GPA questions

[RoseQueen]

Hey guys!

So I'm going into my Junior year and I'm a little worried about where I am right now. I have a 3.21 cGPA and a 3.33 sGPA. I have three retakes as well so I'm sure my "actual" c/sGPA on the caspa won't be as high, but I'm aiming for about a 3.4 cGPA and 3.45/3.5 sGPA come app time.  Stats wise I've just started volunteering at the ER at my local hospital where I anticipate getting just about 200 hours this summer. I'm also looking into other ways of building up my patient care/hospital hours over this summer and throughout the school year and breaks. Anyway my question is this: how do PA schools look at volunteer hours? And is there any judgment on the time span of hours (like say gaining a lot of hours over a short period of time)? How many hours should I be shooting for? Also do programs look at the overall trend on the GPA? I have a slight upward trend (Freshman: 2.94 Sophomore: 3.21).

 

Thank you much in advance!

[JD2012]

You want to have your hours for volunteering and/or patient care hours to be in the thousands.  Plan to take a year after your graduate to accrue a good amount of patient care experience. In the meantime, focus on your GPA, and do those volunteer hours when you can without sacrificing the GPA.

I don't think programs will care about how fast your get the hours unless it looks suspicious.

[Guest thePAway]

I have heard program directors say they look for an upward trend but I agree that for now your GPA should be your main focus because that and your patient care hours are the main components to applying to PA school and you can always get the hours later over the summer or after you graduate.