Hi folks! I have a question. I am in the process of doing some research on midlevel providers in the chicagoland area. I know very little about this so I'm hoping some of you could offer me some insight. I am from the chicago area and I really would prefer not to relocate for jobs or school (all my family is around here, etc), but the chicago area has only 3 PA programs that I know of: Cook co (associates degree), midwestern, and finch university.
The schools that offer PA programs don't offer NP programs and vice versa which makes sense since graduates of those programs would be competing for the same jobs. I have also noticed that here in chicago, there are more job opportunities in area hospitals such as Loyola, northwestern, and Rush for NPs maybe because those schoos train NPs. Another thing I noticed was when I did a job search on different PA and NP jobs web sites, there seems to be more opportunities for NPs than PAs in chicago.
Another thing I wanted to mention is that when I went to midwestern for my PA interview, I had asked them about jobs in the chicago area and they all said, including the PA director, that the chicago market is very tight for PAs. I am really wondering why this is so.
I wonder if it's because there are more schools that train NPs as opposed to PAs and from what I know the PA programs out here haven't been around all that long. I know midwestern's program started in 1992.
I would still love to go to PA school but I am now wondering if when I graduate I would still be able to find work in the chiicagoland area. Well, I was just curious if anyone knew anything about this. Your comments are valued highly!
Thanks!