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2016-2017 Application Thread


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I am going to be applying to Duke PA program for the 2017-2018 cycle. Can anyone give me some feedback on my stats?

 

cGPA: 3.62
sGPA: 3.6

Healthcare Hours: 8,800 (Patient Care Tech / EMT)

Worth Noting: 
-No withdraws,
-No grades lower than a B.
-Worked full time and took full time course load
-Mother Died when I was 17 years old from cancer (in 2010)
-Exposed to medicine since I was 10 years old
-I had to drop out of high school to help support my family (went back and graduated high school at 21 yo)

 

Extracurricular Activities: 
1st
 Journal Club Member - American Association of Clinical Chemistry
2nd Disaster Response Team Member - Medical Reserves Corp of California
3rd Tutor and Mentor - School on Wheels - Provide one on one weekly tutoring to homeless children throughout high risk areas throughout Los Angeles (Watts, Compton, Inglewood)
4th Volunteer Physician Shadowing - 75 Hours

Letters of Recommendation:
1st: 
Medical Director at Current Medical Facility. I have built a very close relationship. Will provide a stellar letter. His credentials is MD, FACC, FACP.
2nd: Associate Medical Director at Current Medical Facility: I have also built a very close relationship with this person. Will Provide a stellar letter. Credentials are MD, FACC, FACP.
3rd: Biology Professor and Biochemistry Professor: I received 3 A's in his class sequence. He will be able to write a good letter of my ability to learn difficult concepts.
4th: Lead Pastor of Church I have Volunteered at. They will talk about my character and how I have helped their community church through blood pressure and blood glucose screenings.

Occupation: EMT/Patient Care Technician
Age: 24
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: Mexican
Residence: Southern California

Thank you!

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SoCalEMT:

 

You sound like a candidate with a lot of promise, especially extracurricularly. My only advice would be to shadow an actual PA and have them write you a letter. Most PA Programs, including Duke, want to see evidence of your familiarity with the profession. Having strong references is key, but I would really recommend having one from a bona fide PA as well. Godspeed, brother!

 

 

–Tapatalk for iOS–

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^^ I agree with DPAP

 

Also- most schools don't consider shadowing as part of volunteering

 

Your application is already strong- but if you are looking to continue improving it- shadow multiple PAs in different specialties

Your community involvement looks good, but the hours aren't listed- if the total isn't a decent amount of hours, then you may want to also add more volunteering.

 

Write an excellent personal statement....

 

In my Duke interview, they asked a lot about my personal statement and my volunteering.  But that's not to say that anyone else's interviews would be the same.  Just sharing my experience. 

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I am fine tuning my PS but it is pretty strong. My volunteering hours are approximately 3 hours a week for the last year and a half. I still need to take my GRE, I am taking it after I sit for my MCAT April 28th. Any advice on the GRE? 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Buy a Princeton Review or Kaplan Review Book for the GRE. Study it well. Take a simulated practice test. And then take the GRE. Prepping absolutely helps maximize your score.

 

I am fine tuning my PS but it is pretty strong. My volunteering hours are approximately 3 hours a week for the last year and a half. I still need to take my GRE, I am taking it after I sit for my MCAT April 28th. Any advice on the GRE?

 

 

–Tapatalk for iOS–

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Thank you all for the help, it is much appreciated. Since my original post I have began shadowing a PA part time. The PA however, will not be one of my recommendations because I would never want someone to write me a LOR based on 50 hours of time getting to know someone and cant truly attest to my longitudinal success in the healthcare field. I have recalculated my PCE and it is at 11,840 hours. Can anyone give me a realistic understanding of how this may help or hurt my applications at top universities? 

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On October 12, 2016 at 1:02 PM, Dubz_PA2017 said:

Hi all, 

 

I received my acceptance email yesterday as well :) Extremely, extremely excited and humbled to have been accepted!! I've created a separate topic for the Class of 2019 - I'm sure everyone that has accepted Duke will all have questions for each other :) 

 

Cheers! 

Can you share your stats with us and the name of the university you attended?

 

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