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Dazed and Confused about PA School...


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You're probably all sick of reading threads that ask about people's personal chances at getting into PA school...and I'm sorry because this thread is no different.

I am a graduating senior at the University of Dayton with a cumulative GPA of 3.49. My science GPA is around 3.40-ish and I have strong letters of recommendation.

I have a decent amount of clinical hours. I've worked hands on at a free clinic for 2 years and gained approximately 200 hours there, and I've also gone on a medical brigade to Nicaragua where I gained about 120. I have about 100 volunteer hours from different organizations too, along with PA shadowing hours.

I will be taking a gap year and working as a patient care assistant, where I will gain tons (hopefully a few hundred) of hands on patient care hours by the time programs start in the fall of 2017. I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I plan to do very well on that. 

Any input that you guys have would be great. I am really stressing over this! I love medicine and helping others, so being the strongest applicant that I can be is very important to me.

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If you work for a full year (you should work the whole time during your gap year, no?) you should gain much more than a few hundred hours.  In the realm of applying for PA school a 'ton' of HCE is several thousand! hours.  A year of full time work should net you around 2000 hours.  Get that and apply smartly and you've got a chance.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi there! Are you applying to the University of Dayton as well? I just applied there myself. Was wondering if you would like to review my stats to see where I would stand?

 

Graduation Date: April 2014

University: Oakland University (Rochester, MI)

Major: Bachelors of Health Sciences with concentration in Integrative Holistic Medicine

 

Pre-Req GPA: 3.6

 

Advanced Human Anatomy- 3.7

Human Anatomy Lab- 3.2

Advanced Human Physiology- 4.0

Physiology Lab- 3.7

Clinical Microbiology- 3.9

Microbiology Lab- 4.0

Organic Chemistry- 4.0

Organic Chemistry Lab- 3.9

Medical Biochemistry- 3.5

General Psychology- 3.1

Developmental/ Lifespan Psychology- 3.5

Statistics- 3.0

Medical Terminology- 3.4

 

Overal CASPA GPA: 3.12

 

Patient Contact Hours: 3,900 (paid, Certified Nursing Assistant)

 

Healthcare Experience: Dental Office Manager, Care Management Administration

 

Shadowing Hours: ~70 (Trauma, Surgical Service, Rapid Response, and Neurology)

 

Letters of Reccomendation: 1 from Neurology PA (I work with her on my hospital unit), 1 from a Derm/GI PA (I volunteered at her clinic in Chicago), 1 from my unit manager, and 1 from a professor (professor for my biochem/pathology courses, conducts breast cancer research at OU).

 

Extra Curricular/Volunteer:

 

Pre-PA Society, Vice President (Oakland University)

Keep Detroit Beautiful, Brand Ambassador (Detroit, MI)

Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, Executive Board Member, Volunteer Coordinator

Gamma Phi Beta, Recruitment/ Chapter Advisor (Beta Chapter- University of Michigan)

 

 

GRE: I had a low GRE the first time I took it.... but I am retaking at the end of the month. (University of Dayton does not require the GRE)

 

Any recommendations for me? I am currently taking a few courses just to keep up with my studies. I currently work at the hospital, volunteer, and am prepping for a mission trip in December.

 

Please feel free to give me any tough love!

Don't thread jack. Post in a thread already open about chances, or start your own thread.

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Go Dayton! Wright state grad here and 25 yr Dayton resident. I wouldn't even do the gap year necessarily. Couple of my best friends in my program got in with zero HCE whereas Others like me have + 10K hours. Do good on that GRE though :) good luck you seem pretty good to me!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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