jaredt Posted July 16, 2016 Got my first rejection letter! Unfortunately lol. Anyone have any suggestions as to why? 3.50 total gpa. A's in all my prereqs taken so far Thousands of HCE hours as a surgical tech 5 LORs from physicians 40 hours of shadowing exp Only thing I can think of is my BA is still in progress and won't be finished till December and I had yet to finish O Chem and Biochem. Does having courses still pending really hurt your chances that much?
MT2PA Posted July 16, 2016 Having courses in progress doesn't hurt your chances unless a school forbids it. Some allow only 1 in process at the time of application. Others may require degree be completed by application deadline. Or all pre-reqs complete by application deadline. Most are pretty clear about this on their website. Based on info given, depending on how many thousands hrs HCE (1000? 10,000? Big difference there) and that surgical tech isn't necessarily considered the best patient care experience (depending on how much patient contact you get while they are awake and not just on the table) and depending on which program rejected you, I'd say that your app was probably just....average. Not a whole lot stands out here.
jaredt Posted July 16, 2016 Author Touro Nevada was the one who said no. They don't forbid it. They allow up to 2 courses to be pending and the BA to be finished by the start of the program. My HCE was close to 12000. I worked in multiple specialties and even ran a surgery center.
wktk222 Posted July 16, 2016 All I can think of is your personal statement. Maybe it doesn't really show why you want to be a PA. Maybe you didn't say why you chose the PA route instead of other medical professionals. Any volunteer works?
jaredt Posted July 16, 2016 Author No volunteer hours, my schedule is far to hectic to allow it unfortunately. I think my essay was decent, hit all the major areas and had a few docs look it over.
MT2PA Posted July 16, 2016 Probably GPA at that point, then. Do they require GRE? Could be that, too. Both of those are common initial filters for schools to narrow down the pool of applicants.
JLM28 Posted July 16, 2016 Perhaps they would have liked to see some LORs from PAs? Your stats sound good, I'm sorry! Hopefully you'll get a bite from other schools you applied to.
jaredt Posted July 16, 2016 Author No GRE required. Ya, I don't honestly know what it could be. Do schools often give feedback if you call and ask? Also they are on a rolling admissions basis so maybe they had already filled the spaces but I feel as if they would have informed me of that.
wktk222 Posted July 16, 2016 I have a much lower GPA than you and I have received an interview. The only thing that I can humbly say that is better than your application is: volunteer hours (around 2000) letter from PA took higher lvl sciences classes including o-chem and biochem. Desire to work in underserved communities which was mentioned in my statement.
corpsman89 Posted July 16, 2016 Have you received any other offers for interviews? When did you apply?
jaredt Posted July 16, 2016 Author I submitted my secondary on June 28th. No other offers as of yet. I did leave out desire to work in underserved communities...
MT2PA Posted July 16, 2016 No GRE required. Ya, I don't honestly know what it could be. Do schools often give feedback if you call and ask? Also they are on a rolling admissions basis so maybe they had already filled the spaces but I feel as if they would have informed me of that. Some might give feedback but sometimes they say there are too many applicants to give personalized feedback to each applicant or they only give feedback if you got an interview but still got rejected, etc. You can certainly contact them and ask but usually students do this at the end of a cycle if they don't get interviews or accepted anywhere else. If you get in somewhere, it's kind of a moot point why 1 particular school didn't want you. Even rolling admissions schools wouldn't be full this early in the process.
lanime Posted July 17, 2016 It's a very mysterious process that doesn't always make sense. You have to remember they are usually whittling down thousands of applicants to interview a couple hundred and accept even fewer. I got rejections from a couple places I felt I was sure to get interview invites from... And the same happened to several people in our program. It could be as simple as there were many STs that applied and they were looking for a varied group of HCE backgrounds. I've noticed that we have a lot of backgrounds and ages in our class, so I do think they try and mix up the classes a bit. Hopefully another program will see something unique/standout in your app and invite you for an interview! Good luck!
UGoLong Posted July 17, 2016 LORs or the essay most likely. Or they only had a couple of spots left to fill and others looked stronger. Don't beat yourself up; give them a call (what's to lose?), learn what you can, pick yourself up, and keep at it. Good luck!
lccalbert Posted July 17, 2016 Touro is one of those schools that really take a holistic approach to the application process. I have spoken to their admissions office before. Not having any volunteer hours hurts a lot for their school. It may not be required, but to see an applicant that has never given their time to help any one in a formal setting will look bad to them. You want to apply to schools that you fit. Not just be because you meet their requirements. Another reason is that there are just too many things pending. Two required science classes and your bachelor's is a lot to wait for considering how many applicants probably have all these requirements before they even applied. This does not mean you won't get an interview anywhere else. It means that the application process is super competitive and you application, at this point, needs A little work. Hope that helps. I'm in the process too and I've spoken with tons of admissions officers. They have over arching themes and some have slightly specific things for their school. But good luck in you cycle. Hope you get some interviews.
singstar Posted July 18, 2016 There was probably something that they saw that didn't feel like a great match. I don't know what their secondary questions were but it might not be aligned with what they are looking for. Also, you have great stats and will probably gain acceptance elsewhere =)
alkalinehornet Posted July 20, 2016 Keep your head up! I've heard a lot of people have to apply more Han one year to get it. Just keep working to make yourself a better applicant!
Katie007 Posted July 21, 2016 You can't let one rejection letter discourage you. This process is intense and you will face rejection regardless of what your package looks like (look at the people with 4.0's and the schools they have been rejected from on the Stats page). The most important things are moving and looking forward. Turn this into a driving force. As someone who has been rejected (far more than once) and now have been accepted, I feel your pain. Keep hope, cast a wide net, and know with confidence that this is what you are made to do.
aljo22 Posted July 29, 2016 In regards to your personal statement, I had a doctor (being my dad and I know that not all doctors are the same) look over my personal statement and suggest edits etc. and all of his edits sounded super robotic. He would suggest I write something a certain way that was really formal and not very personal but it was communicating the same thing, so I just went with the way I had it. He also tried to make my personal statement about "the medical field" rather than being more specific to being a PA. I think maybe having a PA look over your personal statement would be a better option. All of that being said, I JUST submitted my application and everything so I don't know if I have any room to give advice on the topic (yet..hopefully haha), but it was advice I received and thought it would be helpful for you.
Natalie2018 Posted August 5, 2016 Touro Nevada is really good about giving you feedback, I would call them up and ask what advice they have for your application. One of (if not the #1) thing they stress in their program is service, they expect you to do all kinds of community service throughout didactic year in an effort to get their graduates to continue working in their communities. So my guess would be that was probably the biggest red flag for your app there. But again, I would call them, they will have the best answers for you! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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