ProspPA2022 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I was a premed with a pretty terrible GPA and junior year I switched to a liberal arts major once I decided to go into the workforce. I graduated in 2014 and went to work in the healthcare IT consulting world. This placed me often in hospitals, but more focused on process management than clinical experience. Recently, I’ve been looking into the PA route as I enjoy much more working to help people. I know this is long journey (at least 1.5-2 years from applying) but any advice this experienced group can give would be greatly appreciated! CGPA (graduation): 3.0 (sGPA was pretty low probably around 2.5). I retook a semester of oChem right after graduating looking for jobs and got an A. Since then haven’t really taken any additional science related courses. Took the GRE with a cumulative 320 (more favorable in Quant). My understanding is I would need to retake most of the science courses since they will be invalid upon application. Since I work full-time I would retake these courses online or at a community college. I’m also started classes to gain an EMT certification so I can start accumulating hours over the next 1.5 years. I’m hoping PA schools will take my experience into consideration and give someone a second chance who made mistakes as a 20 year old. A big obstacle for me is a majority of these core science courses I took getting B and Cs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MedIsLifePA Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Hey so just know that CASPA doesn't calculate only the highest grade for each course. It's going to calculate it all together. This is typically why the CASPA GPA is lower than the GPA we actually think we have. Your GRE score is really good so that's great! Work on volunteering and shadowing PAs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPhysicsInstructor Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 Retaking courses allows you to show how you have matured academically. From my perspective, that is much more important than what grades a student received years ago. I tell my students that grades are like a mountain: Very formidable when nearby, but rather insignificant far away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roundabout Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Don’t be discouraged, I had multiple F’s and F’s on my transcript from when I was 18-20ish. Some in prereqs too! I came back as an older more mature student and crushed my courses. I took just about 70 credit hours and scored a 3.98 GPA. I was accepted to PA school my first cycle. I did have significant PCE though. My cGPA was a 3.04 and my sGPA was a 3.44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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