Should I wait to apply until next cycle?

[JessieR]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help me determine If I am a competitive applicant for this cycle. I am confident with my classes and GPA, however I feel as though I am really lacking with HCE. My personal statement is hopefully good :-/ I am planning to apply, however I have not quite narrowed down schools. Any advice would be great and I would be happy to return the favor. Thank you and good luck to everyone who will be frantically filling out CASPA tomorrow!

 

cGPA: 3.82

sGPA:3.75

Post bac GPA: 4.0 (Medical terminology and Microbiology w/Lab)

 

Major: Biology

Minor: Psychology

 

HCE:

~1000 hours as a CNA (I have been working full time since September and will continue to work)

~150 hours as a physical therapy aide (these were volunteer hours)

~100 hour as a PCA for disabled children 

~50 hours on a medical brigade (volunteer) 

Total at time of application: 1300

 

Volunteer

~500 of various volunteer hours (not health care related at all)

 

Shadowing

~12 hours NP

~26 hours PA

~20 hours MD 

~20 hours PT

 

LOR: clinical supervisor, adviser/professor/employer (I worked as a TA for this professor)...I need one more and am deciding between a doctor I shadowed, a research supervisor, or a RN I work with. I really tried to get a PA, but I did not feel like shadowing for 8 hours was enough to ask for a rec. 

 

 

 

 

[PACrankset]

Jessie,

 

Your academic abilities are above average, what are your GRE scores? You are on the lower end for HCE as you indicated and it looks like you are continuing to work on these hours, which is great. My suggestion would be to still apply this year but to carefully consider the schools you apply too, meaning look at schools that weight academics more highly than HCE. Some of your HCE hours may not qualify at some schools, the CNA hours will count everywhere but some of the volunteer stuff may not count for HCE but could count for more Volunteer hours.

Additionally the PA LOR is really important for a lot of schools, it speaks to if that clinician can see you as a future peer.

Hope that helps.

[JessieR]

Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate the advice. My GRE scores were 158, 158 and 4.5. It is a long shot, but I will work on shadowing PAs in the upcoming months and maybe I can add a PA LOR before some of the deadlines. thanks!