pm504 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I currently have a 2.69 with and will be graduating next semester. College has been VERY difficult for me due to; financial issues, depression, and for some time homelessness while continuing to go to school. I have had to work full-time since my sophomore year in to support myself. With that being said I would like to raise my GPA to a 3.0 to meet the basic requirment to apply. I current have: 2800 scribe hours 100 ED volunteer hours Held positions in 2 school clubs (consistently for 4 years) I am looking at schools that will begin in the Spring semester of 2016, thus giving myseslf time to being up my GPA. Does anyone have any other suggestions that may help me out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Bars Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I have one suggestion: Go to nursing school. Get straight A's. Raise your GPA to 3.0 or higher and get a nursing license. Work for a year or two. Than apply to either PA school or NP school. That is the way forward that I see for you with a your current GPA. And if you don't make it, you'll still be a nurse. Nursing is a broad and diverse profession - you don't have to work in a hospital if you don't want to. I plan on going into public health nursing myself if I can't get into PA school this year or the next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nonlegit Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I have one suggestion: Go to nursing school. Get straight A's. Raise your GPA to 3.0 or higher and get a nursing license. Work for a year or two. Than apply to either PA school or NP school. That is the way forward that I see for you with a your current GPA. And if you don't make it, you'll still be a nurse. Nursing is a broad and diverse profession - you don't have to work in a hospital if you don't want to. I plan on going into public health nursing myself if I can't get into PA school this year or the next. I hate to contribute nothing to OP here but I disagree with this advice. In my experience nursing school is not super easy to get into. Overall, easier yes. Its just not the layup people pretend it is. The average matriculant at my mid-tier state school BSN program has a 3.73 (not positive but pretty sure) in their pre-req coursework. To OP, lots of people have lots of ways to approach this...and much of it depends on your station in life and your future goals, etc etc. I'm not gonna really take a crack at it other than to say...if I were you, would I have a much better option? Probably not. Gotta raise the GPA. Get one of those calculators from google and figure out what its going to take, and be honest with yourself - do you want to do it. ETA: 3.69 pre-req, 3.74 overall. And the crappy ADN-machine schools have waitlists years long at times. Good luck OP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Bars Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 The ADN program near where I live is well thought of, and they require a 2.7 counting only the prerequisites. They do have a two year waiting list. The BSN program nearby does require a 3.0 GPA for all college work. I'm suggesting that you work towards something that will get you some kind of a health care license so that you can get a job even if PA school doesn't happen right away (or ever). Could consider rad tech or respiratory therapist or occupational therapy or something. I think you will have to have a stepping stone career and more education to raise that GPA. Hopefully you're younger than I am. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nonlegit Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 The ADN program near where I live is well thought of, and they require a 2.7 counting only the prerequisites. They do have a two year waiting list. The BSN program nearby does require a 3.0 GPA for all college work. I'm suggesting that you work towards something that will get you some kind of a health care license so that you can get a job even if PA school doesn't happen right away (or ever). Could consider rad tech or respiratory therapist or occupational therapy or something. I think you will have to have a stepping stone career and more education to raise that GPA. Hopefully you're younger than I am. Good luck! I didn't mean to so totally disagree with you. This is not an awful plan for sure. Just make sure that whatever option you persue, do it with your eyes open. Know that the waiting list (presumably for good applicants) at the ADN school is 2 years. Potentially time you could rehab your grades for PA school. The minimum for Lemon Bar's BSN program is 3.0...again minimum. Let me put it this way: in the last few locales I have lived in, there were enough people struggling to gain acceptance into nursing that it might give you pause to avoid fruitlessly chasing down two goals when your energy maybe better spent on one alone. What I do not disagree with, is using a(ny) health field as a step towards PA school. You may not be a shoe-in for RN school, but you could probably get your EMT-B for college credit, and then turn around and go back to P school (for college credit)...now you have a job getting valuable experience, and hopefully got all A's along the way. All that would be left is to redo your pre-reqs. Not an impossible task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm7sus4 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Nursing school is as competetive as it has ever been. pm504, your best bet is to pursue more studies...second degree, post-bacc, masters...which is heavy on the science, and knock the classes out of the park. It will be tough getting into any professional medical program with a sub-3.0 gpa. Perhaps a stellar GRE score would help you out. Adcoms will look to other parts of your application to see if you are a good fit for their program; if you have some kind of amazing hce or other life event that could help you...it's not fun to hear but, although PA schools look fairly easy to get into, it is incredibly competetive. Some schools receive over 1000 applications for less than 100 seats. I was an academic bum at one point in my life and had no hope of even community college; it took many years and military service, but I built a cv that is fairly competetive. I'm not saying that you should join the military, but it is in your best interest to either 1) push it off for a bit while you get things straightened out or 2) push through it with grad work or another degree. The thing is, your gpa and stats may be indicative that you are not ready for something like PA school. I know very little upon which to make this judgement, but it is something to consider. I know it's tough to hear, but two possible, converse future scenarios could be something like 1) you get burnt out trying to apply for x number of schools and getting rejected/waitlisted, and consequently give up, or 2) take a breather for a year or two, and come back at it full force, prove yourself through further academics, and get into one of your top 5 schools on the first application cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pm504 Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 I have one suggestion: Go to nursing school. Get straight A's. Raise your GPA to 3.0 or higher and get a nursing license. Work for a year or two. Than apply to either PA school or NP school. That is the way forward that I see for you with a your current GPA. And if you don't make it, you'll still be a nurse. Nursing is a broad and diverse profession - you don't have to work in a hospital if you don't want to. I plan on going into public health nursing myself if I can't get into PA school this year or the next. I was actually thinking about nursing school as I could eventually transition into a NP program. However, most nursing schools require 3.0 GPA as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pm504 Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 First I want to thank you all for your responses. Raising my GPA is the only way my dream a PA school will work. I could go to my university for another semester or maybe try a 1-year post bacc. Does CASPA factor in post bacc grades ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patho Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 There are schools that accept GPAs less then 3.0. In addition, there are schools that will look at the last 60 credits. Complete your prereqs as part of these 60 credits, take it slow if you need to, but you need to do very well. Take them at a CC as they are cheap, or you could even get them paid for if your employer has tuition reimbursement. Go on PAEA website and search for these schools. Its possible to get accepted. And get some PA shadowing hours, how? Work for a hospital or healthcare system and look them up using your internal email and ask them. Or work with some. I don't know how many classes you've taken, but it took me 12 credits to raise my GPA from 3.3 to 3.4. It could be a long road if you are looking to have a 3.0 GPA. GOOD LUCK! And g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Bars Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 I don't know how many classes you've taken, but it took me 12 credits to raise my GPA from 3.3 to 3.4. It could be a long road if you are looking to have a 3.0 GPA. GOOD LUCK! And g Yes it is very hard to raise your GPA once you have a lot of credits. To get to 3.0 it will take one A to balance out every C grade you have, and two A's to balance out any D's. And in case you weren't aware, CASPA uses ALL of your grades to calculate GPA, you can't erase a bad grade by retaking the course; both grades will factor into your GPA. This is not going to be a quick fix, which I why I suggested taking course that will count for another career in case you can't get into PA school. I had a 2.70 when I graduated from college (MANY years ago) with a degree in Economics. I had to take all the pre-requisites and numerous other courses - 81 units past the bachelor's degree with a post bac GPA of 3.85 and my overall GPA now stands at 3.13. This would be a huge gamble except that I've also fulfilled all pre-requisites for nursing school (or RT school). I do have a few credits in unrelated stuff like creative writing, but I just want you to get an idea of how many classes with high grades it takes to raise a GPA. If you have fulfilled your health care pre-requisites you could probably get into an LVN / LPN program (easier to get into than an RN program), then do a step up program to RN/BSN, and from there to a PA or NP program. Keep looking around because you do have options. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Bars Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 First I want to thank you all for your responses. Raising my GPA is the only way my dream a PA school will work. I could go to my university for another semester or maybe try a 1-year post bacc. Does CASPA factor in post bacc grades ? Post bacc grades count. All your undergraduate and post bacc grades are lumped together, including both grades if you've taken the same course twice. One year of straight A's is not going to be enough to get to 3.0, but two years might do it, depending on how many units you take. You could possibly become an LVN or even RN in the same amount of time it takes to do a two year post bacc (A post bacc which could be worthless if you don't get into PA school). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pm504 Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 Does anyone know how CASPA factors in PASS or FAIL credits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiggySRNA Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 If I'm not mistaking, credits are given for "pass" but no letter grade is given for non-science courses...on the other hand, getting a F will be factored in and you will not be granted any credit(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ppatel428 Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 well im a senior in undergrad and have a 2.95 gpa and was thinking of finishing up my bachelors degree in economics and then applying to post bacc programs to raise my gpa to get into pa school but wanted to see if i would be able to get my gpa upto a 3.5 i dont have any D's or F's but i do have some C's in both science and non science courses. would doing a post bacc help me make up for the C's i have gotten? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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