Reality check

[kerryc]

My initial college career was heinous lets say. Mom tried to keep me there and not join the military. Now 17 years later I'm back on track - but those horrid 4 semesters kill my overall caspa GPA which would be a 3.4 overall and 3.4 pre-req without those courses. GRE is good - avg or above avg for the programs I was looking at. Plenty of HCE, but now totally discouraged.

[bjl12]

I'm in the same boat, but there are plenty of people (some on here) who went on to become PA's with lower statistics. I forget which user, but a fairly active user is currently in PA school now and he got in with a ~3.00 Cum GPA. To my knowledge he had similar experiences, as you and I, whereby he performed poorly early in his academic career. The point is, he kept on trucking and he found a school that looked beyond the misrepresentative start. Also, your circumstances will likely afford similar treatment as A) it was such a long time ago and B) you served in the military between now and then.

[kerryc]

It's just finding the school willing to look past it, and not chuck the application at the sight of the low cumulative GPA.. I willing to keep working at it, but it's just a major source of frustration..did the math without those courses and it wouldn't be any problem.. thanks for the support.

[Timon]

It's simple. I was like you. Young, immature, mixed up priorities, undisciplined, didn't know what putting in work was, poor time management, etc. You can't go back and change what already happened. If you got positive grade trending and the drive to do whatever it takes while constantly improving your application, you will succeed in the end. We get older, wiser, mature, and etc and you are obviously a different student and person today then you were 17 years ago. If you need more HCE and it required a paycut or selling your home to compensate the loss of income then do it. If you need to give up your weekend to shadow or volunteer you're going to do it. If you need to take 40 or 60 more units to increase your GPA then go get it done and perform flawlessly. When all you want is to achieve success as much as an asthmatic wants to breath air when having an asthma attack you'll be victorious in the end. It may take a couple of tries, but keep at it!

 

Best of luck to you!

[kerryc]

Great analogy! I'll keep moving. It's just so ridiculous that some of these schools will hold something that happened 17 years ago against you now. I wonder how'd they'd feel if you drudged up some 20 year + bad decision lol... I will probably apply anyway and see what happens..I've talked to some schools that have told me they'd look past it, and others who acted like I committed a felony..

[bjl12]

Kerryc: Search the forums here also, specifically in Pre-PA. There are a bunch of threads which feature schools that SPECIFICALLY look at an applicants most recent ~60 credit units. There are even med schools that do this. People aren't perfect and AdComs recognize this. Here's an example of one school:

 

" (candidates whose cumulative GPA is below a 2.8 or science GPA is below a 3.0 may be considered qualified on a case-by-case basis if their last 60 semester credits and their science GPA recalculation is at least 3.3. The science GPA recalculation is based upon the most recent pre-requisite and recommended courses taken. Applicants who qualify for recalculation of their GPA must submit a request for this consideration in writing to PAProgram@franklinpierce.edu ). "

 

http://www.franklinpierce.edu/academics/gradstudies/programs_of_study/mpa_admission_reqs.htm#technical_standards

 

A minimum GPA of 3.0 in the most recent 60 credit hours.

http://www.wmich.edu/pa/academics/apply/index.html

 

There are of course others out there like this. Just do a lot prodding and asking around