Western 2018-2019 Application Cycle

[mellychung]

Hey everyone, just thought I would share some information I received at the preview day today. I spoke with an admissions counselor and asked when I should expect to hear something back (I applied 7/17) and asked if they are going through applications by date of submission. She informed me that they do not go by application date, but by gpa. She explained that they use a tier system to tier your application and the tier you are placed in is based off of your lowest gpa (whichever is lowest out of cGPA, sGPA, pre reqGPA). They then start at the highest gpa tiers and go down from there. She then informed me that last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier. I took this to mean that applications under 3.5 did not get reviewed. 

Do you know if the gpa they are separating us are based on CASPA calculations or recalculations from the repeated course worksheet?


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[PAhopeful6]

2 hours ago, mellychung said:

 

Do you know if the gpa they are separating us are based on CASPA calculations or recalculations from the repeated course worksheet?


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Recalculations from the repeated coursework sheet if you repeated courses 

[RespiratoryGirl]

Their website states that the average overall GPA was 3.55 and sGPA was 3.53 for the class entering last year. So there is still hope!

[whitesocks]

Hey everyone, just thought I would share some information I received at the preview day today. I spoke with an admissions counselor and asked when I should expect to hear something back (I applied 7/17) and asked if they are going through applications by date of submission. She informed me that they do not go by application date, but by gpa. She explained that they use a tier system to tier your application and the tier you are placed in is based off of your lowest gpa (whichever is lowest out of cGPA, sGPA, pre reqGPA). They then start at the highest gpa tiers and go down from there. She then informed me that last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier. I took this to mean that applications under 3.5 did not get reviewed. 

Thank you! Super informative but curious if they told you when we’d hear back? [emoji28][emoji28]


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[PAhopeful6]

On 8/25/2018 at 2:57 PM, mellychung said:

 

Do you know if the gpa they are separating us are based on CASPA calculations or recalculations from the repeated course worksheet?


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They will recalculate any repeated courses for your gpa. From there, they use your lowest gpa to place you in a tier. 

[PAhopeful6]

On 8/25/2018 at 9:10 PM, RespiratoryGirl said:

Their website states that the average overall GPA was 3.55 and sGPA was 3.53 for the class entering last year. So there is still hope!

yes,  from what I was told, applicants under a 3.5 were not even reviewed. That makes sense for the average gpas of the entering class...everyone had a 3.5 or higher. 

[KirstenPrePA]

is anyone a first time applicant?

[RespiratoryGirl]

10 hours ago, PAhopeful6 said:

yes,  from what I was told, applicants under a 3.5 were not even reviewed. That makes sense for the average gpas of the entering class...everyone had a 3.5 or higher. 

I was thinking if the average is 3.5 that means there were GPA's above and below 3.5.

If 3.5 was on the lower end the average would be a lot higher around 3.7

[biopsyd]

On 8/25/2018 at 2:45 PM, PAhopeful6 said:

Hey everyone, just thought I would share some information I received at the preview day today. I spoke with an admissions counselor and asked when I should expect to hear something back (I applied 7/17) and asked if they are going through applications by date of submission. She informed me that they do not go by application date, but by gpa. She explained that they use a tier system to tier your application and the tier you are placed in is based off of your lowest gpa (whichever is lowest out of cGPA, sGPA, pre reqGPA). They then start at the highest gpa tiers and go down from there. She then informed me that last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier. I took this to mean that applications under 3.5 did not get reviewed. 

This is accurate. I went to the preview day before the recent one and was told the exact same thing. Makes me worry since my sGPA isn't as high as I'd like. I was a biology major so a lot more science classes are factored into my sGPA. 

[PAhopeful6]

37 minutes ago, biopsyd said:

This is accurate. I went to the preview day before the recent one and was told the exact same thing. Makes me worry since my sGPA isn't as high as I'd like. I was a biology major so a lot more science classes are factored into my sGPA. 

Im in the same boat, Im a kinesiology major. I have like 80 science units at this point. I don't understand why they don't use the pre req gpa or the core sciences so that everyone is compared on a level playing field. Its very biased against science majors, giving non-science majors quite an advantage. 

[biopsyd]

1 hour ago, PAhopeful6 said:

Im in the same boat, Im a kinesiology major. I have like 80 science units at this point. I don't understand why they don't use the pre req gpa or the core sciences so that everyone is compared on a level playing field. Its very biased against science majors, giving non-science majors quite an advantage. 

Yes exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only one. Half my transcript is upper division biology and those courses were more challenging and more than 4 units each, so they impact your GPA more. I did a Psychology minor and those upper division courses were not even half as difficult. Of course a non-science major who only took the prereq science courses (and probably science GEs) is going to have a higher sGPA and even oGPA. 

[PAhopeful6]

1 hour ago, biopsyd said:

Yes exactly! I'm glad I'm not the only one. Half my transcript is upper division biology and those courses were more challenging and more than 4 units each, so they impact your GPA more. I did a Psychology minor and those upper division courses were not even half as difficult. Of course a non-science major who only took the prereq science courses (and probably science GEs) is going to have a higher sGPA and even oGPA. 

I agree completely! Thats why I think applicants should be compared using the same pre req courses, schools need to account for the fact that non science majors have an upper hand where gpa is concerned. Pre req sciences are only like 25 units...so raising my science gpa when I have 85 science units already is extremely difficult. I was hoping and thought Western was not so "gpa focused" and placed more emphasis on community involvement etc, so I was very disappointed when I went to the preview day and found out other wise. 

[Hana339]

I'm confused, in the Applicants Manual I bought it says the min GPA is 2.75, but on the website is says: "Minimum Overall, Science and Prerequisite GPAs of 3.00."

I called them and they said they look at the courses with the higher grades which was such a relief because in that case it would make my GPA much higher. However, it is lower than 3.0 overall on caspa so does that mean I would be counted out? I'm so confused right now. Please help if you can. Thank you x

Edited September 1, 2018 by Hana339

[PAhopeful6]

9 hours ago, Hana339 said:

I'm confused, in the Applicants Manual I bought it says the min GPA is 2.75, but on the website is says: "Minimum Overall, Science and Prerequisite GPAs of 3.00."

I called them and they said they look at the courses with the higher grades which was such a relief because in that case it would make my GPA much higher. However, it is lower than 3.0 overall on caspa so does that mean I would be counted out? I'm so confused right now. Please help if you can. Thank you x

The minimum GPA requirements have changed for this cycle from 2.75 to 3.0. They do recalculate your gpa for classes you retook instead of using the averaged grade CASPA computes. If you retook a few classes this could help increase your gpa.

[biopsyd]

18 hours ago, PAhopeful6 said:

I agree completely! Thats why I think applicants should be compared using the same pre req courses, schools need to account for the fact that non science majors have an upper hand where gpa is concerned. Pre req sciences are only like 25 units...so raising my science gpa when I have 85 science units already is extremely difficult. I was hoping and thought Western was not so "gpa focused" and placed more emphasis on community involvement etc, so I was very disappointed when I went to the preview day and found out other wise. 

That's exactly what I'm saying! My plan is to take science classes at a community college if I don't get in this cycle. Even then my GPA won't go up that much. Yea I actually haven't heard of any other school that uses your lowest of the 3 GPAs to determine what tier you are placed into. I've seen other schools accept applicants with a 3.0 sGPA and that's not very high. 

[lowexpectations]

On 8/25/2018 at 4:45 PM, PAhopeful6 said:

Hey everyone, just thought I would share some information I received at the preview day today. I spoke with an admissions counselor and asked when I should expect to hear something back (I applied 7/17) and asked if they are going through applications by date of submission. She informed me that they do not go by application date, but by gpa. She explained that they use a tier system to tier your application and the tier you are placed in is based off of your lowest gpa (whichever is lowest out of cGPA, sGPA, pre reqGPA). They then start at the highest gpa tiers and go down from there. She then informed me that last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier. I took this to mean that applications under 3.5 did not get reviewed. 

By "last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier".... does that mean that if ANY of your cGPA, sGPA, or prereqGPA is over 3.5, you might have a chance at being reviewed?

And is one of those GPAs being low a deal-breaker, even if you have a 4.0 on another GPA?  This is a confusing system.

[PAhopeful6]

6 hours ago, lowexpectations said:

By "last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier".... does that mean that if ANY of your cGPA, sGPA, or prereqGPA is over 3.5, you might have a chance at being reviewed?

And is one of those GPAs being low a deal-breaker, even if you have a 4.0 on another GPA?  This is a confusing system.

They will use your lowest gpa out of cGPA, sGPA and prereqGPA. Whichever is lowest, is the tier you are placed in. They begin at 4.0, and work their way down the tiers. For instance, if your cGPA 3.6, sGPA 3.2, prereqGPA 4.0, you are placed in the 3.2 gpa tier. The admissions counselor told me, (and someone else above at a different preview day) that they did not review applicants in tiers below 3.5 

[SoCaliPrePA]

On 8/28/2018 at 9:53 PM, KirstenPrePA said:

is anyone a first time applicant?

First time applicant here

[RespiratoryGirl]

Just received my interview invite! Scheduled for January 16th at 9:30

cGPA: 3.52

sGPA: 3.39

PCE over 7,000

 

[NessB]

Also received an interview invite for October 10th!

cGPA 3.79

sGPA 3.64

Scribe-3,000 hrs

CNA-650 hrs

[michellepa]

Also received an interview invite! Will be there on January 16th! 

[kmrh442]

I also received an interview invite and will be there November 15!!

[KaylaRT]

I just recieved an interview for november 15th! I am excited to meet everyone. Good luck! 

Verified may 16th

BCP GPA: 3.59

Total science GPA: 3.88

degree: respiratory therapy 

50+hours shadowing 

8000+ hours of healthcare experience 

[futurewhitecoat]

Just received an interview invitation as well. Will be attending January 16th at 9:30! 

 

[AshleyE]

I received an interview invite today. I scheduled it for January 16th because the dates in October and November were filled.

I just wanted to verify again that this program does not utilize a rolling admissions process? I could not find the specification of this on their website.

Also, how many programs did you apply to/heard back from regarding your status?

Edited September 10, 2018 by AshleyE