Rejected first year applying, 2nd year = acceptance with scholarship

[Believe]

Hello all,

 

Just wanted to share my experience with you guys and provide some inspiration. The first time I applied to PA school I applied to 4 schools and did not receive a single interview. I applied to "big name" schools without the "big time" stats. So what changed? I took two years off and I gained more HCE and continued to work hard in upper level courses. The 2nd time around, I applied to schools with averages within my range and close to where I lived. My hard work resulted in two acceptances, I'll be attending a school with an excellent history and PANCE rate with a scholarship that will cover half of my tuition.

 

When I first applied, I did not have any upper level courses under my belt and only about 1500 hours HCE as a CNA. When I was accepted, I had over 4,000 HCE hours and had just come off 5 consecutive Dean's List semesters. I wanted to shed some light on what I did well and what I did not do well.

My freshman year I was barely floating above a 3.0. The transition from high school to university course work was a rude awakening. First, I did not know what I wanted to do and lacked motivation to study. Once I figured out what I wanted to do, I had to learn how to learn. I used to cram for exams a few days before the test, not read the book, and not do practice problems. I changed my study habits and I looked over lecture material before lecture on the bus as well as after the lecture. I used the book to reinforce any areas that I did not understand in lecture. Most of all, I became a good time manager. I rode the bus several times a day, 15 minutes one way. I started reviewing lecture materials during the ride to maximize my time. The changes I made resulted in better grades, except in chemistry. At this point I was acing most of my classes except chem. I found out that you can not study the same for biology as you do for chemistry. I found that by doing a lot of practice problems with variations of equations, conditions, etc, I was able to understand topics better, and subsequently do better in chemistry.

 

The main point I'm trying to get across is that you can really accomplish anyt​hing you want as long as put the TIME and EFFORT into it. I went from being a C student to getting some of the highest scores in courses like pathophysiology, advanced anatomy, and cardiovascular physiology. I am by no means a genius, I consider myself to be of average intelligence, I just worked harder than others. Another VERY important improvement I made was gaining more valuable HCE. My initial HCE was as a CNA, which was somewhat limiting. When I was accepted I had more experience working as an EMT-B, anesthesia tech, and volunteer in a hospital. I see many people just wanting to check off the minimum HCE hours required, just be advised that most programs will have averages WELL over the minimum req hours. In addition, how do you know you want to be a PA without ever working in a healthcare setting or shadowing a PA?

 

Good luck to everyone applying, I hope this wasn't too long and can serve as inspiration to others chugging along the arduous process of preparing to apply/interview at schools.

-Believe

[Asclepius]

Congrats! I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

May I ask what program were you accepted to?

[Dignitary]

I agree, thanks for sharing.

[Believe]

Congrats! I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

May I ask what program were you accepted to?

 

Thank you! I won't say which specific program other than its in the midwest. Let me know if you guys have any other questions!