Mirna Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I’ve been researching and heard positive things about western governors university they are regionally accredited. I’m looking into a BA degree my issue is there grading system is pass/fail. I want to become a PA in the future and I want to know if anyone had any experience with this school or a good online school you recommend? My fear is I’ll have issues after graduating when it comes to CASPA. Thank you any advice is greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgriffiths Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I know that when I was looking into different PA schools there were some that did not accept Pass/Fail grading for certain courses. I don't remember which schools, and maybe that has changed now. My other question is how they calculate a GPA if only Pass/Fail? That alone could create an issue. Lastly, I am no expert on accreditation, but regional accreditation may be a problem. Most graduate schools and beyond require a degree from a nationally accredited school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted December 6, 2018 Administrator Share Posted December 6, 2018 Typically, pass/fail courses are not included in a GPA. Pacific's PA program is all pass/fail, 80% being a pass. We had an option to take a one credit medical Spanish course as an elective, but since that wasn't part of the program, it was graded, so anyone who took it would have been 1) the only one(s) in our program with a GPA, and 2) their entire PA school GPA would be based on that one, 1 credit course. Pretty sure no one in my class took that option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgriffiths Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 35 minutes ago, rev ronin said: Typically, pass/fail courses are not included in a GPA. Pacific's PA program is all pass/fail, 80% being a pass. We had an option to take a one credit medical Spanish course as an elective, but since that wasn't part of the program, it was graded, so anyone who took it would have been 1) the only one(s) in our program with a GPA, and 2) their entire PA school GPA would be based on that one, 1 credit course. Pretty sure no one in my class took that option. That's as bad as my bachelor's degree: was on track to graduate with honors with a double major Biology and Secondary education. Completed my student teaching and my average GPA dropped significantly taking me out of graduating with honors. Student teaching was a full semester's worth of "classes" (22 credits) and was pass/fail and therefore didn't count as grades toward my GPA, but the 22 credits were still used when actually calculating my GPA...infuriating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted December 6, 2018 Administrator Share Posted December 6, 2018 51 minutes ago, mgriffiths said: That's as bad as my bachelor's degree: was on track to graduate with honors with a double major Biology and Secondary education. Completed my student teaching and my average GPA dropped significantly taking me out of graduating with honors. Student teaching was a full semester's worth of "classes" (22 credits) and was pass/fail and therefore didn't count as grades toward my GPA, but the 22 credits were still used when actually calculating my GPA...infuriating! That's wrong. Well, at least, atypical. Normally, transcripts are broken up into "quality hours" as a subset of total hours earned, and GPA is total quality points per quality hour. Pass/Fail, AP, credit by exam, etc. are typically given as non-quality credits that don't factor into the GPA unless you fail, and then they're F's. If your school MEANT to do that, that's stupid. I doubt it would be worth going back and challenging it now, but any system that holds a 'pass' in a 'pass/fail' system against a student is dumb and wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgriffiths Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 yep, I brought it to their attention 1 week before graduation when grades were released and basically got, "Oops, you're right but nothing we can do now!" They've calculated it correctly since...I guess that's worth something. Definitely not worth doing anything now. The good news is that it hasn't held me back in any way, just stupid, annoying, and would have been nice to graduate with honors - but at this point would just be words on a really expensive piece of paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted December 8, 2018 Administrator Share Posted December 8, 2018 My original undergraduate career was far from distinguished, but the good bit is that I needed so much undergraduate leveling before PA school that I got another associates: made president's list 3x, graduated with highest honors... after I already had two other masters degrees. I still put that on my full CV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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