Staggered Submissions

[PAsoontobe]

I will be applying this upcoming cycle and have a decent sGPA but very low cGPA (3.1). I plan to apply to a few schools that have a minimum of 2.75, I will be paying and submitting my app. to these schools mid-May. Some say that CASPA calculated their GPA to be higher and sometimes lower than what they expected. I plan to receive my calculated GPA from CASPA after applying to the 2.75 GPA schools. Dependent upon my calculated CASPA GPA i will then decide upon whether or not I can apply to more schools that require atleast a 3.0 GPA. WHY DOES CASPA DO THIS? Why do we not receive our calculated GPA before paying to submit the app. I feel this is somewhat shady and if an individual does not do their research or has their GPA calculated to be below the minimum they will be out of $$$. Any advice on my situation? do you recommend I apply to the low requirement schools first and see what my GPA is then decide to apply to more? 

[loliz]

You could calculate it yourself. It is very simple if you are on semester system, and only slightly more complicated on quarters.

A is 4 points, B is 3 points, C 2 points, D 1 points, F 0 points; go through each class and multiply grade value times # of credits, add all of these and divide by number of total credits. Every course counts, even those that are repeated or those that received grades of F (grade value 0).

 

I can see why they don't calculate before you submit... that would mean that they have to verify all of your transcripts before getting paid. Everyone complains about the cost and speed of CASPA, this would slow things down even more1

[bothomas]

I agree that it seems very shady. I am an older PA hopeful but due to my first bachelors over 16 years ago having a crappy GPA I'm kinda screwed. Even with a 3.68 on my second bachelors and 4.0 on my last 73 hours my cumulative GPA is roughly 2.92. I failed out on 18 credit hours at 19 years old. Basically most people on here would say I'm screwed except for a few programs that look at your last 60 or so hours. But still I would be automatically weeded out from most schools the second they see a cumulative 2.92.

 

 

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[Allegro]

Keep in mind when selecting schools that you may want to reconsider where you are applying if you aren't sure you are going to squeak by the minimum GPA threshold. If CASPA's calculation could make or break this, this is not a good sign of the strength of your application. Instead, you should be looking at the average GPA for matriculated applicants at a school; most schools publish this or will give it to you if asked. That will give you a better idea of a competitive GPA at the school you are applying to.

 

I also agree with loliz; there isn't anything shady about it if you can do the math. CASPA publicly publishes exactly how they calculate your GPA on their instructions and walks you through how to do the math yourself. There was a spreadsheet on this forum floating around for a while that did the calculations for you if you wanted to punch all your work into it. You're just asking CASPA to do that work for you for free, which doesn't make sense. They pay people to verify your work and do that calculation; obviously they are going to ask you to pay your fees first. Most people who are surprised by their CASPA GPA never bothered to research how the math works ahead of time.

[DD2PA]

You could calculate it yourself. It is very simple if you are on semester system, and only slightly more complicated on quarters.

A is 4 points, B is 3 points, C 2 points, D 1 points, F 0 points; go through each class and multiply grade value times # of credits, add all of these and divide by number of total credits. Every course counts, even those that are repeated or those that received grades of F (grade value 0).

 

I can see why they don't calculate before you submit... that would mean that they have to verify all of your transcripts before getting paid. Everyone complains about the cost and speed of CASPA, this would slow things down even more1

 

 

I'm also applying this cycle. I have a couple withdraws (due to illness). When CASPA calculates GPA withdraws aren't somehow accounted for correct?

[AliB]

I'm also applying this cycle. I have a couple withdraws (due to illness). When CASPA calculates GPA withdraws aren't somehow accounted for correct?

 

The CASPA FAQ covers the details of how they handle pretty much EVERY situation.  

 

The answer is it depends (from the CASPA FAQs:).

• CASPA’s numeric scale for letter grades may be different than the one used at your home institution. Please note that a grade of “WF” or “Withdrawn Failing” is calculated into the CASPA system as an “F.” You can view the numeric charts below.

[DD2PA]

 

The CASPA FAQ covers the details of how they handle pretty much EVERY situation.  

 

The answer is it depends (from the CASPA FAQs:).

• CASPA’s numeric scale for letter grades may be different than the one used at your home institution. Please note that a grade of “WF” or “Withdrawn Failing” is calculated into the CASPA system as an “F.” You can view the numeric charts below.

 

 

Thank you AliB. I will reference the website. 

[PAsoontobe]

Keep in mind when selecting schools that you may want to reconsider where you are applying if you aren't sure you are going to squeak by the minimum GPA threshold. If CASPA's calculation could make or break this, this is not a good sign of the strength of your application. Instead, you should be looking at the average GPA for matriculated applicants at a school; most schools publish this or will give it to you if asked. That will give you a better idea of a competitive GPA at the school you are applying to.

 

I also agree with loliz; there isn't anything shady about it if you can do the math. CASPA publicly publishes exactly how they calculate your GPA on their instructions and walks you through how to do the math yourself. There was a spreadsheet on this forum floating around for a while that did the calculations for you if you wanted to punch all your work into it. You're just asking CASPA to do that work for you for free, which doesn't make sense. They pay people to verify your work and do that calculation; obviously they are going to ask you to pay your fees first. Most people who are surprised by their CASPA GPA never bothered to research how the math works ahead of time.

I know I am not a strong candidate in reference to my GPA, what I do lack is made up for in experience, shadowing, and volunteer work. I want to apply to as many schools as possible and I am hopefully that CASPA will calculate my GPA to be 3.1 like I have. I followed their advice on calculations and I also used a grade calculator. Every time I have calculated it to be 3.1 but I am worried CASPA will somehow calculate it differently. Could it happen?

[cop to pa]

I used CASPAs formula and got a 3.02. My actual GPA on my CASPA app? 3.02. I had three schools over 19 years and it only took me an hour or so in excel to get everything in.

 

I did the excel a year before I applied. I knew where I stood and could run grade scenarios for upcoming classes to see where I would be. Even ran a formula to get my sGPA, and last 60 credits as well.

 

Take the time, do the work now, and it will pay off later.

[PAsoontobe]

I have calculated it based on CASPA and I know where I stand, I too have run scenarios. I appreciate the advice. Why do I hear so often that CASPA calculates a different GPA for some people? Are they not calculating it correctly?

[loliz]

I have calculated it based on CASPA and I know where I stand, I too have run scenarios. I appreciate the advice. Why do I hear so often that CASPA calculates a different GPA for some people? Are they not calculating it correctly?

 

I think that, yes, frequently, people do not do their own calculations correctly. Or they take the GPA off of their transcripts and assume it will be the same as CASPA. It will not be the same since most schools do grade forgiveness and CASPA does not. 

[Allegro]

^This. I think most often the complaint I hear is that it is different than the GPA on their transcripts, when CASPA tells you up front not to expect your GPA to match the one on your transcripts. I also see a lot of people who add up their GPA from four years of school and then divide by four to get their overall GPA when that isn't how it works - that's an average, not an overall.

 

The only place that can be a real gray area is when it comes to course subject GPAs or science/non-science GPAs since with some classes that fall on the borderline of CASPA's subject categories it can be difficult to tell which side of the line CASPA will place that course.

 

The only way to avoid a problem with that is to make sure you aren't relying on a borderline course to make sure your subject or science GPA is going to be over the pre-req mark, so you don't have to worry about getting surprised if CASPA doesn't count x class towards it. For example, I wouldn't feel comfortable if my science GPA depended on something like "Family studies child nutrition" or "intro to psychological biology." Instead I would want to make sure I was over the mark with something very straightforward like "genetics." That way, even if for some reason CASPA does rule in your favor, you aren't worried that a certain PA program won't take a look at your app and say, "well we are going to take out x,y, and z which we don't count as science."

[SoCalPA]

Do a search there are excel spreadsheets out there that will do this for you. I figured out my GPA to the exact # before submitting CASPA.

 

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[bothomas]

To clarify my "shady" statement. I know several people, including myself, who are intelligent enough to make a spreadsheet and do simple GPA calculations based on quality points and hours. There are many competent folks that have received a lower CASPA GPA than expected even after following the guidelines on their site. More or less my statement was CASPA in general. My wife is in a top ten FNP program and couldn't believe the hoops you have to jump through via CASPA. She just filled out application packets, paid the fee, and eventually found out she was accepted. Simple. No middle man. No preparing and submitting one year in advance to make certain CASPA doesn't screw up getting things to your respective programs. No fees other than the application fee to the school. I just don't get why PA programs went this route other than because it made their jobs easy...plus the university gets paid.

 

 

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[fishbum]

To clarify my "shady" statement. I know several people, including myself, who are intelligent enough to make a spreadsheet and do simple GPA calculations based on quality points and hours. There are many competent folks that have received a lower CASPA GPA than expected even after following the guidelines on their site. More or less my statement was CASPA in general. My wife is in a top ten FNP program and couldn't believe the hoops you have to jump through via CASPA. She just filled out application packets, paid the fee, and eventually found out she was accepted. Simple. No middle man. No preparing and submitting one year in advance to make certain CASPA doesn't screw up getting things to your respective programs. No fees other than the application fee to the school. I just don't get why PA programs went this route other than because it made their jobs easy...plus the university gets paid.

 

 

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Let me start by saying that CASPA's platform and customer service left more than a little to be desired when I used it last year.

 

But, I think it is an overall benefit to applicants. Most people are applying to several programs....some folks on here have applied to dozens of schools. Can you imagine having to fill out 8, 10, 12....30 different applications to that many schools? It would take absolutely forever. What about routing that many transcripts from undergraduate schools to PA programs. (I had transcripts from 5 schools, some have even more than that.) Granted, some applicants don't need to apply that broadly, but many do. It's just (statistically) that tough to get in. Only doing one application certainly streamlines that process. 

 

I don't know what admission rates for the top NP programs are. I do know that quite a few of my coworkers have gone to NP school and that every one of them has (as far as I'm aware) only applied to one school, simply because getting accepted wasn't really an issue. 

 

As long as getting into PA school is a <10% prospect for the average applicant, applying broadly is going to remain necessary. So CASPA is probably a necessity  too....even if it seems like an evil one while you're using it.

[MT2PA]

Let me start by saying that CASPA's platform and customer service left more than a little to be desired when I used it last year.

 

But, I think it is an overall benefit to applicants. Most people are applying to several programs....some folks on here have applied to dozens of schools. Can you imagine having to fill out 8, 10, 12....30 different applications to that many schools? It would take absolutely forever. What about routing that many transcripts from undergraduate schools to PA programs. (I had transcripts from 5 schools, some have even more than that.) Granted, some applicants don't need to apply that broadly, but many do. It's just (statistically) that tough to get in. Only doing one application certainly streamlines that process. 

 

I don't know what admission rates for the top NP programs are. I do know that quite a few of my coworkers have gone to NP school and that every one of them has (as far as I'm aware) only applied to one school, simply because getting accepted wasn't really an issue. 

 

As long as getting into PA school is a <10% prospect for the average applicant, applying broadly is going to remain necessary. So CASPA is probably a necessity  too....even if it seems like an evil one while you're using it.

 

I agree - it took long enough doing the supplemental for each program - I would have hated filling out the same grade/transcript info for 10 schools.  Plus if you apply separately, you'd likely feel pressure to tailor your PS to that school - meaning SEVERAL personal statements in addition to the school's extra questions.  Imagine trying to get your references to submit to multiple places or to give you 10 LORs each sealed and signed so that you can mail them with your app to the school - I'd be embarrassed to even ask someone to do that much work!  Heaven forbid if you had to apply a second or third year.

 

The initial fee to apply to one school was lofty, but each additional school at $45 (when I applied) wasn't that outrageous, in my opinion.  I was more displeased with paying to have my GRE submitted 10 times but technically all to CASPA - if they could streamline that it would be impressive.  If the school requires the scores directly that's a different issue.

 

I think the majority of people don't have issues with CASPA (or how CASPA calculates grades).

[bothomas]

Good points.

 

 

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[lanime]

And... Drum roll please... NP programs are starting to use NCAS (which is CASPA for NP school).

[alyssapoland]

I read through this whole thread and found it very useful.

 

Although, I keep asking myself...how do you stagger admissions? 

 

I guess I never realized or thought about doing that.

 

For example, the only thing I hope I have to input after submitting my app is my GRE score, which I take on June 1st. If there is a school that requires all materials to be submitted the first time, would I just wait to add that school when my GRE score is officially resulted?

 

Sorry if that was a confusing way to ask my question...