PA gpa

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Is it hard to get into a PA school with an undergrad of 2.7? I am working on my MBA and have a 3.5 so far.
I am in the IT field but no healthcare experience

Any ideas
Has any one gotten accepted under situations like me

Low gpa and no healthcare experience?
that's going to be a little difficult.....work on the gpa and get some experience in an emt program or other similar short certification course.
typical applicants to pa programs who get accepted have a gpa> 3.2 with significant healthcare experience. there are programs that will take folks without experience but they are not worth attending and tend to produce poor quality grads. as someone who hires pa's I would not even interview someone who graduated from such a program.

I know my under grad gpa is awful but will that forever keep me from getting accepted. I plan to see if I can showdow or volunteer in a healthcare setting

Do you think that would help? Also, you think my MBA may help me as well

I plan to begin pre reqs and DO MY BEST on them!!

Originally Posted by wannabeapharm

I know my under grad gpa is awful but will that forever keep me from getting accepted. I plan to see if I can showdow or volunteer in a healthcare setting

Do you think that would help? Also, you think my MBA may help me as well

I plan to begin pre reqs and DO MY BEST on them!!

if you do well ( a's and b's) on prereqs then gpa should be less of an issue.
try to get some actual medical training prior to applying. many quality programs do not accept shadowing or unskilled volunteering as experience. take an emt class (120 hrs) or a cna class (40 hrs or so) and get a job working in a healthcare setting.
your mba probably will not help you much until you go looking for a job. a solo md might appreciate having a colleague with an mba but it probably won't help you get into pa school.

My GPA was 3.0 when I walked in to post-bac, and it's statictically impossible to move it very far, considering the volume of courses in UG versus now. But if I can get as many A's as B's, and as few C's as possible, I expect my experience will carry me over that hump. From all the advice and feedback I've had from various sources, this seems like a solid plan. As Emed says, add some experience to the picture and hopefully, the low GPA is less of a deal.

Originally Posted by wannabeapharm

Is it hard to get into a PA school with an undergrad of 2.7? I am working on my MBA and have a 3.5 so far.
I am in the IT field but no healthcare experience

Any ideas
Has any one gotten accepted under situations like me

Like everybody else has already said, I think your low gpa will be less of an issue than your lack of experience. Most people in higher education understand that grades have never defined anybody intellectually. Just out of curiosity, how do you know that you want to be a PA?

EMEDPA, does it matter whether you obtain a B.S. or masters degree, as far as job placement goes. I am finishing up my B.S. degree in a year and a half, but was wondering if I should apply to some B.S. programs now. I have a degree in Resp. Therapy with over 5 years of experience. Should I just finish my B.S. then apply? Any input would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

No no no no....don't worry about getting the master's degree prior to PA school. Finish your B.S., make sure you get your prereqs out of the way, do as well as you can, and apply. 5 years of RT experience will serve you well as a PA.
Lisa PA-C

Originally Posted by RESP4NOW

EMEDPA, does it matter whether you obtain a B.S. or masters degree, as far as job placement goes. I am finishing up my B.S. degree in a year and a half, but was wondering if I should apply to some B.S. programs now. I have a degree in Resp. Therapy with over 5 years of experience. Should I just finish my B.S. then apply? Any input would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

Originally Posted by primadonna22274

No no no no....don't worry about getting the master's degree prior to PA school. Finish your B.S., make sure you get your prereqs out of the way, do as well as you can, and apply. 5 years of RT experience will serve you well as a PA.
Lisa PA-C

agree-you can always get a postgrad masters while working full time at your 1st job. lots of programs allow you to do this. nebraska is probably the fastest and least expensive accredited postgrad ms program. I did this after getting bs #2 in pa school.

Do you think I should just stop working on my MBA and focus on the pre reqs? Also, what type of heathcare experience you think I should persue in order to prep for PA School? I do want to get a career underway soon.

Originally Posted by emedpa

agree-you can always get a postgrad masters while working full time at your 1st job. lots of programs allow you to do this. nebraska is probably the fastest and least expensive accredited postgrad ms program. I did this after getting bs #2 in pa school.

if you really want to pusue pa I would skip the mba, take an emt, medical assistant, or cna course and work in healthcare for at least a year while finishing up your pa school prereqs(and doing well on them). no one will care about your mba if you get c's on all your prereqs and have no healthcare experience. remember pa is a second health career for most folks and this is the assumption during the didactic and clinical portions, that you already know basic medical terminology and know the basics like taking blood pressures, normal vital signs, a little basic pharmacology, etc.

Thank you for your help. I am trying to decide if I should become a CNA or LPN/RN or EMT.
The LPN/RNs usually require the same science pre reqs that are needed for PA school.

Just a question: You think I should try to get a job that's paid instead of volunteering or shadowing?

You said you hire PAs, in my situation, you think I have a chance to redeem myself?

I have only taken 3 science courses. And only 2 of them were needed which I later found out. But I took Bio I & II and made a "B" in both and Geology and made a "D" which was not required for my major but my advisor told me I needed it. There were two additional courses I took which was not needed and thats how my gpa got down to a 2.7 when I graduated but I am thinking with the science courses I can redeem myself but not sure if it is possible to pull it up to a 3.0

Im not sure how schools calculate gpa's from people who attended multiple schools

if you are willing to do a 2 yr training program then I would recommend paramedic, rn, lpn, or resp. therapist. these are all solid experience for pa school.then work in a PAID position for at least a year as many quality programs will not accept volunteer hours.
if you have credits from multiple schools pa programs will just add them all together as though taken from just 1 institutuion.
get some good experience and get your gpa over 3.0 and you should have a good shot at a quality program and good jobs down the line. good luck-e

Does anyone know which PA programs are good, in or around NYC? Do they offer basically the same type of education/training. I am thinking of applying to Touro's Manhattan non-trad program. Any suggestions?

I have a situation that I am worried about. Let's say that you made a few (four to be exact) "bad grades" and then took the classes over and made A's. When PA admissions reviews your transcript, will they reject it immediately because the first attempt was so bad? I had poor planning of my classes due to lack of advising and overloaded my schedule while working two jobs.

I have some community service, but i plan on starting my shadowing and volunteer opportunities next week. I am hoping that my community service, etc. will help my situation. I have one year until I apply. I plan on applying to UNT's PA program.

Originally Posted by emedpa

Low gpa and no healthcare experience?
that's going to be a little difficult.....work on the gpa and get some experience in an emt program or other similar short certification course.
typical applicants to pa programs who get accepted have a gpa> 3.2 with significant healthcare experience. there are programs that will take folks without experience but they are not worth attending and tend to produce poor quality grads. as someone who hires pa's I would not even interview someone who graduated from such a program.

Originally Posted by eckhofftx

I have a situation that I am worried about. Let's say that you made a few (four to be exact) "bad grades" and then took the classes over and made A's. When PA admissions reviews your transcript, will they reject it immediately because the first attempt was so bad? I had poor planning of my classes due to lack of advising and overloaded my schedule while working two jobs.

I have some community service, but i plan on starting my shadowing and volunteer opportunities next week. I am hoping that my community service, etc. will help my situation. I have one year until I apply. I plan on applying to UNT's PA program.

Your personal statement is an appropriate place to elaborate on any poor performance in your record. Never make excuses, but focus on how you made a bad situation into a positive one. You obviously overcame the poor grades in a very good way! Keep up the good work.

I am in the application process of applying to PA schools. I graduated from college last May, and am also trying to get experience in the healthcare field. So far my experience is volunteering, shadowing, and internships. I am having a lot of trouble finding jobs in Hospitals, simply having a B.S. and no lisence in a particular field. I have applied for numerous nursing assistant/pca jobs at hospitals, but have not been successful at getting these. This surprises me because generally they have training programs on the job for these positions and you don't need to be certified. I would appreiciate some advice on obtaining a job in this field with no prior training!

Originally Posted by doglvr

I am in the application process of applying to PA schools. I graduated from college last May, and am also trying to get experience in the healthcare field. So far my experience is volunteering, shadowing, and internships. I am having a lot of trouble finding jobs in Hospitals, simply having a B.S. and no lisence in a particular field. I have applied for numerous nursing assistant/pca jobs at hospitals, but have not been successful at getting these. This surprises me because generally they have training programs on the job for these positions and you don't need to be certified. I would appreiciate some advice on obtaining a job in this field with no prior training!

take a short cna, emt, or medical assistant course and the world is your oyster....jobs galore....

Originally Posted by RESP4NOW

Does anyone know which PA programs are good, in or around NYC? Do they offer basically the same type of education/training. I am thinking of applying to Touro's Manhattan non-trad program. Any suggestions?

Any program that will allow you to sit for the PANCE when completed. It doesn't matter one bit which PA program you went to as long as you pass the test!

I would focus on the grades and experience and worry NONE about where to go.

Good luck,

Pat

Originally Posted by emedpa

take a short cna, emt, or medical assistant course and the world is your oyster....jobs galore....

I am in columbus, Ohio, and very interested in a short emt program. Do you know where I might go looking for one? Thank you!

Originally Posted by doglvr

I am in columbus, Ohio, and very interested in a short emt program. Do you know where I might go looking for one? Thank you!

I completed my EMT training over one summer at a local community college.

Try your local CC(s) & some fire departments offer EMT training as well.

Have fun!

Originally Posted by wannabeapharm

Is it hard to get into a PA school with an undergrad of 2.7? I am working on my MBA and have a 3.5 so far.
I am in the IT field but no healthcare experience

Any ideas
Has any one gotten accepted under situations like me

Last year I had 2.9 sgpa 3.1 ogpa , B.S. in Biology, non-trad, no clinical exp.,shadowing or volunteering etc. above avg. GRE (but they didn't accept it because they were still on B.S. program) and only LOR's only from professors = no interview invites.
Over this past year, I started working at UPS(4 am shift) so I could do post-bacc (11 A's) volunteer at hospital ER, shadow many different PA's & MD's, local chess club, local track and bicycle club, Red Cross, Cardio- pulmonary rehab, and study during the rest of the day. Also studied for MCAT and made 24 in April , awaiting scores from Aug. LOR's from many PA's and D1 university head trainer. = automatic acceptance (now a M.S. program, so with my GRE score) same day right after interview by head of PA dept. 1 of 3 people (150 interview, 50 acceptance) to get automatic acceptance after interview. I was stunned. All this hard work and exhaustion actually paid off more than I realized in their eyes. They told me many applicants had 4.0 gpa's (and will probably get accepted by letter if rest of app is good) but not as strong of overall drive. A lot of interviewees were out of state. I was in state. So good luck on turning things around if you really want to.

Originally Posted by emedpa

take a short cna, emt, or medical assistant course and the world is your oyster....jobs galore....

Generally, are there a decent amount of EMT jobs available spread around the U.S.?


I have a good science and cumm gpa, but no medical experience except for some red cross volunteer work. Once I finish off my pre-reqs in about a year, I plan on working as an EMT for about a year or so and then applying to a PA school. My background is completely IT.

Originally Posted by emedpa

take a short cna, emt, or medical assistant course and the world is your oyster....jobs galore....

I am a career changer and also getting my prereqs out of the way in the hopes of entering PA school in about 1.5 yrs. During this time, as i understand it, it behooves me to gain exp. as an emt or cna , med assist etc... Being in Boston there seem to be lots of medical assistant jobs, is it necessary to gain an AA in med assist to garner one of these jobs or will shorter private courses (80 hr.) suffice for these positions? Is there a association for medical assisting where i might find good short courses in my area? Thanks for any help any of you can provide.

- Doug

Try calling the 5 busiest hospitals within 25 miles of your house; if they are affiliated with a university and/or train residents, bump them toward the top of the list. Ask for Human Resources, and explain what you're hoping to accomplish. They'll tell you what their hospital requires of its "healthcare assistants," "nurses' aides," "patient-care techs," "nursing assistants," or whatever the job is called there. Maybe they require an AA degree, and can name a couple of nearby community colleges. Maybe your Red Cross experience will be a good start. Only way to know is to ask.

And keep in mind, any position which involves patient contact can be helpful -- not to mention, the most important thing a job like this can give you is the knowledge that you truly do want to work in healthcare. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Febrifuge

Try calling the 5 busiest hospitals within 25 miles of your house; if they are affiliated with a university and/or train residents, bump them toward the top of the list. Ask for Human Resources, and explain what you're hoping to accomplish. They'll tell you what their hospital requires of its "healthcare assistants," "nurses' aides," "patient-care techs," "nursing assistants," or whatever the job is called there. Maybe they require an AA degree, and can name a couple of nearby community colleges. Maybe your Red Cross experience will be a good start. Only way to know is to ask.

And keep in mind, any position which involves patient contact can be helpful -- not to mention, the most important thing a job like this can give you is the knowledge that you truly do want to work in healthcare. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I will start doing some cold calling today. I'm afraid most will require the AA degree you mentioned and unfortunatly I allready have over 140 sem. credits to my name and am taking night courses to finish my degree in Health Sciences (one year out) @ Northeastern U. So taking a long path through a seperate AA degree in a CC will mostly rehash courses (at a lower level) I've allready mastered (save for phelbotomy, clinical skills and the like). I guess what I am looking for is an intense clinical skills certificate program that would qualify me. BTW I have had patient contact but in an unusual/nontraditional setting I worked for one Summer as an Intern and another as a Project Leader for the national aids project of Surinam. Most of the work was in tribal villages doing focus group work. In doing this work I was in constant contact with people who needed care and acted as an extension of the medical system, (in so much as a counselor without med supplies). Anyhow, long story short I know the medical field is for me but need to accelerate my skills. After my work in Surinam I took an 8 year hiatus into e-commerce. ... Thanks for hearing out my long winded story...

- Doug

Reading the previous posts has me concerned about my chances. I have a 3.1 GPA (with lower grades in the basics- chem, calculus and higher in the upper level classes) and am currently working as a pharmacy technician for a couple of months. I am trying to get some clinical experience through volunteer work but nothing has materialized as of yet. Do I stand a chance at getting accepted to a good PA school? Would I benefit from re-taking general chemistry with As to boost my application? Thanks for your thoughts

Originally Posted by Jens927

Reading the previous posts has me concerned about my chances. I have a 3.1 GPA (with lower grades in the basics- chem, calculus and higher in the upper level classes) and am currently working as a pharmacy technician for a couple of months. I am trying to get some clinical experience through volunteer work but nothing has materialized as of yet. Do I stand a chance at getting accepted to a good PA school? Would I benefit from re-taking general chemistry with As to boost my application? Thanks for your thoughts

Jens,

If you made failing grades in those chemistry classes it may be a good idea to show the admission committees that you can do well in those tougher science courses. Before you do that though, I would get the PA programs you are interested in to look at your record & see how you compare with their successful applicants. See what suggestions they give you, after all these are the people that are 'in the know'.

Here is a link that will show the stats for matriculating PA students. New PA Student Information

The best thing you can do is to become a well-rounded applicant & do they very best you can academically. Consider getting a copy of this book, it has helped many applicants. It was very helpful during the application process.Getting Into the Physician Assistant School of Your Choice

Take care.

thanks for your advice Monika! I did very well in upper level science courses, but when I met with MCHPS-Boston they stressed that (at least for thier pharmacy school) they looked at general Chemistry and math and didn't put much weight at all on being a well-rounded person (ie extracurriculars and leadership positions).... the lady I spoke with was not encouraging at all. My hopes are that PA school isn't as dismissive based on numbers alone.

As far as clinical experience, I have none besides working in a pharmacy where I don't exactly provide care. Should I continue taking classes and keep my current job or look for a new one? Thanks for the help!

I wouldn't put much stock into MCPHS's discouragement. Generally speaking it isn't a particularly well run (or respected) institution.

Originally Posted by Jens927

thanks for your advice Monika! I did very well in upper level science courses, but when I met with MCHPS-Boston they stressed that (at least for thier pharmacy school) they looked at general Chemistry and math and didn't put much weight at all on being a well-rounded person (ie extracurriculars and leadership positions).... the lady I spoke with was not encouraging at all. My hopes are that PA school isn't as dismissive based on numbers alone.

As far as clinical experience, I have none besides working in a pharmacy where I don't exactly provide care. Should I continue taking classes and keep my current job or look for a new one? Thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by Douglj

I wouldn't put much stock into MCPHS's discouragement. Generally speaking it isn't a particularly well run (or respected) institution.

Thanks, that makes me feel better I was under the impression from other student's comments that it was a top school, at least for pharmacy.

Originally Posted by doglvr

I am in columbus, Ohio, and very interested in a short emt program. Do you know where I might go looking for one? Thank you!

The best way to find out about EMT programs, accelerated or otherwise, is to contact any and all of your local ambulance and fire companies and ask them when and where the training is. Many times the ambulance/fire companies will contract to have someone come in and teach the classes that will prepare someone to sit for the national registry test.

As an example, I am now taking an accelerated course (12 weeks. Maybe it isn't that accelerated) for only $475 at a local ambulance company. For some reason, companies don't advertise very visibly when they are having EMT classes, so the best thing is for you to initiate contact with them. Even if they aren't having a training class themselves, they can probably point you to who is.

JJ

Originally Posted by MedSchoolFool

The best way to find out about EMT programs, accelerated or otherwise, is to contact any and all of your local ambulance and fire companies and ask them when and where the training is. Many times the ambulance/fire companies will contract to have someone come in and teach the classes that will prepare someone to sit for the national registry test.

As an example, I am now taking an accelerated course (12 weeks. Maybe it isn't that accelerated) for only $475 at a local ambulance company. For some reason, companies don't advertise very visibly when they are having EMT classes, so the best thing is for you to initiate contact with them. Even if they aren't having a training class themselves, they can probably point you to who is.

JJ

Is the accelerated course you're taking for EMT-B or EMT-I?

Originally Posted by emedpa

there are programs that will take folks without experience but they are not worth attending and tend to produce poor quality grads. as someone who hires pa's I would not even interview someone who graduated from such a program.

There are 130 PA programs with many more coming down the pipe. So that leads to 3 comments:

1) If your some of your schools are subpar, then your AAPA is doing a piss poor job. Instead of fighting to expand scope, maybe they should worry more about these "poor quality" schools instead.

2) I doubt that your refusal to hire these grads is indicative of the PA community at large. The truth is that eveyr graduate of these bottom feeder jobs can readily get a PA job.

3) Since all the lower tier PA schools produce grads who can easily find jobs, thats a de facto admission that you DONT need clinical experience to get accepted to PA school or to get a career as a PA

Originally Posted by voiddweller

Is the accelerated course you're taking for EMT-B or EMT-I?

Sorry about the lapse in time before answering your question.....long time since I visited this thread. Anyway...The accelerated course was for EMT-B only. I live in Delaware and the EMT-I level isn't recognized by the state, so there is no training for it here. Although, I could go right across the border into Maryland and get the training for it and work as EMT-I. I don't know about Pennsylvania.

Finding a job, and 'keeping' it are not the same. I agree with EMEDD. Unfortunately, there are also many jobs that require minimal clinical competance (Cosmetic dermatology comes to mind), but that is not a reflection on what a good PA is. Many PA folks will agree with you on the flood of PA factories and teenage applicants, but on scope, they will not. The scope of PAs has always been VERY BROAD. It is the NPs who cannot tie their shoes without a guideline. The ability of a poorly prepared (i.e.-no medical career/experience prior to school), trained , or motivated new PA graduate to find a job, or applicant to get into a program is not a defacto admission of anything. IT IS A TESTIMENT that the AAPA and Schools are more intersted in maintaining high Factory Output, and that the greed of many Docs predisposes them to using PAs as ancillary cash cows instead of well compensated partners. The fact remains, that the PA profession is a recipe for success with Self-Starters. Those who go out of their way to learn more and Do more are the successful ones. These are typically people who were therapists or EMTs or RNs 'before' school. Folks looking for short cuts are merely following a recipe for disaster in regards to career success.

Just ignore MacGuyver. He's been troll-posting in all of the forums ever since I joined here (in 2002), it seems.