Looking For Advice

[drzew1]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to receive some advice or guidance as to the route I am taking and whether I have a good change of being interviewed and accepted to PA school.

I originally applied last cycle to about 20 schools and was denied to 19 outright, was wait listed for an interview at one, and eventually notified that I was removed from the wait list and denied. Here were my stats when I applied the first time...

Science GPA: 2.94

Cumulative GPA: ~3.35

GRE (2nd time taking it): 149 Verbal (43%), 153 Quantitative (52%), 4.0 Writing (60%)

Patient Care Experience -

2 years as an EMT at a paid volunteer fire department, did not receive many calls here so I only received about 300 patient patient care hours, but I put in well over 3,000 hours of employment here. 

5 medical mission trips throughout Central America during the entirety of my undergrad. Earned about 100 unpaid hours from each and I served as President, Treasurer, etc at different times during this as well. 

Other Volunteer Experience -

8 years of experience with a national organization that is similar to habitat for humanity. Spent a week each year rebuilding or fixing homes for individuals of lower socioeconomic status. 

Multiple volunteer experience with different organizations. In order to make this a short post I won't list them here. 

Shadowing

117 hours of shadowing in primary care, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, emergency care, cardio-thoracic surgery, and a general research study shadowing. All were shadowing a PA except primary care and the research study. 

Achievements

Who's Who Among College Students, Dean's List Three times during the last 3 semesters of my undergrad. 

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Here is what I have done since applying the first time:

I decided to pursue an MPH in epidemiology (primarily infectious disease) and global health in which I am currently in a well-respected program. I will complete this in May of 2019. Provided I do well, this should boost my overall science GPA since public health counts as an other science category. I should note that I decided to go for this degree because I wanted both degrees. 

I worked as a full-time EMT in private, urban EMS for about a year and a half, earning 1700 paid patient contact hours and running about 660 calls during this time. My total patient care hours are now around 2500. During this time I also was promoted twice and earned two awards for excellent patient care (which really doesn't hold any weight in the real world but I figured I would include it). 

I went back to undergrad to finish up two additional classes (Biochemistry and a PH class) which I did very well in both which should bring me above the 3.0 minimum for most schools. 

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Overall, what are my chances of at least being offered an interview the second time around? I do not plan on applying until my last semester in my MPH program, in order to maximize the amount of new grades that I will have. I currently am not employed, but I plan on seeking a research assistantship for next year in order to hopefully get published. 

I realize that the reason I was outright denied to many schools is because of the 3.0 minimum science GPA requirement and the lack of paid patient contact hours that I had. I also realize that both my science and my cumulative gpa was not competitive at the time of applying, and still isn't considering I am only in the first semester of this new program. I was also encouraged to retake the GRE in order to get over the 50th percentile in all 3 sections. Truth be told, the reason for my low GPA is due to the significant amount of fun I had during the beginning of my undergrad, which lasted for 3 to 4 semesters before I really got my act together. Unfortunately, stellar grades during the last half of my undergrad do not make up for poor grades in the beginning. 

Any advice, criticisms, etc are welcomed and appreciated! Thanks for reading. 

 

 

[UGoLong]

I think you've adequately assessed your shortcomings. Not sure you need a masters as opposed to some good science grades, but it's reasonable. Good performance there may also counteract a borderline GRE.

Getting more HCE is a great idea.

Best wishes.