{"id":1579,"date":"2025-10-30T16:03:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T16:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/annual-report\/?page_id=1579"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:40:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:40:51","slug":"for-student-pursuing-physician-assistant-degree-setbacks-and-then-success","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/for-student-pursuing-physician-assistant-degree-setbacks-and-then-success\/","title":{"rendered":"FOR STUDENT PURSUING PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT DEGREE, SETBACKS AND THEN SUCCESS"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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For Student Pursuing\nPhysician Assistant Degree,\nSetbacks and Then Success<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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After dropping out of a physician assistant program in North Carolina following three grueling semesters, James Moore, then 28, found himself working third shift at a warehouse.<\/p>

He had long dreamed of a career in medicine, but the coursework had proven more difficult than expected. Moore thought the door to that future had closed.<\/p>

\u201cI remember the sadness on my mother\u2019s face,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then my father told me, \u2018It\u2019s OK to hit rock bottom. You just can\u2019t stay there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>

So, he started again.<\/p>

Moore enrolled in a master\u2019s degree program in physiology \u2013 a subject that had once been his greatest academic challenge. He didn\u2019t just get through it \u2013 Moore graduated with a 3.8 GPA.<\/p>

When he applied to physician assistant schools again, he felt ready.<\/p>

Nine years after leaving his first physician assistant program, Moore walked across the stage on May 20 as a member of Rutgers School of Health Professions\u2019 class of 2025, receiving his Master of Science in Physician Assistant.<\/p>

\u201cThis program is definitely hard, but I buckled down and focused,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t get a whole lot of sleep \u2013 just a whole lot of praying and a whole lot of studying. I kept persevering.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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“His journey reflects the very purpose of our holistic admissions process: to identify individuals with the drive, compassion, and strength to make a lasting impact in the lives of their patients.”<\/p>

\u2014Matthew McQuillan,
Chair, Department of Physician Assistant Studies and Practice<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Moore, now 37, had graduated in 2010 from a North Carolina university with a degree in biology, but his grades weren\u2019t strong enough for medical school. He returned to community college to retake science courses, then completed upper-level university classes before his first attempt at physician assistant school in 2016. To better prepare himself to try again, he sought his physiology degree and became a certified nursing assistant.<\/p>

Still, he was surprised when Rutgers \u2013 now ranked No. 3 in physician assistant programs nationwide by U.S. News & World Report \u2013 offered him a spot in its program beginning in fall 2022.<\/p>

\u201cI was speechless,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI thought, \u2018How did someone like me get accepted?\u2019 I figured there were plenty of stronger applicants.\u201d<\/p>

But the admissions team saw something more. \u201cWe read your story and got to know you,\u201d one member told him. \u201cYou\u2019re a testament to what can happen when people keep working, even when things don\u2019t go their way.\u201d<\/p>

Matthew McQuillan, chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and Practice, said Moore impressed everyone in the program with his grit and determination to succeed.<\/p>

\u201cHis story makes us especially proud to count him among our inspiring graduates.\u201d<\/p>

His parents were at convocation \u2013 his mother in tears again, this time with pride. Moore\u2019s next goal: pass the certifying exam and find a job in primary care back home in North Carolina.<\/p>

All through school, he repeated one message to himself: \u201cDon\u2019t go back without that degree.\u201d<\/p>

And he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Student Pursuing Physician Assistant Degree, Setbacks and Then Success After dropping out of a physician assistant program in North Carolina following three grueling semesters, James Moore, then 28, found himself working third shift at a warehouse. He had long dreamed of a career in medicine, but the coursework had proven more difficult than expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1579","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4125,"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1579\/revisions\/4125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shp.rutgers.edu\/community-impact-report\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}