Pre-PA HCE Advice

[aaiop]

I'm a senior about to graduate with a B.S. in Anthropology (3.7 GPA). After some recent experience in clinical settings, I've decided to pursue becoming a PA. I plan on going to CC for a year to take the remaining pre reqs, but I recently discovered the amount of health care experience that many schools require/recommend. I completely understand why a certain amount of experience is important, but people are recommending over 2,000 hours just to be competitive. I've been working as a lab assistant for two years (which does not count as HCE), so I'm essentially starting out at zero. I want to work as a CNA while I'm taking classes, but after a year I'll only be a little over 1,000 hours. Would that be okay? Is the 2,000 hours really that necessary, especially if I have good grades and GRE scores? Also I'm mainly applying to schools in Texas, so I'm not sure if that would affect anything.
Any advice is appreciated

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[pamac]

Grades are the most important thing... by far. Research and find a school that accepts being a lab assistant as HCE... programs that do are out there, and there are tons of them. Focus on acing your prereqs before you take an entry level position and slog through that for a year to get 2000 hours. You should be able to find a program that will pick you up without that much HCE.