Tiffany: Hello Victoria! Thank you so for being here! is so good to have you!
Victoria: Hi!
Adrienne: So exciting!
Victoria: Thanks guys, this is pretty fun.
Adrienne: Heh.
Victoria: you know, I saw all the behind the scenes of you guys making the podcast and us working together. So this is definitely ⁓ new, but I'm really excited to be here with two of my favorite people ever.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: ⁓ So. ⁓
Adrienne: same.
Tiffany: and we're so excited to talk to you and sit down with you. You have the most up-to-date, successful application experience on CASAA So we want to ask you our first question.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: When you opened the CASAA portal for the very first time, what happened? How did you feel?
Victoria: Well, I didn't to CASAA the same cycle that I had first opened it. So ⁓ I opened for the first time, I want to say like 2024, late 2023 ish. then I up deferring when I wanted to apply because I knew that I needed more time get everything So when I first opened it, it didn't seem crazy but I was like okay whenever I do do this I totally cannot wait until the last minute because everyone that I spoke to before people that have applied before or students they were like it's gonna take forever so ⁓ but when I opened the same cycle that I applied I felt more prepared
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Victoria: Because I had already gotten the feedback and the warnings of like do this early Don't wait until the last minute submit your application early And I was just like I'm not gonna put myself through that stress. So I felt better about
Tiffany: Yeah
Victoria: It was more familiar I can see why if you are like a month out from applying where you're like, oh my gosh, I have to get so much done So long story short
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Victoria: In the beginning it seemed overwhelming, but ⁓ you plan it ⁓ it seemed perfectly fine.
Adrienne: Yeah, I agree. This is totally why we're doing this episode right now, right Tiffany?
Tiffany: For sure, I feel the same way. This is my first time actually applying applying. So I'm going through every meticulous ⁓ data point, sure everything is accurate. ⁓ Girl, ⁓ is overwhelming. ⁓
Adrienne: It's like having a whole other part-time job in all honesty.
Victoria: ⁓ for sure. And I mean, that's why that I highly recommend spacing things out because once you break it down, like I think I spaced it out over a very long period of time because I also had to have certain things done when I had my application review. So because of that, I was like, OK,
Tiffany: Yes.
Victoria: I also took like two and a half gap years. So ⁓ it just gave me more time to spread things out. But I think in just all sections, you just kind of. have to just break it in chunks because your application page length when you download it is so long or it can be so long. Yeah, you know, depending on how much experience you have, what you want to include.
Tiffany: for sure.
Adrienne: It's like what? 40 pages plus single space.
Tiffany: Woof! I know, ⁓ my gosh.
Victoria: I mean, Adri, like definitely for you, I mean, well, you both have extensive experience. You are definitely have to like break it up more than I did.
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: Yeah, advice. ⁓
Tiffany: Yes.
Victoria: So just break it up and it'll less overwhelming.
Tiffany: ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: ⁓ Even if you do like, three things per day, because I know you guys are applying months down the line, less like, ⁓ my God, I have to get all this done right now. And more like, ⁓ like now it's a week out from applications and now I can just review.
Adrienne: this is definitely why we're doing this episode now. Friday, May 15th, 2026. And today is a big day the CASAA application cycle for this year and this season. Let's break it down. can you explain and Victoria add in your thoughts on what exactly is CASAA?
Tiffany: Yeah, CASAA stands for the Centralized Application Service for Anesthesiologist Assistance. It is the centralized application portal for any of us applying to the AA programs in the United States. So it's kind of like CASPA for PA programs or AMCAS for medical school. one application, one portal system, ⁓ that portal system will distribute to any programs that you designated to ⁓ distribute your application to. ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Does that sound about right, Victoria?
Victoria: Yeah, I mean that sounds about right. CASAA pretty does a very good job with organizing what you need to get done. ⁓ It does very well with ⁓ like designating each school ⁓ and the materials that you need for those So it is definitely your place unless it's a school that
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: possibly open like mid cycle where they're like, hey, just submit stuff to us. Every other school will be on CASAA to my knowledge.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Right.
Adrienne: So that's something that is, ⁓ unexpected, but because profession is growing so rapidly because there are seemingly constantly new programs popping up. even if you've submitted through CASAA, you may have an opportunity later down that application cycle to submit to, for example, NSU Las Vegas, which opened up for like, what, a couple months, the very tail end of this last application season and Nobody expected it, so you never really know. accredited anesthesiologist assistant programs receive these applications through CASAA, but you always, want to verify on a program's individual website what their specific is. Like you can go to anesthesia one source, learn so much there, but if you have a specific preference, maybe for one program, definitely keep an eye on those programs websites. ⁓
Victoria: Yeah, and I definitely wouldn't bank on, you know, new programs opening up each year and someone may open up something late in the cycle. I wouldn't 100 % base your timeline off that. It happened last cycle, but
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: No one knows when these new schools will open. No one knows, you know, what's gonna happen because you're not able to access that information. So like Adri said, I would just look at whatever programs that you're interested in and follow their steps to a T. And most of the time, it'll be on CASAA.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tiffany: Yes, and anesthesiaonesource.com has a lot of these programs in their specific requirements and where they ⁓ their applications on. ⁓ that's a really good resource to look into as well. Another thing to note is the cycle does not open all at once. ⁓ programs were already live back in March. Many opening May 15th. So window, very so, varies by program. ⁓ We'll link the CASAA link in our show notes, but like to emphasize what Adri and Victoria said, ⁓ definitely go to that designated website.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Victoria: to add onto that Tiffany, with what you said about how a different schools open at different times, I think since we're talking about CASAA and applying, I think it's really important to space things out, the time that application opens because, you know, you could say, ⁓ once was applying in June, ⁓ so I'm going to aim to have everything up. you know, done by June, but other schools may open in March and by then June is like considered late for them in the cycles. however you want to space out filling out CASAA and applying, if you want to be an early applicant for programs, you may have to consider finishing CASAA way earlier or ASAP than what you originally thought.
Tiffany: Right.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. yeah, and goes into, it push you to take a whole nother gap year just to prepare in that way. For example, I have a preference for school that they start their program in January, but where the timeline is with my prerequisites, with my taking the GRE, maybe if take another gap the MCAT, who knows, not ready definitely to put in that application in March of this year. I'm not even ready right now yet. that's not gonna happen and that's okay. I could still throw my hat into the ring. But like you said, Victoria, it's gonna make it less likely, especially with how competitive it is ⁓ So, you know, not a deal. It's worth it to try, but timing can be a big barrier and a big challenge. And I think it's very important to realize that that's normal,
Victoria: you never know, because some people have gotten in by applying late in this cycle, some people have gotten in by applying early in this cycle. You really just don't know until you know. So even if a school does start earlier ⁓ and you like I'm really or I really got this, you can still apply later. Who are we to say that you shouldn't apply late? You know what I'm saying? We're just all...
Tiffany: For sure.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm, exactly.
Victoria: going through this, me going it through the first time, you guys now going through it, you know, now this cycle, it's like you really just, you won't know until you know. And also applying early does not guarantee that you'll get in.
Adrienne: balancing those chances, right? ⁓
Victoria: Yeah, and it's all about just leap of faith and submitting when you're confident. I know that many advisors that I spoke to were just like, submit when you feel confident, whatever that means to everyone where you're like, okay, I know that I meet the minimum criteria. I know that I have X amount of shadowing. I know that I have the strong letters of rec, you know, you can still apply late and you never know. But I know that most programs
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: And my advisors told me apply as early as possible, which is why we recommend that. So ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Yes, that's something aspiring CAA herself has emphasized over and over on her platform. it is beneficial to apply early if you are ready, ⁓ but if you don't have all of scores back, if they haven't been verified, ⁓ definitely only submit when you are 100 confident in your strong application.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a big if, right? If you are ready and what's ready for you, I think that's something that's a little bit variable for every person, right? Yeah. So as far as timeline goes, Victoria, what about letters of recommend? You ⁓ opening early, working on it little bits at a time to make it less overwhelming and more manageable, which makes total sense as a non-traditional applicant working full-time, working multiple jobs and doing this podcast.
Tiffany: Yeah. Yes. Okay.
Adrienne: Among other things, it seems like there's no time to do anything, But how do you find that timeline when you're dealing with trying to obtain those letters of recommendation, trying to get those transcripts, get those official scores into the application in fact? What do you think?
Victoria: So for letters of recommendation, I asked my recommenders, I think it was two or three months before I planned to apply, so ⁓ I could give them enough time to submit that. ⁓ And it'll be recent enough to where it reflects ⁓ who I currently when I ⁓ So I work with a physician and him and I have a very close relationship. And so I knew that I'm like, I am not gonna wait two weeks before the deadline to get this in because you know, he has a family, he has work and he's in ⁓ leadership roles and all that I think just as a ground based recommendation, don't wait at least two weeks to ask people.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: to submit you a recommendation, try to give them enough time. But when I applied, I asked them in March and I applied in June, but I wanted the recommendations in by May.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: So then I had a bit of wiggle room as like, hey, if it's not done, no worries. I still have like a few weeks left. So two to three months, I would say is a good ballpark. If not earlier than that, if you feel like, hey, like I'm gonna leave this job soon for, you know, whatever your circumstance is, I would just say at least give them two months.
Adrienne: Okay. Yeah,
Tiffany: ⁓ who would you say letter of rec writers would be? You don't have to disclose like who you asked, but ⁓ the audience that is curious like who they should be asking, ⁓ who do you think?
Victoria: Yeah. Yeah, from my own experience, since I work in healthcare currently, I asked the provider that I work under because he can speak on my experience with that. I asked someone that I did research with that I've kept in touch with over the years ⁓ then my last recommendation was from someone that shadowed a CAA. So what all of people have in common is that I've established a relationship with them and I kept in touch genuinely, you know, just to say, hey, I hope going well here. My updates on my life. How you doing? blah blah blah you know, I've
Adrienne: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: establish a relationship with the people that I asked. I think that just whoever you feel can speak on your character, especially if you work in health care. I think that would be great. And I know that some schools require, you know, specific people that they want or specific categories of people that they want as your recommendations. my recommendations were someone that I worked with that's in healthcare, a CA that I shadowed and someone that I did research with in my undergrad.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Tiffany: Yeah. Okay.
Adrienne: Okay, yeah. going back to the timeline thing of like the two to three months before you plan to submit, I think is really smart ⁓ because you're setting yourself up success. you're considering them. You don't have to rush them like, ⁓ write it today, you know?
Tiffany: Yeah. Yeah, someone that can speak strongly on whether it be your work ethic, your character, your academic abilities, it seems like that's the common ground or the bottom line.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. So transitioning forward to last year versus this year, there are a little bit of differences in the CASAA application. I know Tiffany, you had some eyes on what the differences are between last year and this year. Mostly it's just a lot prettier, I'm assuming. It's very aesthetically pleasing, ⁓ which is fine. You you still get the information in.
Tiffany: Yeah, aesthetically pleasing. Not as archaic.
Adrienne: But let's...
Tiffany: For
Adrienne: start talking through like the actual sections of the CASAA portal, what's in it you know, walk us through that.
Tiffany: Victoria, walk us through ⁓ what sections of the ⁓ you had seen? ⁓
Victoria: Yes, so I remember it being, you know, an education section. I'm not like naming these verbatim, but you know, transcripts, entry, GRE, MCAT scores. ⁓ And like, I think one other thing that's in there. So inputting that experiences, recommendations, submissions, you don't submit those yourself. ⁓ The
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. experiences, right?
Victoria: person that is giving you your recommendation, they submit that through a link that they get emailed or whatever. But you don't submit any PDFs of recommendations. ⁓ do that. ⁓ I think the big part is the... ⁓ Program overviews. I don't know if it's labeled the same but when you select all the schools that you want to apply to you have to go in with every school submit certain documents so like if you ⁓ a CNA and they ask you to submit a copy of your license or things like that there's also a license and certifications page as well on CASAA there's categories and then a lot of subcategories for everything so CASAA really does a very clear breakdown, I'll say, as to what is being asked. If you need to highlight an experience, highlight that you are an EMT, or you are an RT, or you are a nurse, and you need to submit all that stuff, they have places where you can submit that.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, let's contrast that a little bit with what we're seeing now in the new updated CASAA portal. Tiffany, does that seem like it's very consistent with what Victoria has seen for last year?
Tiffany: Yeah. I would say... The overall backbone or the structure of CASAA is still the same. You know, you have your personal information tab. have your academic history where you put your transcripts. ⁓ then you have a supporting information tab, which is where you're, all of your experience goes into your volunteer, your healthcare, all of that. And I do also your letters of rec go in there. And then the next tab is your program materials tab, where that's where all schools that you want to apply will be under. and then academic records. maybe that has changed a little bit. Now it's no longer under just like academic history maybe?
Adrienne: And, you know, if you, even if you're not ready to apply on CASAA, I personally think it's smart to make an account, poke around, see what it looks like, even if you're like, I'm gonna apply next year. Why not? get familiar with it. I personally use my own little Google sheet form. that has each section organized. it mirrors what the CASAA application has without you needing to like build it out essentially, saving you some time.
Victoria: Same.
Tiffany: ⁓ huh. ⁓
Victoria: And even if you start filling stuff out now, but you don't submit that information can transfer over the next cycle. know when I spoke to current students now or that have reapplied, they found that option really helpful because I guess it transferred most of the information over. ⁓ That ⁓ is something that I heard but speaking on the Google Sheets, I did that ⁓ especially with extracurriculars because ⁓ I was able to just track things down ⁓ as I did them when the time came where I had to my volunteering my shadowing blah blah blah like all the numbers were there using like the summation function on Google Sheets. So that made it really easy when I had to go to the experiences and type in how many hours that I did with that instead of having to backtrack all those years ago because you know I started my undergrad in 2019 and ⁓ am now starting school in 2026. So ⁓ made it lot easier to backtrack and then just input those values versus
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: You know, not everything has like a work pace where you can actually see the amount of hours. So imagine for volunteering, if I volunteered in 2019, how am I going to backtrack and find that? You know, so I would highly recommend getting a Google Sheet open if you do anything for the extracurriculars because you have put in the amount of hours for each thing that do. So.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Right. Perfect. Love that. My question is, Victoria, did you a program list sorted before you the portal ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: So I had an idea of where I wanted to apply, but I was the type of applicant where I was not going to limit myself to just a few schools and put all eggs in a few baskets. That was recommended to me as a strategy. And, you know, if you
Adrienne: hehe Mm-hmm.
Victoria: you just want to apply to three schools, there's some people that only applied to ⁓ one school got in because ⁓ for whatever reason, you but ⁓ I ⁓ was the where was like, you know what? ⁓ This is how ⁓ was raised where just not gonna ⁓ bet on just one
Adrienne: ⁓
Victoria: So me being Florida, I applied to a lot of the Southern schools ⁓ in my region and I still expanded out to the North. And I don't I applied to any schools that were past Ohio, I don't believe, I don't remember. Maybe I applied to UNM. But... ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. There's a balance with the financial.
Victoria: There's a balance. Yes, I didn't apply to every single school, but I did cast my net wide for sure.
Tiffany: Yeah, because financially I know that applying to each school ⁓ it a number on your wallet, so. ⁓
Victoria: Yes, yes, I highly recommend. you are able to, keyword on the if, every cohort, you'll have different types of people that are in those cohorts. Some people are parents, ⁓ some people, don't come from well-off families, you know, some are low income, some high income. Wherever you stand, ⁓ if you are,
Adrienne: It sure does. It sure does.
Victoria: able to work and put money to the side, I would recommend doing that as early as you can because if you want to cast your net wide, it does cost money. Each school, at least when I applied, was like $50 something dollars per school. So if you apply to 12 schools, you can see how that easily racks up. However, I do know that some people
Tiffany: Mm-hmm. Oof.
Victoria: did apply to only a few schools because they were like, it's just so expensive. All in all, all stories are valid. All walks of life are valid. All income levels are valid. For me, I worked in undergrad to pay my bills was fortunately able to work as an RA, which came with a lot of opportunities, ⁓ like leadership but they also paid for my housing. So I was able to put money to the side I knew that it was going to be expensive when this time came. So definitely if you are an applicant who wants to cast their net wide, start saving now
Adrienne: yeah, optimizes your chances, right? It's all about ⁓ what's work for you. If you're single parent and you have to stay in one state that is a CAA licensed state, then you are kind of restricted, And that can still work out, but every case is different. I also wanted to talk about something specific, Victoria, the CASAA GPA. When you put in ⁓ every single...
Tiffany: Hmm.
Adrienne: pre-requisite class that you've taken, whether it was a repeat or not, ⁓ did that CASAA GPA difference catch you off
Victoria: So, yes and no. Because in high school, I took a lot of APs and I was an IB. So I didn't have to take a lot of gen ed classes like astronomy and you know, I didn't have to take an English class at all either. Like I had AP credits to fulfill that and IB credits to fulfill that. ⁓ ⁓ most of my undergrad GPA was ⁓ So... ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Interesting. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: When I graduated, and on your transcript, you can see like what your overall GPA was, and I had a minor also. So it broke it up from major GPA and minor GPA and cumulative GPA. So by the time I applied, I wasn't really ⁓ shocked. It was of what I expected because I didn't have outside, non-STEM credits.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: But overall, it's kind of what I expected. I also used a calculator online where I input all of my credits before I even applied to see where I would stand. Especially if, since CASAA breaks it up with, like, science GPA, mathematics GPA, post back. Cumulative, undergrad, like they break it down really, really well. But when applied ⁓ and I was doing post-bac classes to fulfill some credits, it was interesting to see CASAA ⁓ labeled that and how it played into my GPA. It actually impressed
Adrienne: Yeah.
Victoria: improved my GPA overall. it labeled it as post-bac because I'm doing it post undergrad. So I think that's what shocked me was how they organize things so well and how it looks on the application. But I very much was like, ⁓ need to know what I'm going in with. ⁓ need to know so I can see what my chances are.
Adrienne: Awesome.
Tiffany: Mom. Gotcha.
Adrienne: Yes. Mm-hmm. And if you are a little bit more curious about that or want to learn more about that, go back our episode three of this same podcast and we have a lot more information. Tiffany, you want go ahead
Tiffany: Okay, so Victoria, ⁓ let's ⁓ get a little real. ⁓ What do you may have not gone so for you in the CASAA process? ⁓
Victoria: in the CASAA process for me, I think it was solidifying my standardized test score, I would say. ⁓ the GRE a difficult journey to say the least. I'm a good test taker, but the GRE is something where you really have to learn how to take the exam. It's one of those things where for me,
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: the concepts weren't hard, but you have to learn how to strategize, how to think quickly, how to think outside the box and apply it to even the simplest of concepts. You know, so it's a test of critical thinking. And because I think most STEM classes, they do obviously require critical thinking like or go and biochemistry and all that stuff. But I think the GRE is a little
Tiffany: Yeah.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: different from that because it's not concepts that I was tested on undergrad when I applied I did not have the highest score that I wanted and so I think that may have been the hardest part was I submitted with You know, scores that were still good, but you know, each cycle gets really competitive. And so I had to take that into consideration and do retakes and things like that to improve my score. I think that was the biggest barrier in full honesty was just having a good score, ⁓ having, you know, to meet those benchmarks because each cycle gets more competitive.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yeah.
Tiffany: Right, yeah. Amazing. Anything else that you think that you may have felt that you just weren't ready for, or just something that maybe you think our audience may benefit from hearing?
Victoria: I think the biggest thing with that is putting in your transcripts ASAP because I don't know if everyone is aware of this, but once you input your transcript CASAA still needs to verify it and that can take like seven to 10 days. especially if you want to be an early applicant, you need to get it in like
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: ASAP so CASAA has time to review everything and verify that what you're inputting is correct. And then once that's done, if everything else is complete, that's when it will be reviewed. ⁓ I could be wrong on don't quote me on it, but that's what I remember from my process was that after I submitted, it wasn't just submission straight to their desk.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: CASAA has to verify your transcript first. And also, takes a little bit of time to input each transcript. You have to really put in the codes, the credits, the grade. Then you have to say if it was repeated, if it was an AP class, which isn't even the longest part, but also within each school, you have to designate.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: what classes that you want to submit for that certain prereq requirement. ⁓ And you still to go in and do for each school, along with supporting documents and submitting licenses and your experiences section on top of all that, you still have to do that. I think the second longest part was definitely the personal statement. That took a few months to solidify.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Yeah.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. How drafts? ⁓ ⁓
Victoria: I would say that really helped guide me through the process. So once I figured out the prompt and I went that book, it just made it a lot easier. It definitely took three drafts, ⁓ At least three drafts because I remember that I used the book that I recommended to you guys before.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. We will post that in our show notes. ⁓ ⁓
Victoria: Um, yes, I used the book and then I also had it reviewed by my boyfriend. not friends because I didn't want to like share it with too many people and get too many opinions.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: and I had it reviewed by my as well to make edits, ⁓ delete some things reword something so definitely at least three I definitely would not wait until the last minute to do that either because they definitely looked at my personal statement in my interview so they do pay attention it is not just a silly little essay they do pay attention
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Amazing. Okay, well, Victoria, thank you so much. I know that there's so much more that we want to talk to you about, but you have such a incoming adventure coming for you. you for being honest ⁓ with what didn't well. That was just as useful as ⁓ telling us what go well.
Adrienne: ⁓
Victoria: I've talked to so many pre's that also were like, yeah, standardized testing sucks. ⁓ It's terrible. It's rough. You know, it's not uncommon that people have take the GRE two times, three times, ⁓ five times even, or the MCAT, you know? So ⁓ people see lot of
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: or the MCAT.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm, and cat multipliers.
Victoria: success stories in the discord and I'm like,
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: Just don't comparison is a thief of joy. students, most have to take these tests multiple times because especially now that some schools require you to meet a percentile benchmark and not just a numerical benchmark, it's getting increasingly harder, especially for the quant section. Adri you know this, ⁓ to be able to meet.
Adrienne: There's a ⁓ Mm-hmm. Yes.
Victoria: percentile, the percentile, you know, have to put in a lot more work to be to meet that percentile
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm. ⁓
Adrienne: definitely. So Victoria, we wanna be very mindful of your time. We're go ahead and Let you go to your next commitment. ⁓ Tiffany and I will, yeah, had so much fun. Hopefully we can have you on again in the future ⁓ later down when you are AA school, ⁓
Tiffany: We've had so much fun!
Victoria: Thank you guys!
Tiffany: We love you so much.
Victoria: Hearts forever.
Tiffany: Yes, best of wishes on your next adventure. Don't forget us!
Victoria: Yeah
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. We'll be hot on your tails. All right.
Victoria: Thank you guys. ⁓ gosh, I won't, I won't. Bye guys.
Adrienne: So Tiffany, just to kind of tie everything together, we're gonna put it all in a few key takeaways. Go ahead. ⁓
Tiffany: Yeah, major thing to take away. itself the centralized application service for Anesthesiologist Assistants ⁓ One for all the schools or the programs that you want to designate. ⁓ It distribute your application to each school. ⁓ the sections are your information. That's where you input demographics, your family, education history, ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: And then there's your academic history where you obviously you put your colleges attended, your transcripts, any standardized tests. And then you have a supporting information section where your letters of rec, your experiences, achievements, licenses, your personal statement also goes in that section. And then program materials are where you will go to read about the programs that you will be applying to. And then academic records is where you'll get your
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. you
Tiffany: actual transcripts.
Adrienne: Yeah, yeah. And so my biggest takeaway when talking from Victoria's experience and kind of what we're seeing now in the CASAA application portal is that you really, really want to know ⁓ the details behind each program. You do to do your program research because it's one thing to yes, apply broadly and optimize your chances. But what does that help if you miss?
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: this for this GRE score and then you've just wasted money applying a program that's going to automatically cut you. Know that that CASAA GPA may look a little different and be prepared for that. Run it yourself before you submit because it only runs and submits that whole thing after you submit your application so you don't want to be surprised ⁓ and just sure you're being very mindful about the details. And so yes, I think. one of my unpopular opinions, you everyone says apply broadly. Well, that works for the majority of people to optimize your chances. However, if you're applying so broadly that you lose the detail, then you've spread yourself too thin. And in my personal opinion, that's going to work against you.
Tiffany: Yes, yeah everything that we've described based off of our own research as today, May 15th, 2026. We always that you verify current dates or fees, any program specific requirements directly with CASAA ⁓ and each which we've ⁓ emphasized throughout podcast as well.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: But the one thing that we do say to do after this episode, go open the CASAA portal. yourself a CASAA ID. look at the sections. You don't need to fill out today. But just knowing what is in there gives you an idea what you need to be looking out for or you need be inputting into it. That makes a real big difference. So we'll put the link in our show
Adrienne: Yeah. ⁓ Yes. when and if you do open that CASAA portal and get that CASAA ID note, it's easier to see all the different sections. If you pick a random program, even if you're not applying this year, but pick a program and say, okay, now I can see all the sections. You don't have to submit this year if you're not ready and that's okay. But knowledge is power, right? So, put your best foot forward and prepare yourself.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm. Yes.
Adrienne: ⁓ our episode is going to be talking a little bit about prerequisites, what are, what actually counts and what to do if you have all ground to cover. I can't tell you how many times other non-traditional applicants have out to me and said, ⁓ this looks like an amazing path. And I don't have any of these pre-med pre-reqs done.
Tiffany: Bye. so if you've ever lost sleep over an old grade like I have, this episode is especially for you and me. Thank you so much for listening.
Adrienne: Hehehehe Yup.
Tiffany: this Pre-AA Pathways. ⁓
Adrienne: turning ambition into admission.
Victoria: Hi!
Adrienne: So exciting!
Victoria: Thanks guys, this is pretty fun.
Adrienne: Heh.
Victoria: you know, I saw all the behind the scenes of you guys making the podcast and us working together. So this is definitely ⁓ new, but I'm really excited to be here with two of my favorite people ever.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: ⁓ So. ⁓
Adrienne: same.
Tiffany: and we're so excited to talk to you and sit down with you. You have the most up-to-date, successful application experience on CASAA So we want to ask you our first question.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: When you opened the CASAA portal for the very first time, what happened? How did you feel?
Victoria: Well, I didn't to CASAA the same cycle that I had first opened it. So ⁓ I opened for the first time, I want to say like 2024, late 2023 ish. then I up deferring when I wanted to apply because I knew that I needed more time get everything So when I first opened it, it didn't seem crazy but I was like okay whenever I do do this I totally cannot wait until the last minute because everyone that I spoke to before people that have applied before or students they were like it's gonna take forever so ⁓ but when I opened the same cycle that I applied I felt more prepared
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Victoria: Because I had already gotten the feedback and the warnings of like do this early Don't wait until the last minute submit your application early And I was just like I'm not gonna put myself through that stress. So I felt better about
Tiffany: Yeah
Victoria: It was more familiar I can see why if you are like a month out from applying where you're like, oh my gosh, I have to get so much done So long story short
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Victoria: In the beginning it seemed overwhelming, but ⁓ you plan it ⁓ it seemed perfectly fine.
Adrienne: Yeah, I agree. This is totally why we're doing this episode right now, right Tiffany?
Tiffany: For sure, I feel the same way. This is my first time actually applying applying. So I'm going through every meticulous ⁓ data point, sure everything is accurate. ⁓ Girl, ⁓ is overwhelming. ⁓
Adrienne: It's like having a whole other part-time job in all honesty.
Victoria: ⁓ for sure. And I mean, that's why that I highly recommend spacing things out because once you break it down, like I think I spaced it out over a very long period of time because I also had to have certain things done when I had my application review. So because of that, I was like, OK,
Tiffany: Yes.
Victoria: I also took like two and a half gap years. So ⁓ it just gave me more time to spread things out. But I think in just all sections, you just kind of. have to just break it in chunks because your application page length when you download it is so long or it can be so long. Yeah, you know, depending on how much experience you have, what you want to include.
Tiffany: for sure.
Adrienne: It's like what? 40 pages plus single space.
Tiffany: Woof! I know, ⁓ my gosh.
Victoria: I mean, Adri, like definitely for you, I mean, well, you both have extensive experience. You are definitely have to like break it up more than I did.
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: Yeah, advice. ⁓
Tiffany: Yes.
Victoria: So just break it up and it'll less overwhelming.
Tiffany: ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: ⁓ Even if you do like, three things per day, because I know you guys are applying months down the line, less like, ⁓ my God, I have to get all this done right now. And more like, ⁓ like now it's a week out from applications and now I can just review.
Adrienne: this is definitely why we're doing this episode now. Friday, May 15th, 2026. And today is a big day the CASAA application cycle for this year and this season. Let's break it down. can you explain and Victoria add in your thoughts on what exactly is CASAA?
Tiffany: Yeah, CASAA stands for the Centralized Application Service for Anesthesiologist Assistance. It is the centralized application portal for any of us applying to the AA programs in the United States. So it's kind of like CASPA for PA programs or AMCAS for medical school. one application, one portal system, ⁓ that portal system will distribute to any programs that you designated to ⁓ distribute your application to. ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Does that sound about right, Victoria?
Victoria: Yeah, I mean that sounds about right. CASAA pretty does a very good job with organizing what you need to get done. ⁓ It does very well with ⁓ like designating each school ⁓ and the materials that you need for those So it is definitely your place unless it's a school that
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: possibly open like mid cycle where they're like, hey, just submit stuff to us. Every other school will be on CASAA to my knowledge.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Right.
Adrienne: So that's something that is, ⁓ unexpected, but because profession is growing so rapidly because there are seemingly constantly new programs popping up. even if you've submitted through CASAA, you may have an opportunity later down that application cycle to submit to, for example, NSU Las Vegas, which opened up for like, what, a couple months, the very tail end of this last application season and Nobody expected it, so you never really know. accredited anesthesiologist assistant programs receive these applications through CASAA, but you always, want to verify on a program's individual website what their specific is. Like you can go to anesthesia one source, learn so much there, but if you have a specific preference, maybe for one program, definitely keep an eye on those programs websites. ⁓
Victoria: Yeah, and I definitely wouldn't bank on, you know, new programs opening up each year and someone may open up something late in the cycle. I wouldn't 100 % base your timeline off that. It happened last cycle, but
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: No one knows when these new schools will open. No one knows, you know, what's gonna happen because you're not able to access that information. So like Adri said, I would just look at whatever programs that you're interested in and follow their steps to a T. And most of the time, it'll be on CASAA.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tiffany: Yes, and anesthesiaonesource.com has a lot of these programs in their specific requirements and where they ⁓ their applications on. ⁓ that's a really good resource to look into as well. Another thing to note is the cycle does not open all at once. ⁓ programs were already live back in March. Many opening May 15th. So window, very so, varies by program. ⁓ We'll link the CASAA link in our show notes, but like to emphasize what Adri and Victoria said, ⁓ definitely go to that designated website.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Victoria: to add onto that Tiffany, with what you said about how a different schools open at different times, I think since we're talking about CASAA and applying, I think it's really important to space things out, the time that application opens because, you know, you could say, ⁓ once was applying in June, ⁓ so I'm going to aim to have everything up. you know, done by June, but other schools may open in March and by then June is like considered late for them in the cycles. however you want to space out filling out CASAA and applying, if you want to be an early applicant for programs, you may have to consider finishing CASAA way earlier or ASAP than what you originally thought.
Tiffany: Right.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. yeah, and goes into, it push you to take a whole nother gap year just to prepare in that way. For example, I have a preference for school that they start their program in January, but where the timeline is with my prerequisites, with my taking the GRE, maybe if take another gap the MCAT, who knows, not ready definitely to put in that application in March of this year. I'm not even ready right now yet. that's not gonna happen and that's okay. I could still throw my hat into the ring. But like you said, Victoria, it's gonna make it less likely, especially with how competitive it is ⁓ So, you know, not a deal. It's worth it to try, but timing can be a big barrier and a big challenge. And I think it's very important to realize that that's normal,
Victoria: you never know, because some people have gotten in by applying late in this cycle, some people have gotten in by applying early in this cycle. You really just don't know until you know. So even if a school does start earlier ⁓ and you like I'm really or I really got this, you can still apply later. Who are we to say that you shouldn't apply late? You know what I'm saying? We're just all...
Tiffany: For sure.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm, exactly.
Victoria: going through this, me going it through the first time, you guys now going through it, you know, now this cycle, it's like you really just, you won't know until you know. And also applying early does not guarantee that you'll get in.
Adrienne: balancing those chances, right? ⁓
Victoria: Yeah, and it's all about just leap of faith and submitting when you're confident. I know that many advisors that I spoke to were just like, submit when you feel confident, whatever that means to everyone where you're like, okay, I know that I meet the minimum criteria. I know that I have X amount of shadowing. I know that I have the strong letters of rec, you know, you can still apply late and you never know. But I know that most programs
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: And my advisors told me apply as early as possible, which is why we recommend that. So ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Yes, that's something aspiring CAA herself has emphasized over and over on her platform. it is beneficial to apply early if you are ready, ⁓ but if you don't have all of scores back, if they haven't been verified, ⁓ definitely only submit when you are 100 confident in your strong application.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's a big if, right? If you are ready and what's ready for you, I think that's something that's a little bit variable for every person, right? Yeah. So as far as timeline goes, Victoria, what about letters of recommend? You ⁓ opening early, working on it little bits at a time to make it less overwhelming and more manageable, which makes total sense as a non-traditional applicant working full-time, working multiple jobs and doing this podcast.
Tiffany: Yeah. Yes. Okay.
Adrienne: Among other things, it seems like there's no time to do anything, But how do you find that timeline when you're dealing with trying to obtain those letters of recommendation, trying to get those transcripts, get those official scores into the application in fact? What do you think?
Victoria: So for letters of recommendation, I asked my recommenders, I think it was two or three months before I planned to apply, so ⁓ I could give them enough time to submit that. ⁓ And it'll be recent enough to where it reflects ⁓ who I currently when I ⁓ So I work with a physician and him and I have a very close relationship. And so I knew that I'm like, I am not gonna wait two weeks before the deadline to get this in because you know, he has a family, he has work and he's in ⁓ leadership roles and all that I think just as a ground based recommendation, don't wait at least two weeks to ask people.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: to submit you a recommendation, try to give them enough time. But when I applied, I asked them in March and I applied in June, but I wanted the recommendations in by May.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: So then I had a bit of wiggle room as like, hey, if it's not done, no worries. I still have like a few weeks left. So two to three months, I would say is a good ballpark. If not earlier than that, if you feel like, hey, like I'm gonna leave this job soon for, you know, whatever your circumstance is, I would just say at least give them two months.
Adrienne: Okay. Yeah,
Tiffany: ⁓ who would you say letter of rec writers would be? You don't have to disclose like who you asked, but ⁓ the audience that is curious like who they should be asking, ⁓ who do you think?
Victoria: Yeah. Yeah, from my own experience, since I work in healthcare currently, I asked the provider that I work under because he can speak on my experience with that. I asked someone that I did research with that I've kept in touch with over the years ⁓ then my last recommendation was from someone that shadowed a CAA. So what all of people have in common is that I've established a relationship with them and I kept in touch genuinely, you know, just to say, hey, I hope going well here. My updates on my life. How you doing? blah blah blah you know, I've
Adrienne: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: establish a relationship with the people that I asked. I think that just whoever you feel can speak on your character, especially if you work in health care. I think that would be great. And I know that some schools require, you know, specific people that they want or specific categories of people that they want as your recommendations. my recommendations were someone that I worked with that's in healthcare, a CA that I shadowed and someone that I did research with in my undergrad.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Yeah.
Tiffany: Yeah. Okay.
Adrienne: Okay, yeah. going back to the timeline thing of like the two to three months before you plan to submit, I think is really smart ⁓ because you're setting yourself up success. you're considering them. You don't have to rush them like, ⁓ write it today, you know?
Tiffany: Yeah. Yeah, someone that can speak strongly on whether it be your work ethic, your character, your academic abilities, it seems like that's the common ground or the bottom line.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. So transitioning forward to last year versus this year, there are a little bit of differences in the CASAA application. I know Tiffany, you had some eyes on what the differences are between last year and this year. Mostly it's just a lot prettier, I'm assuming. It's very aesthetically pleasing, ⁓ which is fine. You you still get the information in.
Tiffany: Yeah, aesthetically pleasing. Not as archaic.
Adrienne: But let's...
Tiffany: For
Adrienne: start talking through like the actual sections of the CASAA portal, what's in it you know, walk us through that.
Tiffany: Victoria, walk us through ⁓ what sections of the ⁓ you had seen? ⁓
Victoria: Yes, so I remember it being, you know, an education section. I'm not like naming these verbatim, but you know, transcripts, entry, GRE, MCAT scores. ⁓ And like, I think one other thing that's in there. So inputting that experiences, recommendations, submissions, you don't submit those yourself. ⁓ The
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. experiences, right?
Victoria: person that is giving you your recommendation, they submit that through a link that they get emailed or whatever. But you don't submit any PDFs of recommendations. ⁓ do that. ⁓ I think the big part is the... ⁓ Program overviews. I don't know if it's labeled the same but when you select all the schools that you want to apply to you have to go in with every school submit certain documents so like if you ⁓ a CNA and they ask you to submit a copy of your license or things like that there's also a license and certifications page as well on CASAA there's categories and then a lot of subcategories for everything so CASAA really does a very clear breakdown, I'll say, as to what is being asked. If you need to highlight an experience, highlight that you are an EMT, or you are an RT, or you are a nurse, and you need to submit all that stuff, they have places where you can submit that.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, let's contrast that a little bit with what we're seeing now in the new updated CASAA portal. Tiffany, does that seem like it's very consistent with what Victoria has seen for last year?
Tiffany: Yeah. I would say... The overall backbone or the structure of CASAA is still the same. You know, you have your personal information tab. have your academic history where you put your transcripts. ⁓ then you have a supporting information tab, which is where you're, all of your experience goes into your volunteer, your healthcare, all of that. And I do also your letters of rec go in there. And then the next tab is your program materials tab, where that's where all schools that you want to apply will be under. and then academic records. maybe that has changed a little bit. Now it's no longer under just like academic history maybe?
Adrienne: And, you know, if you, even if you're not ready to apply on CASAA, I personally think it's smart to make an account, poke around, see what it looks like, even if you're like, I'm gonna apply next year. Why not? get familiar with it. I personally use my own little Google sheet form. that has each section organized. it mirrors what the CASAA application has without you needing to like build it out essentially, saving you some time.
Victoria: Same.
Tiffany: ⁓ huh. ⁓
Victoria: And even if you start filling stuff out now, but you don't submit that information can transfer over the next cycle. know when I spoke to current students now or that have reapplied, they found that option really helpful because I guess it transferred most of the information over. ⁓ That ⁓ is something that I heard but speaking on the Google Sheets, I did that ⁓ especially with extracurriculars because ⁓ I was able to just track things down ⁓ as I did them when the time came where I had to my volunteering my shadowing blah blah blah like all the numbers were there using like the summation function on Google Sheets. So that made it really easy when I had to go to the experiences and type in how many hours that I did with that instead of having to backtrack all those years ago because you know I started my undergrad in 2019 and ⁓ am now starting school in 2026. So ⁓ made it lot easier to backtrack and then just input those values versus
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: You know, not everything has like a work pace where you can actually see the amount of hours. So imagine for volunteering, if I volunteered in 2019, how am I going to backtrack and find that? You know, so I would highly recommend getting a Google Sheet open if you do anything for the extracurriculars because you have put in the amount of hours for each thing that do. So.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Right. Perfect. Love that. My question is, Victoria, did you a program list sorted before you the portal ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: So I had an idea of where I wanted to apply, but I was the type of applicant where I was not going to limit myself to just a few schools and put all eggs in a few baskets. That was recommended to me as a strategy. And, you know, if you
Adrienne: hehe Mm-hmm.
Victoria: you just want to apply to three schools, there's some people that only applied to ⁓ one school got in because ⁓ for whatever reason, you but ⁓ I ⁓ was the where was like, you know what? ⁓ This is how ⁓ was raised where just not gonna ⁓ bet on just one
Adrienne: ⁓
Victoria: So me being Florida, I applied to a lot of the Southern schools ⁓ in my region and I still expanded out to the North. And I don't I applied to any schools that were past Ohio, I don't believe, I don't remember. Maybe I applied to UNM. But... ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. There's a balance with the financial.
Victoria: There's a balance. Yes, I didn't apply to every single school, but I did cast my net wide for sure.
Tiffany: Yeah, because financially I know that applying to each school ⁓ it a number on your wallet, so. ⁓
Victoria: Yes, yes, I highly recommend. you are able to, keyword on the if, every cohort, you'll have different types of people that are in those cohorts. Some people are parents, ⁓ some people, don't come from well-off families, you know, some are low income, some high income. Wherever you stand, ⁓ if you are,
Adrienne: It sure does. It sure does.
Victoria: able to work and put money to the side, I would recommend doing that as early as you can because if you want to cast your net wide, it does cost money. Each school, at least when I applied, was like $50 something dollars per school. So if you apply to 12 schools, you can see how that easily racks up. However, I do know that some people
Tiffany: Mm-hmm. Oof.
Victoria: did apply to only a few schools because they were like, it's just so expensive. All in all, all stories are valid. All walks of life are valid. All income levels are valid. For me, I worked in undergrad to pay my bills was fortunately able to work as an RA, which came with a lot of opportunities, ⁓ like leadership but they also paid for my housing. So I was able to put money to the side I knew that it was going to be expensive when this time came. So definitely if you are an applicant who wants to cast their net wide, start saving now
Adrienne: yeah, optimizes your chances, right? It's all about ⁓ what's work for you. If you're single parent and you have to stay in one state that is a CAA licensed state, then you are kind of restricted, And that can still work out, but every case is different. I also wanted to talk about something specific, Victoria, the CASAA GPA. When you put in ⁓ every single...
Tiffany: Hmm.
Adrienne: pre-requisite class that you've taken, whether it was a repeat or not, ⁓ did that CASAA GPA difference catch you off
Victoria: So, yes and no. Because in high school, I took a lot of APs and I was an IB. So I didn't have to take a lot of gen ed classes like astronomy and you know, I didn't have to take an English class at all either. Like I had AP credits to fulfill that and IB credits to fulfill that. ⁓ ⁓ most of my undergrad GPA was ⁓ So... ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Interesting. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: When I graduated, and on your transcript, you can see like what your overall GPA was, and I had a minor also. So it broke it up from major GPA and minor GPA and cumulative GPA. So by the time I applied, I wasn't really ⁓ shocked. It was of what I expected because I didn't have outside, non-STEM credits.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: But overall, it's kind of what I expected. I also used a calculator online where I input all of my credits before I even applied to see where I would stand. Especially if, since CASAA breaks it up with, like, science GPA, mathematics GPA, post back. Cumulative, undergrad, like they break it down really, really well. But when applied ⁓ and I was doing post-bac classes to fulfill some credits, it was interesting to see CASAA ⁓ labeled that and how it played into my GPA. It actually impressed
Adrienne: Yeah.
Victoria: improved my GPA overall. it labeled it as post-bac because I'm doing it post undergrad. So I think that's what shocked me was how they organize things so well and how it looks on the application. But I very much was like, ⁓ need to know what I'm going in with. ⁓ need to know so I can see what my chances are.
Adrienne: Awesome.
Tiffany: Mom. Gotcha.
Adrienne: Yes. Mm-hmm. And if you are a little bit more curious about that or want to learn more about that, go back our episode three of this same podcast and we have a lot more information. Tiffany, you want go ahead
Tiffany: Okay, so Victoria, ⁓ let's ⁓ get a little real. ⁓ What do you may have not gone so for you in the CASAA process? ⁓
Victoria: in the CASAA process for me, I think it was solidifying my standardized test score, I would say. ⁓ the GRE a difficult journey to say the least. I'm a good test taker, but the GRE is something where you really have to learn how to take the exam. It's one of those things where for me,
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: the concepts weren't hard, but you have to learn how to strategize, how to think quickly, how to think outside the box and apply it to even the simplest of concepts. You know, so it's a test of critical thinking. And because I think most STEM classes, they do obviously require critical thinking like or go and biochemistry and all that stuff. But I think the GRE is a little
Tiffany: Yeah.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: different from that because it's not concepts that I was tested on undergrad when I applied I did not have the highest score that I wanted and so I think that may have been the hardest part was I submitted with You know, scores that were still good, but you know, each cycle gets really competitive. And so I had to take that into consideration and do retakes and things like that to improve my score. I think that was the biggest barrier in full honesty was just having a good score, ⁓ having, you know, to meet those benchmarks because each cycle gets more competitive.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yeah.
Tiffany: Right, yeah. Amazing. Anything else that you think that you may have felt that you just weren't ready for, or just something that maybe you think our audience may benefit from hearing?
Victoria: I think the biggest thing with that is putting in your transcripts ASAP because I don't know if everyone is aware of this, but once you input your transcript CASAA still needs to verify it and that can take like seven to 10 days. especially if you want to be an early applicant, you need to get it in like
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: ASAP so CASAA has time to review everything and verify that what you're inputting is correct. And then once that's done, if everything else is complete, that's when it will be reviewed. ⁓ I could be wrong on don't quote me on it, but that's what I remember from my process was that after I submitted, it wasn't just submission straight to their desk.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: CASAA has to verify your transcript first. And also, takes a little bit of time to input each transcript. You have to really put in the codes, the credits, the grade. Then you have to say if it was repeated, if it was an AP class, which isn't even the longest part, but also within each school, you have to designate.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Victoria: what classes that you want to submit for that certain prereq requirement. ⁓ And you still to go in and do for each school, along with supporting documents and submitting licenses and your experiences section on top of all that, you still have to do that. I think the second longest part was definitely the personal statement. That took a few months to solidify.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Yeah.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. How drafts? ⁓ ⁓
Victoria: I would say that really helped guide me through the process. So once I figured out the prompt and I went that book, it just made it a lot easier. It definitely took three drafts, ⁓ At least three drafts because I remember that I used the book that I recommended to you guys before.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. We will post that in our show notes. ⁓ ⁓
Victoria: Um, yes, I used the book and then I also had it reviewed by my boyfriend. not friends because I didn't want to like share it with too many people and get too many opinions.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: and I had it reviewed by my as well to make edits, ⁓ delete some things reword something so definitely at least three I definitely would not wait until the last minute to do that either because they definitely looked at my personal statement in my interview so they do pay attention it is not just a silly little essay they do pay attention
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Amazing. Okay, well, Victoria, thank you so much. I know that there's so much more that we want to talk to you about, but you have such a incoming adventure coming for you. you for being honest ⁓ with what didn't well. That was just as useful as ⁓ telling us what go well.
Adrienne: ⁓
Victoria: I've talked to so many pre's that also were like, yeah, standardized testing sucks. ⁓ It's terrible. It's rough. You know, it's not uncommon that people have take the GRE two times, three times, ⁓ five times even, or the MCAT, you know? So ⁓ people see lot of
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: or the MCAT.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm, and cat multipliers.
Victoria: success stories in the discord and I'm like,
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Victoria: Just don't comparison is a thief of joy. students, most have to take these tests multiple times because especially now that some schools require you to meet a percentile benchmark and not just a numerical benchmark, it's getting increasingly harder, especially for the quant section. Adri you know this, ⁓ to be able to meet.
Adrienne: There's a ⁓ Mm-hmm. Yes.
Victoria: percentile, the percentile, you know, have to put in a lot more work to be to meet that percentile
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm. ⁓
Adrienne: definitely. So Victoria, we wanna be very mindful of your time. We're go ahead and Let you go to your next commitment. ⁓ Tiffany and I will, yeah, had so much fun. Hopefully we can have you on again in the future ⁓ later down when you are AA school, ⁓
Tiffany: We've had so much fun!
Victoria: Thank you guys!
Tiffany: We love you so much.
Victoria: Hearts forever.
Tiffany: Yes, best of wishes on your next adventure. Don't forget us!
Victoria: Yeah
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. We'll be hot on your tails. All right.
Victoria: Thank you guys. ⁓ gosh, I won't, I won't. Bye guys.
Adrienne: So Tiffany, just to kind of tie everything together, we're gonna put it all in a few key takeaways. Go ahead. ⁓
Tiffany: Yeah, major thing to take away. itself the centralized application service for Anesthesiologist Assistants ⁓ One for all the schools or the programs that you want to designate. ⁓ It distribute your application to each school. ⁓ the sections are your information. That's where you input demographics, your family, education history, ⁓
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: And then there's your academic history where you obviously you put your colleges attended, your transcripts, any standardized tests. And then you have a supporting information section where your letters of rec, your experiences, achievements, licenses, your personal statement also goes in that section. And then program materials are where you will go to read about the programs that you will be applying to. And then academic records is where you'll get your
Adrienne: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. you
Tiffany: actual transcripts.
Adrienne: Yeah, yeah. And so my biggest takeaway when talking from Victoria's experience and kind of what we're seeing now in the CASAA application portal is that you really, really want to know ⁓ the details behind each program. You do to do your program research because it's one thing to yes, apply broadly and optimize your chances. But what does that help if you miss?
Tiffany: Yes.
Adrienne: this for this GRE score and then you've just wasted money applying a program that's going to automatically cut you. Know that that CASAA GPA may look a little different and be prepared for that. Run it yourself before you submit because it only runs and submits that whole thing after you submit your application so you don't want to be surprised ⁓ and just sure you're being very mindful about the details. And so yes, I think. one of my unpopular opinions, you everyone says apply broadly. Well, that works for the majority of people to optimize your chances. However, if you're applying so broadly that you lose the detail, then you've spread yourself too thin. And in my personal opinion, that's going to work against you.
Tiffany: Yes, yeah everything that we've described based off of our own research as today, May 15th, 2026. We always that you verify current dates or fees, any program specific requirements directly with CASAA ⁓ and each which we've ⁓ emphasized throughout podcast as well.
Adrienne: Mm-hmm.
Tiffany: But the one thing that we do say to do after this episode, go open the CASAA portal. yourself a CASAA ID. look at the sections. You don't need to fill out today. But just knowing what is in there gives you an idea what you need to be looking out for or you need be inputting into it. That makes a real big difference. So we'll put the link in our show
Adrienne: Yeah. ⁓ Yes. when and if you do open that CASAA portal and get that CASAA ID note, it's easier to see all the different sections. If you pick a random program, even if you're not applying this year, but pick a program and say, okay, now I can see all the sections. You don't have to submit this year if you're not ready and that's okay. But knowledge is power, right? So, put your best foot forward and prepare yourself.
Tiffany: Mm-hmm. Yes.
Adrienne: ⁓ our episode is going to be talking a little bit about prerequisites, what are, what actually counts and what to do if you have all ground to cover. I can't tell you how many times other non-traditional applicants have out to me and said, ⁓ this looks like an amazing path. And I don't have any of these pre-med pre-reqs done.
Tiffany: Bye. so if you've ever lost sleep over an old grade like I have, this episode is especially for you and me. Thank you so much for listening.
Adrienne: Hehehehe Yup.
Tiffany: this Pre-AA Pathways. ⁓
Adrienne: turning ambition into admission.
