-week break will be pretty rare or difficult to plan with a full-time job. Not saying it’s impossible, but as I reflect, you’ll never really have the same amount of time available as the period before you start PA school. So make the most of it!
Atlantis does offer payment plans that are broken down into a monthly fee until the trip and loan options. The Financing & Aid page has a ton more info on this so make sure to check it out. Also, consider that your school may have some scholarship options if you’re currently enrolled in an institution. Just like with any other summer study abroad program, it is a big investment, but also once in a lifetime. We’ve seen some great reviews in the Pre-PA Club group on Facebook too!
If this sounds like a good option for you, the next step is applying for a trip. It’s recommended to do this early so you can ensure finances and travel requirements, but also because Atlantis trips fill up! Almost all of their programs only have 8-12 pre-health students at any one time, which is why they fill up quickly. If you’re excited about a particular city, don’t drag your feet and miss out on a spot since these are small groups. Karsyn also mentioned an option to chat with alumni of the program to discuss the trips and get any specific questions answered. Click here to get an email with more information about Atlantis trips, and let us know where you decide to go!
