JMAF12 Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Hello everyone! I know you probably get a million of these all the time but if you can take the minute to read this and help out that would be absolutely amazing and appreciative. So to tell you a little about myself, I graduated in May 2017 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and a Minor in Chemistry. My cGPA (according to my undergrad) is 3.24 and I have also taken 2 additional courses at community college in which I received an A in both 2 credit and 3 credit courses (in hope to slightly raise my cgpa). I have not calculated my science GPA but it looks promising. My current HCE consists of shadowing at a family practice for 100 hours (with physician), currently working with a physician as his Medical Scribe (approximately over 350 hours at the moment) for a cardiology group, completing my MA, phlebotomy, and EKG certifications this month to work and receive direct patient care hours, and I applied to become the Chief Scribe or the manager for the medical scribes of the company which also looks extremely promising. I have worked in a pharmacy, however, nothing medication related, only billing and filing. As for volunteer work, I have worked with a "halfway house" for people with HIV/AIDs for 8+ years now and still still this day, I participated in Coast to Coast for a cure which raised money for muscular diseases for 1 year, and lastly, I was apart of Delta Phi Epsilon for 3 years with a philanthropy for CF, anorexia nervosa, and other associated disorders. My real concern lies in my GPA and my GRE scores. My GRE is what I would consider horrible- 297 total. Standardize tests have never been my thing and my GPA is only low because physics and biochem screwed me royally haha. But I promise I am a diligent, intelligent, hard-working student and I am trying so hard to make up for the mistakes I made in undergrad. I am worried the schools will take one look at my GPA or GRE and throw my application out the window. I'm just not so sure I'm going to poke through anywhere. Here are some of my pre-req courses to get an idea of science GPA. I really appreciate it everyone! Gen Bio I & lab- A, A (respectively) Gen Bio I & lab- A, A Gen Chem I & lab- B, A Gen Chem II & lab- C, A STATS- B Genetics- B Cell Biology & lab- A Microbiology & lab- B Immunology & lab- A Biochemistry (no lab)- C Orgo I & lab- A, A Orgo II & lab- B, A A&P I & lab- A, A A&P II & lab- B+, A ***Also, I have no preference of schools but I do live in NJ and only plan on applying farthest 4 hours max*** Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastStone Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Your cGPA and sGPA are fine. I wouldn't worry about that at all. Gaining a lot more HCE will be what makes the biggest difference. The thing about most PA schools is they look at you holistically, so just because you were right under that 300 benchmark, your grades and more accrued HCE will compensate for the low GRE. You can search and see which PA schools don't have a screening on GRE score. You can even see that some schools don't even require GRE if you search for them online. For the majority of schools, you're gonna need a lot more HCE hours, especially patient contact. That's where the medical assisting will help. My honest opinion would be to focus on that, look at your GRE and see where you need to improve and take it again at some point. That is my best advice. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMAF12 Posted January 8, 2018 Author Share Posted January 8, 2018 10 hours ago, TheLastStone said: Your cGPA and sGPA are fine. I wouldn't worry about that at all. Gaining a lot more HCE will be what makes the biggest difference. The thing about most PA schools is they look at you holistically, so just because you were right under that 300 benchmark, your grades and more accrued HCE will compensate for the low GRE. You can search and see which PA schools don't have a screening on GRE score. You can even see that some schools don't even require GRE if you search for them online. For the majority of schools, you're gonna need a lot more HCE hours, especially patient contact. That's where the medical assisting will help. My honest opinion would be to focus on that, look at your GRE and see where you need to improve and take it again at some point. That is my best advice. Good luck! Thank you so much! I will start applying when the applications open in April-May and by the time the application process is over (September), I will have around 2,200 hours (combined HCE). I am also going to see if I can pick up some weekends for per diem working as an MA. Overall, I am working as much as I can. Is there anything else I can possibly do? I'm afraid 2,000 hours will not be efficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potatolife Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Overall you look good. Your GPA is average, so you need to compensate for that by increasing your GRE score and increasing your healthcare experience to at least 1,000 hours. Check to see if the schools you're applying to do rolling admissions. If they don't, that's good for you, so you can increase your PCE/HCE. It's also really important that you did well in their specific prerequisite courses. I think you'll have a good chance for an interview if you follow through with the feedback others are giving you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.