HELPPP! I messed up but do I still have a chance?!?!

[Cpatter1]

Hello everyone,

My journey is quite interesting but long, so if anyone is will to give advice I would greatly appreciate it!

So upon graduating high school I started my freshman year at Ohio State where I was extremely unhappy, thus not doing well in my introductory courses. I received a 2.69 GPA but this was in random introductory courses that were not science related. I then transferred to Whitter College in California. Here I was double majoring in Music vocal performance and Biology. I received a 3.6 GPA here from my second semester of freshman year to the end of my junior year.

This is where things get a little crappy for me. Due to covid, I decided to move back to Ohio. I transferred again to Cleveland State University so that I could finish my senior year out and apply to PA schools. In the summer before my senior year, I had an extremely bad accident occur that left me the most depressed I have ever been in my entire life. I still attempted to finish out my senior year when I should have taken a break. I ended up getting a 1.8 GPA due to a couple Ds in classes. I was determined to raise this in my last semester but two weeks into it, I went on a trip to Chicago where I was hit my a drunk driver and had to take a leave of absence due to missed classes and having to go to court for the lawsuits that came from the accident, leaving me with 6 W's on my transcript. 

During this time, I got stuck in a hole and lost passion for everything, including medicine. This summer I decided that if I was not going to be fully committed to medicine then I should not go into it at all. I then switched to Finance because I find stocks and mergers interesting and I didn't want to just live my life working at a nightclub forever. While in these courses, I came to the realization that I am an idiot for ever giving up on medicine. I have wanted to go into medicine since I was seven, so I don't know why I thought it was not for me anymore. I was just so depressed and stuck in a situation I should have never allowed to consume me, but now I want to go back into my passion but Im scared I won't get in due to the many discrepancies.

I now have switched back to just go another full year of biology to finish my degree, but do I still have a chance?

I have 2,500 hours of patient care experience, I did well on my GRE and I have many hours(not sure of the exact amount) of volunteer hours. I also have done well in every pre-req its just random classes that I should have done well in that I didn't because I didn't care enough about at the time. 

Not that I shared my issues with everyone and I am very embarrassed about it, I just want to get some opinions on how to move forward and improve my chances of getting into school when Im scared I don't have a chance anymore. 

I look forward to hearing from you all!

Best,

Cade

 

 

 

[VentiMacchiato]

Well, if nothing else, you will have a great personal statement:)

Everyone has chance. Some schools look at your last 60 credits to see if you've matured and you can always explain your grade problems in your personal essay. PA schools look at a well rounded individual after all. I supposed it depends on those "random classes that you didn't care enough to do well in."  I suggest choose a school, see their prereqs and ace all those classes in their prereqs list, not just the science courses. You can also postpone another semester to graduate to pull up your GPA if you want. And as always, strengthen your clinical hours. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by VentiMacchiato
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[1madmamma]

If the 6 W’s are from a LOA, that will be easy to explain if you are asked about it. You will likely be asked why you changed direction so many times, so be prepared for that. Do you have shadowing hours? How is your cGPA and sGPA? I think if you meet the minimum cGPA and your science coursework is stellar that will go a long way in proving you can handle the workload of PA school. Showing an upward trend can be helpful, up and down semesters can be a bit more tricky to explain. In my opinion your biggest question mark is how are you doing mental health wise? You definitely want to have any challenges in this area under control, because PA is so stressful it can exacerbate any underlying mental health issues.  I think VentiMacchiato makes a good point in that you may want to consider programs that view your most recent credit hours. It also can’t hurt to go to some open houses for the programs you are interested and/or speak with their admissions person. If you are determined, it is definitely possible!