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What are my chances? Low PCE


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Hi everyone, this will be my first time applying and I am worried I don't have enough HCE (particularly PCE) to get accepted. I plan on applying only to schools with low or no HCE requirements, and I also plan on applying to quite a few schools. I am OK with taking a gap year if needed but I was wondering if it's even worth trying this cycle. 

GPA: 3.759 (I'm not finished with my bachelor's yet, but I'm in my 5th year as a senior so I doubt it'll change much this semester)
As a note, I do have two Ws on my transcript that are spaced pretty far apart. I have only Bs and As on my transcripts with no repeated grades. I also have an upward trend, as the first year I had mostly Bs and now I have almost all As.
sGPA: It'd be the same as above or higher (I only got a B in general chem 1. I have all As in other prereqs.)
GRE: 312, 4.5
PCE: 150hrs as a CNA in a SNF, plan on accumulating an additional 350 hours by time of admission, for a total of about 500hrs
HCE: About 420 hours volunteering in a hospital (Not sure if this is HCE or PCE), about 720 hours as a pharmacy intern 
Shadowing: 38 hours total. 2 PAs in internal medicine for 34 hours, 1 PA in urgent care for 4 hours (I'm still shadowing currently, so this number will be higher by time of admission)
LORs: A PA I shadowed, my pharmacy supervisor, and my anatomy professor
Volunteer: About 1,400hrs volunteering at a Kitten Rescue, 100hrs at a dog rescue, 100hrs at a children's community center (helping with arts+crafts mostly)
Other things (not sure if I should put these on my app):
- Black belt in Tae Kwon Do
- CPR certification 
- Won state and legislative awards in digital art 
- Worked various retail positions (Cashier, sales floor) for over a year at Target (not sure if we should include non-healthcare related work experience?)

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Guest HopeToBePAC

I would go ahead and apply, but like you mentioned only apply to schools with no PCE required or super low PCE hour schools. Make sure you can at least get to that 500 minimum mark too because many schools have 500 hour PCE minimums if you want more schools to apply to. Don't bother applying to any schools that have anything greater than that, you will get auto-rejected. Your GPA is pretty solid and will off-set the low PCE you have. 

The 420 hours volunteering at a hospital is not PCE. You can put it under HCE though, same for your pharmacy intern hours. 

I would put the Black Belt and digit art awards on your app as this shows you have an interest outside of medicine. I'd skip over putting your retail positions but you can if you want to show that you handled school and other outside work ---> although it would have been better to spend those hours working a PCE job if you had the chance. 

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5 minutes ago, HopeToBePAC said:

I would go ahead and apply, but like you mentioned only apply to schools with no PCE required or super low PCE hour schools. Make sure you can at least get to that 500 minimum mark too because many schools have 500 hour PCE minimums if you want more schools to apply to. Don't bother applying to any schools that have anything greater than that, you will get auto-rejected. Your GPA is pretty solid and will off-set the low PCE you have. 

The 420 hours volunteering at a hospital is not PCE. You can put it under HCE though, same for your pharmacy intern hours. 

I would put the Black Belt and digit art awards on your app as this shows you have an interest outside of medicine. I'd skip over putting your retail positions but you can if you want to show that you handled school and other outside work ---> although it would have been better to spend those hours working a PCE job if you had the chance. 

Thank you so much for your response. I'm an anxious person naturally so the admission process has been driving me a bit crazy haha. I appreciate your suggestions/support.

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