2018-2019 Application Cycle

[nh1095]

On 10/30/2018 at 10:45 PM, HealthLuvr said:

Hi! Can anyone give me a break down of interview day? How was the staff for the individual interview? relaxed or more formal? Any odd ball questions to note? Also a heard last year there was an essay, is that still the case?

I would love to know what the interview process was like aswell--i'm interviewing for Nov 30th!

[Tnlewis]

18 hours ago, nh1095 said:

I would love to know what the interview process was like aswell--i'm interviewing for Nov 30th!

Interview experience was great! Group interview was challenging but not intimidating (just know how to work as a team and have a discussion!)  and during the individual interview the atmosphere was very relaxed and personal. Best of luck to you!! I’m currently on the waitlist and would be very excited to end up with an acceptance

[HealthLuvr]

5 hours ago, Tnlewis said:

Interview experience was great! Group interview was challenging but not intimidating (just know how to work as a team and have a discussion!)  and during the individual interview the atmosphere was very relaxed and personal. Best of luck to you!! I’m currently on the waitlist and would be very excited to end up with an acceptance

Thank you so much for the information! I am glad it was a relaxed environment, I Interview on the 9th and this is my first interview this cycle so I was torn on what to expect! Best of luck to you and your position on the waitlist

[PAHOPEFUL2525]

Hi, 

I know many of you have been accepted and/or offered interviews already. For those of you that have, could you share your stats? I am waiting to hear back and I'm curious to know the average they have been at least offering interviews for? 

Thanks!! 

[HealthLuvr]

Just got my email from the 11/9 interview! Accepted!!! I am so excited, With this being my first interview I had no idea what to expect but it all worked out! 

[PAHOPEFUL2525]

17 hours ago, HealthLuvr said:

Just got my email from the 11/9 interview! Accepted!!! I am so excited, With this being my first interview I had no idea what to expect but it all worked out! 

Could you post your stats? 

[jaf8365]

I interviewed at Jefferson on November 9th and received an acceptance email on January 15th!

I had already been accepted to the Mary Baldwin PA program (Start date: January 2019) and was planning on attending this program until I received this acceptance from Jefferson.  Part of me still wants to attend Mary Baldwin so I can go ahead and get started earlier with school, while the other part of me wants to attend Jefferson since it is an older and more established program. I have already put down a $2000 deposit for Mary Baldwin and signed a lease for an apartment. I'm looking for any advice I can receive. Which school would you attend if you were in this position?

Thank you for your help!

[whewitt25]

I submitted very late in the game for personal reasons, received a call today for an invite for the January interview--- looking forward to meeting some of you then! Congrats to those who have already been accepted! 

[PAHOPEFUL2525]

On 11/19/2018 at 6:37 PM, whewitt25 said:

I submitted very late in the game for personal reasons, received a call today for an invite for the January interview--- looking forward to meeting some of you then! Congrats to those who have already been accepted! 

I too submitted later in the cycle. When was your application verified? I have yet to hear anything. 

[whewitt25]

On 11/21/2018 at 12:51 AM, dml2018 said:

I too submitted later in the cycle. When was your application verified? I have yet to hear anything. 

I am not exactly sure I am giving you the correct date, but I got an email on 10/27 that my coursework was verified. Then I got an email from the school to make my account on 10/31. Hope that helps! They offered a spot in next week's interview instead after some people cancelled since I am close, so they should have openings for the January interview date still! 

[jgw97]

Just received an email following up from my 11/30 interview. Accepted! Can't wait to meet everyone.

[becmarkend]

I never heard back one way or another about my application, so I emailed admissions a couple weeks ago and received a very prompt response from them. They (specifically, Bob Hadley) gave me some really nice detailed feedback about why I wasn't offered an interview, and said that if I were to reapply next year that I should email them and they would make a point to look at my application again. I have been accepted elsewhere so I will not be reapplying there, but I wanted to put that out there for anyone who was rejected or has not heard back from them and is thinking about applying next cycle. Admissions seems really nice, and I'd recommend reaching out to them about your application!

[brittbarba]

Just got invited to interview 01/08!

[CCJ23]

I was accepted after the 11/30 interview! Who else was accepted and plans to go to Jefferson? I would like to get in contact with fellow students

[Props]

5 hours ago, CCJ23 said:

I was accepted after the 11/30 interview! Who else was accepted and plans to go to Jefferson? I would like to get in contact with fellow students

Hey, 

Congratulations for acceptance. I plan for Jefferson too. Cant wait to meet all classmates

[jgw97]

On 1/4/2019 at 10:41 AM, CCJ23 said:

I was accepted after the 11/30 interview! Who else was accepted and plans to go to Jefferson? I would like to get in contact with fellow students

I'm one of your fellow students. And I'm pretty local to the school if you have questions about the area feel free to PM me

[brittbarba]

Anyone interviewing tomorrow want to grab dinner tonight or something? 

[tallykl489]

On 1/7/2019 at 3:21 PM, brittbarba said:

Anyone interviewing tomorrow want to grab dinner tonight or something? 

I also interviewed today (1/8)! How do you feel it went? 

[brittbarba]

10 minutes ago, tallykl489 said:

I also interviewed today (1/8)! How do you feel it went? 

I felt it went really well. It was nice and laid back. Group interview was a good team effort and I felt I showcased my ability to collaborate, but also lead. Personal interview felt like a discussion with colleagues and I was able to really get across to them how I have prepared for this as my career. 

 

How did you feel? 

[tallykl489]

1 minute ago, brittbarba said:

I felt it went really well. It was nice and laid back. Group interview was a good team effort and I felt I showcased my ability to collaborate, but also lead. Personal interview felt like a discussion with colleagues and I was able to really get across to them how I have prepared for this as my career. 

 

How did you feel? 

Yes! I loved how the personal interview felt more like a discussion/conversation than a rigid, structured interview. I feel it went well also! Hoping to hear back soon!  

[kmorrison423]

Interviewed on 1/8 and got my waitlist notification yesterday. Congrats to all that got in! I was a little disappointed that they won’t be offering an in state tuition after the merger with Radford.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kay2018]

Am I the only one getting a string of emails talking about why I didn't get in from this school? I received an email a few weeks ago, two this week, and they will be sending a letter in the mail. It's like a constant reminder that I didn't get in. 

[CCJ23]

3 hours ago, Kay2018 said:

Am I the only one getting a string of emails talking about why I didn't get in from this school? I received an email a few weeks ago, two this week, and they will be sending a letter in the mail. It's like a constant reminder that I didn't get in. 

What are they saying? Bummer, sorry about it

[SpinePA23]

5 hours ago, Kay2018 said:

Am I the only one getting a string of emails talking about why I didn't get in from this school? I received an email a few weeks ago, two this week, and they will be sending a letter in the mail. It's like a constant reminder that I didn't get in. 

I have received three emails by them, as well, with all the rejection details. It is quite annoying to keep receiving 

[Kay2018]

Dear Applicant,

You will be receiving an official deny letter from the admissions office within a few weeks. The admission committee wanted to give you feedback on why your application was denied and that information is provided below. Please only contact Dr. Hadley if your application was denied and was not covered in the list of reasons below.

We often receive inquiries from applicants concerning the reasons they were not offered an interview for our PA program. The information below will help to answer many of your questions, and if not, we are happy to provide you with more specific feedback.

Some common reasons for denial are below. We request that you go through this information, and compare each element to your own application. A good objective look at your own application in comparison to our criteria can be very helpful. In most cases, the reason for denial will be apparent, and the suggested remedies may help to strengthen your application in the future.

Common reasons for denial:

Low GPAs Low academic performance indicators cause significant concern, and we feel we must consider academics as our first priority. We intend for every accepted student to graduate.  We have a great many applicants with truly excellent academic credentials.

 
We look at overall cumulative GPA, prerequisite GPA, and science GPA. If any of these is below a 3.0, we perceive this as a red flag regarding an applicant's ability to successfully navigate our program's curriculum. If any of these GPAs is close to a 3.0 (e.g. 3.2 or lower), it is still a potential red flag. Most of our interviewees have all these GPAs above the 3.4 range.

The remedy for a low GPA is to concentrate on accumulating additional hours in specific areas to raise the GPA. These should be high level science courses. You could take courses that would satisfy our prerequisites, or other upper level science courses. By showing that you can handle a demanding curriculum, you can demonstrate that you are indeed capable of successful completion of our program.

 

It is generally NOT recommended that you retake classes to improve your grades. Take new classes and do well in them. There really is no opportunity to retake classes in PA school, so we are interested in how well you can do the first time you take a course.

GRE Scores We do not have a hard cutoff for GRE scores, and we recognize that the GRE does not measure ability in the same way that grades do. However, we have two types of concerns with GRE scores. First, we need to have GRE scores to adequately appraise an application. If we do not have at least unofficial scores listed in CASPA, or hard copy scores that have been sent to the school, we do not consider an application complete, and will not invite the applicant for an interview. We strongly prefer that you submit your scores through CASPA, so that all your data will be compiled together. Occasionally, hard copy GRE scores do not get placed in application packets, but the CASPA scores are always available.

Second, some applicants have low GRE scores that cause us to have some apprehension. Despite having no hard cutoff, scores below the 25th percentile suggest a problem with aptitude, either Verbal or Quantitative. The Analytic/Writing score is sometimes quite variable, and does not necessarily correlate well with the other scores, but scores of 3.0 or less (~17th percentile) raise concerns for some Admissions Committee members.

If you did not have a GRE score submitted, be sure to have that available for next cycle. If your scores were lower than the criteria mentioned above, retaking the GRE is recommended. Sometimes applicants take the GREs when they are not adequately prepared and perform poorly, despite having a good knowledge base. With adequate preparation, this may be remedied and one could see dramatic improvements in scores. Use the GRE web site to become familiar with content and type of question and consider whether an additional prep course (e.g. Kaplan) would be helpful.

Applied too early  Often we see applicants who are not quite ready for admission, and they have significant missing qualifications. These applicants may not have finished their degree yet, may have a large number of missing prerequisites, or have low patient care hours. Sometimes an applicant with a non-science background making a career change will also fall into this category. For all of our applicants, we like to see substantial evidence suggesting that they are both interested in and capable of becoming a PA. Often these applicants who may have applied too early are significantly stronger a year later, so we usually recommend continuing coursework and patient care and then reapplying when they have acquired more experience. 

Other  Nontraditional" applicants, such as second-career applicants, or those with non-science backgrounds, may require some special considerations. We are looking for reassurance that our applicants can succeed in our curriculum (see above), and having a non-science background can put applicants at a disadvantage. The solution here is to provide strong evidence of strong evidence of academic ability and a clear commitment to the PA profession. Due to particular constraints, this applicant is often working full time, and obtains prerequisite classes one or two at a time.  If at all possible, it is best to take on a very full load of all upper level, difficult courses, at least for a couple of semesters. Applicants who have a traditional science education but have been out of school an extended amount of time often have similar issues.

Mitigating factors. Some factors reduce the impact of the above issues. For example, there may be improving trends in grades, with older, earlier grades being poor, but more recent grades excellent. This may be reflected in a low overall GPA, but the recent strong track record helps to alleviate concerns. Nontraditional or second-career students may have lower GREs scores because they have been out of school for a long time, and are far-removed from the core curriculum that would prep one for the GREs. When we look at this whole picture, though, we still need to see solid academic ability.

Please inspect your application with the above in mind. If yours seems to fit one or more of these categories, you may have a better idea of what would be required to show improvement before reapplying. If you feel your situation does not fit the above, please feel free to contact Dr. Robert Hadley (rdhadley@jchs.edu), and he will address your specific questions.

We wish you well in your goal to become a PA.

Best Regards,

James K.