Pre-PA question

[chrivers]

Hey guys, I wanted to see if anybody has ever heard of someone getting into PA school with a low overall GPA but a high Science GPA? In my case, my first years of college were an utter disaster! I had a major that i hated (engineering - trying to please parents- ugh!) and to top it off, I had a poor attitude. Needless to say, failed lots of classes, got D's and C's in courses like history, art, etc.., and you get the idea... I ended up withdrawing from college and coming back a few years later as a different person... I picked up Biology as my new major, and completely rocked it... I graduated with a major GPA of about 3.8. I didnt get anything below a B in all my science courses and have mostly A's in all my prereq's for PA school.... My science GPA is high (3.8) but my overall GPA is borderline horrendous since my my initial years of poor academic performance weight it down tremendously... my overall according to CASPA calculation (i did it myself) is about a 2.5, since they count every class ever taken and they dont take grade replacements....I have made my calculations and it would take literaly 95 credits of A grades to raise that GPA to 3.0, yikes!!! I have not taken my GRE's or my MCATS just yet.... Any Advice fo me?!!  I have considered DO schools however I really want to be a PA!!

note: ( I currently work full time as a Phlebotomist/Medical Assistant in a huge medical practice consisting of MDs, DOs, PAs and ARNPs, so i meet all the HCE needed)

 

Thanks!!

[RealWayPA]

You are in the same position as I was 4 years ago! Unfortunately, you will most likely need to go back to school to raise your GPA if you want to be able to apply as a competitive applicant to a large number of schools. I ended up taking over 80 post-bacc credits to raise my GPA from a 2.7 to a 3.15. Unfortunately, this is the cross we bear. There might be another way to get in, like having a prolific amount of HCE (more than 10K hours), but for the vast majority of applicants like you and me, significantly raising your GPA is the only way to get competitive.