rslater00 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Hello, I have been waiting to hear from PA schools and am not hopeful on being accepted this round. In the meantime, I am looking into increasing my sGPA by entering a surgical technician program. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on whether I should do the surgical technician program or just retake some classes to increase my sGPA. Or will trying to increase my sGPA be a waste of time and I should focus on improving other areas of my application? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akerria29 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Hello, I have been waiting to hear from PA schools and am not hopeful on being accepted this round. In the meantime, I am looking into increasing my sGPA by entering a surgical technician program. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on whether I should do the surgical technician program or just retake some classes to increase my sGPA. Or will trying to increase my sGPA be a waste of time and I should focus on improving other areas of my application? Thank you!I would say it depends on what your sGPA is, also what your current job is for gaining PCE. Surg tech could be more beneficial, if it gives you a higher level of responsibility. I was in a similar situation a couple years ago with my GPAs. Feel free to pm me if you don't feel comfortable sharing your stats here, I'd be glad to help any way I can!Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACrankset Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 14 hours ago, rslater00 said: Hello, I have been waiting to hear from PA schools and am not hopeful on being accepted this round. In the meantime, I am looking into increasing my sGPA by entering a surgical technician program. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on whether I should do the surgical technician program or just retake some classes to increase my sGPA. Or will trying to increase my sGPA be a waste of time and I should focus on improving other areas of my application? Thank you! I would be a little careful with programs like that. If your goal is to increase your sGPA you need to make sure that CASPA will count all of that programs classes in you sGPA. Sometimes programs like that and EMT will only count towards your cGPA. Also I may be incorrect on this but isn't Surgical Technician a 1.5-2 year program? It may be more bang for your buck to retake some of the low science grades plus some upper division science credits and just reapply next year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rslater00 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 15 hours ago, akerria29 said: I would say it depends on what your sGPA is, also what your current job is for gaining PCE. Surg tech could be more beneficial, if it gives you a higher level of responsibility. I was in a similar situation a couple years ago with my GPAs. Feel free to pm me if you don't feel comfortable sharing your stats here, I'd be glad to help any way I can! Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk My sGPA is a 3.15 and my current job as a PT aide has been all of my PCE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rslater00 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 1 hour ago, PACrankset said: I would be a little careful with programs like that. If your goal is to increase your sGPA you need to make sure that CASPA will count all of that programs classes in you sGPA. Sometimes programs like that and EMT will only count towards your cGPA. Also I may be incorrect on this but isn't Surgical Technician a 1.5-2 year program? It may be more bang for your buck to retake some of the low science grades plus some upper division science credits and just reapply next year. It is a 2 year program, but I have all the prereqs for it so all I have to do is the actual SGT classes. But if they don't count towards my sGPA then there is no point. I just thought it would be good to have different PCE hours too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACrankset Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 2 hours ago, rslater00 said: It is a 2 year program, but I have all the prereqs for it so all I have to do is the actual SGT classes. But if they don't count towards my sGPA then there is no point. I just thought it would be good to have different PCE hours too. I'm not saying they won't count. I'm saying that before you commit to a two year program with the goal of getting into PA school, you need to make sure that it is achieving what you set out to do. For example if you are thinking of doing the ST program to improve GPA and HCE hours, and you plan on working as a surgical tech for a couple of years then that is great. If you plan on doing the ST program for two years and immediately applying to PA school then maybe that is not the best decision. You may be better off spending a year working in healthcare and taking classes to bump your GPA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rslater00 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 Okay, that is great advice! Thank you. I was planning on only doing ST then applying straight to PA school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roundabout Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Hey Slater, @PACrankset has given you some good advice. However, one thing I would look at is the amount of upper level science classes you’ve taken. If you’ve taken a fair share and fell you’ve done your best then maybe moving onto a program would be your best bet. But if you feel there is room for improvement in classes like Genetics, Immunology etc, you could go that route. CASPA has a list of every course subject that is factored into your sGPA so google that and look at. A 4 month accredited EMT program will give you roughly 11 credits towards sGPA. So there are other options. Best of luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 It is hard to raise an average at the end of your undergrad career. If you want to state your case, you could take something like pathophys and get an A. That is the closest undergrad course to much of PA school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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