Shazzy1228 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Hi guys, So I was pre-OT, but now have reconsidered the decision. OT seems to be limited to me. I wanted to have more patient interaction and it appears that PA's have that and they also have a broad scope of practice. Works for me! I also have an interest in researching pharmacologic treatments for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. So I am pumped to start the journey towards PA.....but there is a problem. My science gpa is extremely low(2.4). I still have yet to take microbiology, and anatomy&physiology, but it still too low. I have a lot of research experience(one publication) and I am certified pharmacy technician. I am wondering if I can do a post-back program to remedy the sgpa. The ones I have seen are for pre-med students. Do you think pre-PA students can still utilize these programs? My other thought was to complete a MS in Biomedical Sciences to boost the gpa. Need some advice. I also plan to move to hospital pharmacy. I am hoping to do in-patient. Will count towards HCE? Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thirteen44 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I'm not sure about the formal post-bacc programs, but you can do an "informal one" - this is what I did because I had none of the prerequisites so I basically returned for a second degree that was nearly all science except for the random core courses I need to actually graduate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious_Ignoramus Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 The very first step in the process is to get some quality HCE under your belt. There is no other way to know whether or not you really want to treat patients. From reading your post - and I understand I could be very wrong in this assumption - you have not really grasped this yet. Treating patients as a provider is different than what you would do as an OT. We're talking the difference between medicine and therapy, i.e. two very different treatment modalities. Before you invest any time in pre-reqs I highly suggest finding HCE to establish whether or not a true interest is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmood Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Any student can go through a post-bacc program. You're not committing yourself to medical school by doing that. It would be worth knowing how many classes make up that 2.4. You need to figure out exactly how many credits you will need to bring it up higher than 3.0. Someone around here has a calculator, I'm sure. Otherwise google is your friend. I say this because if you took a heavy science load and there are a lot of classes behind that 2.4, it may take years of work to bring it up to the 3.0 threshold. In your position, I would want to know that at the start. And obviously I second the advice to get some real HCE. OT "seems" to be limited because there isn't enough patient interaction? That's silly. I worked in therapy for years and years prior to PA school, and Occupational Therapists spend all day every day with patients (aside from charting, which you will absolutely not escape as a PA). Spend some time with people from each profession in different environments (outpatient, inpatient, sports, surgery, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shazzy1228 Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Greenmood, Yes I did take a heavy science load as a neuro major and still do(with some psych courses). I will look at my school's gpa calculator and figure it out. I still have microbiology, anatomy 1 and 2 left to take. I also need to retake bio 2. And about the limitations of OT...I am speaking as far as only being able to do rehab. I do want to able to diagnose my patient and help get better. The ONLY reason I left the pre-med track was because docs weren't spending as time with patients as I would have liked. The therapists did and that is why I switched. I never stopped appreciating medicine. I really didn't know much about PA at the time. Thanks for the responses so far. This is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medic260 Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Boost your HCE hours. It will cover a multitude of sins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shazzy1228 Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 Thanks Medic will do. Next year is my last year at my undergrad. It will take another two years of post-bacc(will do informally) to raise the sgpa over 3.0. Between that time, I can seriously boost my HCE. That is three years. Its a lot of work, but I'm pumped. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyNameWasUsed Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 retake courses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shazzy1228 Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 MyNameWasUsed, Yes that is part of my post-bacc along with some more science-heaving classes. Whatever it takes to get this sgpa way up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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