Am I wasting my time?

[amille31]

I am a recent college grad with a Bachelors degree in Biology. I want to go to PA school, however, I am well aware of my limited competiveness. My GPA is at a low 2.6 so I decided to take a CNA course as a back-up plan, and to gain healthcare experience when the time comes to apply once again. I've already been denied to a few schools, so I'm hoping my experience as a CNA will boost my credentials for next time. I'm a little afraid that even with the healthcare experience, the low GPA will ultimately prevent me from getting accepted. I don't plan on being a CNA the rest of my life, so am I just wasting my time?

I've already considered stepping out of the healthcare game due to my low GPA and find an entry-level job outside of my major. I'm incredibly dissapointed with my GPA, and feel I will be unsatisfied with my career for the rest of my life. This is frustrating!!!

Any advice or anecdotes would be greatly appreciated.

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[deleted6669]

if you are at all serious about this you need to get that gpa over 3.0 bottom line.

 

[atcpt1]

I am a recent college grad with a Bachelors degree in Biology. I want to go to PA school, however, I am well aware of my limited competiveness. My GPA is at a low 2.6 so I decided to take a CNA course as a back-up plan, and to gain healthcare experience when the time comes to apply once again. I've already been denied to a few schools, so I'm hoping my experience as a CNA will boost my credentials for next time. I'm a little afraid that even with the healthcare experience, the low GPA will ultimately prevent me from getting accepted. I don't plan on being a CNA the rest of my life, so am I just wasting my time?

I've already considered stepping out of the healthcare game due to my low GPA and find an entry-level job outside of my major. I'm incredibly dissapointed with my GPA, and feel I will be unsatisfied with my career for the rest of my life. This is frustrating!!!

Any advice or anecdotes would be greatly appreciated.

If I were in your shoes.....assuming that your science gpa is also low

If you are serious about practicing medicine.....PA school will likely be a long road for you.

But DO (osteopathic) schools have grade replacement. This allows you to essentially erase a poor grade in a class if you make it up allowing much more significant impacts to you GPA Evaluate your grades and how you can get your science and overall gpa over 3.0. Get some life experience and make sure you can get A's in your repeat courses.

I know you asked about PA school, but DO might be the best option....its a longer time in school, MCAT's, and more dept, but at the end you're a physician.

Summery: See if DO school is for you. Make sure you want to practice medicine (PA, MD, DO all practice medicine). Make sure you can get A's in repeated courses. Get your GPA as far above 3.0 as you can. Do well on the MCAT. And if you are diligent, responsible, smart (gpa that didn't reflect ability), with some interesting life experience.....you should make it.

unedited

 

[amille31]

Thanks so much for your advice. I'm working on replacing some grades as of now. I probably shouldn't have gone for a chemistry minor as well, which has greatly impacted my science GPA. I took more science courses than what was needed for prerequisites(other bio courses, chemistry, physical sciences) in order to obtain my major. Which also leads me to the next question. Do these schools take other coursework into account? I got a degree from a place with a pretty tough program, so the low GPA is misleading. I feel stupid now because I could have done this somewhere else with an easier course load. Do i still stand the same as someone that took prereqs at a community college??

 

[deleted6669]

most pa programs don't care where you take your coursework so a 3.5 from community college would be better than a 2.7 from harvard.

 

[Firewalkwithme]

If I were in your shoes.....assuming that your science gpa is also low

If you are serious about practicing medicine.....PA school will likely be a long road for you.

But DO (osteopathic) schools have grade replacement. This allows you to essentially erase a poor grade in a class if you make it up allowing much more significant impacts to you GPA Evaluate your grades and how you can get your science and overall gpa over 3.0. Get some life experience and make sure you can get A's in your repeat courses.

I know you asked about PA school, but DO might be the best option....its a longer time in school, MCAT's, and more dept, but at the end you're a physician.

Summery: See if DO school is for you. Make sure you want to practice medicine (PA, MD, DO all practice medicine). Make sure you can get A's in repeated courses. Get your GPA as far above 3.0 as you can. Do well on the MCAT. And if you are diligent, responsible, smart (gpa that didn't reflect ability), with some interesting life experience.....you should make it.

unedited

This post gives me a migraine! No matter how lazy you are, learn to edit your post before posting them!

 

[pamac]

you are in a tough spot if you want to be a midlevel provider or DO. the best thing i can think of right now is to become a medical technologist (one of the folks who do the lab work in hospitals). you already have a bachelors in biology, which means that you probably have all the prereqs for a med tech program. they take a year, the coursework is an extension and application of what you took in undergrad. you come out with another bachelors degree, and all the coursework is science gpa. after that year in school you can get a job fairly easy (its a little tighter than it used to be, but there are still plenty of prospects). you make a little less than a nurse, but way more than a cna. i suggest you do the med tech route, because its the best option for you to be able to obtain a living wage with what you have. you could decide to do nursing, but with the economy, there are masses of people heading to nursing programs in search of a stable career. your grades will hold you back from a nursing program as well. becoming a med tech may or may not help you in your quest to become a medical provider, but it will definately allow you to make money and work on retaking classes to improve your gpa and prove yourself academically. i would get an emt cert and volunteer at that to get some quality patient care contact so that you will have plenty of that in case you have to work in a big facility as a med tech (where you will get almost not patient face time).

another fantastic option that could be doable is a respiratory therapy program. RTs get great experience, and make good money. im not sure how competetive an RT program is to get into, but you are probably looking at two years to get that degree. go to a state institution or a reputable private one, in both cases, because private programs might not have credits that transfer if you ever decide to apply for a PA program.

dont lose hope, just understand that you have a long road ahead of you. its not likely that you will make it to be a PA without traveling through another career, but there are some good paths to get there that will allow you to enjoy yourself and not struggle.

 

[sylvanthus]

OP- I had a 2.6 after the first few years of college and got into both DO and PA school (chose DO in the end). Granted, it took an additional 7+ years of coursework and experience working as an ED tech before I felt ready to apply, but it can happen. It all depends on if you really have the desire to put in the time and energy to fix your application.


It is no short road to get there, so make sure you really want it.

 

[Quest4ans]

OP- I had a 2.6 after the first few years of college and got into both DO and PA school (chose DO in the end). Granted, it took an additional 7+ years of coursework and experience working as an ED tech before I felt ready to apply, but it can happen. It all depends on if you really have the desire to put in the time and energy to fix your application.


It is no short road to get there, so make sure you really want it.

Where do/did you go to medical school?