Late to everything: I really need a no BS assessment of options.

[zackalope]

When all the other kids were studying hard at 18, I was too cool for school.
So i started a rock band, registered for classes which I didn't attend for 3 semesters. (ouch).

(NOTE: SKIP TO NEXT BOLD CAPS IF YOU JUST WANT THE QUESTION)

Fast forward to 2005-6: enrolled at a low level state tech school, got my EMT-B state (not NREMT)
Doing this gave me confidence I could succeed. Instead of getting employment, re-enrolled at the big state school (academic suspension long since over).

Academic amnesty granted. Did really great for a while.

Then in 2008, required surgery to implant a dual lead pacemaker. Dropped some classes, failed chem (because my instructor was informed ahead of time, and told me I could retake an exam I would miss...then went back on his word). Took a light semester, got back on the horse.

Met my wife. Moved to NOLA, got an amazing job in another area. Got my NREMT on the side, just in case (still never work in the field). Job worked around school schedule, transferred to UNO, kept chipping away at the degree.

Bought house. Work got hard. Time crunch. Did really well in some courses (like Organic I & II, A+ and B+). Other times, not so much. GPA drops from 3.3 ish to 3.1+.

Have kid. Job goes south, refuses to work with school . Forced to take a year break.

Finally say screw it, use remainder of saved money, Wife works full time, I do baby and full time school.
I finish out.....ok. 2.9, 3.0 depending on how it's calculated.

(OK, HERE'S THE TLDR)

So now i'm 34.

So I graduate B.S. Biology with a 2.9 . (two weeks ago)

My first choice would be pharmacy school. My second choice would be Physician's Assistant. My third would be Nursing school.

Now, I don't know if I'm a good candidate, a marginal candidate, or a 'snowball's chance in hell' candidate for these. The more I research, seems like the less I know. Some places say less than 3.5 gpa, no chance. Some posts here and there seems to contradict that.

I have not yet taken the PCAT . I don't wanna throw 1k at a prep course and spend a month studying if i'm hosed to begin with. I plan to take the GRE in the next two weeks, I hear it's cake.

Can anyone give me a realistic idea of my chances for my choices with a decent PCAT score?

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[MSmentor018]

definitely low for pharm and PA. nursing maybe. if you slam dunk the PCAT and GRE it could off set your gpa. do some volunteer stuff to beef up the app. gpa is just one component. I was in your boat, after 20 years i am there. nothing is impossible

 

[Mad Jack]

Pharmacy you could do if you first completed a Master's degree of a year in length with strong performance. Same goes for PA. with your current stats, pharmacy is unlikely and PA school is basically less than a snowball's chance in hell. Nursing is a real possibility, but you'll probably need some more prereqs and to boost your GPA over 3.0, plus you'll likely have to do an ASN rather than a BSN unless you do a Master's degree first, in which case if you perform well you could probably do an accelerated BSN. I hate to be grim, but your odds are long. You haven't yet shown that the same problems that have plagued you in the past will not affect your future performance, so you'll need to do a solid year of high performance if you want to demonstrate that the troubles of your past are behind you.

 

[Promethean]

If you are lucky, you are going to keep getting older. You can either get older doing the thing you want to do, or doing something else. At 34, you may be nontrad, but your options are still pretty open.

A 2.9 can be overcome. I am a big fan of the do it yourself post-bacc route, taking the most affordable community college courses you can in order to build your GPA back up. Those classes can center on the topics that you expect the PCAT or GRE to cover, saving you some prep course dough by pulling double duty.

There are still diploma nursing schools that would be glad to give you a chance, as well as many community college nursing programs that would accept you with open arms. Shop around and you may well find an accelerated BSN program. There is one that I've heard of that let anyone with a prior bachelor's degree knock out an RN in 13 months. I will say that if you go the RN route, since you already have a bachelor's degree, you might find that a 2 year ASN or diploma is a fine entry into the profession. People graduated from my diploma school and went right into research, OR, labor and delivery, ED, ICU, etc. The 2 year schools try to funnel everyone toward med/surg nursing, because that is where the needs are most acute, because the work is grueling and the pay sucks. But with a bachelor's degree in anything and an RN, you can specialize / train for advanced practice nursing as well as any BSN.

Just don't waste more time worrying about if you are too late. Decide what you are doing and get to it. As Yoda said, "Do or do not. There is no try."

 

[didymus]

So now i'm 34.

So I graduate B.S. Biology with a 2.9 . (two weeks ago)

My first choice would be pharmacy school. My second choice would be Physician's Assistant. My third would be Nursing school.

Now, I don't know if I'm a good candidate, a marginal candidate, or a 'snowball's chance in hell' candidate for these. The more I research, seems like the less I know. Some places say less than 3.5 gpa, no chance. Some posts here and there seems to contradict that.

You have a snowball's chance in hell as far as PA school is concerned. You should really look further in to what it takes to get accepted to PA programs. You honestly have a better chance getting accepted to a DO school than PA school with your stats, if for no other reason that the fact that DO schools allow for grade replacement, whereas PA programs do not, and you will need one to two years of full time clinical experience to even get consideration at 95% of the PA programs.

Don't know much about pharmacy, but at this point it seems your best bet is for nursing school (of the three choices you gave). That said, all 3 options you listed couldn't be more different from one another. It appears you would benefit from doing more soul searching and really decide what you must do of these three, or maybe it's something else. Once you've committed to a particular direction, it will make the work you need to do to get there all the more manageable.

I plan to take the GRE in the next two weeks, I hear it's cake.

Man, how you would hate to be surprised on exam day. I would not bet too highly on the GRE being an easy exam if I got a 2.9 GPA with a biology degree. Also, the GRE will not test you over really anything you did in undergrad as a bio major. It is mathematics, language, and writing, and if you are not solid on all three fronts, the GRE will not be so easy. If I were you I would start studying now.

 

[oldstock]

When all the other kids were studying hard at 18, I was too cool for school.
So i started a rock band, registered for classes which I didn't attend for 3 semesters. (ouch).

(NOTE: SKIP TO NEXT BOLD CAPS IF YOU JUST WANT THE QUESTION)

Fast forward to 2005-6: enrolled at a low level state tech school, got my EMT-B state (not NREMT)
Doing this gave me confidence I could succeed. Instead of getting employment, re-enrolled at the big state school (academic suspension long since over).

Academic amnesty granted. Did really great for a while.

Then in 2008, required surgery to implant a dual lead pacemaker. Dropped some classes, failed chem (because my instructor was informed ahead of time, and told me I could retake an exam I would miss...then went back on his word). Took a light semester, got back on the horse.

Met my wife. Moved to NOLA, got an amazing job in another area. Got my NREMT on the side, just in case (still never work in the field). Job worked around school schedule, transferred to UNO, kept chipping away at the degree.

Bought house. Work got hard. Time crunch. Did really well in some courses (like Organic I & II, A+ and B+). Other times, not so much. GPA drops from 3.3 ish to 3.1+.

Have kid. Job goes south, refuses to work with school . Forced to take a year break.

Finally say screw it, use remainder of saved money, Wife works full time, I do baby and full time school.
I finish out.....ok. 2.9, 3.0 depending on how it's calculated.

(OK, HERE'S THE TLDR)

So now i'm 34.

So I graduate B.S. Biology with a 2.9 . (two weeks ago)

My first choice would be pharmacy school. My second choice would be Physician's Assistant. My third would be Nursing school.

Now, I don't know if I'm a good candidate, a marginal candidate, or a 'snowball's chance in hell' candidate for these. The more I research, seems like the less I know. Some places say less than 3.5 gpa, no chance. Some posts here and there seems to contradict that.

I have not yet taken the PCAT . I don't wanna throw 1k at a prep course and spend a month studying if i'm hosed to begin with. I plan to take the GRE in the next two weeks, I hear it's cake.

Can anyone give me a realistic idea of my chances for my choices with a decent PCAT score?

I know that you list 3 choices. But what do you think you really want to do, if you do not mind me asking ??

 

[oldstock]

@zackaope : if you really wanna do pharmacy, post your questions in the Pre-pharmacy forum for help. I've seen many with the same situation there.

 

[Being]

I plan to take the GRE in the next two weeks, I hear it's cake.

Seems like it might be a good idea to study for it and try a practice test or two. Or, you know, not, if you want, whatever.

 

[Mars41]

I've heard of people getting into pharmacy programs with 2.5 GPA's. Not likely but possible with a high pcat.

I have several friends that got into pharmacy school with <3.0 GPAs.

Best bet would be to do a few post bac classes and get that GPA to 3.2 and you could be a real player.

Good luck mate.