Chances with W's

[Jeric18]

Hey guys I just wanted to get an overall opinion on what chances I have for admissions considering W's I have from 3 years ago. 

Stats: BA in Child Development 

cGPA:3.77

sGPA: 3.61 

PCE as CNA: 2500 hrs

Now, the W's I have 4. 2 of them are in prerequisites. One being anatomy and the other chem 101. I retook anatomy for an A and actually also became a tutor for a few semesters. Retook 101 got a B. 

Other sciences which are just the prerequisites for most programs were A's (chem 102, bio 1&2, micro, med term, pharm,) and a B in physio & ochem 1

I enrolled myself in advanced A&P this fall to freshen up and hopefully show adcom I can handle upper division science since I only took the basics with my major.

Would the W's completely ruin my Chances? The other 2 W's are in GE's I don't need that I foolishly took first semester of college.

Thank you in advance  

Edit: also took "other sciences" under CASPA, like another bio, ocean, kin, and a hsci. All either A's or A-

[Guest jlhudson88]

These are great questions to talk to admissions about. This will also give you more insight to what the school focuses on.

Questions to think about when addressing your concerns: What is their focus? Do they expect "perfect" people? How do they view you as an applicant? or are you just a number?

By bringing your concerns to the schools you're interested in you can infer a lot of information on their focus beyond the mission statement. More specifically do they actually follow their own mission statement?

Let's be candid, people make mistakes and schools do too, but how does the school respond to your mistake as this is a sign to how they may treat you while in the program. I'd rather spend $100 to find out it was not the right school than $100,000.

[Jeric18]

2 hours ago, jlhudson88 said:

These are great questions to talk to admissions about. This will also give you more insight to what the school focuses on.

Questions to think about when addressing your concerns: What is their focus? Do they expect "perfect" people? How do they view you as an applicant? or are you just a number?

By bringing your concerns to the schools you're interested in you can infer a lot of information on their focus beyond the mission statement. More specifically do they actually follow their own mission statement?

Let's be candid, people make mistakes and schools do too, but how does the school respond to your mistake as this is a sign to how they may treat you while in the program. I'd rather spend $100 to find out it was not the right school than $100,000.

Okay thank you. You're absolutely right when you put it that way. I'll address the programs I am interested in, hopefully GPA and PCE offsets everything. Thanks again :)

[Ollivander]

I'll be applying next cycle with about 10 W's from my freshman and sophomore years. I'll let you know how my application cycle goes.

[Jeric18]

Man it sucks how our past haunts us.. I really hope it goes great for you, a few mishaps shouldn't define us

[Jeric18]

So I emailed a few schools about it and all pretty much said as long as my gpa stays high and I have my PCE, shadowing, volunteering my app would be competitive with or without the W's. One said I'd be given the chance to talk about why I got the W's in the supplemental app but said shouldn't worry about it. So good luck! Looks like we'll be ok

[Ollivander]

On 8/5/2017 at 4:50 AM, Jeric18 said:

Man it sucks how our past haunts us.. I really hope it goes great for you, a few mishaps shouldn't define us

Thanks! I'm definitely with you there. I hate that what I did 4-6 years ago follows me forever. If they question me during an interview, I'm just going to tell them that it was difficult to focus or seek help in a class size of 150-250 people. After I transferred from a SEC school to a D-II school, the class size dramatically improved my learning experience and my professors were actually available to provide assistance outside of the classroom which shot my grades up. Hopefully they understand. Also I had no clue W's were even a thing until after I accrued most of them. Oh how naive I was...

[Ollivander]

On 8/5/2017 at 0:01 PM, Jeric18 said:

So I emailed a few schools about it and all pretty much said as long as my gpa stays high and I have my PCE, shadowing, volunteering my app would be competitive with or without the W's. One said I'd be given the chance to talk about why I got the W's in the supplemental app but said shouldn't worry about it. So good luck! Looks like we'll be ok

That's definitely cool to hear. What area of the country were these schools at just out of curiosity? 

[Jeric18]

1 hour ago, Ollivander said:

Thanks! I'm definitely with you there. I hate that what I did 4-6 years ago follows me forever. If they question me during an interview, I'm just going to tell them that it was difficult to focus or seek help in a class size of 150-250 people. After I transferred from a SEC school to a D-II school, the class size dramatically improved my learning experience and my professors were actually available to provide assistance outside of the classroom which shot my grades up. Hopefully they understand. Also I had no clue W's were even a thing until after I accrued most of them. Oh how naive I was...

Man honestly same, but mines was more just ignorance and not going to class so that's going to be fun explaining. However I'm starting to notice schools are understanding in that situation, I mean we're human we all took different roads to get here, and as long as the rest of the app is on point we're good.

 

Schools I asked were West coast schools, all in So Cal, Utah and then I asked Baldwin University in Ohio. All pretty much gave me the same response, either it won't matter or just explain it briefly in supplemental application and shouldn't have a problem getting an interview if my stats remain competitive. Im applying broadly, like 10 schools or so to at least get one bite.

[Ollivander]

1 hour ago, Jeric18 said:

Man honestly same, but mines was more just ignorance and not going to class so that's going to be fun explaining. However I'm starting to notice schools are understanding in that situation, I mean we're human we all took different roads to get here, and as long as the rest of the app is on point we're good.

 

Schools I asked were West coast schools, all in So Cal, Utah and then I asked Baldwin University in Ohio. All pretty much gave me the same response, either it won't matter or just explain it briefly in supplemental application and shouldn't have a problem getting an interview if my stats remain competitive. Im applying broadly, like 10 schools or so to at least get one bite.

I know what you mean haha. I've been there. That's really awesome they seemed so understanding though. When are you applying?

[bocc54]

It might be brought up in an interview, but I doubt it will be a deciding factor of whether or not you are granted that interview. Your GPA is solid so I don't see much of an issue here. 

[Jeric18]

6 hours ago, Ollivander said:

I know what you mean haha. I've been there. That's really awesome they seemed so understanding though. When are you applying?

Yeah man I was actually really surprised they were understanding about it. But I guess we're just our biggest critics. 

Applying next cycle 2018 if I'm able to get the classes I need complete by winter at least to look more competitive (pharm, genetics).What about you? 

[Ollivander]

3 hours ago, Jeric18 said:

Yeah man I was actually really surprised they were understanding about it. But I guess we're just our biggest critics. 

Applying next cycle 2018 if I'm able to get the classes I need complete by winter at least to look more competitive (pharm, genetics).What about you? 

Same. I'll be applying next cycle. I'm finishing up an EMT certification this Tuesday, then I'll begin to accrue shadowing hours while I schedule my NREMT and look for jobs. Are you taking pharmacology in-class or online?

[Jeric18]

7 hours ago, Ollivander said:

Same. I'll be applying next cycle. I'm finishing up an EMT certification this Tuesday, then I'll begin to accrue shadowing hours while I schedule my NREMT and look for jobs. Are you taking pharmacology in-class or online?

That's really good I wanted to do EMT too honestly but never was able to.get into my college for it before it always got filled up. You can pull 24hr shifts which is nice cause you'll get your hours quick. You already found a PA to shadow?

I'm looking to take it online, just trying to find the right school that offers it cause the ones I've seen people didn't have the best experience with how they were ran. 

[Ollivander]

On 8/7/2017 at 11:36 AM, Jeric18 said:

That's really good I wanted to do EMT too honestly but never was able to.get into my college for it before it always got filled up. You can pull 24hr shifts which is nice cause you'll get your hours quick. You already found a PA to shadow?

I'm looking to take it online, just trying to find the right school that offers it cause the ones I've seen people didn't have the best experience with how they were ran. 

I haven't gotten a PA lined up to shadow just yet. There aren't a lot of PAs within my state in general, so that might take some time. I've got a family physician that's the president of my state's medical association lined up though, so I figure that will carry a lot of weight if I can get a LOR and half my shadowing hours in there. Fingers crossed.

If you can find an online pharmacology course definitely let me know! That would be just one more thing I can add to my application. I'd like to add biochem as well, but my state schools don't require it as a prereq and unless I can ensure an A I feel as though anything less would just be working against me for something that isn't required.

[Jeric18]

12 hours ago, Ollivander said:

I haven't gotten a PA lined up to shadow just yet. There aren't a lot of PAs within my state in general, so that might take some time. I've got a family physician that's the president of my state's medical association lined up though, so I figure that will carry a lot of weight if I can get a LOR and half my shadowing hours in there. Fingers crossed.

If you can find an online pharmacology course definitely let me know! That would be just one more thing I can add to my application. I'd like to add biochem as well, but my state schools don't require it as a prereq and unless I can ensure an A I feel as though anything less would just be working against me for something that isn't required.

Same, I was only.able to do 1 stint with a PA who used to be my anatomy professor but he hasn't been able to since and everywhere I look at my hospital is NP or MD heavy, so I have hours in those as shadowing but it's not the same. 

 

I'm planning on taking it at Santa Barbara City College. It's online and professor is rated really good so an A is deff attainable. It's under HIT 201

[nvocgka]

On ‎8‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 0:59 PM, Jeric18 said:

Hey guys I just wanted to get an overall opinion on what chances I have for admissions considering W's I have from 3 years ago. 

Stats: BA in Child Development 

cGPA:3.77

sGPA: 3.61 

PCE as CNA: 2500 hrs

Now, the W's I have 4. 2 of them are in prerequisites. One being anatomy and the other chem 101. I retook anatomy for an A and actually also became a tutor for a few semesters. Retook 101 got a B. 

Other sciences which are just the prerequisites for most programs were A's (chem 102, bio 1&2, micro, med term, pharm,) and a B in physio & ochem 1

I enrolled myself in advanced A&P this fall to freshen up and hopefully show adcom I can handle upper division science since I only took the basics with my major.

Would the W's completely ruin my Chances? The other 2 W's are in GE's I don't need that I foolishly took first semester of college.

Thank you in advance  

Edit: also took "other sciences" under CASPA, like another bio, ocean, kin, and a hsci. All either A's or A-

Honestly, I think you are fine as long as you show motivation and passion for the PA profession. I have 4 W's on my transcript, one for each year of college and all were in prerequisite courses. I received an interview invite from a really good school and I explained any discrepancies in my academics in a box provided on CASPA (and touched on it in my personal statement). However, I did take 40 credits my senior year in all science courses and came out with a 3.7 GPA so that I could prove that I could handle the rigor of PA school in the future. I also worked extensively on my personal statement. I didn't think that I would even receive an interview from the school I applied to (I was 80% sure that I wasn't going to apply because I was so sure they wouldn't take me). All in all, I realized afterwards that I stressed too much over my W's than I really should have. Schools truly do look at you holistically.