Can I get into PA school if GPA is only 2.8?

[Lilcuriousity]

I have one more semester to finished my science pre-req before applying to PA school, but my current overall GPA is a 2.8. Can I still get into PA schools?

[Timon]

That depends on a whole bunch of factors. In a nutshell, I'm going to tell you to stay in school and raise your GPA to a 3.0. And this is speaking from personal experience having got into PA school with a sub 3.0 GPA. Your goal should be to raise it to a 3.3 to be competitive (with the avg accepted student stats), but a 3.0 at minimum because that is the required GPA for most programs just to be eligible to apply.

 

That being said, GPA is only 1 of many aspects PA programs look at when you apply. But if you don't meet the minimum required for admission, then you're wasting your time.

 

What do your other stats look like? Healthcare experience (hours), community service, grade trending (getting better / constant / downward trend), shadowing hours, leadership, service to underserved, military service, and etc?

[Lilcuriousity]

I am currently PA shadowing, and volunteering at hospital to gain clinical experiences. I'm trying really hard to raised my grade but it stays constant. I'm running out of idea on how to raised them up. I always get avarage grades.

[rev ronin]

Let me be a bit blunter than Timon was: You're not getting in with a 2.8 GPA, period. Oh, sure, there are some schools that allow for the theoretical possibility, but unless you have 20 years as a corpsman that you neglected to mention, that allowance isn't for you.

 

HCE accumulates, but GPA averages.  If you want to be a PA, you need to start getting a 4.0 from here on out, likely for a year or two worth of additional undergraduate credits, to have any chance of being considered by any PA school.

 

Timon did it--look up his other posts elsewhere--so it is possible... but you have to want it so bad that you're going to completely reorder your life around getting into PA school for years until you do.  Many people can't or won't do that.  Will you?  The choice is yours.

[Timon]

I'm trying really hard to raised my grade but it stays constant. I'm running out of idea on how to raised them up. I always get avarage grades.

Fix this. Find another way to not be average (2.80). You need to find a way to master the material that is being presented. Whatever it is that you're doing isn't working.

 

From an adcom stand point, you need to ask yourself "what makes me unique? What makes me marketable to a PA program? Why would a PA program choose me over someone with a 3.6 GPA and 3,500 hours of paid direct patient care, 40 hours of PA shadowing, a 300 GRE score, and 500 hours of community service?"

 

The applicant stats I mentioned are similar to what the AAPA states the average accepted PA student stats are currently.

 

Make a plan of attack. Your target should be to address all weak areas of your application and most importantly: meet the minimum required admission prerequisites.

 

When you want it bad enough that you can't sleep, you forget to eat, and all you want to succeed just as much as you want to breath, only then will you be successful. Don't make excuses. Find the problem, fix it, and get your reward.

 

Best of luck to you!

[Glorious_Ignoramus]

PA school is comprised largely of a barrage of very difficult medical courses in a short period of time which require absolute full time study.  The hard truth is that your GAP does not indicate that you can handle that level of coursework at this point.  Were I you, I would take one of two routes:

 

Enroll in advanced science coursework and start reeling off As.  It will take a number of semesters doing this to raise your GPA and show a positive upward trend academically.

 

or

 

Take a break and get a job which involves direct patient contact, spend some time gathering yourself and jump back into school when you feel that you are ready to put in the effort needed to get that GPA up.  In doing this, you will also accumulate many, many hours of paid HCE which is good thing.

 

This is not a short road, it is a long, expensive one.  In terms of time and monetary commitment, it has effectively become half of medical school, if not more.  It is also incredibly competitive, which is why you should not spend any cash applying right now.  In recent conversations with two separate physicians, I was told by each in their own respective terms that PA school is more difficult to get into than med school.  Whether or not this is really true, it should show you that it is no easy road, and you have a lot of work ahead of you.  Now is the time to decide exactly how badly you want this.

 

Best of luck to you.