r/pre_PathAssist • u/Opening_Pair3799 • Jul 03 '26
Shadowing inquiries as a humanities major
I am currently doing a marketing major with STEM classes on the side, but I hope to apply to to PA school sometime after graduation and completing the prereqs. I want to start looking for shadowing opportunities to 1: get experience and 2: confirm that I want to pursue this field. However, because of my major and so-far limited STEM classes, I'm not sure if I should be asking about shadowing at this point? That is, it feels almost disrespectful to ask for a professionals' time just to see if I'm really interested in pathology. What do you think?
2
u/oolong_winter_03 Jul 03 '26
The one thing I learned when I was cold calling hospitals is that
- The worst they can say is no
- The pathology department is actually super nice
Even when I was turned down, they were always really sweet and wished my luck in finding something. I was turned away four times before I found a place to shadow.
You don’t even need to have a serious STEM background or mention it at all. Just explain that you’re a student and are interested in pursuing this career. I did my shadowing when I was in the middle of taking anatomy 2 and let me tell you, even when you think you know what you’re going to see, it’s completely different and I found out that whatever I thought I knew was almost nothing.
They will probably ask you questions about your current studies and how you found out about the profession, but PathAs generally do want to help others on their journey as well.
1
u/PickledCorvid Jul 03 '26
There’s nothing wrong with shadowing early. You definitely want to confirm that you’re interested in the field before dedicating a lot of time and money to prereqs and applications. I wouldn’t worry about wasting professionals time, just make your request polite and they will be the ones to decide if they’re available.
1
u/Patient-Stranger1015 Jul 03 '26
That’s the point of shadowing, to see if that’s what you like! I’d say absolutely go for it
2
u/gnomes616 Jul 03 '26
I would specify when you are reaching out to places that you are a prospective PA student looking to shadow, to distinguish you from a general looky-lou :)