PA School Planning, but Low GPA

[melgee]

Hello, right now I am an undergrad entering my senior year at UC Berkeley. After 4 years it surprises me how I got into this school considering how I'm struggling. My major is Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I went this route, although advised at how difficult it would be if one were to purse a profession in the medical field, because I was simply interested in the field and its research. I may be a fool for doing so seeing how my GPA has suffered (I will give no excuses), however I am still highly motivated to pursue PA school. My GPA is about 2.8 hoping to get it up to about 3.1 by the time I graduate from Berkeley.

Like all other people on this forum, I am highly motivated to get to where I want which is PA school, after doing extensive research and talking with fellow colleagues, this a career path I highly want to pursue. My plan after graduating is to for one, ace my GREs (with confidence) and most of all gain clinical experience. I was wondering what input you would have on me doing so. An idea I had was to take an emt course and work in the field long enough to where I feel confident to apply for PA school logging in about 2,000+ hours? I also have done some doctor shadowing the past 2 summers and am applying to go on a medical mission in the Philippines next winter.

Mainly I wanted to ask, what programs, courses do you advise I take in gaining clinical experience in shadowing my red flag of a low GPA. How much of a factor is clinical experience compared to GPA and GRE scores? About how much experience are PA programs looking at?

Thank you!

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[pamac]

Hello, right now I am an undergrad entering my senior year at UC Berkeley. After 4 years it surprises me how I got into this school considering how I'm struggling. My major is Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I went this route, although advised at how difficult it would be if one were to purse a profession in the medical field, because I was simply interested in the field and its research. I may be a fool for doing so seeing how my GPA has suffered (I will give no excuses), however I am still highly motivated to pursue PA school. My GPA is about 2.8 hoping to get it up to about 3.1 by the time I graduate from Berkeley.

Like all other people on this forum, I am highly motivated to get to where I want which is PA school, after doing extensive research and talking with fellow colleagues, this a career path I highly want to pursue. My plan after graduating is to for one, ace my GREs (with confidence) and most of all gain clinical experience. I was wondering what input you would have on me doing so. An idea I had was to take an emt course and work in the field long enough to where I feel confident to apply for PA school logging in about 2,000+ hours? I also have done some doctor shadowing the past 2 summers and am applying to go on a medical mission in the Philippines next winter.

Mainly I wanted to ask, what programs, courses do you advise I take in gaining clinical experience in shadowing my red flag of a low GPA. How much of a factor is clinical experience compared to GPA and GRE scores? About how much experience are PA programs looking at?

Thank you!

Your gpa is low enough that you should plan for some retakes and getting some decent health care experience... ie resp therapy, paramedic, RN. A decent gre probably isn't going to pull you over the finish line because programs want to ensure you have what it takes to handle the academic load. Past grades are the best predictor of that. It may be that they allow in folks with just under 3.0 on occasion, but you can count on the fact that those folks have stretched themselves and painted a compelling picture of why a school should take a chance on them.

HCE is a tricky aspect for PA schools. Since so many schools have weak hce expectations, grades become their focus. The schools that really care about hce generally want pretty good hce, which is the kind that takes time to obtain. But when you peruse the PA forums and see all the folks with hce like "summer camp counselor" and "organ transplant cooler transporter" and manage to get into PA school, it makes EMT-b or CNA look absolutely epic by comparison.

 

[Divergent]

I think you should definitely obtain the EMT-B certification and work as one for as long as possible. Hospitals also many times hire EMTs as ER techs, which would allow you to work in the hospital setting as part of the team. Retake any courses below C, especially the pre-reqs. I'd also take courses like Patho, Pharm, Embryology, Histology, and Nutrition if you haven't already (these are some of the recommended additional courses at one of the PA schools I'm considering).

As far as experience, some PA schools ask for none, some ask for a little (200 hours), and some ask for a lot (4000+). Some ask for paid direct patient care experience, others say volunteering/shadowing is ok. Some ask for both. The best thing I'd say to do is to do the EMT-B, and work at least a year or two while doing those courses (EMT-B programs can be completed during the summer or in a semester). Also, shadow a PA as well, and see if they would write you a recommendation.

Good luck!

 

[pamac]

I think you should definitely obtain the EMT-B certification and work as one for as long as possible. Hospitals also many times hire EMTs as ER techs, which would allow you to work in the hospital setting as part of the team. Retake any courses below C, especially the pre-reqs. I'd also take courses like Patho, Pharm, Embryology, Histology, and Nutrition if you haven't already (these are some of the recommended additional courses at one of the PA schools I'm considering).

As far as experience, some PA schools ask for none, some ask for a little (200 hours), and some ask for a lot (4000+). Some ask for paid direct patient care experience, others say volunteering/shadowing is ok. Some ask for both. The best thing I'd say to do is to do the EMT-B, and work at least a year or two while doing those courses (EMT-B programs can be completed during the summer or in a semester). Also, shadow a PA as well, and see if they would write you a recommendation.

Good luck!

Those are pretty standard and legitimate suggestions. I think it's pretty safe to say that your situation makes entry into the "grades" programs a very difficult prospect, especially given that you are on the tail end of your degree. It takes a considerable amount of decent grades to nudge gpa higher at that point. And to make up for past poor performance, you will need to do more than just retake Cs (evaluators know that retakes are generally easier the second time, and there are no retakes in PA school), and take a heavy enough course load of fresh classes to tell them that you are up to handling the volume of what PA school throws at you. At the "experience" seeking programs, you will be up against folks with fairly decent HCE (nurses, paramedics, med lab scientists, RTs... Folks who generally have not only HCE with high responsibility, but their HCE is academically based). The folks that have the quickie HCE often have tons of it... At one of my interviews, there was a CNA that had like 8000 hours of that. On top of that they had ok grades. The schools that can be considered to have a mix of focus on accepting decent grades and decent HCE are generally everyone's "back up" programs (not because they are easy to get into, but because they have a broadened applicant pool), and get tons of decent applications, so you won't have an edge there unless you really shine.

My point in laying all that out isnt to bum you out, but to highlight the amount if effort you'll have to put into a successful attempt. I think it's wise to know what you are up against before you spend valuable time, and potentially a lot of money on post grad tuition for retakes, and time getting training to get into entry level health care work (not to mention languishing in that kind of job thinking that racking up quantity of hours will translate to making a compelling case to an adcom). I know a couple folks who have degrees and are working as CNAs/EMT-bs with gpa's hovering around 3.0 that are going to be Cna/ EMTbs for a loooong time.... Long enough that they would have been better served just going to nursing school or RT, or something that they can stay in a holding pattern. One ER tech I know watched me get a nursing degree while they kept applying year after year for PA school... Unsuccessfully. That person is still making $12 an hour. If I were to apply alongside this individual to the same PA programs, I'd get in. If this person had gone to school with me, they probably would have gotten in the last time they applied.

I know what it's like to graduate with a bachelors in a hard science and feel like it was almost worthless in and of itself unless I went on for more school. I wasnt about to double down on something like that unless there was a distinct career waiting for me. Retakes, hoping to strike it big on the gre, medical mission trips as a novice non licenced volunteer, and entry level hce are gimmicks. At this point, you have a couple years of hard work ahead of you, and you can roll the dice hoping to score some points with an awesome gre and retake grades, (to which folks will wonder why you test well only after cramming for a well known test and have to see material for a second time to manage to pass,)..... Or you can become an RT and have a much better chance supporting yourself and getting into PA school later on. When the PA schools that I wanted to get into didn't pick me up, I sure as heck wasn't going to waste a year in school until the next application cycle if it didn't enhance my ability to either be employed, or make more money. I concurrently applied to one nursing school along with PA school, and when I got in, I bailed on the remaining PA school interviews at the expensive, distant, weak programs that remained. My opinion is that a year spent doing retakes and working to gain entry level hce for someone with a 3.0 gpa is a recipe for another year doing the same.

 

[dana79]

Hi,
I recently decided against applying for med school and instead trying out the PA route. However, my science gpa is currently standing at a 2.87 and my cumulative gpa is 3.52 (I just graduated). I am signed up to continue my pre reqs through a post bacc and am going to get my CNA certification to take some classes. If I raise my science gpa to at least a 3.0 or 3.1 (aiming ultimately for a 3.3 or above) do I still have a chance? Or should I begin to plan for other options....? Thanks!