PA1309 Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 I just received my first rejection letter from one of the PA programs I applied to. I completed my CASPA in early July and applied to 8 schools in total. This is the first school I've heard back from and now I'm just bracing myself for the fact that I probably won't get in this cycle. My stats are as follows: sGPA: 3.65 GPA: 3.50 BCP: 3.72 PCE (medical scribe...): 651 hours (very minimal, I know) Shadowing: 69 hours (Pain Management PA, Orthopedics PA, Vascular PA, Dermatologist, Pain Management MD, Orthopedics MD) but I'm continuing to shadow right now. It was really hard for me to find PAs at first so I'm worried that adding on the hours later in the application process doesn't look that great. Volunteering: 28 (but still continuing volunteering now) GRE: Verbal 163, Quantitative 155, AW 4.5 ------ Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should do to boost my chances for the next cycle? I was thinking of just applying to a Master's program for Biomedical Science in order to make myself more competitive after I finished that, but I feel like that is just going to be so much money and time spent when it already took me 7 years to finish college because I started with a completely different major/career goal for 3 years. I honestly don't know what to do. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyNichiavelli Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Looking at your stats, your GPA and shadowing hours should be the least of your concerns. Get a lot of great quality PCE hours and do a lot more volunteer work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Deep breath! Relax and let the cycle play out. It's not time to panic.Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA1309 Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 9 minutes ago, LadyNichiavelli said: Looking at your stats, your GPA and shadowing hours should be the least of your concerns. Get a lot of great quality PCE hours and do a lot more volunteer work. I plan on doing more volunteer work but I struggle with figuring out how to get quality PCE hours. I did medical scribe because it seemed to be accepted at quite a few schools and I didn't have to go to school to get certified in order to become one. I love my job so much, and I love how willing the providers I work with are to teach me about the medical field in genera while I'm working. This makes me not want to quit because I feel like I'm learning so much. But now I'm worried that simply being a medical scribe is going to hinder me. I was considering trying to get certified to be a phlebotomist... would this be considered quality PCE, or should I look into something else? Thank you for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 We have several students in our classes whose experience were as scribes. If you're learning, I'd keep at it, unless you are picking schools that don't consider scribing adequate experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyNichiavelli Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 2 hours ago, PA1309 said: I plan on doing more volunteer work but I struggle with figuring out how to get quality PCE hours. I did medical scribe because it seemed to be accepted at quite a few schools and I didn't have to go to school to get certified in order to become one. I love my job so much, and I love how willing the providers I work with are to teach me about the medical field in genera while I'm working. This makes me not want to quit because I feel like I'm learning so much. But now I'm worried that simply being a medical scribe is going to hinder me. I was considering trying to get certified to be a phlebotomist... would this be considered quality PCE, or should I look into something else? Thank you for your help. Being a phlebotomist, judging from the schools that I've come across, is more-likely to be accepted as PCE than being a scribe. But if you really love your job, then you should stick with it (since your GPA is in the average for most schools), BUT make sure that the schools you're applying to will accept it. Personally, I'd find even better quality PCE work (ex: EMT, MA, PT Aide, etc.) to widen my net. I'm personally a fan of the PT Aide route since it's possible to get on-the-job training instead of paying for a certification, but that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted August 27, 2017 Administrator Share Posted August 27, 2017 Don't volunteer; work in healthcare. Any volunteering done between a first and second year of CASPA applications is transparently box-checking and won't get you much traction. Your shadowing and GPA are fine, as is your GRE. Hands-on PCE is the biggest deficit, unless you got a poison LOR somewhere. Have you done anything in international medical missions or relief work? That is the only sort of volunteering I would go out of my way to add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA1309 Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 14 hours ago, rev ronin said: Don't volunteer; work in healthcare. Any volunteering done between a first and second year of CASPA applications is transparently box-checking and won't get you much traction. Your shadowing and GPA are fine, as is your GRE. Hands-on PCE is the biggest deficit, unless you got a poison LOR somewhere. Have you done anything in international medical missions or relief work? That is the only sort of volunteering I would go out of my way to add. Hopefully I didn't get a poison LOR. The professor I asked seemed very willing to write it for me, as well as the Nurse Practitioners that I work with. I was unable to find a PA to shadow until I had already requested/sent in my LORs, so I'm hoping they won't dock me for not having a LOR from a PA. I have not done any international missions or relief work. I will look into that. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newton9686 Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Relax, I received 10+ denial letters before being offered an interview. Remember, it only takes one acceptance to become an PA, not 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted August 29, 2017 Administrator Share Posted August 29, 2017 On 8/27/2017 at 1:12 PM, PA1309 said: I was unable to find a PA to shadow until I had already requested/sent in my LORs, so I'm hoping they won't dock me for not having a LOR from a PA. Yes, not having shadowed a PA until late in the application process almost certainly hurt your application and chances of acceptance. It's likely not just not having a PA LOR, it's not having ongoing, varied PA exposure. Definitely something you should have addressed earlier in the application process--you shadowed at least 3 separate PAs, but none early enough in the application process to get an LOR? I wouldn't have structured things that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA1309 Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 6 hours ago, rev ronin said: Yes, not having shadowed a PA until late in the application process almost certainly hurt your application and chances of acceptance. It's likely not just not having a PA LOR, it's not having ongoing, varied PA exposure. Definitely something you should have addressed earlier in the application process--you shadowed at least 3 separate PAs, but none early enough in the application process to get an LOR? I wouldn't have structured things that way. I didn't intentionally structure things that way. It was way more difficult to find a PA that was willing to let me shadow them than I had anticipated. Then when I finally did find a PA that let me, the flood gates opened for more PAs but it was late in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA1309 Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 I did make sure to apply to schools that did not require PA shadowing or recommended shadowing for one day, which is what I had by the time I applied (24 hours of shadowing). Then I added onto my application when I got more shadowing hours. I am still shadowing... should I not edit my application to add these hours and just wait until next cycle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAstriker Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 @PA1309 don't be discouraged! your stat's are fine. GRE extremely impressive and BCP GPA is competitive. over 500 hours is good too and that is only on the uphill climb. i know people that have gotten into PA school with 0 hours of hands on but have other areas that are stronger, just pick something and run with it. you can always strengthen your application by shadowing more and more hours as well as exposing yourself to unique things. also--try to get a PA LOR for next cycle if it comes down to you applying again! which i promise it's not the end of the world. that would probably help you out some! and i cannot stress how important turning in your application early is. most of all just hang in there like the rest of us. this process can be debilitating if you let it, but your time will come!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA1309 Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Exactly 1 week after my first rejection letter I received an interview invitation. This process is something else. Thank you, everyone, for telling me to stay positive and advising me on how to improve my application! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreuk Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 @PA1309 good luck with your interviews! I am sure you will get more. Do not be discourage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegro Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 I agree its WAY too early to panic, but it's also never a bad idea to have a plan B if you do need to reapply, since reapplying is very common. As mentioned above, your GPA is fine; I wouldn't even consider worrying about taking additional courses assuming you completed all your pre-reqs. On first glance, I think your PCE is your biggest problem; even schools that accept scribe work as PCE don't always consider it the best PCE, which means you can be beaten out by applicants who have more hands-on patient-care experience but otherwise similar stats. Also a PA LOR is hands-down required by some programs, while for others it may not be on the checkbox list but, similar to the PCE scenario, its still preferred. If you have to apply again, I'd have a PA LOR lined up as well as documented PA shadowing, and at least some hands-on health care experience to augment your scribing even if you don't want to give up the scribe route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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