How competitive am I for PA school?

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orthomyxo

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I graduated with a BS in biology 5 years ago and am now at a point where I would like to get serious about applying to professional school.

I believe my overall cGPA is somewhere around 3.5 with my sGPA slightly higher 3.7ish(?), not exactly sure as I have courses from 2 different schools and need to calculate it myself. Despite looking good numbers-wise, I do have some blemishes. A few C grades in electives and one D in a lab course, all due to poor time management skills at the time which have since been rectified.

During school I volunteered as a patient transporter in a large hospital. Not exactly sure of the number of hours, maybe 100 or so?

After graduating, I was very focused on research. I got an unpaid position in a kidney research lab at a top medical school where I worked for about a year. No publications but great experience. At the same time I also worked in a DNA sequencing lab and a pharmacy (~1 year) and later at a company doing contract in-vivo research (~1 year).

Right now I am a medical assistant to a skin cancer surgeon which is awesome. This means I have about a year of full-time clinical experience and will have even more when I'm ready to apply.

I'm not planning to take the GRE if I can avoid doing so.

With all this in mind, where do I stand?

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stats look good, if the lab course you got a D in is a pre-req, you will need to retake. Research is a good experience to have, but unfortunately it doesnt carry much weight at the majority of PA schools. Besides that, get some PA shadowing hours, continue to get as much PCE as possible before applying and definitely try to get your volunteer hours to 200+. Just remember, while many schools don't require the GRE, you are are limiting the schools you can apply to without it.
 
stats look good, if the lab course you got a D in is a pre-req, you will need to retake. Research is a good experience to have, but unfortunately it doesnt carry much weight at the majority of PA schools. Besides that, get some PA shadowing hours, continue to get as much PCE as possible before applying and definitely try to get your volunteer hours to 200+. Just remember, while many schools don't require the GRE, you are are limiting the schools you can apply to without it.
Is shadowing really necessary if I work directly with MDs and PAs?

Also what is this distinction I'm seeing between HCE and PCE? Are these actually looked at separately by PA schools?
 
Patient-care experience is also healthcare experience, but HCE is not always PCE. You can work in a healthcare field without filling a role providing direct care to patients.
 
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