General Advice; How is this going to look?

[Asok15]

Hi folks, this is my first time here and I'm in need of advice!! So I graduated from The George Washington University with a BS in Public Health (GPA something around 3.4). I enrolled in the MPH program at BU but due to significant mental health struggles I ended up doing quite poorly. I was originally full time, went down to part time, and then decided to withdraw; I completed the classes I was enrolled in and got 2 Bs and 2B-. After some soul-searching and getting back to myself I have decided I want to become a PA but I'm afraid having withdrawn from this MPH program is going to be a huge strike against me, what do you think?

 

From my research; what I need to do to become a competitive candidate is

1.  acquire ~1000 HCE hours

2. shadow PAs

3. complete my science prerequisites with a good GPA

4. volunteer in community healthcare settings

5. attain some sort of Spanish medical terminology proficiency being that I did my minor in Spanish. Does anyone know of some?

 

My plan for attaining HCE hours is to take free CNA classes through a center that guarantees placement afterward. Regarding the prerequisites, I took 1 biology class during undergrad so I will need to take biology II, microbiology, chemistry I & II, A&P I & II, organic chemistry, and genetics. I need advice about which order to take them in and whether I should take them online, hybrid through a community college, or apply to a post bac. I want to get these done as soon as possible but I want to do well. I live in MA so there are many schools I can consider for taking these classes in person; for distance/online classes I am trying to decide between MGH IHP, UNE, and Doane U. Does anyone have advice about this? This is mostly where I am stuck at now; I'm just not sure which option to choose but I hope to begin prereqs this summer. 

 

[junebug]

For any classes that require a lab component, try to do that in person! A lot of PA schools require that they are in person. Also for the ochem requirement, some schools will take biochem instead or won't even require either of them (just bonus courses). Definitely do your research in the prereqs for the specific schools you are interested in! The school that you take your prereqs at will have a different order that they require for the classes- but ochem will definitely be last. Bio will be needed before micro and A&P. When you get an advisor, you'll be able to get a better sense of what the order will be. 

I did post-bac classes both online and in person through Troy Uni (I live in Alabama). So I was able to work as much as possible while taking the online classes, then I dropped down to part-time to do the in-person classes. Some schools offer an accelerated A&P 1 and 2 where you can complete both in one semester- might be something you want to consider to maximize your time. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by junebug