Quite a few Ws/Repeats

[Breathefire123]

Hello all,

First and foremost, I'd like to say thank you for the forum. I've been a lurker for a few months while trying to decide on my future.

Secondly, I'd like to say that I haven't decided if PA is the career for me just yet, but after a bit of shadowing/research, I find it fascinating.

 

Anyway, I'll try to make this short.

I had gone through a lot of stuff for three semesters. I failed/withdrew from a few classes (I have One F in calc, One C- in chem, and 7 Ws). However, my most recent semester I pulled off a 3.6 GPA including a B+ in Chem and an A in calc, so I can definitely do it. The reason for my Ws/bad grades is that I had some mental and physical health problems. It took me 3 semesters as well as losing 110 pounds to finally get my act together. It's worth noting that of my 7 Ws, four of them came in one semester (I medically withdrew from the semester, as well as one of my other Ws being listed as a medical withdrawal). 

I guess my only question would be how negatively this will impact me. My transcript will say medical withdrawal on five of my 7 Ws, and wherever I do end up applying, I only want to briefly touch on how it made me a better person (losing the weight was probably the hardest thing I've ever done). Be as brutally honest as you have to be of course, because you guys may save me some trouble in the future! 

Thank you all for your responses and honesty,

Breathefire

[Guest MedLib42]

Withdrawals seem to matter to some schools, and not so much to others. I had a ton of them, and never had a problem getting interviews or acceptances. In your case, since you have a medical reason, I would think you'd be fine, but I would strongly suggest talking about this (probably give it more than just a brief mention) in your personal statement. You'll also want to make sure you've retaken any classes you've done poorly in (I see you retook calc, but I'd retake the chem class too if you haven't already). Two retakes isn't awful.

 

Make sure your overall cumulative and science GPAs are above the minimums required by the schools you're applying to (far enough above the minimums to be competitive), and mention the medical issues in your personal statement. If you need the boost, you might also want to consider taking some more difficult non-prerequisite upper level science classes (try for at least a B+) to prove you can handle a more difficult science curriculum. Assuming the rest of your app also looks good (HCEs, LORs, and all the rest) you will probably be fine.

[Breathefire123]

Thanks for your response!

My advisor, before I dropped, assured me that any grad school that saw a full semester of Ws, as well as just bad grades around it, they wouldn't hold it against me especially if I do well consistently afterwards.

 

I will definitely look into higher up classes. I am already planning on orgo 1&2, which a lot of the PA schools in my area don't require. So that should help.

[cinntsp]

Spin it in a positive way on your personal statement.  Talk briefly about how you had health issues that needed to be tackled and that you're a much happier and healthier person because of it.  Don't make it the highlight of your PS but not acknowledging it will hurt you.  The further that you can academically distance yourself from that time period, the better.  Continue taking classes to push those poor grades and Ws further away.  Despite what your advisor said, many schools will hold this against you, so keep improving and apply broadly.

[Z PA-C]

My friend got an F in calc, C's in 3 or 4 classes, and 10 W's and just started PA school at WesternU. They are one of the few programs that uses grade replacement.

[Disciple3]

I just got an interview invite with Calc repeated 3 times the last grade being an F.  Some C's in chemistry courses.  That being said it was years ago as a freshman/sophomore.  Keep up the good grades from now on for the rest of pre requisites or higher level science courses.  Make your grades show a positive trend up to a 4.0 and it shows how you've grown as a person and a student.  Also would encourage becoming an EMT or ED technician for HCE as these provide the best patient contact (direct assessments, patient management, etc.)  Focus on schools mission statements and physically go to these places and reach out to the people.  If I hadn't done this I know my application would've been left in the pile.  Whether you say you can or you can't, you are usually right.