PA schools will look at these factors: overall GPA, science GPA, letters of recommendation, and hours of direct health care experience. Masters degree programs will likely require the GRE as well. Your post leaves us little info for speculation, but you need to go to the site for the schools you plan to apply to and see what their average at matriculation was and you will know how competitive you are. Lifeguard will probably not qualify as HCE; you could look at things such as CNA, EMT, LPN, etc and see what best fits your schedule and what best fits the intent of the program you wish to apply to. GL in your upcoming endevours.
my current cumulative GPA is a 3.04 from my poor start in college. This will be raised as I expect to get 3.3 or higher on the remainder of my course work and retakes in BioI and genchem2. I have not taken the GRE yet so I cannot provide a score there. I have one LOR from a chemistry professor that I am good friends with and hope to receive one from a PA or my employer when I get a medical feild job this upcoming semester (hoping to find a CNA job which will give me medical feild experience). My prereq grade is a 3.0; and again I am retaking genchem1 and bio1 which will go from C to A/B+ and also following coursework which will raise it. Do I include other science classes into this GPA like physics, metabolism, brain and behaviour? Hopefully this is all the information you were inquiring about. Thankyou. - Dustin
Dustin, Based on your numbers you are probably at the low minimum for most masters programs. The program I attended wanted at least a 3.2 prereq GPA and 3.0 overall or your app didn't qualify to be looked at. I know other programs such as the University of Texas Health Science Center Southwester that the average of the students that matriculate is a 3.7. Work hard on finishing strong with the classes you have left. Retaking a C and doing better will boost your average, but only slightly. Lets say you got a C in genetics then got an A. Your average is a B. And the 3 additonal quality points out of say, 60 hours of science will only mean a slight increase. Some programs may replace a grade like a DO program does, but you need to check with each school you wish to apply to for guidance because it is different from school to school. Science GPA is different from prereq GPA; prereqs are what is required for the program (ie., statistics, psychology, sociology, organic chem) and science is your biological and physical sciences (organic chem, physiology, geology).
why dont you get a job as an exercise physiologist at a cardiac rehab/stress lab? that would qualify for most programs and would pay better than a CNA good luck
There has been a bit of a degree creep (MS) to become an ACSM RCEP unfortunately. Not sure how this affects your neck of the woods but in order to really do the "cool stuff" you may have to be fully credentialed for GXT. Cardiac conditioning is another story altogether though...look in to the job market in your area for details. I delayed taking the exam to start PA school myself after doing a concentration in Cardiac Rehab for my dual ExerSci-Biology degree. Check this out: http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Get_Certified#CLINICAL_CERTIFICATIONS Good Luck in your journey. CEP PA-S
Thanks for everyone's input. I do not have my masters so I believe that would not be an option at the moment.
I did not mean to discourage you. I was simply pointing what a "true" exercise physiologist is.You can still work in a position where you do cardiac stress testing as part of your job description. I would look in to EMT...I started out as an NREMT-B waaay back...
I was looking into CNA jobs since that seems to be the quickest and cheapest route to go for experience but all of the job ads I look at require experience. I just want to make sure I can get a job as a CNA before I go forth putting the time and money into getting certified.
There are typically lots of entry level CNA jobs available - varies by area... perhaps you are looking only at hospitals and such? Look into Long Term Care Facilities...they are typically ready to hire CNAs with no experience immediately
I opted to do RN over CNA. CNA training takes anywhere from 16 days - 10 weeks in my area depending on how much you want to go to class and you only earn around $11/hr. You can become an RN by earning your BSN and make $50,000+ a year in 11-15 months. The experience will be way more valuable and you'll have a lot more coursework to boost that GPA. Plus, at least the program I'm looking at includes some PA prerequisites in the coursework (microbiology, genetics, and advanced human physiology). Just another idea to think about! A lot of hospitals hire CNAs. The hospitals around here called it Patient Care Tech, and only require you to be CPR certified. Other's require EMT-B and others require STNA while still others prefer to train you on-site. Keep in mind that courses you retake will not replace your previous grade - they two will be averaged together. If you earned a C in general biology and retook it and earned an A, you would factor in a B (3.0). Another note - if you go the RN route you have a great career. If graduate school doesn't end up working out in the long run, being an RN is a great life-long career where you can't be a CNA forever. It also gives you the option of being a NP/CRNA/CNS (which I'd only consider if this stupid DNP thing dies off AND if PA school didnt work out), but that option is still there!
foreverl - I 100% agree.. great decision.. RN enables you to get some great experience as well as not be in a rush to become a PA... you can move laterally to explore fields, earn good money and apply/matriculate on your schedule as opposed to feeling an urgent need to progress as a CNA to PA... v/r
