Chances for PA School

[gak228]

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I am currently a Junior (student athlete) in undergrad at a school known for difficult sciences.. I have a 2.86 cum gpa. and am hoping to get it up to at least 3.2 by the time I graduate (4 more semesters). My first 3-4 semesters had some Cs in Cell bio, Gen chem, and Orgo due to some bad test anxiety. As i dealt with that my grades starting improving.
Genetic/ Genomics- B+ Evolution, Abnormal Psych, Intro Epidemiology- In Progress (looking good)
Gen Chem 1 &2 - C Orgo 1/2- C
Cell Bio- C A&P 1- A
Psych- B A&P 2- B+
Intro Behav. Neuro- Pass Bio Lab 1 &2- B
Cancer Bio- A-
I know the grades are sort of all over the place but I definetly have the upward trend...
I Have not yet taken GREs, and I have about 200 volunteer hours and 45 hours shadowing both PAs and MDs thus far. I will definetely get more over this coming summer, and I am considering working for a year as a medical assistant or scribe to get more hours before applying.

My dream school is Emory (assuming I get my 2,000 hours), but I am mostly looking at schools in NY, NJ, or Boston. Chance me and any suggestions for improving my application/ chances?

 

[Makati2008]

I am currently a Junior (student athlete) in undergrad at a school known for difficult sciences.. I have a 2.86 cum gpa. and am hoping to get it up to at least 3.2 by the time I graduate (4 more semesters). My first 3-4 semesters had some Cs in Cell bio, Gen chem, and Orgo due to some bad test anxiety. As i dealt with that my grades starting improving.
Genetic/ Genomics- B+ Evolution, Abnormal Psych, Intro Epidemiology- In Progress (looking good)
Gen Chem 1 &2 - C Orgo 1/2- C
Cell Bio- C A&P 1- A
Psych- B A&P 2- B+
Intro Behav. Neuro- Pass Bio Lab 1 &2- B
Cancer Bio- A-
I know the grades are sort of all over the place but I definetly have the upward trend...
I Have not yet taken GREs, and I have about 200 volunteer hours and 45 hours shadowing both PAs and MDs thus far. I will definetely get more over this coming summer, and I am considering working for a year as a medical assistant or scribe to get more hours before applying.

My dream school is Emory (assuming I get my 2,000 hours), but I am mostly looking at schools in NY, NJ, or Boston. Chance me and any suggestions for improving my application/ chances?

Your chance for an acceptance is pretty low currently. For Emory, I wouldn't waste the money applying if I were you.


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[pamac]

I am currently a Junior (student athlete) in undergrad at a school known for difficult sciences.. I have a 2.86 cum gpa. and am hoping to get it up to at least 3.2 by the time I graduate (4 more semesters). My first 3-4 semesters had some Cs in Cell bio, Gen chem, and Orgo due to some bad test anxiety. As i dealt with that my grades starting improving.
Genetic/ Genomics- B+ Evolution, Abnormal Psych, Intro Epidemiology- In Progress (looking good)
Gen Chem 1 &2 - C Orgo 1/2- C
Cell Bio- C A&P 1- A
Psych- B A&P 2- B+
Intro Behav. Neuro- Pass Bio Lab 1 &2- B
Cancer Bio- A-
I know the grades are sort of all over the place but I definetly have the upward trend...
I Have not yet taken GREs, and I have about 200 volunteer hours and 45 hours shadowing both PAs and MDs thus far. I will definetely get more over this coming summer, and I am considering working for a year as a medical assistant or scribe to get more hours before applying.

My dream school is Emory (assuming I get my 2,000 hours), but I am mostly looking at schools in NY, NJ, or Boston. Chance me and any suggestions for improving my application/ chances?

The upward trend you are talking about would need to be considerably more dramatic even to break even on what you have. The things that kill you are the 4 C's you are sporting in your chemistry's and the C in Cell Bio. Those really aren't satisfactory in any way for a school to see. The A and B+ in A&P are decent, but you are expected to have those kind of marks in those classes, and that goes for the Cancer Bio course and Genetics. And psyche really should be an A. You don't get brownie points for getting decent grades in those because they expect them. When you consistently get C's in all four of the chemistry series, that means you have a big hole in your ability to grasp something like that, and there is no upward trend demonstrated there. That's a red flag because they see that after 2 years of chemistry, your test anxiety in that area never got better. And PA school is nothing if not a very test-centric environment. You say things are looking good in the 3 courses you are currently taking. By good, you should mean 4.0's in all 3 because again, its expected for folks to do well in those. Cell bio is a basic course... if you don't have a mastery of that, you pretty much don't have a grasp of biology. Those 5 courses you bombed really are the anchor for you, and will continue to be until you address them by retaking and getting at least a couple of A's, and nothing lower than a B. Even then, its very uphill. I feel like the Chemistry series is what weeds folks out of pre professional pathways. That's the part of the obstacle course where all the bodies are piled up.

 

[pamac]

I come across comments a lot where folks mention their school was difficult for sciences as if that matters at all when they are pulling bad grades. It matters nothing. Its not even worth mentioning. I'd much rather be the kid in community college with B+'s vs the kid in mountain valley A&M with C+'s.

 

[gak228]

Thanks for the info...So, if I can't afford to retake those courses do I have no chance at getting into a heath profession? (my school does not allow you to retake a course you passed, which means anything over an F and you cant retake it)

I also have the opportunity to take comparative vertebrate anatomy (w/lab) next term; will that help me at all if I do well? Or is that just even worse because I already took Human A&P (at a different institution as mine does not offer that). Does doing well in upper level bio courses counteract the low cell bio grade at all? Am I totally screwed....?

 

[pamac]

I'd hate to insist that anyone is "totally screwed", so instead of looking at it that way, let's change gears and look at things a differently.

I've been there... I know what it's like to feel like I'm stuck in an academic hole that I dug for myself. At this point, I'm in NP school and heading in the direction I want to, but it took a lot of effort and some detours that I wouldn't have chosen for myself, but in the end I'm glad I did. For me, it mostly was an issue of time, and if I wasn't a patient person living in circumstances that I enjoyed, my journey would have been frustrating. In your case, I think that to get where you think you want to be would take a significant amount of time as well, and you have to decide how you feel about that. My new rule of thumb for gauging chances to get into PA school is to ask the question "do you think you would have a good chance getting into medical school with the grades and scores you plan to apply to PA school with?" If the answer is no, then assume that you have some mountains to climb, because PA school requires a lot of their students. It is fast paced, and very demanding. It's easy for everyone if they recruit students that can keep up, and there is no shortage of applicants that fit into that category.

Gpa is really important, and to be successful, you have to have a handle on that aspect of your profile. Taking more science courses help, and retaking courses you did bad in helps. But you need to get it up to the 3.4 range to start feeling comfortable about your chances.

You may want to think about other options that might yield results for you that are more immediate. Nursing school, then NP school, or even a direct entry NP program might be worthwhile to consider if you don't want to slog away for a while chasing the dream of becoming a PA.

 

[Boatswain2PA]

I come across comments a lot where folks mention their school was difficult for sciences as if that matters at all when they are pulling bad grades. It matters nothing. Its not even worth mentioning. I'd much rather be the kid in community college with B+'s vs the kid in mountain valley A&M with C+'s.

There are some exceptions to that. The university where I went through the PA program has a notoriously, ridiculously STUPID chemistry department. First day of OChem there had about 200 people in the class. Tough class, lots of studying...until the first test that was just un-freaking-believably hard. I think I got a 42% on that first test, and I was near the top of the class. The next class period there were only about 50 people left in the class. Of course, it was AFTER the drop date.

ONE person in the class finished with an A-, a few of us got B+. There were only probably 30 of us who finished the course.

But this chemistry department is well known to the nearby Medical Schools and, of course, to the PA program. These schools know that, if you get a "C" or better in OChem I or II, then you've really done well.

But that wouldn't help you if you are applying to outside of these few programs.

My hopefully-future-daughter-in-law recently suffered the same thing in this program as she completes her Pre-Med.

 

[pamac]

I guesse any exception would have to be viewed through the lense of how 95% or more of applicants to the PA field actually have to go about applying... Which is for them to have a few schools in mind that they find tolerable, and hoping to get into at least a few of them. This OP isn't one of the folks with the luxury of having stellar stats that would allow focusing on one program and having confidence of getting in. Even folks with great stats get turned away, so most wise applicants plan for applying broadly. Applying broadly means your other schools probably won't know about a chemistry department's niche rigor.

 

[Boatswain2PA]

I guesse any exception would have to be viewed through the lense....other schools probably won't know about a chemistry department's niche rigor.

Agreed.