Ask a PA Admissions Director

[paadmissions]

@browner10 Yes, your work post-bacc work will be factored into your overall GPA on your CASPA application. Thanks!

[Highsierrasmith]

Hello, I have a great current GPA and with 2 years left of school It will get even better. Unfortunately the reason my GPA is good is because I was allowed to erase my previous grades from 2003 when I was just out of high school and received a few Fs and a few Ds. Academic renewal in California can be used once in a lifetime, and only after a full year of excellent grades and a two year time period. The classes still show up on my transcript but with an E (EXEMPT) next to them. My questions are 1) Do I need to include these exempt classes in my CASPA profile? 2) Will this drag down my GPA that the program sees when I apply through CASPA? 3) could a program dismiss my application because of this without looking over the rest of the application? 3) Is there a place on the application where I can explain my situation that the programs reading it would see right away? 4) Do you have any experience with academic renewal applicants and if it is recognized nationally? Thank you in advance for your time, I still have a few years until I will be applying but I figure It's never to early to start stressing out about my GPA :)

[Highsierrasmith]

Hello, I have a great current GPA and with 2 years left of school It will get even better. Unfortunately the reason my GPA is good is because I was allowed to erase my previous grades from 2003 when I was just out of high school and received a few Fs and a few Ds. Academic renewal in California can be used once in a lifetime, and only after a full year of excellent grades and a two year time period. The classes still show up on my transcript but with an E (EXEMPT) next to them. My questions are 1) Do I need to include these exempt classes in my CASPA profile? 2) Will this drag down my GPA that the program sees when I apply through CASPA? 3) could a program dismiss my application because of this without looking over the rest of the application? 3) Is there a place on the application where I can explain my situation that the programs reading it would see right away? 4) Do you have any experience with academic renewal applicants and if it is recognized nationally? Thank you in advance for your time, I still have a few years until I will be applying but I figure It's never to early to start stressing out about my GPA :)

[Highsierrasmith]

Hello, I have a great current GPA and with 2 years left of school It will get even better. Unfortunately the reason my GPA is good is because I was allowed to erase my previous grades from 2003 when I was just out of high school and received a few Fs and a few Ds. Academic renewal in California can be used once in a lifetime, and only after a full year of excellent grades and a two year time period. The classes still show up on my transcript but with an E (EXEMPT) next to them. My questions are 1) Do I need to include these exempt classes in my CASPA profile? 2) Will this drag down my GPA that the program sees when I apply through CASPA? 3) could a program dismiss my application because of this without looking over the rest of the application? 3) Is there a place on the application where I can explain my situation that the programs reading it would see right away? 4) Do you have any experience with academic renewal applicants and if it is recognized nationally? Thank you in advance for your time, I still have a few years until I will be applying but I figure It's never to early to start stressing out about my GPA :)

[dilemma84]

Hi PA Admissions DIrector, thank you again for doing this for most of us Pre-PA applicants. I am taking A&P I and II, Microbio and Med. Term next year for my prerequisites. I am considering taking all these classes over this summer at a county college because it saves me money and time. It would also help me to get these prereqs out of the way so that I could focus on working full time (CNA) for a whole year before my next application cycle. Do you think it would reflect a bad impression if I took these classes at a county college, instead of taking them at my current university ? My school does not offer Med. Term so I would have to take this course at a different institution regardless. I took higher level science courses like Biochemistry I and II and Physical Chemistry I and II at a 4 year - university and received all A's and B+'s. Thank you for your time !

[dilemma84]

Hi PA Admissions DIrector, thank you again for doing this for most of us Pre-PA applicants. I am taking A&P I and II, Microbio and Med. Term next year for my prerequisites. I am considering taking all these classes over this summer at a county college because it saves me money and time. It would also help me to get these prereqs out of the way so that I could focus on working full time (CNA) for a whole year before my next application cycle. Do you think it would reflect a bad impression if I took these classes at a county college, instead of taking them at my current university ? My school does not offer Med. Term so I would have to take this course at a different institution regardless. I took higher level science courses like Biochemistry I and II and Physical Chemistry I and II at a 4 year - university and received all A's and B+'s. Thank you for your time !

[dilemma84]

Hi PA Admissions DIrector, thank you again for doing this for most of us Pre-PA applicants. I am taking A&P I and II, Microbio and Med. Term next year for my prerequisites. I am considering taking all these classes over this summer at a county college because it saves me money and time. It would also help me to get these prereqs out of the way so that I could focus on working full time (CNA) for a whole year before my next application cycle. Do you think it would reflect a bad impression if I took these classes at a county college, instead of taking them at my current university ? My school does not offer Med. Term so I would have to take this course at a different institution regardless. I took higher level science courses like Biochemistry I and II and Physical Chemistry I and II at a 4 year - university and received all A's and B+'s. Thank you for your time !

[becca9]

Hello. I just want to say I am very grateful for the help that you are providing for us student with the help that we need. On that note, I wanted to ask you how does it look when one include their faith(belief) in the personal statement? An also does diversity mean anything to a PA director? Thanks in advance!

[becca9]

Hello. I just want to say I am very grateful for the help that you are providing for us student with the help that we need. On that note, I wanted to ask you how does it look when one include their faith(belief) in the personal statement? An also does diversity mean anything to a PA director? Thanks in advance!

[becca9]

Hello. I just want to say I am very grateful for the help that you are providing for us student with the help that we need. On that note, I wanted to ask you how does it look when one include their faith(belief) in the personal statement? An also does diversity mean anything to a PA director? Thanks in advance!

[paadmissions]

@highsierrasmith Thank you for your questions. Yes, I am familiar with grade forgiveness at universities and from our program's standpoint we would focus a lot on your most recent (60+ hours) since your work from 2003 was 10 years ago. That being said, don't be surprised if those old grades are calculated in your CASPA overall GPA because CASPA does not recognize individual school’s forgiveness, academic renewal, or grade replacement policies in regards to repeated courses. All grades which you earned for repeated courses will factor into your CASPA GPA (click here to read about GPA calculations on CASPA). It will be up to the individual programs to assess your academic performance, which means some programs take the time to recalculate overall GPAs, but not all programs will do that. If the program requests that you submit official transcripts in addition to your CASPA application they may be one of those who recalculates everything. I would use your personal statement to touch on your academic performance. Since you're starting your research early, contact the programs that interest you to see how they view grade replacement and what additional steps you should take to provide an explanation or to make sure your application will not be automatically rejected if you're not meeting the overall GPA requirement. I hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@highsierrasmith Thank you for your questions. Yes, I am familiar with grade forgiveness at universities and from our program's standpoint we would focus a lot on your most recent (60+ hours) since your work from 2003 was 10 years ago. That being said, don't be surprised if those old grades are calculated in your CASPA overall GPA because CASPA does not recognize individual school’s forgiveness, academic renewal, or grade replacement policies in regards to repeated courses. All grades which you earned for repeated courses will factor into your CASPA GPA (click here to read about GPA calculations on CASPA). It will be up to the individual programs to assess your academic performance, which means some programs take the time to recalculate overall GPAs, but not all programs will do that. If the program requests that you submit official transcripts in addition to your CASPA application they may be one of those who recalculates everything. I would use your personal statement to touch on your academic performance. Since you're starting your research early, contact the programs that interest you to see how they view grade replacement and what additional steps you should take to provide an explanation or to make sure your application will not be automatically rejected if you're not meeting the overall GPA requirement. I hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@highsierrasmith Thank you for your questions. Yes, I am familiar with grade forgiveness at universities and from our program's standpoint we would focus a lot on your most recent (60+ hours) since your work from 2003 was 10 years ago. That being said, don't be surprised if those old grades are calculated in your CASPA overall GPA because CASPA does not recognize individual school’s forgiveness, academic renewal, or grade replacement policies in regards to repeated courses. All grades which you earned for repeated courses will factor into your CASPA GPA (click here to read about GPA calculations on CASPA). It will be up to the individual programs to assess your academic performance, which means some programs take the time to recalculate overall GPAs, but not all programs will do that. If the program requests that you submit official transcripts in addition to your CASPA application they may be one of those who recalculates everything. I would use your personal statement to touch on your academic performance. Since you're starting your research early, contact the programs that interest you to see how they view grade replacement and what additional steps you should take to provide an explanation or to make sure your application will not be automatically rejected if you're not meeting the overall GPA requirement. I hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@ru2013 Thank you for your questions. I do think taking biology and chemistry requirements taken at a university is the best preparation for PA school and benefits your application. I don't have a problem with our applicants taking medical terminology at a cc level. The unfortunate thing about applying to PA school is that every program will view where you take your prerequisites differently. Some programs don't mind CC classes, and some do. My preference is to see A&P II and Micro at the university level, but check out the programs that you plan to apply to and see what their preference is. Hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@ru2013 Thank you for your questions. I do think taking biology and chemistry requirements taken at a university is the best preparation for PA school and benefits your application. I don't have a problem with our applicants taking medical terminology at a cc level. The unfortunate thing about applying to PA school is that every program will view where you take your prerequisites differently. Some programs don't mind CC classes, and some do. My preference is to see A&P II and Micro at the university level, but check out the programs that you plan to apply to and see what their preference is. Hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@ru2013 Thank you for your questions. I do think taking biology and chemistry requirements taken at a university is the best preparation for PA school and benefits your application. I don't have a problem with our applicants taking medical terminology at a cc level. The unfortunate thing about applying to PA school is that every program will view where you take your prerequisites differently. Some programs don't mind CC classes, and some do. My preference is to see A&P II and Micro at the university level, but check out the programs that you plan to apply to and see what their preference is. Hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@becca9 Thank you for your question. Obviously, religion cannot be a determining factor in whether or not someone is accepted to PA school. Although, it's not something we see all the time, we do have some applicants who mention their faith in their personal statement, and it's not something that has hurt the application. As with most points you will make in your personal statement I would make mention to it (if you feel it's something important to you and your reasoning behind going into medicine), but don't make your PS all about it. There are many factors that should be touched on in your statement so you may use it as a platform if you wish.

In regards to our definition of a diverse applicant...diversity doesn't always mean race. It can be a combination of being from an educationally or economically diverse background, being a first generation college student, having cross-culture experience(s), military experience of some sort, and having a well-rounded background, etc. Again, I think every program has different opinions, but the characteristics mentioned above could fit most programs definition of diversity. Hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@becca9 Thank you for your question. Obviously, religion cannot be a determining factor in whether or not someone is accepted to PA school. Although, it's not something we see all the time, we do have some applicants who mention their faith in their personal statement, and it's not something that has hurt the application. As with most points you will make in your personal statement I would make mention to it (if you feel it's something important to you and your reasoning behind going into medicine), but don't make your PS all about it. There are many factors that should be touched on in your statement so you may use it as a platform if you wish.

In regards to our definition of a diverse applicant...diversity doesn't always mean race. It can be a combination of being from an educationally or economically diverse background, being a first generation college student, having cross-culture experience(s), military experience of some sort, and having a well-rounded background, etc. Again, I think every program has different opinions, but the characteristics mentioned above could fit most programs definition of diversity. Hope this helps!

[paadmissions]

@becca9 Thank you for your question. Obviously, religion cannot be a determining factor in whether or not someone is accepted to PA school. Although, it's not something we see all the time, we do have some applicants who mention their faith in their personal statement, and it's not something that has hurt the application. As with most points you will make in your personal statement I would make mention to it (if you feel it's something important to you and your reasoning behind going into medicine), but don't make your PS all about it. There are many factors that should be touched on in your statement so you may use it as a platform if you wish.

In regards to our definition of a diverse applicant...diversity doesn't always mean race. It can be a combination of being from an educationally or economically diverse background, being a first generation college student, having cross-culture experience(s), military experience of some sort, and having a well-rounded background, etc. Again, I think every program has different opinions, but the characteristics mentioned above could fit most programs definition of diversity. Hope this helps!

[jl3267]

Most PA programs have some form of admissions statistics table posted on their website. It seems like the average school lists received applications at ~1000, interview offers at ~150, and acceptances at ~40. To me, that seems like a staggering number of PA-hopefuls out there that are not even getting interviews. My question is this: in your experience, do the majority of applications you receive meet all of your program's prerequisites and other qualifications, or are there simply hundreds of people who don't meet the qualifications that try applying anyways?

[jl3267]

Most PA programs have some form of admissions statistics table posted on their website. It seems like the average school lists received applications at ~1000, interview offers at ~150, and acceptances at ~40. To me, that seems like a staggering number of PA-hopefuls out there that are not even getting interviews. My question is this: in your experience, do the majority of applications you receive meet all of your program's prerequisites and other qualifications, or are there simply hundreds of people who don't meet the qualifications that try applying anyways?

[jl3267]

Most PA programs have some form of admissions statistics table posted on their website. It seems like the average school lists received applications at ~1000, interview offers at ~150, and acceptances at ~40. To me, that seems like a staggering number of PA-hopefuls out there that are not even getting interviews. My question is this: in your experience, do the majority of applications you receive meet all of your program's prerequisites and other qualifications, or are there simply hundreds of people who don't meet the qualifications that try applying anyways?

[jackeh]

Hi PA Admissions Director, I'm a reapplicant for this coming cycle and I had a couple of questions about whether or not you think I'm going down the right path here. First, I've been part of an internship in the hospital for 4+ years now and have accrued almost 900 hours of direct patient contact. Last year I was promoted to a coordinating position to manage all of the interns working in the ED. While this helped me grow as a leader and an individual in healthcare, I feel as though this position will not benefit me heavily this year as a reapplicant because it did not include direct patient care. While all this was happening, I got my EMT license and have been looking for a job since but haven't found one yet. I guess my question here is- would it be more beneficial for me to stop doing the leadership position and just continue to get my direct patient care hours? Lastly, in terms of letters of recommendation, I already asked two PAs to write one for me in the last cycle, would it count against me to use them again? As you know it is fairly difficult to find PAs who are willing to let applicants shadow and mentor. I am shadowing a new PA right now, but I feel like I would get a better letter of rec from the PAs that I've known for several of years compared to the new one, whom I've only known for a couple of months. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this ridiculously long message.

[jackeh]

Hi PA Admissions Director, I'm a reapplicant for this coming cycle and I had a couple of questions about whether or not you think I'm going down the right path here. First, I've been part of an internship in the hospital for 4+ years now and have accrued almost 900 hours of direct patient contact. Last year I was promoted to a coordinating position to manage all of the interns working in the ED. While this helped me grow as a leader and an individual in healthcare, I feel as though this position will not benefit me heavily this year as a reapplicant because it did not include direct patient care. While all this was happening, I got my EMT license and have been looking for a job since but haven't found one yet. I guess my question here is- would it be more beneficial for me to stop doing the leadership position and just continue to get my direct patient care hours? Lastly, in terms of letters of recommendation, I already asked two PAs to write one for me in the last cycle, would it count against me to use them again? As you know it is fairly difficult to find PAs who are willing to let applicants shadow and mentor. I am shadowing a new PA right now, but I feel like I would get a better letter of rec from the PAs that I've known for several of years compared to the new one, whom I've only known for a couple of months. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this ridiculously long message.

[jackeh]

Hi PA Admissions Director, I'm a reapplicant for this coming cycle and I had a couple of questions about whether or not you think I'm going down the right path here. First, I've been part of an internship in the hospital for 4+ years now and have accrued almost 900 hours of direct patient contact. Last year I was promoted to a coordinating position to manage all of the interns working in the ED. While this helped me grow as a leader and an individual in healthcare, I feel as though this position will not benefit me heavily this year as a reapplicant because it did not include direct patient care. While all this was happening, I got my EMT license and have been looking for a job since but haven't found one yet. I guess my question here is- would it be more beneficial for me to stop doing the leadership position and just continue to get my direct patient care hours? Lastly, in terms of letters of recommendation, I already asked two PAs to write one for me in the last cycle, would it count against me to use them again? As you know it is fairly difficult to find PAs who are willing to let applicants shadow and mentor. I am shadowing a new PA right now, but I feel like I would get a better letter of rec from the PAs that I've known for several of years compared to the new one, whom I've only known for a couple of months. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this ridiculously long message.