Failed undergrad course

[WARRIORS2021]

Hey everyone I’m a 3rd year food science major.  I’m hoping to apply next cycle and I was wondering if you guys can look at my stats and what are my chances. So beginning college i had a rocky start I failed 2 classes chem 1 and pre-calc and got three Cs on other courses but after I started taking college seriously and realized I wanted to do something I really turn it around. The last couple semester have been an upwards trend, I’ve gotten an A in orgo and micbio and multiple upper level classes that are much more difficult than the gen ed classes i failed. I heard uptrend are good and I’m hoping that programs can overlook those failed course I was extremely immature about my future. One of my questions is how do program look at failed undergrad courses.  Do they just denied right off? That’s my main concern right now. 
 

Currently: 21y/ M

Current Gpa: 3.51

SGPA: 3.45
 
PCE: I currently have 2000hrs by the time I graduate I should have about 3000+
 

shadowing: 25-35hrs shadowing a PA oncologist due to COVID i couldn’t shadow any more.

volunteering: 30hrs however I’m starting at volunteering clinic in the fall and I’ll be there for three semesters and I’ll be doing 5hrs a week there so I think my hrs should be good by application season.

LOR: Nurse manager commit to writing me one and the pa I’ve shadow and a nurse 

GRE: N/A taking this fall took previously last year to see where i stand without studying I score a 292 I know very stupid but I’ll be sure to put a month or so aside to study and get a Competitive score. 
 

By the time next cycles open I’m pretty sure i can bring up my gpa and sgpa higher there very average Also I obtain my pce working as a CNA at a IMC unit being a sole Financial  provider for myself i had to work to pay my bills and occasionally pay for some of my classes not that I don’t have support but the funds aren’t there but my mom is my biggest supporter. Also I’m hoping to shadow an MD Or another PA in the coming semester I’ll keep looking if you know any in the Gainesville Florida area would help a lot!.Any input is appreciated being a PA is something I’ve literally dreamed about so any advice at would would be much appreciative. 
 

 

[Anachronist]

Overall GPA and sGPA are good, PCE is adequate for almost all programs, shadowing is sufficient, that GRE will get you auto rejected from a lot of programs though.

Need to boost your GRE (I don't remember if most places aggregate the score or take the most recent one). 

If you can, retake those classes you did poorly on and get A's in them

[WARRIORS2021]

Thank you so much that I needed that reassurance but i did retake those classes but I manage to only get B and a B+ Unfortunately. But I did take the more difficult version of those class and got a B+( calculus) and a A (organic 1 and chem 2). So I was wondering if Pa program would see that I mature and can excel in those classes. As far as the gre I’m taking it again in the fall so I’m hoping to do much better! is there anything else that you recommend for me to do to strengthen my application such as research or anything at all! 

[RegalEagle]

Here's my stats, take it however you want:

Undergrad CGPA: 3.19

Major GPA (Exercise science): 3.65 or something

post bacc GPA(3 prereq's): 4.0

2 withdraws + 3 D's on my transcript

299 GRE

3000 scribe hours at family practice

For my prereq's, my grades varied from A's to C+'s. Just goes to show that grades aren't everything. Got accepted in my first application cycle, about to finish my 2nd sem, and doing great. Your grades are great, just bring up the GRE, get great LORs, and crush your interview!

[Anachronist]

Good job. From all of the faculty I talked to and what I've seen on here, maturing in college is very noticed, and appreciated. So you've done all of the right things in that respect. Just be prepared to talk about it in interviews.

The only outlier is your GRE, you need to find out how the scores are reported (sorry it's been a couple years since I did it); I just remember something about an aggregate score vs a most recent score; but not sure if that was the GRE itself, CASPA, or individual programs. But from what has been tossed around a lot on this forum (and some programs publish) there are hard cutoffs for GRE scores, if you're below it, no one will ever see your application. Published cutoffs are around 300 +/- 10, and it is suspected that a lot of programs have unpublished cutoffs in the 290's. 

On an quasi related note, I've heard (non-PA program) faculty lament using GREs, and muse that if they had to take them again they would probably do poorly. But it is the only level playing field that most students come in on (a 4.0 at/in one university/major might be very different than a 4.0 at/in another) and it's just an extremely convenient way to cull an enormous number of applications down to something more manageable.

Hope that helped, and best of luck

[WARRIORS2021]

Yess it was a major help I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to this thank you again!!

[WARRIORS2021]

45 minutes ago, RegalEagle said:

Here's my stats, take it however you want:

Undergrad CGPA: 3.19

Major GPA (Exercise science): 3.65 or something

post bacc GPA(3 prereq's): 4.0

2 withdraws + 3 D's on my transcript

299 GRE

3000 scribe hours at family practice

For my prereq's, my grades varied from A's to C+'s. Just goes to show that grades aren't everything. Got accepted in my first application cycle, about to finish my 2nd sem, and doing great. Your grades are great, just bring up the GRE, get great LORs, and crush your interview!

Your an inspiration honestly thank you for that I truly Appreciated it! I try not to focus on those failed course and move on and seeing your story I see that’s it’s definitely possible. Yea I’m hoping to get a good score in order to apply in time. A few question since your in PA school right now how rigorous are the courses I know it’s hard but how hard are they compare to organic 2 or microbioloy. Also how do you study   For so many courses all at once? I usually only take two rigorous courses per semester how would you manage three or even four that require constant studying? Sorry for all the questions I’m just really anxious.

[RegalEagle]

No problem, happy to help.

In my program and probably most, the first sem is fairly light all things considered, with anatomy being the big one. Mine was 6 credits, study it every single night/in cadaver lab 3-4 days a week dissecting and studying w/ classmates prepping for practicals and written exams.

After 1st sem is complete, everything totally changes and you really get into it. Pharmacology and clinical medicine are the heavy hitters and there are 3 semesters of clin med and pharm each, at least in my program. Those 2 courses require a ton of time and dedication. Clin med is the material you will see on the PANCE, so super important to do well in that material. Pharm is just a totally new beast and requires getting used to, with learning different drugs/mechanisms/side effects/interactions/etc for every major area of medicine studied.

Everything else is study a couple days before and you'll be fine like public health/clinical decision making classes/etc. I have to study a lot and study every night that's just the way my brain works. My main study materials consist of Anki decks. I used Quizlet all first sem and half of 2nd, but my classmate showed me anki and I can't believe I haven't been using it, it's really that good (I think). I have 6 classes this semester and we're going thru finals rn. 2 down, 4 to go. It's draining and honestly crazy and I have no life outside of studying/attending class/zoom meetings, but it's really a privilege to be in school and to get to learn the stuff that we do as future medical professionals.

As far as how do we manage all the courses, pharm and clin med take precedence and majority of time and energy. Then everything else is just whatever time you have left 1-2 night before an exam. You might not get to certain stuff, that's just the fact of the matter bc learning so much in such a short time period. Grades don't matter. I mean they do, but as long as you maintain the program's GPA, pass tests, and get above a certain grade (C- in my program is passing), you'll be good. The PANCE is what really matters when it comes down to it. Time management is huge and if you don't have that skill then you will really struggle. But seems like you have that down so no need to worry about that in your case.

Ok that was a lot and might not be totally coherent but I'm studying for finals rn. But feel free to message me if you have more questions!

[WARRIORS2021]

Oh man that’s insane! Thank you so much for that I really do appreciate it last question what program are you attending? And I just wanna say good luck on the the rest of your finals I know your going to do great! Good luck with everything else

[Anachronist]

RegalEagle nailed it. The only thing I'd add is that there are so many resources out there, sometimes you can get lost in the woods, so pick a couple good ones and stick with them. You can start experimenting with some of them now and then hit the ground running when your classes start. My picks are subjective, and there are plenty of other good ones out there.

My top list is:

OnlineMedEd (free videos) and NinjaNerdScience (on YouTube) for actually understanding material.

PancePrepPearls for learning testing buzzwords and narrowing down study topics (less useful in the beginning but big later on).

RoshReview and UWorld have great practice questions and answer explanations, and SmartyPANCE is a close 3rd.

For anatomy only, I found Acland videos and Netter's Atlas super helpful (esp if you have a real cadaver lab).

[RegalEagle]

Following up on Anachronist's thoughts, I'd like to share a couple more resources that I find helpful.

1) Dirty Medicine channel on youtube- this guy is an MD/DO (1 of the 2), but his videos are totally relevant to us PA students. The videos are extremely high yield, he helps you focus on what's important, and is a really awesome guy wanting to help out med/PA students. He's made some pharmacology videos too which hit the high points. His channel helped me through every module this past sem for things that weren't totally clear to me. While he doesn't make a video for every single thing learned, the videos he does make are awesome and have helped me out on many exams I've had so far.

2) Grey's anatomy review study questions- These questions are great for assessing your understanding of anatomy. They are HARD questions for the most part, but if you do decent on the questions, you'll probably do about 10-15% better on your anatomy exams since the questions in the book are rather difficult.

3) DR Mitesh Dave's youtube channel- anatomy supplement is great.