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Hello all, I'm brand new to this forum. I graduated with a degree in biology and a gpa of 3.52, and was planning to go to medical school the whole way through, while also thinking a lot about PA school. I was ready to apply to med school while I was finishing college, but decided to take some time away from the academic environment to make sure I really wanted to do med school. After almost a year of soul-searching, researching and deliberation (in addition to the last 4 years), I have finally decided that PA is a more appropriate career path for me. I had a great mcat score (93%) and I had all of the volunteer and leadership experience to make me a competitive applicant for med school. Now that I'm looking at PA schools, I need to get my direct patient care hours, take anatomy and physiology (I didn't do the whole series since medical schools don't require it), possibly take statistics, and possibly take the GRE. I have 400 hours of MA experience (not certified). I know the doctor personally and worked there for 4 months, I learned a lot but it was a very disorganized clinic. I have about 200 hours working as an EMT-B. I'm wondering if I should keep working as an EMT for a year and apply for the 2021 cycle once I take anatomy and physiology at my community college. I've looked at a lot of threads on the internet and from what I've found, paramedic is the best prep for being a PA; things like, "they were a head and shoulders above the rest of their class," and "they were very experienced with patient assessments and had great clinical presence." I've also heard that it's unnecessary and a distraction if your end goal is PA. I want to be a paramedic and get real experience doing more advanced patient assessments, but it would push PA school at least 2 years back since I'd want to work for at least a year to make it worth it. Being an EMT entails a lot of driving and sitting around the station, and when I do get patient contacts, I'm not in charge unless it's a stable (BLS) patient. Should I take the time to become a paramedic and get really good experience or should I get as many EMT hours as possible in a year and then apply? Also, do schools look at how many hours I've worked or do they need to know how much time I spent doing patient care, versus driving and sitting around the station, and how do I record that? My other main question is whether I should take the GRE or just rely on my MCAT score and not apply to "GRE required" schools. I live in CA and would like to stay in California, or at least in the west (CA, OR, WA, CO, AZ, NV, NM). This might be a question for a separate thread. I know this is a lot, but it's pretty much everything on my mind right now, please feel free to only answer a portion of it if you want. Thanks so much for the help!

Tufts mentions GRE percentile > 60% on each section under "Achievement of the class of 2019." They also state "Applicants are encouraged to have overall GRE scores above the 50thpercentile" under GRE Requirement. I scored 154 (54th percentile) on quant but 148 (38th percentile) on verbal. I was planning to apply and already sent my GRE scores to them but I'm not sure if they will evaluate my application based on my GRE scores. I have 3000 hours of PCE and ongoing, meet all the min requirements and GPA of 3.69. I do not plan on retaking the GRE test again as this is the only school that I am concerned of in terms of GRE. Should I apply to Tufts? Achievements of the Class of 2019 METRIC GOAL SUCCESS Admissions Undergraduate GPA >3.3 3.60 Prerequisite GPA >3.2 3.61 GRE Percentiles (Q/V) >60% for each 64% / 76% Patient Care Hours >1000 2355 (avg.) Academic Performance Class average cumulative GPA >3.2 3.75 Successful completion of all clinical rotations 100% Pass rate 100%

I have a Bachelors and MPhil in Environmental Sciences. I got married young and have two kids at 27. I am planning to get back to my studies, as both of them are off to school. I want to apply for Physician assistant program, but I would like to know my chances. I have been working as a freelance research assistant for four years. I have worked on medical and scientific papers. I am a good student and have always done well in studies. I am planning to start with Prereqs because even though my degree covers some subjects, I don't want to risk my chances by using an old degree. Also, I am not good at math and have started working on my GRE. The only drawback of my situation is that we only have two universities nearby, offering this program. I know I have very slim chances and have been told repeatedly that I might not get in, but I still want to try. I'll really appreciate your suggestions.

Selling my Magoosh Premium, it expires July 30, 2019.

Hey all, So I started studying for the GRE earlier this month. I subscribed to Magoosh and have been using their 3 month plan and am currently finishing week 2. I'm REALLY struggling with the Quant sections. I'm talking like the basic math concepts. I know that it is fairly early in prep to be freaking out, but I am basically getting every single quant question wrong. I'm not dumb....I just didn't take school seriously from elementary school through high school (when you learn basically all the math topics on the GRE) and now it's biting me in the butt. I'm planning on taking the GRE the second week of April and applying this cycle as well. Is this enough time to study? Has anyone experienced similar sentiments about this section and if so, how did you overcome it? Does Magoosh get better? My goal is a 305 for the 2 part. Verbal I am not concerned about. So many questions and uncertainties. I could really use some advice and support.

Hello~ I just graduated from undergrad and am currently preparing for PA and my patient care hours. I have some time before I start my medical assistant program and was debating if I should take my GRE’s while I remember a lot of the material that will be one the test. However, I’m a little hesitant because I know GRE scores are valid for 5 years and so thinking about the timeline I have, it seems a little tight. Medical assistant program: ~1 year Working for patient care hours: ~1.5-2 years Applying to PA schools: ~1-3 years (because I know that getting in on the first try is very difficult) It’d be great for anyone who’s a bit farther along on the PA track to give me some advice on when it may be good to take the GRE’s. Thank you~~

Hey guys! So I have a question about CASPA and ETS. On my CASPA profile there are a few schools that are missing from schools that have received my GRE score but according to ETS, the scores have been received by all the schools that I entered. Should I resend the score or contact the Admissions Representative to see if they did receive my scores?

Hey Guys & Gals, I just took the GRE today and did not do well at all. 150 for verbal and 138(kill me please) for quant. I was expecting to get into the 50% but clearly, I was not successful with the quant. I think the combination of not doing math or a long time + time anxiety + failure to adequately prepare are the reasons while I did so poorly. I am sure my dog could have done better and his skills are limited to sitting and smiling... Some basic info: Age 31 Associates GPA 2.8 Science GPA 3.3 BS GPA 3.72 My patient care experience is a little over 23,000* hours: *Not included 2 years as a volunteer EMT covering 36 hours a week of a small town 3,744 as a Paramedic 9,360 as a respiratory therapist (ED, NICU, PICU, SICU, Neuro-ICU, MICU, CVICU) 10,000+ as a combined flight respiratory therapist and a flight paramedic. Directors of both the ED and Acute Care Surgery wrote letters of recommendation I am not sure what to do right now... While the school I applied to requires the GRE, they don't have a minimum threshold and only recommend that you are above 50% to be competitive. They did report that the middle 60% percent of the class scored between 30-67% on the Quant portion of the GRE's. To me, that suggests that the GRE has little emphasis in the overall review of the application. I am not sure if I should call and speak to either my admissions counselor or if I should speak to the director of admissions to ask for advice. The priority deadline for the application is July 1st and the final deadline is September 1st. I am not sure if I should call and ask them to place a hold on the application, make a note that I will take the GRE exam in the next month, or if repeating the GRE is even necessary in the grand scheme of my application. I do want to take the GRE again, but my only issue is the cost of the repeat test plus the cost of an online prep will set me back a small sum of money. I am frustrated at myself, not sure what to do, and I am looking for any guidance or advice others can give. Please send help Kyle

I am having difficulty deciding whether or not I should retake the GRE or not. I am not a fan of these tests, nor do I like having to pay $200+ to take it so I need an honest opinion if you think I should retake it or not. 4 out of the 6 schools I am applying to require the GRE with no minimums, but their averages are around 300-306. The other 2 schools do not require it at all. 1 of those schools is the school I received my B.S. from, and they give preference to previous alumni (giving me a higher likeliness to get in there). I also just received my B.S. and will have 1 gap year at least between undergrad and PA school. GRE SCORE= 293 Quant: 148 Verbal: 145 Writing: 4.0 GPA Cumulative: 3.73 Science: 3.73 Experience Research: 90+ Biochemistry research with antioxidants. PCE: 600hrs (I was a CNA at a long-term care facility for 560 of those hours and now I am working full time as a Medical Assistant at a Primary Care office allowing me to gain 40+ hours a week of PCE, which I will add to my application). HCE= 2,300 hrs as a patient transporter in a hospital. Shadow= 90 hrs in 7 different fields of medicine. Volunteer= 42 hrs (soup kitchen, special olympics, american red cross blood drives, MAPA) LOR (4 total) 2 PA's I shadowed (both alumni of my alma mater's PA school and they are both still involved with their PA school), my previous patient transport supervisor, and my research professor. Memberships Pre-PA club MAPA (Michigan Academy of Physician Assistants) I am not sure if I am missing anything. Let me know if you want more information to help me make this decision. I would have to retake the test within the next couple of weeks so that I could submit my application mid-June. This would not give me much time to prepare for my retake. I also have only done a crash course of youtube videos and free Kaplan bootcamps to prepare for the GRE, and this was all before my previous attempt at the end of April 2018. I do not want to waste the time and money if you guys think I would still be competitive at the schools that require the GRE. Thanks for your input!

Follow this link: https://gre.magoosh.com/invite/5F7JDH to get $10 off Magoosh GRE prep when you sign up! It's automatically discounted when you check out, but only if you follow this link! Magoosh really helped me get the score I needed for PA school and I wanted to share this with website to all my Pre-PA friends! Hope this works for you!

Hi everyone! I am in need of some advice. I applied last CASPA cycle with the GRE score of 150Q/149V and was rejected. I am reapplying this cycle and retook my GRE today-received 155Q/147V (very upset about verbal) and was wondering if I should use this score for this cycle or retake again, spending another $200. The score is over 300, but does not meet the 50% for each section. A little about me: Graduated from Texas State University 2016 major/minor- biology/biochemistry cGPA-3.8, sGPA-3.8 HCE- 250 hrs volunteer at a hospital, Other volunteer-75 hrs PCE- around 2,500 hrs as a CNA in med/surg Shadowing- 80 hrs MD, 100 hrs Emergency Room PA LOR-asking PA, nursing director at work, previous employer

Two questions! 1) Does anyone have experience with retaking the GRE? My unofficial verbal reasoning score was wonderful, but I need to up my quant score. Will it look badly if I skip the sections I've already done well in for a program that takes the best scores from multiple tests (this may be program-dependent, just wanted to throw this q out there). 2) Has anyone's official "scaled" GRE score been different than the score noted on your screen the day of the exam?

I went to a school my freshman year and did terribly, changed my major a couple of times and later transferred. Stats: cGPA: 2.5 sGPA: 3.8 GRE: 328 HCE: 6,000 + hrs (Nurse Assistant) Shadowing: 0 (in progress) Several leadership positions Some volunteering (10 hrs. Still in progress)

I'm considering retaking it simply due to the 149 on the verbal, but what do you guys think? My oGPA is 3.47 and my sGPA is 3.33. Verbal: 149; Percentile: 43% Quantitative: 156; Percentile: 62% Analytical Writing: 4.0; Percentile: 60%

Hi There! Today I took my first GRE. 149 (42%) Verbal and 156 (62%) Quant. I have a solid GPA in both overall and science, both 3.6. I work as a medical scribe as well as a nurse assistant. I will have about 1000+ hours of experience by the time I apply for the 2018-2019 application cycle. Additionally, I have 50+ hours of PA shadowing. I have confirmed recommendation letters from a PA, MD and 2 upper level science course professors. I am currently in my gap year finishing up pre-reqs and trying to get as much patient care experience. I felt I was on a good track until todays GRE scores. I feel confident that I am in the 50th percentile at least on the writing portion (still pending score... also knock on wood). Need some opinions on whether my current GRE scores are a make or break for me. Combined 305, but don't have the often recommended 50th percentile in BOTH categories. Also, if you suggest retaking it... how do I improve on verbal? I have been studying for the GRE for about 3 weeks and really struggle with verbal, additionally I feel as if I run out of time. Help!

Took it for the first time today after using Magoosh for 2 months. 153Q, 160V. I’m awful at math so I’m honestly happy with the 153Q lol. Should I be satisfied with what I got or retake? Really don’t want to if I don’t have to, studying for this exam was not fun haha.

I'm applying for the first time next cycle and was wondering will I receive automatic rejection with a poor GRE? I've always done poorly on standardized tests and really don't want to waste money on another GRE. Q 147 (27%), V 151 (52%), AW 4.0 (60%) However I have a 3.87 GPA and a 3.80 scGPA from Drexel. 200 Volunteer hrs (soup kitchen and transitional housing for homeless women and children) 1000 Direct Patient contact as a CNA in long term care + acute rehab 500 research hours at fox chase cancer center 32 combined hours shadowing a derm PA and an ortho PA My question is, will the schools who require the GRE trash my application seeing a GRE below 300? I want to make it to the interview phase.

So I am currently a medical technologist generalist. I do pretty much everything in our hospital's main clinical lab: chemistry, rapid serology, blood banking, micro planting, urinalysis, coagulation and hematology. I do not do phlebotomy and I have no direct patient care in my job. I have been working here for 7 months (started 2 days after undergrad graduation), and I plan to stay here until the spring to make it a full year before I look for a job doing direct patient care. I have my EMT cert and some volunteer experience. My question is, considering that soon I'll have 2,000 hours of HCE, how many hours of direct patient care should I accumulate before I apply to PA schools/when should I apply? Other info: Studying for the GRE now to take it in December (Tips would be appreciated! Math is my trouble area.) 3.9 GPA Shadowed 3 different PAs for a total of roughly 30 hours, continuing to shadow.

Hello, I am a senior college student aiming to obtain my bachelor of science in Biology this coming spring (May 2018). I've recently decided to pursue the PA profession and would like an idea of how I would look upon application, though I don't plan on applying until April 2019. I would like to build my application more before I apply. Any suggestions/advice on what I should do and how I'd look upon applying would be great. Planned graduating cGPA: 3.58-3.61 Current cGPA: 3.53 Planned sGPA: 3.59-3.64 Current sGPA: 3.59 Planned HCE upon application: 2,200 Current HCE: 1,500 (Not accurate for all school because this includes volunteering and non-direct patient care healthcare experiences. Plan on getting EMT-B upon graduation and work fulltime for a year before applying. Planned Shadowing hours upon graduation: 200+ Current Shadowing hours: ~50-100 Planned GRE: 310 ( Quant: 155 Verb: 155) Will take this coming summer after graduation. I know these stats are not accurate but I am pretty confident about these predicted stats. Are these good goals? Or do I need more for a particular area? Also, should I retake these classes, that I've received not so great grades in?: General Chem I : 2.5 Medical Terminology: 2.5 College Algebra: 2.0 (I did algebra in highschool and the other two my freshman year. I wasn't very focused then but I show an upward trend. Thanks for any advice!

I've posted a lot but I don't think I've ever given my stats. I haven't graduated yet, but I'm anticipating the following stats, and I'm curious of what people think of my chances. I'm being as realistic as possible, from taking practice GREs, calculating my highest GPA possible and dropping it some, as well as LOR/LOEs Schools applying to are Duke, UNC, ECU, Wake, Wingate, MUSC, Campbell, Lenoir Rhyne, Gardner Webb, Elon, Presbyterian College, Charleston Southern, North Greenville University Bio undergrad, white male, 30 at application time cGPA: 3.4 sGPA: 3.5 GRE 300 HCE: EMT paid 2500 hours shadowing: 30 hours PA 3 LORs from 2 PAs and a professor Give me your thoughts, please and thank you.

Hey everyone. I have a question. I just took my GRE and received a raw score with a composite score equalling 305. I do not know the percentile or my essay section. Should I take it again because I received a 152 verb and 153 quant.

Hello all. I am taking my GRE on Friday and I am awfully nervous. Writing the narrative essay, this is the last thing I need for this April's application round. I am studying hard, but still feel unconfident. I am just wondering how many times can I take this exam without it causing an alarm with the reviewers of my application?

Hi there, I was hoping that someone could help answer this one on Stanford and retaking GRE exam. I know that you are required to submit your Stanford application through CASPA by September 1st, but does that mean you have to submit your GRE scores by that date? Intuitively the answer seems obvious but I have read that you can take/retake the GRE after that September 1st deadline and update your scores on CASPA. The updated scores will then be sent to the programs you've applied to. While I've already sent preliminary scores to Stanford, I'm planning on re-taking the GRE and am wondering what the latest date I can take it is. I apologize if this discussion has already occurred but I could not track it down. Any links officially describing this timeline would be great. Thanks in advance for your time,

So I just took my GRE and did not get a very desirable grade. 145 on both qual & verbal. I don't have my writing score yet. I can take it again in 21 days but that is going into 4 weeks before the September 1st deadline. I would hate for this test to hold me back from getting into a PA program. I would also hate to miss the deadline and have no chance of getting in anywhere. Should I submit my application now and retake it as soon as I can and them submit my CASPA application?

Hello, I'm currently applying to a few PA schools and am worried about my GRE score. My verbal is low- 148 (38th percentile), quantitative- 159 (73rd percentile), and analytical- 4.0 (59th percentile). If I am planning on applying to a couple competitive schools like Duke and George Washington, would it be better to retake to get a higher verbal score? Which score is more important the verbal or quant? I have over 1000 hours of direct patient care from medical volunteer trips as well as working as a PCT and 1000 hours in general HCE, volunteering and shadowing. My overall is 3.79 (unsure about science gpa but majored in Biology). I really appreciate any feedback! Thanks so much!