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@Matthew74 Thank you for your kind words and I'm happy to help as many of you as I can. I'll try and keep this brief as I could go on and on about the great things our program has to offer ;)

- Location: Methodist University is a private liberal arts university located in Fayetteville, NC (an hour south of Raleigh and where Ft. Bragg is located). Established in 1996, our program is one of the more established programs in the state of NC. We were the 3rd program established behind Duke and Wake Forest. The SE part of NC is in desperate need of primary care providers so the job opportunities in this area (and really across our entire state) are endless. We retain a lot of our graduates in the area and in primary care fields. Our program has a great reputation of producing competent and hard-working providers (even as new grads)!

- Small class size: We take pride in our small class sizes by admitting 40 students a year. Our students really get to know our faculty members on a personal basis, which is extremely important as your instructors and classmates are your family away from home. You can read more about those type of relationships on our student testimonial page by clicking here. Our students are from all over the country so to retain a lot of graduates in-state is something we take pride in.

- State of the art facilities: We have our own cadaver lab facility on campus that is reserved only for our PA students. Cadaver dissection is very important to understanding Anatomy and Physiology and allows for a wonderful and unique experience for our students. Our lab, which was constructed in 2010, is in the top 1% in technology of all labs nationwide. Each year we have 10 cadavers and assign 4 students to a cadaver. Our instructor for A&P is one of the best around and our students are provided with a solid foundation of A&P that will be beneficial throughout the program and as a provider.

In addition to the cadaver lab, we also have a brand new Medical Lecture Hall facility. This facility is home to all didactic classes and houses 4 classrooms and an 168 seat auditorium with state-of-the-art technology.

I have hyperlinked pics of our facilities above.

- No competition: Some PA programs are housed within a school of medicine. We do not have a DO or MD program on campus so we are not in competition for funds, facility space, etc. Some see this as an advantage.

- PANCE Pass Rates: Our PANCE pass rates compare favorably with the national averages. Our most recent graduating class of 2012 had a first time pass rate of 100%!!! The Class of 2011 had a first time pass rate of 97%, but had 5 perfect scores!!

- Faculty: Minus our facilities, I do believe our faculty is the reason our program is as good as it is. As you can tell from the faculty testimonies hyperlinked above, our faculty members bring a lot to the table as far as clinical experience and teaching. The majority of them still practice in primary care and bring a lot practical application to the classroom. They are passionate about teaching and ensuring our students are always the first priority in our program. The relationships you form with them is beneficial even after you've graduated from the program. Believe me, they're not here for the money, but making sure the next generation of providers are competent and compassionate.

 

I'm doing my best to get alumni testimonies up as soon as I can so you can see how our alumni are doing. We have a tremendous program that a lot of people don't know much about. I hope this can shed some light on the highlights of our program and let me know if you have any further questions. GO MONARCHS!

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hi!

I applied this past year with an interview and am currently on that program's alternative list. As I wait, I wanted to increase my chances for next year, (if I do not get in this year). If I were to get an online MPH through Liberty University's online program, would that hold as much weight as getting a masters from any other online program? or from actually attending classes at a University?

 

Thanks for being such a great resource!

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@Christenmack Thank you for your questions. It may be helpful in improving your chances to be more competitive, but you may want to consider maybe a hybrid program (that mixes online and class time) or a 100% in the classroom program. You may want to get an idea from the program you're on the waiting list for to see if Liberty's MPH online program would be considered a competitive program. Some schools may have different opinions. Hope this helps.

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Hi PA Admission Director, please give me your advice and any other guidance on my journey to become a PA. I have one semester left as an undergrad. Here are my stats:

GPA: 3.4

Science GPA: 3.3 ( I had all A's and B's in all science classes except for C+ in Bio II, Genetics, Physics II and Instrumental ANalysis in different semesters)

- I still have a few prereqs: A&P 1 &2, Micro, act. I will strive to get all A's on them as well as the rest of this semester.

 

Experience

Job: Self employed private piano teacher for 6 years

Shadowing: PA ~ 60 hrs and MD ~100 Hrs

Volunteer (ABsolutely no paid): ~ 8 years being a pianist for community's church, ~2 years Vietnamese teacher for young children at the community church, ~3 years organizing/directing local children for holiday plays

 

I know how much HCE PA programs like to see so I'm getting my CNA certification to work after I graduate this May and also shadow as many hrs as I can with other Pa's to get more exposure.

 

Please give me your advice or any guidance you might have for me to improve my application and be a better candidate, thank you so much again for doing this !

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@ru2013 Thank you for your questions. You are correct that you'll need to gain a lot more HCE to be competitive with most programs you're applying to. Of course your planned course work that you've mentioned will be important to boost your science GPA up and over a 3.4. Make sure you consider the prerequisites that are required for those programs to ensure you're meeting their GPA recommendations/requirements if they calculate a separate GPA for those. Hope this helps!

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PAAdmissions,

 

Let me be frank - one of the main reasons I hope to become a PA is because I am a woman. Although I have the grades, abilities, drive, etc. to strive for MD, I have chosen to pursue the Physician Assistant career because I think that I will be able to balance it more successfully with my responsibilities as a mother. This is not because I see being a PA as easier or less demanding than an MD, nor do I think that MD's can never successfully balance family and career (I know many who do). It is just that I personally know that I will want to take time off while raising my family, and so the high demands of both time and resources needed for medical school just do not make sense for me. I have thought this way for some time, and this summer came across this study which confirmed my reasoning from an economic standpoint: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.som.yale.edu%2Fkeithchen%2Fpapers%2FGenderNPV_WorkingPaper.pdf&ei=KkkUUbboEOaqywGbmIDAAg&usg=AFQjCNHX3qK2f1mM3kGFGvA1JyoJ38SSCA&sig2=HJtI8Q37rY40H1lmpl4ABg&bvm=bv.42080656,d.aWc

 

Anyway, that's the background. Do you think that it would be appropriate to bring up this type of reasoning in an interview or essay? I know that women in the workplace can be a touchy subject, and I can certainly rely upon my many other reasons for pursuing PA. Thank you for your consideration, I have enjoyed reading your responses on this forum and have benefited from your insights.

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@fern Thank you for your questions. We hear this thought quite a bit and I see your reasoning behind it, and it's all about how you communicate your thoughts without making it sound like PAs work less that MDs, etc...I think you've established that you realize this not to be true about the profession. We actually had an applicant communicate her answer in a very thoughtful way this year and it may be able to help you. When asked why PA school vs medical school, her answer was simple and to the point: I want to get my life started sooner rather than later and by coupling that statement with her understanding of the profession, the acceptance of working collaboratively with the physician and other members of the medical team, etc.it made the point in a positive way. I would stay clear of using the "gender" card and maybe consider forming a response based on the above. I hope other programs are as receptive to this type of response like our faculty members were...best wishes!

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Hello PAAdmissions,

I would really appreciate your input and whether you recommend I apply this upcoming cycle in september or the cycle after that. I am a reapplicant by the way.

 

I applied a couple of cycles ago, didn't get in, did a masters degree, and now re-applying. My stats are : undergrad with 3.1 gpa cumulative , 171 hours, science gpa of 2.85. So i knew going in, gpa was not the greatest, and to add to that, health care experience was minimal, butv had years of research and volunteer (not hands on) experience.*Grad school gpa : 3.25. Now I am at the point of wanting to go back and apply this october, but also want to be realistic. I will have potentially 7-900 relevant health care experience as a cna by september and about 1100 by january, and plan to retake 3 classes, and add 2 more required by some schools but not all to increase my chances, and apply to at least 1/3 of the schools or more if I can afford it. But I am wondering how realistic is it to work towards this for almost another year, especially with a gpa that I can only hope to raise to a 3.0 max (science gpa) if i ace these 5 classes. How many classes would it take to get to a decent enough science gpa at this point? Is it more realistic to take at least 10 classes postbacc, and wait at least another cycle?

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@asdf Thank you for your questions. I would recommend waiting another cycle before reapplying. It will allow you to retake or take more sciences courses that are required for the PA schools you're applying to. It should be easier (if you do well in your sciences) to pull up your science GPA, harder to increase your overall GPA. To be honest, without looking at your transcripts its hard for me to give you an idea of how many and which courses to retake. You can always email me an unofficial transcript at jmish@methodist.edu if you want me to look over them. Waiting would be my best advice especially if you're a reapplicant. It would help demonstrate to the committee that you've taken time to improve your performance. I hope this helps!

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I am looking on a little advice on what route I should take on becoming a PA. I am currently AD Air Force and am pursueing the IPAP program they offer. A breif history, I earned my Associates in Business and decided to pursue Dietetics/Nutrition, Exercise, and Health Sciences. Things came up and I honestly couldn't keep up and ended up dropping out and joining the AF. I decided to continue studying business, mainly because I am always working and everyone offers online business classes compared to online med. classes with labs. I am currently 20 credits from my Bachelor's in Business and then I heard of the IPAP program and decided to knock out the few pre-reqs I had left. I am just curious, if I don't get accepted for the IPAP, what would I need to do as a cilian to continue into this career feild? Do online classes typically transfer? Will my Business experience hold up against someone that studied in a science feild? Overall my GPA has been around 3.6. Thanks for any advice.

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paadmissions,

 

Firstly, thank you so much for starting this thread. I want to know contact protocol if you have been waitlisted at a program. The program told everyone that they don't want endless phone calls about where "you" are on the list. They will not publish this information in any way. However, it has been a month since the interviews and I want to know if you think it bad form to call/email and let them know you are still interested in attending their program. Thank you so much for your reply.

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This thread has been extremely helpful and I just want to thank you for creating this thread.

 

Anyhow, I recently just graduated with a B.S. in Biology(22 years old). My cumulative GPA is about 3.195, science is 3.2, and my GPA for the prerequisites for a couple programs I'm interested is 3.5. I'm a certified EMT-B and have been doing that since my freshman year of college. Being away for college, I was able to obtain around 500 hours now at my local fire department. I'm still working on increasing my hours as well. I did also work for 4 years part time as a transporter(technically in-direct contact) in a hospital while in school and have around 2500 hours . I also just started working about a month ago as a full time surgical assistant at a surgery center near me focusing on ophthalmology. Hoping by the time I apply this Spring/Summer, I'll have over 500 hours with that experience. My main concern is with my GPA. Not that its bad or under their recommendations, but more so am I going to be competitive enough with other applications. I'm hoping that with being an EMT-B, surgical assistant, and have worked in a hospital environment for over 4 years, it shows I've experienced the atmosphere a lot of P.A's work in. I also have around 50 hours shadowing several physician assistants and physicians. But reading around here, I thought what was great experience and hours may not be as much of a case.

 

Do you have any recommendations for getting myself to where I need to be or rather adjustments I should make or improve upon? Should I focus on getting more hours of any particular work I'm involved or anything else? I'd like to think I'm in the right direction and I just need to keep working hard. I have set up some appointments for visiting the programs as well to show my face and get to know more people involved in the programs. Thanks again for all your responses!

Edited by tu3218
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@kdawg Thank you for your questions and please accept my apologies for the delay. I'm almost 100% sure that most programs, including ours, do not care what you majored in as long as you've maintained a solid academic performance (as you have) and that you've taken the prerequisite coursework required for the programs that interest you. If the IPAP program is not an option I would encourage you to start researching other programs you feel may in the location of your choice and that meet the mission you're looking for in a program. When you have a few programs in mind start planning out where and when you can take your prerequisite deficiencies. In my opinion, I would recommend taking as many of the sciences in the classroom and at a 4 year institution if you can. Online courses for the "gen ed" requirements (i.e. psychology, math, stats, medical terminology) should be ok, but it's best to check with those programs to ensure the online route is acceptable. If you have connections with PAs and physicians in the AF that would afford you the opportunity for shadowing or medical assisting positions I would encourage you to take advantage of contacting those individuals. Also, you should start preparing for the GRE as most programs you'll research probably require it. Hopefully, IPAP will be an option and our program does a lot of journal clubs with those students who are stationed at Ft. Bragg. Maybe we'll see you around :) Best wishes!

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@drholmes Thank you for your question. I would be very careful about following up with the program if they've made it clear that they would prefer not to be contacted. I would only contact them if you plan to attend another program so they can remove you from the alternate list. I and all other programs realize all applicants are very anxious about the process, but when applicants go against the advice of the program sometimes that can cause a red flag, although that may not be your intention. I hope this helps!

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@tu3218 Thank you for your questions. Based on the numbers you've provided I think you should be somewhat competitive with the applicant pool. In my opinion, your prerequisite GPA will stand out the most, but some programs may be a little hesitant on your overall GPA. That being said, I'm hoping your academic performance has improved over your college career. If that is the case, your last 35-60 hours may be more beneficial and something that programs may put more emphasis on. Your GRE scores will/may come into play for some programs. From our standpoint, we weigh the prerequisite GPA and GRE scores the most followed by HCE and overall GPA. I would encourage you to reevaluate your last 35-60 hours to determine if there are specific science course that could be retaken, but also focus on getting more hours. Sometimes quality experience coupled with a fairly good academic profile can be more competitive than a perfect 4.0 student. I hope this helps!

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paadmissions, Thank your for you response!

That's what I was expecting. My gpa had declined just slightly throughout the years but I'd say my science improved maybe a little. The several main programs I'm applying to don't require the GRE so I'm assuming they'll put more emphasis on the other categories. As far my last 35-60 credits, all my science course are A's or B's with one C being genetics(toughest class I took all 4 years). I understand I won't be able to really change my overall GPA since I have so many credits, but I'm hoping they put extra emphasis on the prerequisite classes since I did rather well in those. I will be applying this coming spring so for now its gathering as many hours as an EMT, and surgical assistant as possible. Thanks again!

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Hi!

 

I'm here to try and find out my chances of getting into PA school and what I need to do to significantly improve them. I'm deciding if continuing to volunteer and job hunt is the way to go, or take a masters class...

 

First off, my first two years of schooling I didn't know what I wanted to do and was very young. I did poorly at my first school. Once I realized I wanted to go into medicine and health care, I transferred to a school with an excellent science program and excelled. I took multiple advanced level biology courses and proved that I had what it takes to do well in PA school.

 

My dilemma though is that I needed a stats class. So this past fall I signed up for an online one, but some major family issues came up and I pushed the class off to help them through it... I resulted in not having enough time to finish the work and pass the class. I'm hoping if I can explain this to schools they will see that I was going through a tough time, made a mistake, and learned from it. I'm currently repeating the stats class. This is why I'm possibly contemplating a masters program, although I'd prefer not to spend the extra money.

 

Cumulative GPA (both schools): 3.0

GPA at last school only: 3.6

Sgpa at last school: 3.2-3.3

GRE: verbal:154

quantitative: 146

writing: 4.5

 

School activities:

Tribeta biological honor society

American medical student association (AMSA) executive member

Active volunteer with AMSA

 

Other:

EMT-B, CPR certified, medical volunteer where I have hands on experience w/ patients (~50 hrs), volunteered at multiple hospitals throughout college, volunteered at a equestrian clinic for therapeutic riding.

 

Recent:

-Organized a group for Tough Mudder, where we raised money for wounded warriors.

-Just interviewed and sent references in for a unit clerk at a hospital. If I receive this position, I won't have direct contact with patients, I'm more of their contact between them the doctors and the nurses. But, after 6 months I can transfer to a position such as a tech job where I have the opportunity for patient contact.

 

Please, any help or advice on what I should do in these next upcoming months before applying would be wonderful! Thank you so much :)

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@shnooks Thank you for your question and sorry for the delay. I would recommend first taking a look at the prerequisites that are required for the programs that interest you. You should calculate your GPA in those courses to see if it would be competitive with their requirements or recommendations. If it is not competitive, evaluate the courses that could be retaken to boost that GPA. It's very hard to boost an overall GPA so you'll need to put more focus on the prerequisites. Sometimes a boost in the prereq. GPA may be the only thing you need to do, but if it boosting that GPA doesn't work to your advantage, a master's degree in a science field may be the route to explore. The best way to decided which route to take is by contacting these programs to see if you can visit or get an unofficial evaluation of your competitiveness versus their applicant pool.

My best advice with the stats class is to retake it. I don't know if I'd go on and on about it in your PS, but retaking the course and getting an A will prove that you're capable of doing the work.

I do recommend finding an actual job, rather than volunteering to get health care experience. Don't get me wrong, volunteering is great to add to your application, but I think with the lower GPAs it may behoove your application if you have paid experience. Depending on the programs you're applying to, the number of hours you need to get will be dependent on their requirements and averages of the incoming classes.

I hope this helps!

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Hello and thank you for answering questions! I have a quick one for you. From reading others questions I have a good idea of how my stats stack up (gpa, etc.) however my past patient experience has been mainly in the dental realm. I'm a dental hygienist. Have you seen any dental professionals change course and apply to PA school in your experience? What does a PA admissions board think of this?

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