What to Do During the Application Waiting Game

PA school is competitive enough that the smartest approach, for first-timers and reapplicants alike, is to operate as if you'll apply again. I don't say that to be pessimistic. Think of it as insurance.

Here's the trap: you submit in May, coast for a year, get rejections, then reapply with an identical application and get identical results. If you spend the waiting months adding hours, retaking a course, or shadowing a new specialty instead, a rejection sets you up to come back stronger, because programs comparing your applications year-over-year see someone who kept working. (Note: a program only knows you're a reapplicant if you applied to THAT program before.)

Go through your application like an admissions reader would:

- Coursework: B or better in every prerequisite? Competitive GPAs, or more classes needed?

- Patient care experience: how many hours, what variety, what quality of responsibility?

- Volunteering: real evidence you help people, medical or not. You can't say "I want to help people" in an interview if you've never done it.

- Shadowing: multiple specialties, showing you truly understand the PA role?

- LORs and personal statement: strong enough to win the interview once you've checked the boxes?

Whatever's weakest is your project for the next six months.

Yes, but with discipline. The Physician Assistant Forum has a thread per school per cycle where applicants post when interview invites, rejections, and acceptances go out. As a timeline check, it's really useful. If everyone got confirmations a month ago and you've heard nothing, it's reasonable to email the program and confirm they received your application.

What it's NOT for is comparing stats. "Susie got an interview and her stats are better than mine" is a spiral you don't need, and the forum is a tiny, non-representative slice of the applicant pool anyway. Stick to using it for timelines.

When something real happens (a few hundred new PCE hours, a completed prerequisite with a strong grade, a mission trip, new shadowing), update the programs. You can add new experiences in CASPA, but programs don't always look there, so the higher-impact move is a short email to admissions: "I wanted to let you know I've added 400 patient care hours since submitting. Please update my file. Thank you."

Keep it short and polite, with no begging. It signals you're still working, still interested, and still available. Just limit yourself to no more than once a month, and only when you have something real to share. There's a fine line between engaged and annoying.

Two things help:

1. Find real distractions. Pick up a skill, start working out, cook, spend time with people you love, because if you're accepted, PA school is full steam ahead and these months are the calm before it. Checking your email 500 times a day won't change anything except your stress level.

2. Start interview prep NOW. Invites can come with a week's notice, sometimes even a day's. Practice questions out loud, recruit friends to quiz you, and consider a mock interview. If you're already mid-preparation when the invite lands, you'll feel ready instead of panicked.

And if a rejection comes, email the program and ask what to improve. Their answer tells you exactly what to work on.

There's no shortcut through the waiting game, but there is a strategy: improve, prepare, and live your life in the meantime. If you want expert eyes on what to strengthen while you wait, that's exactly what our Pre-PA Assessment does: a critical, line-by-line review of your application with a concrete improvement plan.