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Western 2019-2020 Application Cycle


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How do you guys feel about their gpa tier system? I am not planning on reapplying here this year since I know they will not read my application. I feel like its unethical to accept applications and fees from applicants who meet the program requirements but not read their application due to the way they place us in tiers. any one else have thoughts on this?

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On 6/21/2019 at 11:24 PM, PAhopeful6 said:

How do you guys feel about their gpa tier system? I am not planning on reapplying here this year since I know they will not read my application. I feel like its unethical to accept applications and fees from applicants who meet the program requirements but not read their application due to the way they place us in tiers. any one else have thoughts on this?

What is their gpa tier system?

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6 hours ago, Deborahz said:

What is their gpa tier system?

Here is a post from Aug 25th, 2018 in the 2018-2019 thread that I’m going off of. 

PAhopeful6 wrote: “Hey everyone, just thought I would share some information I received at the preview day today. I spoke with an admissions counselor and asked when I should expect to hear something back (I applied 7/17) and asked if they are going through applications by date of submission. She informed me that they do not go by application date, but by gpa. She explained that they use a tier system to tier your application and the tier you are placed in is based off of your lowest gpa (whichever is lowest out of cGPA, sGPA, pre reqGPA). They then start at the highest gpa tiers and go down from there. She then informed me that last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier. I took this to mean that applications under 3.5 did not get reviewed. “

Hope that helps answer your question. Also, I haven’t talked to anyone in admissions or verified this but am assuming it’s true based on all of the replies and other people confirming it.

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On 6/21/2019 at 11:24 PM, PAhopeful6 said:

How do you guys feel about their gpa tier system? I am not planning on reapplying here this year since I know they will not read my application. I feel like its unethical to accept applications and fees from applicants who meet the program requirements but not read their application due to the way they place us in tiers. any one else have thoughts on this?

I think it can definitely be a disadvantage. I attended an information session for another program and they said they don't consider GPA as the top factor because it isn't fair. For example, if someone graduates with a bachelor's and starts taking prereqs 2 courses per semester, their prereq GPA may be alot higher than someone who was full time taking prereqs along with their bachelor degree courses. The work load is not the same. I'm taking classes now post bacc 1-2 per semester just to raise my GPA and it is definitely way more manageable than when I would take 20+ units in undergrad. It seems like Western is the only school that sorts your application out by GPA bc all the other programs I have looked at look at the entire application and have accepted a GPA as low as 2.9. 

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On 6/26/2019 at 8:27 PM, DavidErlenbush said:

Here is a post from Aug 25th, 2018 in the 2018-2019 thread that I’m going off of. 

PAhopeful6 wrote: “Hey everyone, just thought I would share some information I received at the preview day today. I spoke with an admissions counselor and asked when I should expect to hear something back (I applied 7/17) and asked if they are going through applications by date of submission. She informed me that they do not go by application date, but by gpa. She explained that they use a tier system to tier your application and the tier you are placed in is based off of your lowest gpa (whichever is lowest out of cGPA, sGPA, pre reqGPA). They then start at the highest gpa tiers and go down from there. She then informed me that last year they did not even go lower than the 3.5 gpa tier. I took this to mean that applications under 3.5 did not get reviewed. “

Hope that helps answer your question. Also, I haven’t talked to anyone in admissions or verified this but am assuming it’s true based on all of the replies and other people confirming it.

I did email their university recruiter, Shea Heagle, and she did confirm they will be reviewing applications using the same gpa tier system this cycle. 

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On 6/28/2019 at 6:33 PM, biopsyd said:

I think it can definitely be a disadvantage. I attended an information session for another program and they said they don't consider GPA as the top factor because it isn't fair. For example, if someone graduates with a bachelor's and starts taking prereqs 2 courses per semester, their prereq GPA may be alot higher than someone who was full time taking prereqs along with their bachelor degree courses. The work load is not the same. I'm taking classes now post bacc 1-2 per semester just to raise my GPA and it is definitely way more manageable than when I would take 20+ units in undergrad. It seems like Western is the only school that sorts your application out by GPA bc all the other programs I have looked at look at the entire application and have accepted a GPA as low as 2.9. 

Im more upset that 1) they use your lowest gpa to place you in a tier (using the same gpa for all applicants, such as pre req gpa, would level the field and compare applicants equally)  2) they accept application fees from applicants who meet their requirements but do not read their application and give it a fair review. 

 

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On 6/26/2019 at 12:42 PM, DavidErlenbush said:

I definitely agree with you, it seems a little unethical. The majority of the other schools that I am applying to either do not have additional supplemental applications (+ fees) or wait to have you fill out a supplemental application until they have gone through an initial screening process. I am still applying here to increase my chances that I get in this cycle. The way I have to look at it is that the $55.00 CASPA fee and $50.00 supplemental application fee pale in comparison to the investment I've made getting to this point, and will be irrelevant once I am a practicing PA-C. 

I agree with casting a wide net, the application fee doesn't deter me from applying, its the fact that even though I meet all the requirements and would  be a great candidate, because of their tier system, my application will not even be read. I will be placed in the lowest tier since my lowest gpa is my cum at 3.14 ( but my highest gpa is 4.0 for pre req). I was told my application was not read as they did not go below 3.5 gpas, so my outstanding LORs, patient care hours, and statement were never even looked at. that is unethical in my opinion. I was just more curious how others felt about their tier system, if I was the only one bothered by it 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/3/2019 at 2:58 AM, PAhopeful6 said:

I agree with casting a wide net, the application fee doesn't deter me from applying, its the fact that even though I meet all the requirements and would  be a great candidate, because of their tier system, my application will not even be read. I will be placed in the lowest tier since my lowest gpa is my cum at 3.14 ( but my highest gpa is 4.0 for pre req). I was told my application was not read as they did not go below 3.5 gpas, so my outstanding LORs, patient care hours, and statement were never even looked at. that is unethical in my opinion. I was just more curious how others felt about their tier system, if I was the only one bothered by it 

Thank you for this useful info about this gpa tier system. I  was looking for programs I can apply to thats deadline was a little later and their gpa requirements are lower as well. My theory is that they advertise a low gpa to get more people to apply. Hence getting more supplemental application fees. Underhandedly, they are still only considering people with higher gpas. Basically they just want more money but do not want students with lower gpas. This is the first school Ive seen do this and I will not be applying. I don't think I want to play into their scheme. 

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42 minutes ago, slsmedic13 said:

Hi all! 

Just curious if anyone had had any trouble with the pdf portion of the supplemental?? Every time after I enter my info and go to preview it, some of the information has been changed/added, etc. Anyone else deal with this?? Thanks in advance! 

Hey I had that issue. Try saving the PDF when you try to print the document and then edit it using a PDF editor software. There’s some free ones out there. 

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On 8/4/2019 at 1:18 PM, slsmedic13 said:

Hi all! 

Just curious if anyone had had any trouble with the pdf portion of the supplemental?? Every time after I enter my info and go to preview it, some of the information has been changed/added, etc. Anyone else deal with this?? Thanks in advance! 

I also had this issue and I called Western to ask about it. They said I could print the document and write everything in by hand and then scan it as a pdf. There are tons of phone apps where you take a picture of a document and it converts it into a pdf.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/16/2019 at 11:04 AM, biopsyd said:

I got an email saying my application has been processed and sent to the WesternU Committee for review. Guess they're starting to review applications. Fingers crossed. 

Got the same e-mail today. Verified 6/25, secondary submitted 7/1. Fingers and toes crossed for news soon! Good luck everyone 🙂

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