Is it possible to have pre-med undergrad and physician assistant for grad?

Question

I am having trouble deciding whether to become a physician or a physician assistant. I am currently a junior in high school and I heard that this decision would be easier after pre-med undergrad.

Is it possible to have pre-med for an undergrad to get into physician assistant grad school?

Is the opposite true too? Can you have an undergrad in physician assistant to get into med school?

Answer 1

premed isnt a degree, it is only a set of courses required for medical school, i would think you need those same courses if you want to be a PA.  

Answer 2

PA's don't exist in Mexico, but I've heard that PA schools still require you to pass certain Premed courses. A lot of your choice has to be decided on how much you're willing to sacrifice time-wise and money-wise to finish the full MD degree. Trust me, it's very hard to have a part-time job in med school.

I know a few people who sometimes work on the weekends and a few DJ's that work at night (only to come to class half asleep in exhaustion the following day), but most people like myself just can't work on a part-time weekday job, only on weekends. You can't legally be earning $$$ practising medicine as a med student (I've known a few people who did volunteer work in hospitals in their free time). You can only start earning cash practising medicine when you become an intern and even then the pay is barely enough to pay for gasoline (some hospitals I might end up as an intern with in Mexico City only pay 40 dollars a MONTH!!!).

The US government can grant up to 200,000 dollars in federal med school loans so you could spend years penny picking to finish paying what you owe.

On the other hand, PA's is something of only a few countries. You would probably have a hard time practising in Mexico because that degree simply doesn't exist (maybe if you tagged along with an American physician on volunteer work you might still be able to come along). Therefore, unless you finish the requirements to turn from PA to a full MD in the US, the amount of countries you could work in really drops which could be kind of discouraging.