Pinksocks Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hello, I'm going to start grad school this fall to get my masters and I'm aiming to graduate magna cum laude. Rather than continue for a PhD, I think I'd be more fulfilled becoming a PA. I've flip-flopped between health sciences and chemistry during my undergraduate career and ultimately chose chemistry (since I excelled at organic). But I've been thinking more and more about a career in medicine. The only thing I'm concerned about is my undergraduate gpa. I was kind of forced into college after high school and it was right after my dads death which was traumatizing. I almost failed out and had to retake basically the first year of college. I got my cumulative gpa to 2.75 and my core is about 3.2. The last two years were good though, which shows on my transcript. I guess my question is do you think my chances will be improved if I succeed in obtaining a masters with honors? I also have other things on my CV, such as awards, publications, etc... Thank you guys for your time. I really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disciple3 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 The big question is how is that Masters going to contribute to you being a better PA? That's a lot of time and effort if you aren't going to utilize it somehow. Personally, taking a gap year or two to rack up lots of HCE somehow and crushing some higher level science courses will do you just as well. There are lots of factors to consider here and money and time are probably chief among them. It may be a lot of work and it may take an extra year of applying but don't get discouraged about it if it is really what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinksocks Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Thank you for your response! Getting a graduate degree is a personal goal and is something that will happen regardless of what I choose to do afterwards. It's kind of a set in stone thing and would be a massive benefit to me should I choose to remain in chemistry. Im hoping that by doing well in graduate school, I'll have a better chance of getting into a program. I'll be taking graduate level medicinal chemistry classes, some biochem classes, and I'll have to take the appropriate anatomy and physiology courses (I took the combined course, boo). So if I'll be taking those classes anyway, I'll just add some more lab experience to it, perhaps another publication, some teaching experience and get a degree for it. My tuition gets waived as long as I'm working for the university and I'm able to take any courses I'd like/need to. Plus, the aim for a masters is 5 semesters, which ends up being two calendar years including the two summer terms. I have four years of being a pharmacy technician under my belt, too. Time is a factor here. I don't mind being in school til I'm 30 (I'm 24 now) but I can't work in an organic lab if I get pregnant. Not to mention a PhD is 4-5 years in addition to the masters and post-docs are recommended. I want to do something that will benefit people. Whether I design a new drug to treat a disease or work with a person to treat a disease. Both are hugely important to me. I'm just super nervous that I'll focus all of my energy on becoming a PA and fail at all of it. I haven't managed to find anyone who has a masters and then decided to go the PA route and I guess I just want some assurance that it's still possible for me to get accepted somewhere. I apologize if this seems very long winded. I've been thinking of this for a while but I just brought it up to my fiancé last night and he was totally like "omg, I think you could totally do it and you'd be so happy and love it!" So that kind of pushed me into looking further into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious_Ignoramus Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Step 1: you need to get some HCE. There is no other way to know whether or not you even like treating patients. Shadowing is not enough; there are too many nuances that you cannot appreciate by observation. The only way to know if you enjoy having your hands on a patient is to put your hands on a patient. Your fiancé may know you well, but your fiancé is not you. Step 2: get that gpa up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MT2PA Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Plenty of people get a masters and then pursue PA school. However they are rarely choosing to get a masters knowing that they will then apply to PA school. Usually someone in your situation who has an inkling of PA will pursue that wholeheartedly as opposed to spending 2 years in school. In all honesty, 2 years of HCE and taking the specific pre reqs would be much more valuable for PA school than a masters in chem. I'm not saying it's impossible. But keep in mind that even after your MS in chem you may spend some time getting HCE and applying possibly multiple cycles before PA school happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disciple3 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I think the OP needs to figure out if they want to pursue a career in chem or a career as a PA. Until you know that, I'm not sure blending both with work out that great. You talk about publications and lab experience that may be more in line with an MD, as a PA I would just expect to be working in my community directly helping people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAGuy55 Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Get HCE and see if you like being apart of the patients care versus research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.