swipernoswiping Posted July 11, 2016 Hello everyone, I have read an incredible amount of threads seeking advice about acceptance into PA school, but none seemed to answer exactly what I was looking for. Due to some extenuating circumstances I have a low GPA...2.93 cumulative to be exact. Since I have too many credit hours, it will be extremely hard to raise my GPA at this point, so my question is does anyone know of any specific schools that do not set a minimum GPA requirement and look heavily on your extracurriculars? I have been an EMT for the past year and have built up thousands of patient care hours. I also have consistently been working with a PA for the past few years and volunteering in my community. I am determined to be a PA no matter how long it takes me to get there, but would love some brutally honest advice or any school suggestions you may have. Thanks!
corpsman89 Posted July 11, 2016 You asked to be brutally honest so... Why do you have a 2.93? You stated you have a lot of credits, so this tells me that basically you are consistantly receiving poor grades. Many PA schools require at least a B to pass the class, and 2.93 with many credits doesnt show that you will not even be successful in a PA program. With this being said, there are pently of cases where a cadidate was accepted with a cGPA of 2.93. But these applicants had a positive trend in their GPA, and had a lot of HCE (were talking >10,000), and have really good GRE scores. It sounds like you may have some decent community service, which to some schools may really increase your chances of acceptance. Also, is this your CASPA calcuated GPA, or your own? Keep in mind that typically CASPA will calculate a lower GPA than most people may think because they dont replace classes that were taken twice for a better grade, they average it. My advice to you would be to check out the accepted students thread within this forum and pay attention to the students who were accepted with a 2.xx GPA. What schools accpted them? What other parts of their application stood out? Keep in my mind that some schools may not even look at applicants with anything <3.00 GPA. To avoid these schools try to only apply to schools that specifically state they review the applicant holistically. I dont mean to discourage you, but you are going to have a hard time getting in. Your gonna have to work extra hard to get in. Good luck, -Greg
Petunia Posted July 11, 2016 There are a few schools with minimums of 2.75.... but keep in mind that you are fighting an uphill battle... because even those schools average GPAs are well above 3. Good luck!
MTOPAC Posted July 11, 2016 Why do you have a 2.93? You stated you have a lot of credits, so this tells me that basically you are consistantly receiving poor grades. Many PA schools require at least a B to pass the class, and 2.93 with many credits doesnt show that you will even be successful in a PA program. With this being said, there are pently of cases where a cadidate was accepted with a cGPA of 2.93. But these applicants had a positive trend in their GPA, and had a lot of HCE (were talking >10,000), and have really good GRE scores. It sounds like you may have some decent community service, which to some schools may really increase your chances of acceptance. Not necessarily true. My cGPA is lower than the OP's and I received acceptance into a program. Granted, I did have a trend to my coursework with strengthening towards the end of my undergrad, it still wasn't straight As. I didn't have over 10,000 hours of HCE either, in fact, I had a hair under 5,000 and no community service. I'd call my GRE scores average for PA applicants (high 60th percentile for scoring). A lot of it has to do to the program you apply to and having a good reason for your poor performance. This is just IMO, but I was in the very same position as OP.
corpsman89 Posted July 11, 2016 Not necessarily true. My cGPA is lower than the OP's and I received acceptance into a program. Granted, I did have a trend to my coursework with strengthening towards the end of my undergrad, it still wasn't straight As. I didn't have over 10,000 hours of HCE either, in fact, I had a hair under 5,000 and no community service. I'd call my GRE scores average for PA applicants (high 60th percentile for scoring). A lot of it has to do to the program you apply to and having a good reason for your poor performance. This is just IMO, but I was in the very same position as OP. There ya go then! Your living proof that it can happen. I can only base my knowledge off what I have read, and obviously there are outliers and exceptions. But I think the vast majority of times there has to be something standing out on an application to make up for a lower GPA. Plus the OP stated that they have been a EMT for a year now, also adding that they have thousands of hours of PCE. A year equals 2,000 hours. Honeslty, I would say most candidates have about this same amount as well. Hopefully the OP does not get discouraged, but I dont want to paint a rosey picture for them if its not going to be rosey, its going to be difficult.
MTOPAC Posted July 11, 2016 I don't want to either. This wasn't my first year applying and I only received denials last year (not even an interview). It's definitely an uphill battle. One of the most important things too is applying early. Pretty much need to have your application submitted within the first week that CASPA is open. Besides accruing another full year of PCE, the only thing that had changed about my application was having it submitted in the first week of May.
mtnpa Posted July 11, 2016 I just want to say you should still take classes and get As to show improvement and that you can do well. I also had a low GPA graduating at 3.05.. and with just below 2000 hours as an EMT, only got one interview at the end and eventually rejected. So apply at your own risk. 2 cycles later I took 38 credits of As and it actually boosted my cGPA to 3.26 and my sGPA is higher than that. Of course I'm currently applying so grain of salt but my upward trend makes me feel a lot better than 2 years ago especially focusing on schools that do last 60 credit hours.
UWPAgrad2019 Posted July 12, 2016 Is submitting an app right now too late or actually considered late??
corpsman89 Posted July 12, 2016 Is submitting an app right now too late or actually considered late?? I would consider it neither early or late. June I think is early, August is late, so July. . . meh.
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