u/Zone_of_Inhibition

ETA: don’t know why someone is coming through and downvoting everything 💀

Been looking for a few months now. Need to ship a car from AZ to central FL. I’ve seen posts on here about predatory companies and brokers wanting money up front. And some drivers even demanding more money when they arrive at your door (this happened to my friend)!

I’ve called several companies and asked for a copy of their contracts for me to read. I’ve been trying to assure a few things: 1) no money until vehicle is safely delivered, 2) no hidden fees or additional money on top of the agreed upon amount once the vehicle arrives, and 3) clearly stated in their policy what is to happen if a driver cancels during the scheduled pickup window.

So far, every single company/broker I have spoken to says that they require money up front to even book the date (usually a few hundred dollars), AND they will not give me a copy of their contact to review until we pay them.

Is this normal? We paid a broker a few months back who required $150 up front to schedule. And guess what? We never heard back from him, and I had to file a dispute with my bank.

Please spare me the “you’re there for your career and education and not to make friends.” You’re right, I am 1000% here for one thing and one thing only: my career. But having friends and not being lonely on this journey is also desirable.

I literally don’t know what happened. I started going to events and hanging out with people before we even started school due to our class group chat. I hit it off with quite a lot of my classmates and was part of a few group chats and stuff. I knew everyone’s name in class and spent time talking to everyone (we have a big class). My friends even encouraged me to run for class president which I did. I narrowly missed, and they told me it was fine; I was still their president. Then after a few weeks, I noticed things were off. Group chats became dead, and I stopped being invited to as much. Cliques and groups formed that I wasn’t a part of. I was hearing about events that I wasn’t invited to. I’ve had a LOT going on in my personal life, some serious stuff, so I have been a little more quiet lately which was pointed out to me. I reached out to my original group of friends and told them I was struggling. They told me that they’re here if I need them….but otherwise, I hear nothing anymore. I sit near all of them in class and feel like a third wheel among my peers. It feels so incredibly isolating. They share food and jokes around me, and social media is blasted with stories of them hanging out together. One of them has even started being rude to me and another person which I don’t tolerate.

I do have some good friends in class, but not ones that I really actively hang out with. I want to change that a bit, but I’m also terrified to try again. I don’t want to be left behind again. I’ve cried about it a bit. The old group tells me that I’m overreacting or that they’ve noticed I’ve been going through something and decided to back away and let me be. That makes me feel even worse. Idk I’m just sharing what I’ve been going through. I’d love to hear if others are experiencing the same thing. And if you are, I’m sorry for that. But you’re not alone even though you feel like you are.

Thank you for reading 😢

*Strictly observational*

So my program starts in 2 weeks. My class has done a few little get togethers recently so everyone can start meeting each other. At the most recent get together, I was immediately turned off by a few of the girls. The vibe was off and I could see a clique already forming of about 7 people. My suspicions were recently validated by another girl in the class who said that 2 of the girls I was suspicious of were already being mean to her. She showed the receipts to back it up (I’m being vague for anonymity). Apparently one of these girls has the intention of running for class president.

Like….we haven’t even STARTED school yet y’all. I’m a non-trad student who is way too old for this ish. I’ve always been the laid back, chill, non-confrontational type. I’m super focused on my schooling but definitely wanna make a few friends and hang out to de-stress (which I think I have). I feel really bad for this poor girl who’s lowkey being bullied already.

Has anyone else here dealt with catty girl drama? I’m expeditiously ruining the other way from it 🏃‍♀️

Please tell me it gets better 😫

My aunt recently moved and is currently trying to have her van shipped from AZ to FL. She apparently had a company lined up (later learned it was through a broker), but the driver cancelled. This company wanted $150 up front to even begin the process of finding her a driver (which she paid), and told her the total cost was gonna be $890 upon delivery (so she’d owe the difference at delivery).

Well they’ve since found other drivers for her in the range of $1,500-$3,000. Apparently not a lot of drivers make this particular route so it’s hard to find someone, according to the broker. The guy told my aunt that the drivers can ultimately set their own rate. And, if she finds another company and wants to proceed with them instead, then she’d have to pay $150 cancellation fee and they will not refund the $150 deposit. This all sounds like BS to me and I’m worried about her getting taken. I’ve read a lot of posts online that drivers demand more money once they get to your door in these situations and stuff.

I’ve since been browsing around for companies for her. Some have claimed to offer to do it for $700 which I know sounds too good to be true, but other companies like Inter City Inc. and Auto Express Inc. want $3,995 and $4,195. These prices sound outrageous to me. Any advice? She’s on social security disability and food stamps, so she can’t afford $4k. I’m willing to help her out but that’s insane

I start school next month and I’m kinda nervous. I was a procrastinator in undergrad. I graduated with a strong upward trend and with honors, but I never fully made it out of the procrastinator stage….I pulled all-nighters the few days leading up to exams. I never once had a regimented study schedule leading up to tests, reviewing notes or anything. Did my best essay work with 48 hours to go.

I know that I need to completely change and figure out a system. I know that I have to study every single night and cannot pull all-nighters in PA school. I’m trying to see what my fellow procrastinators came up with that worked for them in school. What do y’all do, and how are you doing in school now overall?

Here’s some background on my situation: older student, just split from my fiancé and now cannot get approved for loans by myself, I’ve already been denied by 4 lenders, I have NO one to co-sign, I owe in undergrad loans and a car loan, cannot do military service due to health reasons, and I am not eligible for GRAD plus loans. I do however receive a lifetime pension (monthly) from my old job, but that doesn’t seem to help me at all when trying to secure private loans….

Program starts in July

Anyway, I heard back from the College of Medicine, Student Finance and Scholarship department today. The university cannot offer me any institutional loans or scholarships because the department doesn’t have the money. They are a very large and notable public university with a great reputation, so I was shocked by this reply. They sent me links to 3rd party scholarships to apply for of varying amounts and due dates. I’m going to sit down and try to sort through as many as possible.

As it stands right now, MINUS the Federal Direct Loans (totaling $61,500 for 3 academic years), I would still owe another $70,000. I have no clue what I’m going to do. I officially asked if deferring until next year would be a possibility. I’m afraid they will say no. If anyone has any off the wall ideas, I’d love to hear them. I would absolutely apply for the NHSC if the app wasn’t already closed. Part of me would love to go ahead and start school as the summer semester would be fully paid for and would give me until August. But I would hate to commit to more debt only to find out that I still can’t fund the rest of my education, and would then have to drop out. 

This whole thing sucks so bad. What happens if somebody was able to secure private loans one year, but then didn’t get approved for the following year? What would the college do then?

Happy CASPA day to all!

Let’s talk about school choice and where to start! I see a lot of people on here post about the “rank” of the program they were accepted to, and how they were accepted to a “top 10” or “top 5” school. I’m not sure if they believe that the rank really matters, or if it’s more for bragging rights of some sort? We need to remember that PA school is not the same as Med school, and the “rank” of your school doesn’t mean anything at all. Below, I will explain what I think you should and should not be paying attention to as you navigate through your application cycle and CASPA journey! First and foremost: Everyone needs to take the information posted on the U.S News & World Report website with a grain of salt….

❗️How U.S. News & World Report conduct their rankings:

So, you want to make a list of PA schools to apply to, but you don’t know where to start? You decide to head over to Google and type in “Best PA programs in the US,” and USNWR’s website is one of the first things to pop up. Each year they update their “rankings,” but no one seems to really pay attention to HOW they form their list. What are their criteria and methodology? Here are statements presented directly on their website regarding their methodology:

• “A school’s rank should be one consideration - not the lone determinant. The rankings reflect peer assessment of academic quality…”

• Rankings are, “Computed solely from the results of peer assessment surveys completed by deans, other administrators are faculty at accredited degree programs or schools.”

• For all health programs: “Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a scale of 1 to 5. Those unfamiliar with the particular schools program were asked to select “don’t know.” Responses of “don’t know” counted neither for nor against a school.

• They were instructed to select “don’t know” if they “did not have enough knowledge about a program to rate it.

• Response rates for the 206 PA programs listed on their website: 28.9%

• Programs must be “Fully accredited and in good standing” in order to be ranked.

❗️What all of this means and why it matters to you:

• Rankings are computed solely from peer assessment surveys, and therefore, do not measure educational performance or quality of a program

• Respondents rate academic quality on a scale of 1 to 5, and they remove the two highest and two lowest scores per program. This only removes outliers, but does not remove the bias

• Higher score = stronger reputation

• There are no objective performance metrics included in any of the evaluations

• What’s NOT included in their evaluations: PANCE pass rates, attrition, employment outcomes, clinical placement and quality, or the accreditation stability of a program

• Nonresponse bias is present, and the respondents are not representative of the full population

• Respondents are allowed to select “don’t know” as an option, and these responses are excluded. This means that respondents don’t even know about most of the programs out there. There’s currently more than 300 programs in the U.S.

• Well-known programs will be acknowledged, and lesser known programs will be ignored entirely

“Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked.” Accreditation quality is a spectrum that encompasses multiple things such as probation history, attrition warnings, PANCE rates and alerts, and repeated deficiencies in a program’s history. Yet U.S News excludes any of these things from their rankings. So a program with repeated accreditation issues and warnings could be on the same level playing field as programs with zero deficiencies, so long as the program isn’t currently sanctioned. U.S. News rankings are entirely driven by peer opinion and reputation rather than metrics. This incentivizes programs to invest in their visibility and branding to promote some sort of prestige rather than improving students’ needs. This ENTIRE ranking system is based off of how favorably other academic institutions perceive you. In other words, it’s a popularity contest.

Literally 4 of the schools I interviewed with mentioned their “rank” during the informational session just to make themselves sound better. One of them even has their rank plastered on a banner right when you walk inside the building, stating, “Ranked one of the best PA programs in the country by U.S News.” These rankings drive applicant turnout, which in turn drives programs to improve their notoriety and reputation via things like conferences, ranking events, or those stupid emails we get in our spam folders (I’m looking at YOU High Point).

✅What you SHOULD be evaluating, and how to rank your schools:

For me, location of the school was one of the most important things I looked at, and it’s how I started compiling my list of programs. Because if I hated the area that I was in for 2 years, then I knew I was going to be miserable no matter what. After you decide on your general area(s), these are the next most important aspects to research for each program:

• First-time PANCE pass rates

• Ultimate PANCE pass rates

• Attrition rate (percent of the total amount of students that don’t make it though the program - could be because they failed out, were kicked out, recycled into the next class, or decided to withdraw on their own accord)

• Graduation rate

• Each program’s most recent comprehensive review of their accreditation (found on ARC PA website)

The last one is very important and often goes unnoticed by a lot of applicants. When you look up each school, it’s important to apply to schools that are not currently on probation, as that’s a giant red flag 🚩. But it’s ALSO important to see if a program has recently been on probation or received any warnings, and what for. If a program has had repeated issues and warnings, and they are for things other than little administrative issues, then it may be better to stay away from these schools. One of the schools I applied to was in the top 25 list on the U.S. News website. However, after diving deeper into their accreditation history and attrition rates, the school ended up being ranked #24 out of 25 on my personal list. They have been on probation in the last several years and also had several warnings for major things in their program.

It important that you do thorough research on each school you’re applying to. For 1, because you don’t want to apply to a program that’s going to fail you (putting you thousands of dollars in debt), and for 2, you don’t want to waste your money even applying to these schools in the first place.

🩺 I hope the above information was somewhat helpful! I could go on and on about this for hours to be honest. I recently gave a presentation on this at my Alma mater, as I’m really passionate about helping applicants out! If you need help with compiling a school list, or have questions about a program, please post on here so others can help you! Good luck!✨