Completely devastated. Looking for some advice please.

[hopeful85]

To put a long story short, I started out my college career at a community college, which I attended for 2 years. After that I transferred to a university, managed to get into drugs, and **** away my first semester (19 hours), in which I failed every class. Following this I took a year off, moved to another state, and got my **** together. After that year, I applied to a university in the state I had moved to. However, and here comes the issue, I only submitted a transcript for the community college. I honestly never thought this was a big deal, I hadn't thought twice about it until I saw a couple posts concerning it on this forum. I graduated last semester with a cumulative 3.4, a 3.6 in sciences, over 4000 hours of paid clinical exerience, tremendous LORs, and a solid GRE score; I was sure I'd have no problem getting accepted. Now, 2 weeks prior to submitting my CASPA, I find out what I was about to do could potentially get me banned from CASPA altogether. What are my options? If I include the flunked classes from the university my GPA all of a sudden tanks to below requirements to get in at most places. On top of that, I already graduated so I can't get any more loans to go back and improve my GPA. I'm feeling completely devastated and lost right now. I'll probably get attacked for asking this, but I feel like I have to ask; I never received financial aid at the university, so is it absolutely a sure thing that CASPA would find out about it? I mean the university I graduated from obviously never found out. Or, if I attempted to submit it and the omission was caught, would I definitely get banned from CASPA? Like I said, call me naive and an idiot, but I honestly didn't realize it was such a big deal. I just looked at it like I had to retake all the classes I flunked, and I still paid the university, so who cared. It's clear to me now that was far from the case.

 

I realize I didn't make a long story short at all, but like I said I'm just feeling completely devastated and lost right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance guys.

[PM2016]

You need to post all of your courses from your community college and submit your transcript to caspa, simply put..no if ands or buts about it. Caspa will find out and it will delay your application tremendously. I wouldn't even entertain the fact of lying about that. You will get caught.

[nebaker]

I don't think that's what he's saying. He submitted the transcript for the community college. It was the transcript for the university he attended in between the community college and the university he graduated from that was omitted.

[UGoLong]

If I were you, I would go to see the academic coordinator at at least one of the schools you are considering and introduce yourself. Your background is good and so are your qualifications. Even though you are eventually going to apply through an automated system, there is no reason why you can let at least one school get to know you for who you are. He or she may also have some good advice for how to address your specific situation in the application.

 

Good luck. Your life was not ruined in the first inning. If anything, you are to be admired for turning your life around.

[primadonna22274]

DO NOT omit any transcripts. This is fraud. If you are admitted and later found (and things have a way of coming up) to have a fraudulent admission you WILL BE dismissed. You could even have your PA license revoked later if you managed to graduate and the fraud came to light. It happens. Far better to be honest and explain that you are not now that person you were then.

[cinntsp]

Send in the transcript, figure out what your new GPAs will be, rewrite your personal statement to address the issue, and go from there. 19 hours of Fs will be hard to come back from in terms of numbers but you have a reasonable explanation and the grades are isolated to one semester. Start researching schools that weigh the last 30/60 hours heavily and possibly non-CASPA ones as well.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[gbphel4828]

Caspa will find out! Don't do it....

[hopeful85]

So after evaluating everything, my GPA is left right under a 3.1 following the adjustment. Anyone have any recommendations about schools that let in lower GPAs/focus more on last 60 hours? In line with that, how would I go about researching schools that focus on these things, outside of simply going to the website of every single PA program? Is there some sort of system that compiles all of this data? Thanks for the advice and kind words, I'm feeling slightly less hopeless.

[Guest]

http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/showthread.php/26617-School-Prerequisites-and-Requirements-for-Application-and-Admission

 

3.1 GPA is NOT bad! Sure you will be screened out of a few schools, but there are plenty that accept the last 72 hours of your GPA, and I am sure some that take a look at lower GPA students to see the rest of their applications. This forum has several members who got in with lower GPA, and I know of several people too. So you did a few dumb things when you were younger. People do that! PA schools know that. Since then you have obviously proven that you can make good grades. And look at all that experience! You got this! Report all your transcripts to CASPA, put into your personal statement why you had a lower GPA, and submit! Would you rather not get in at all, or get in on a fraud and be dismissed with $100,000 loan and no means to pay it off? You don't want that over your head, so don't hide your past!

[Super Duper]

3.1 isn't so bad. Plus if you address it in your personal statement in a meaningful and engaging way it may help out. People like redemption stories.

[UGoLong]

I still say: Make a campus trip and talk to a real human being! Letting your life be decided entirely by an automated system makes no sense.

[primadonna22274]

Most adcoms will pay attention to the strong upward trend. If you are above the 3.0 mark you will usually make it past the automated screening and your file will get to a real person. I agree it doesn't hurt to make friends in the admissions office--find somebody who will look out for your app and advocate for you. You will need to apply broadly and be willing to go where you are interviewed because admissions competition is fierce these days. Best of luck to you.

[hopeful85]

UGoLong and primadonna, I definitely think that's a great idea, but how exactly do I go about setting something like that up? Do I just call them up and asking to speak to an admission's coordinator and then explain my story? I feel like they might be annoyed by that. Or should I start with emails? Thanks again for all the advice guys

[UGoLong]

I know that your grades are the primary thing on your mind, but put that aside for now.

 

Arrange a campus trip (don't try to work out anything but making the appointment by phone). Tell them that you are interested in applying and would like to stop by, see the school, and talk to the academic coordinator for a bit. Then go and act like any other applicant.

 

You are interested in their school, you have a background, you have some experience, etc. After you talk about the place like any other potential applicant would, talk about your situation like an adult. What happened in the past and what you have done about it. And that you hope you will be considered as a whole person, not just the youngster that started college all those years ago.

 

To you, these bad grades are everything -- it's all you can see. Your goal is to have this one human being see you as a whole person and then, after they do, you can talk about the grades issue. There is a good chance he or she will be on the committee that will review your application. Let them see you as a competent human being, not someone who comes on bended knee whining about their old grades.

 

Does that help? Good luck!

[hopeful85]

That helps tremendously! Thanks!

[dwolf]

Typically, over 1000 applicants apply for around 30ish spots.

Most applicants look pretty similar on paper.

 

Take the advice mentioned earlier by several posters. You NEED to get to know the admissions committee. Make trips, talk to them, ask them what they want, and then do it.

 

It is all about either schmoozing or connections, you need one or the other to compete.

 

A school I applied to wanted a Pre-PA club started, myself and one other guy started the requested Pre-PA club, I was accepted and I am sure he will be when he applies in the near future.

 

GPA and stats come far below that personal connection with the admissions committee, and/or connections. Admittedly, the connections are hard to develop on quick notice.

[waitingblessing]

U go long? A book titled old man on campus? If I were to guess it must be about pa school. So will you share your story? I am a re applicant and have low GPA bad year this year due to pregnancy. Give us some hope please!!!

[UGoLong]

waitingblessing,

 

Good luck with your new baby! It's a great time in your life, though it might not always feel like that at the time. Here's a description of the book:

 

* * *

 

You’re in your thirties and going through an enthusiasm slump in your career. It’s a random Sunday and you and your wife have just blundered into the grand opening of a new hospital. You take the tour and sign up to become a volunteer, thinking that they might take advantage of your computer skills. Wrong. Instead, and with considerable reluctance, you let yourself be assigned to the emergency room. You don’t know it just yet, but the giant ocean liner that is your life has just started a slow turn onto a new course.

 

What starts as a Monday evening lark eventually becomes a life-changing experience. Your new course leads from the ER to becoming a volunteer emergency medical technician and, later, a paramedic and a perennial night school student. Finally, at an age when others might be thinking of retiring to play golf, you quit your job, move away from home, and go back to college as a physician assistant student with strangers less than half your age.

 

This book details the often humorous experience that follows from a perspective that hopefully will help others follow their own paths, whatever they may be. Were you crazy to quit your job? Has college life changed much in 40 years? Does your mind still work? Can you cook for yourself? Will your young classmates accept you? Will your marriage stand up to separation? And is the cable installer onto something when he says, “You have to be crazy to retire just to get another job!”

 

Along the way, new experiences evoke old memories, while new friends, teachers, and patients teach important new lessons. The book comes full circle with a view of what it is like to be a PA, one of U.S. News & World Report’s “50 hottest careers.”

 

Here is a link to the book's Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1479372099/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk

[nebaker]

So I am going to be in Seattle for a family event, and I managed to set up appointments with ADCOMs at the two Portland area schools that I plan on applying to (Pacific and OHSU), both of which have GPA requirements of only 2.75. I am feeling a thousand times better than I did 2 weeks ago when I originally made this post. However, I'm curious about how I should approach the meetings. Should I straight up admit my situation? Or should I just use the meeting as a way to match a face with my name, and hope that will be a solid foundation for getting them to look at my total package as an applicant? As with everything before, thanks in advance for any advice!

[nebaker]

In line with my previous question, as I'm sure many of you can relate to, I'm at a point where I'm honestly just worried about getting into a program. As soon as my GPA dropped from a 3.5 to a 3.08 I feel like I lost the ability to be pick about where I was going to get into. Because of that, I don't really know the types of questions I should ask when talking to the ADCOM, but I also don't want to sound as if I'm simply asking questions for the sake of asking them. Do any of you guys have any advice on the types of questions I could ask. I've been very involved with a telemedicine company that treats offshore oil rig workers, and I really feel like that's the future of medicine, so I definitely want to elaborate on that somehow, especially because it's going to set me apart from the majority of other applicants. Beyond that I'm not really sure where to begin. Thanks again.

[nebaker]

Just to avoid any confusion, I am the OP simply posting from a different screen name.

[UGoLong]

You are going on this interviews for at least two reasons; don't immediately leap to spilling your guts to the first person you meet! You are a competent potential PA student who is interested in going to their school. Give them a chance to be interested in you. You want to get in; they want good people. Your goals are to (a) decide if you want to give them your money and go there and (b) to let them get a chance to meet you to see if there is a fit. After you have had a chance to build some rapport, then gently bring up your situation, probably not as a minus, but as a case where you have had to overcome adversity, clean yourself up, etc. It has made you a better person, one who can interact with a class of patients with better understanding. (I wish my wife's computer allowed its enter key to work but, alas no. Assume that what follows is the next paragraph!) Bottom line: You are not there seeking their help; you are getting a chance to meet them and their school and give them a chance to get to know you. Don't be cocky, but be the mature adult you are after all you have been through. Neither of the two schools you are visiting are, of themselves, your only option. Don't get too up-tight. Be warm and mature. It's a job interview. And good luck!