order66.exe Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Hi all, I will be applying to PA school's this coming year and wanted to know my chances? I'm a little worried about my low GPA and my somewhat unusual HCE. I was originally Pre-med but decided to switch to PA due to work-life, health and personal reasons. Any feedback would be great! AZ resident BS in Physiology 3.4cGPA+sGPA GRE 320 First Gen College student and Underprivileged, First Gen American/Refugee Self-Supported through school + Large scholarship Variety of Non-clinical jobs in college (Administrative + paid tutor for underserved kids) Run a small business selling baked goods. 200hr Clinical volunteering in Hospital and Hospice President of Premed Club 50 hours PA Shadowing 300 hours cancer research + 150 hours of psych research 1500 hours as a Certified Psych Tech on Behavioral Health Hotline 200 hours (continuing) as a PT aide, looking for full time jobs currently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Based solely on the above? Decent chances of scoring an interview invite. Make sure you meet the prereqs for the programs and apply broadly, you should be ok. Have a strong personal statement. Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeyes Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 what exactly did you do as a psych tech on behavioral health hotline? Did you have hands on experience with patients? If not, schools may not accept this as HCE and your chances would be greatly diminished as you would only have 200 hours as a pt aide. I would get in touch with schools you are interested and ask whether or not they would accept your tech hours. Volunteer hours are good, GRE is great, GPA is average. Best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paforlife100 Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Hello Order66.exe, Based on your given information, GPA and healthcare background (make sure that you have patient interactions), I think you have a high chance of getting an interview. I landed 2 interviews with similar GPA of a 3.4. GRE scores of 152 or above in each section or a 304 combined (yours is 320) is considered good for most PA schools. I hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
order66.exe Posted January 18, 2016 Author Share Posted January 18, 2016 what exactly did you do as a psych tech on behavioral health hotline? Did you have hands on experience with patients? It wasn't hands on, no but it was person-to-person. We documented health complaints in EMR, we provide referral to services and coordinate care with health providers. We would also coordinate with the crisis care line and triage individuals at risk of suicide/self-harm. One school I talked to stated that they would accept this as HCE but I will contact others. Do you think my application could be improved if I spent a year working as a PT Aide? Should I take some classes to bring up my GPA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeyes Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 At this point, with the high number of credits you have it would be difficult to raise your GPA. I would only take any pre-reqs you haven't taken like orgo or biochem as more schools are requiring these courses. Gaining more HCE will ALWAYS help your application, I would continue racking up hours as a pt aide or see if you can land a job as an er tech. The HCE you obtain will better prepare you as a clinician and should not be viewed as something you want to do as quick as possible. If most schools accept your tech hours you should be ok for next cycle as you would probably have 2000+ hours, as long as you apply to schools with averages close to yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyNameWasUsed Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Numbers look good. I count 400 HCE Hours. Get another 600 at the least before july and ill say youre pretty set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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