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(High HCE, Low GPA) What are my chances??


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Hi all,

 

I feel nervous as time coming closer, so I need to do a reality check. 

Any advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

  • My overall GPA 3.3    (I know it is pretty Iow--I recalculated after I post this**)

 

- Undergraduate GPA 3.0  (Electronics engineering major)

- My post-undergraduate GPA 3.7 ( AA degree in nursing)  

- Pre-reqs all As  (A&P 1&2 x twice (I had to take again b/c I took it more than 7 yrs ago), Micro, statistics, biochem, medical terminology, psy, sociology)

 

  • HCE:  RN for 6 years, about 9,000 + hrs  (last 3 yrs in ICU at 300+ beds hospital, certified critical care nurse, have ACLS &BLS, Good amount of experience with code blue, hypothermia, STEMI/ NSTEMI, CRRT and others)

 

  • I am getting LORs from 1 NP, 2 PA, 1 MD from my work.

 

  • I am currently working on my Personal Statement, but honestly I am not a good writer.  English is my second language.

 

  • I am taking GRE next month. I am okay with a standardized test.  (I passed NCLEX and CCRN on first attempt.)  But I am not good at verbal section.  ETS practice test only showed 145~149 in verbal. which is less than 40%.  

 

I know my GPA is low side. I am only applying locally in MD (CCBC/towson & AACC/UMB) due to my family.

 

Any comments appreciated!!! Thank you so much!! :)

 

P.S. Please don't advice me to go to NP school.  Thanks!!!

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Hi all,

 

I feel nervous as time coming closer, so I need to do a reality check. 

Any advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

 

  • My overall GPA 3.3    (I know it is pretty Iow--I recalculated after I post this**)
 

- Undergraduate GPA 3.0  (Electronics engineering major)

- My post-undergraduate GPA 3.7 ( AA degree in nursing)  

- Pre-reqs all As  (A&P 1&2 x twice (I had to take again b/c I took it more than 7 yrs ago), Micro, statistics, biochem, medical terminology, psy, sociology)

 

  • HCE:  RN for 6 years, about 9,000 + hrs  (last 3 yrs in ICU at 300+ beds hospital, certified critical care nurse, have ACLS &BLS, Good amount of experience with code blue, hypothermia, STEMI/ NSTEMI, CRRT and others)
 

  • I am getting LORs from 1 NP, 2 PA, 1 MD from my work.
 

  • I am currently working on my Personal Statement, but honestly I am not a good writer.  English is my second language.
 

  • I am taking GRE next month. I am okay with a standardized test.  (I passed NCLEX and CCRN on first attempt.)  But I am not good at verbal section.  ETS practice test only showed 145~149 in verbal. which is less than 40%.  
 

I know my GPA is low side. I am only applying locally in MD (CCBC/towson & AACC/UMB) due to my family.

 

Any comments appreciated!!! Thank you so much!! :)

 

P.S. Please don't advice me to go to NP school.  Thanks!!!

 

Your GPA is fine, I don't know what you are sweating about. Most schools pre-req GPA > cumulative GPA

 

GPA gets you passed the first review. It's a number than culls 2000 applications down to a few hundred. From there the rest of your application is what matters. Your HCE helps to put you above others who are stronger in some area than you but who have fewer hours Solid LORs from a supervising doc/pa/np, an academic, and ideally another PA, plus a strong personal statement gets you the interview. Then the interview gets you in school.

 

 

All that to say your GPA will get you in the door at the vast majority of schools. You have narrowed your choices, which makes things less predictable, but I'd be surprised if you didn't get an interview.

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Thank you for advice.  I think I get nervous because my choices are limited as anewconvert said. I know most of people apply 5~10+ schools, and I am only applying two.  I think I am okay with HCE, but I also know many students have much higher GPA than me.  I hope the schools I am applying weight more on HCE than GPA (or GRE).  Thanks for everyone who commented!    

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Another reason I am sweating is GRE.  I read many people saying schools filter out students based on GRE score and my GRE (verbal) is low side.

Generally the GRE is a tie breaker and nothing more unless you tank it. Standardized testing is a notoriously poor way to rate candidates falling just ahead of subjective interviewing (but hilariously interviewing is the main way final selections are decided), so schools typically save it for differentiating between candidates that are otherwise tied.

 

No one said it was a fair system

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Another reason I am sweating is GRE.  I read many people saying schools filter out students based on GRE score and my GRE (verbal) is low side.

 

Hello! English is also my second language, and I didn't do well on the GRE. I only applied to 3 schools and I got two interview offers so don't lose hope. I think you have a shot!

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Thank you for comments and advice!  I used all 5 LORs link from CASPA, so I don't think I can get a LOR from professor.   I graduate too long ago, so I don't have any professor I can ask either.  I will just try and see what happens.   Thank you for encouragement.  I hope everyone will get into program this cycle!  Good luck!! 

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Good luck and great school choices! As a Maryland local myself these are two of my favorite programs, (and the only two in MD)! While your GPA may not be as high as some other applicants your HCE is incredible and can outweigh this. (It often depends program to program though.) RN for 6 years and certified critical care nurse is pretty outstanding. I have gotten a sense that AACC/UMB  pays more attention to strong HCE whereas for Towson/CCBC puts slightly more weight into GPA, though again just an opinion. All As in your prereqs is great! (AACC requires Bs or higher, where Towson only requires Cs or higher, so you are set on this part.) If you are worried about the GRE only AACC requires it, Towson does not! You note English is your second language and you are worried about your writing skills. I am sure you are a great writer and any skills you can always work on, the real value I see in this is that you are bilingual which further adds to making you a competitive candidate, especially if the language you speak is one in high demand for those working in the health care field. (I would love to learn another language!) It sounds like while both schools want your LORs to be written by someone who can attest to your academic skills, Towson even notes they want them to be from people familiar with the PA profession, this seems more important. Try contacting some of your professors who you really liked and see if you hear back (if you want to), if not, I would not be too worried and assume they understand you have been out of school for a while.

I know PAs who have gone to AACC/UMD and Towson/CCBC and really enjoyed their time there. Best of luck, you make a great candidate with your experience and prereq GPA; I would be surprised if you don't get an interview! I would love to hear about your progress as time goes on with these two schools if you don't mind sharing. A co-worker of mine is also applying to these two schools this cycle, and I would be happy to share her progress with her permission. Feel free to message me!

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