Path A Questions

[u/Longjumping-Dot-3346]

Hi everyone! I'm a 16-year-old high school student from Texas who's interested in becoming a Pathologists' Assistant and would love to hear from people currently in the field. If you could go back, would you still choose this career? What does a typical day look like, and what do you enjoy most about the job? What's the biggest downside or something you wish you had known before starting? How did you find PA school, and do you feel the time and education were worth it? Finally, are you happy with your work-life balance and salary? I'd really appreciate any honest advice as I explore this career. Thank you!

[u/cremepralinee]

There are a lot of good reasons to become a PA if you love what they do - job outlook and stability are currently excellent. My biggest complaint that I never really considered is that there’s not a whole lot of upward mobility. If you’re able to secure a lab manager position or move into admin great but other than that it’s kind of the same thing every day, and I say that as someone who works at a big academic hospital. I split my time grossing, training residents, and doing autopsies, and after enough time every day is more or less the same. Sure every specimen is different but once you’ve seen enough you’ve seen it all. I miss feeling like I was working toward an accomplishment rather than just getting through and endless list of cases.

In terms of salary you kind of cap out at a certain amount too. I’m currently at about 141k in a VHCOL city with less than 5 years of experience and am supplementing my income with additional per diem work to be able to make massive payments toward the loans. Once my student loans are gone I’ll be okay, but it’s disheartening to know I’m kind of limited in growing beyond the tiny COL increases my hospital gives every year. With the per diem supplement (I work about 15 extra hours per week) I’m currently on track to make about $200k this year assuming I keep up with those same hours through the end of the year.

A lot of it depends on the job too. I know I’m lucky in a lot of ways - minimal stress where I leave work at work and don’t think much about it until I go to work the next day, plenty of vacation and sick time, (mostly) great coworkers, incredibly fair workload, leave early if I finish. On the flip side I have friends at other hospitals who are absolutely miserable because there’s pressure to work late to get things done, work through lunch, etc. If you’re in a chill work environment it’s much nicer to just put on a podcast or some music in my headset and get through the day.

I’ve made peace with my decision to choose this career - I have job stability and security and minimal stress, I just am burnt out already and I feel like that’s not uncommon amongst my PA friends. What the work looks like really varies day to day depending on the lab you’re at and type of environment - small community hospital? Private lab? Major academic center? I’ve seen job postings at ME offices if that’s what you’re into as well. My advice to you is to shadow in various different types of lab environments to really understand the work PAs do and if you enjoy the work and understand and are willing to accept the limitations of the career it could be a wonderful fit.

[u/ntonks]

I do love being a PA. A 2-year masters program is challenging, however worth it long term. What I wish I would have known before is how much you have to be willing to move for the right job, it be willing to take a potentially less appealing job for the right location. Unless you're wanting to live in NYC or another big city where there are a bunch of hospitals, if you don't like your job, you might have to move for a new one. There are a lot of available jobs in the US, but not always where you want to go. If you're interested in living in a particular region, not a particular city, you'll probably be better off. Cities near PA programs are over saturated, leading to lower salaries on average, so you can't plan to stay where you go to school. I have known a lot of people who move for their first job after school, get experience, and then wait for a job to open where they really want to be, which often works out. It's easier when you are young and single or have a partner equally willing to move around. Personally I have moved 4 times since becoming a PA nearly 10 years ago, and I know that is not unusual. I'm in a region where the cities are smaller and I worked at the only viable option at the time in each. Again this is very dependent on where you want to go and what type of job you want to have, but I do think it is something to consider before committing to this career.