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I decided to become pre-pa last summer (of 2016), so I was a little late in the game in deciding to become pre-pa (I want to apply this summer). I'm good with pre-reqs, GPA, and GRE, and I got a job as a CNA PRN in November 2016 in a nursing home. If I work hard I can just barely get 500 hours before applying in May.

I just wanted people's opinions on whether it's worth it to work myself so hard (I have a very full semester at college. I'm currently a junior graduating in the Fall) to apply to the minimum 500 hour schools like Drexel and UTSA. It would kill me a little bit if I worked so hard to hit that number and get no interviews from the schools that required it.

 

Any opinions welcome! Thanks!

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Put it this way;

 

You will be compared to others with as little as 0 PCE to thousands of PCE. At the interview, everyone is considered equal. 

 

The field is ridiculously competitive and you want to make sure you're competitive across the board if you want a better chance of getting in on your first try.

 

Why not take a gap year and work before applying? I personally chose this route. I could have applied 2015-2016 cycle with 700 PCE (but I considered that a major weakness). Instead I waited until this cycle (2016-2017) to apply with over 3K PCE.

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I'm completely prepared to take a year if need be, but I figured I would try my hardest and apply to a few schools this cycle just to see how I do. From what I hear if you apply early enough you have a decent shot.

 

I thought the same thing...even when I had 2K+ PCE. I submitted my CASPA to majority of my schools around May. Received my first interview offer in November and another last week. Still waiting on the other 5....then again everyone receive different results I suppose. Just be cautious when it comes to spending money.

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I'm completely prepared to take a year if need be, but I figured I would try my hardest and apply to a few schools this cycle just to see how I do. From what I hear if you apply early enough you have a decent shot.

Wait. Work this year. Accumulate HCE. Learn more about the field and what you want to do. Get better letters of recommendation. Write a great statement of purpose when you have time to actually think and get it edited multiple times.

 

You will be much more prepared by the time the next application cycle begins.

 

No need to heap on all the added stress of applying to a busy time for you.

 

Work hard, but slow down for now. You are going to have decades of work ahead of you.

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Just apply and update your hours as you earn them.. don't waste a year if you don't have to

With the way your final semester in college (graduating junior year!!!) sounds, I wouldn't think that OP is really able to put sufficient focus on any one thing. Life is sometimes busy and there is nothing you can do about it. Just put your head down and keep moving. But then there are times when you really ought to give yourself more space and less pressure.

 

My advice: if you have the choice, apply when you are fresh and when you have time to really focus on your Statement letters. If you have good letter of recommendation, then they will be there next year, too. Don't let a rushed application also be the reason your final coursework grades suffer. Finish well, but don't add too much onto yourself. Seriously, you will be working for the rest of your life. I could be wrong (because your original post seems to hit home for me), but it seems you are trying to push and catch up to something. But as a 20/21 year old there is nothing that you need to be catching up to.

 

You are clearly working hard and that is beneficial/honorable in its own right. But seriously, enjoy college for the remaining time that you have. You will never get that experience back. Once you are done, you are done. Graduate school, whether humanities or the sciences, will never be like your undergraduate experience. Life is different and you have more responsibilities. Sorry for sounding like an old fart--I am on my way to being one.

 

I will end it with this: the biggest problem I see with adding too much on in order to meet the next deadline is that it is really difficult to know when to stop looking for the next thing. Yes, be focused and work hard, but also try to anticipate when it is time to stop and be where you are and get really good in that place/in that job.

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I'm completely prepared to take a year if need be, but I figured I would try my hardest and apply to a few schools this cycle just to see how I do. From what I hear if you apply early enough you have a decent shot.

 

If that's your plan of action, that's fine.  It's your money to spend.

 

But you need to be prepared to get no interviews and/or get no acceptances.  The process is grueling and kills the ego of nearly everyone who applies.  If it will 'kill you a little' to apply to schools with the MINIMUM HCE and not get interviews, either don't apply there or manage your expectations.  Having the MINIMUM does NOT guarantee an interview.  Ever.  Anywhere.

 

Also, applying early is always recommended.  But if you don't have a strong app (i.e only 500 hrs of HCE) no amount of applying early will give you a leg up. Applying early does not compensate for gaps in an application.

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I decided to become pre-pa last summer (of 2016), so I was a little late in the game in deciding to become pre-pa (I want to apply this summer). I'm good with pre-reqs, GPA, and GRE, and I got a job as a CNA PRN in November 2016 in a nursing home. If I work hard I can just barely get 500 hours before applying in May.

I just wanted people's opinions on whether it's worth it to work myself so hard (I have a very full semester at college. I'm currently a junior graduating in the Fall) to apply to the minimum 500 hour schools like Drexel and UTSA. It would kill me a little bit if I worked so hard to hit that number and get no interviews from the schools that required it.

 

Any opinions welcome! Thanks!

 

 

I'm going to give you a different answer than the other people on this forum did. I'm only doing this because of my experience. This is my first year applying. I only have roughly 100 hours of direct patient contact coming from clinical research. I applied to 3 schools and received interview invites from 2 of them. Both of these schools had over 1000 applicants and interviewed only 300 or less. Therefore, with even 500 hours, you will be in a much better place than I am. However, I have significant volunteer hours, a high GPA, and I believe I wrote a great personal statement. It's totally up to you whether you apply or not. It's your money. The interviews gave me a good deal of experience, so that if I don't get in this year, I will be fully prepared for next cycle.

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I'm going to give you a different answer than the other people on this forum did. I'm only doing this because of my experience. This is my first year applying. I only have roughly 100 hours of direct patient contact coming from clinical research. I applied to 3 schools and received interview invites from 2 of them. Both of these schools had over 1000 applicants and interviewed only 300 or less. Therefore, with even 500 hours, you will be in a much better place than I am. However, I have significant volunteer hours, a high GPA, and I believe I wrote a great personal statement. It's totally up to you whether you apply or not. It's your money. The interviews gave me a good deal of experience, so that if I don't get in this year, I will be fully prepared for next cycle.

 

You are likely an outlier; an exception to the rule.  Just keep that in mind.  There are no hard and fast rules for applying or interviews but there are absolutely trends.

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I'm going to give you a different answer than the other people on this forum did. I'm only doing this because of my experience. This is my first year applying. I only have roughly 100 hours of direct patient contact coming from clinical research. I applied to 3 schools and received interview invites from 2 of them. Both of these schools had over 1000 applicants and interviewed only 300 or less. Therefore, with even 500 hours, you will be in a much better place than I am. However, I have significant volunteer hours, a high GPA, and I believe I wrote a great personal statement. It's totally up to you whether you apply or not. It's your money. The interviews gave me a good deal of experience, so that if I don't get in this year, I will be fully prepared for next cycle.

Where did you apply to if you don't mind me asking?  (I don't have much PCH)

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I want to share with you my experiences applying to PA schools. I started late in the game during undergrad getting my HCE. I had to work really hard in one year to get the min HCE while also studying full time and participating in many of the activities I was involved in. By the time I submitted my CASPA (early July), I had around the minimum hours for many of the programs that I applied to (~1100 hours). At this time, I just graduated from college. My GRE scores were average. SGPA was ~3.6 and cGPA ~3.7. I had a lengthy list of both long and short-term extra-curricular activities and a variety of leadership roles. With my minimum HCE and being a fresh grad (applied 22 yrs old), I applied broadly to around 13-14 programs. I was fortunate to have been invited to interview to 12 of those programs and got accepted to 10 of them (some prestigious ones like Cornell, Yale, Duke, etc.). This was my first cycle applying.

 

I would say to not let your minimum HCE discourage you from applying. Do your best to stand out. For example, I listed my research in plant biology which drastically outweighed my HCE (felt a little weird to list ~4000 hrs of research experiences and then ~1000 for HCE). I'm not associated with any adcoms, but I want to believe these kinds of experiences helped me stand out. I also was able to integrate many of them into my PS, which took me SEVERAL drafts to complete.

Like what previous posters indicated, you will be compared to many applicants. Some will have several thousands of hours of experiences in the healthcare field. Understand your weaknesses in your application and try to strengthen as much as possible the other parts. In this case, extra-curricular activities, leadership, volunteer (this does not have to be healthcare-related, I volunteered for 1.5 years in a non-profit thrift store), a stellar personal statement, etc. Submit your application ASAP (I would suggest Mid-May to early June, if you can).



EDIT: Also, if you look in the accepted stats forum, you will see a good number of other applicants who got accepted into programs with minimum HCE.

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