Which route would be better?

[awilliamsesu]

Just graduated in May with my B.S. in Biology. I have 120 hours of shadowing a PA, 800 hours of working as a patient care technician and 200 hours of EMT-B volunteering on an ALS unit. My cumulative GPA is around a 2.9, and I think my science GPA is around a 2.75 (ouch). Applied to a PA program anyway. I had an interview at the PA program last month and found out I was not accepted (yes, I know my GPA is low but I figured if anything, interviewing would be a good experience to have). So now it's time to carry on with my journey. I've done a lot of thinking and decided on two options.

 

I'm down to either A) Going for a 12-month accelerated BSN next spring or B) Going for a 2-year MS in Public Health this fall. And then applying to PA school again.

 

Both have their plus and minus sides, but I'm really torn about which would be better. I've considered getting a post-bacc certificate or retaking classes to boost my science GPA and a bunch of other options, but these are the two I have decided on that work best for me. Now I'm just looking for advice on which would be better in the long run.

 

Thanks!

[TarheelGirlx3]

I really think it would be better to retake all the prerequisites so you can get As! Good luck!

[zoopeda]

Boosting a GPA is a long and arduous road. I know this personally, and it's what any counselor will tell you. If you have 4 years of coursework to overcome, retaking a few pre-reqs is not going to come close to overturning poor grades. Unlike DO schools, PA schools (to my knowledge) do not allow for grade substitution for calculating GPA with retakes. So the bigger question is What do you want to do with your life? Nursing is a lot different from PA-ing (shadow them both, if you haven't already). As for the MPH, that's not medicine. It's public health. Invaluable, but if you go that route and are still not accepted PA, would you be happy in an administrative role or as a consultant? I suppose no one on this forum can give you the answer you need, but it might help to call the PA schools your interested in, explain your situation and passion for PA career, and ask them what you need to do to achieve your goal. Helpful, and you might even impress someone in admissions if you make good contact. Those are just 2 cents...

[UGoLong]

zoopeda has some good points. It is tough to change your average after 4 years. Clearly you have to do something new and I'm not sure either that the options you list are the ones that would get you there.

 

I would suggest you get a job in healthcare (as a tech, EMT, etc), perhaps in an ER. At the end of the time, have really good recommendations. In your essay next year, talk about how much you have grown from your college days. While you are working in the trenches of medicine, take something relevant in college (night classes, etc) that you haven't taken yet (like biochem, patho, genetics -- something challenging) and get really good grades. Use those grades to show you are a different person now.

 

This approach is not guaranteed, but I know a guy who graduated in the class behind me who did something like this. Many people apply more than once. You can't change the past, but you can try something new and succeed that way.

 

Good luck!

[awilliamsesu]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I figure I will probably do an accelerated nursing program, because if I can complete a 12-month BSN with a good GPA it might help me look better as an applicant. I already have some experience working in a hospital and as an EMT, which did get me good recommendations, but I need to work on myself academically over anything else right now I think.

[Timon]

How many credits at a 4.0 would you need to raise your GPA to a 3.0 and to a 3.3?

 

Im asking because I was in your shoes. I had a really low GPA and raised it up eventually to a 2.93. My first time applying I got an interview. It didn't go well and I wasn't accepted. I redid my personal statement, Increased my GPA a bit, gained some more HCE, some more shadowing, volunteering, and took additional Certs like EKG tech, acls pals NRP and reapplied to only 2 schools.

 

I took a different approach to applying. Rather applying broadly I was selective and applying to the programs I felt I had the best shot and this time I applied out of state and applied early. I got the interview and because I already had one under my belt I felt confident that I had nothing to lose and just acted as myself and humbled. It worked and I got in.

 

The thing is you're not even at a 3.0. That's a hard cutoff at a lot of programs. You only have 800 hours of paid direct patient contact HCE. Lots of programs have cutoffs at 1k and 2k.

 

All I'm getting at is have a more accurate picture before you make your next step. Both options you mentioned costs a lot of time and money and neither of them will directly bring you closer to getting into a PA program.

 

Have you ever thought of doing a MHS or MSMS at a school that offers a PA program rather than a MPH? Typically those programs guarantee an interview at their PA program once completed.

 

Heck maybe all you need are a few prereq classes at some programs you may have not looked at and maybe those credits alone could raise your GPA above a 3.0. Maybe apply to a program that emphasizes on the last 60 credits or that does honor grade replacements. There's lots of threads here on that.

 

Either way don't jump the gun yet. Just do a little more research and have some patience and the right path will present itself.

 

Best of luck!

[awilliamsesu]

Thanks for your advice, Timon. A lot of the PA programs around me don't require any health care experience, or less than 500, so I figured I was okay in that category for now (although more can't hurt, I know). I have all the pre-reqs needed and then-some for schools local to me (and even those I looked at out of state) and my grades are okay for them. I felt my main focus should me on boosting up my cumulative/sci GPA, so doing a MHS or MSMS would absolutely help. I'll apply to the BSN program in the mean time just to get my application in, and then look into MHS and MSMS programs.

[UGoLong]

If you are going to get a BSN now anyway, why not just hang on for another year afterward and become an NP?

 

It's your life but, to me, your path looks a little confusing. Which is OK; it's your path. But you did ask.:smile:

 

Good luck!

[awilliamsesu]

UGoLong, I really considered doing NP. Two things have steered me to PA over NP, though. I think my preferred specialty in medicine will be family medicine, which is great for FNPs. However, I prefer how PAs get trained in several specialties, unlike NPs, where I would just do my grad courses in family medicine, not getting much exposure in other areas. I feel like maybe I wouldn't be prepared as much. I do know students have gone right from RN to MSN/FNP and have gotten jobs with no issues, but I'd be really concerned that I just wouldn't get enough exposure before being "out on my own". I know I don't want to work as an RN, but I do feel that getting a BSN would give me good experience and would probably help my GPA in the long-run (less hard sciences, which is what I had some issues with in addition to working and volunteering).

 

Don't take this as ignorance or anything, but if I'm fairly sure about wanting to practice in family medicine, would the route (NP vs. PA) even matter that much? I'm sure after several years out of school it would be difficult to switch specialties anyway, and NPs have further training available to switch while PAs really don't at this point. The PA I shadowed was one year out of school and she told me that now that she's been in pulmonary medicine for a while, it would be difficult for her to switch to a different specialty without some serious preparation.

 

It's tough because no one in my family has ever graduated college before, let alone ever considered practicing medicine, so I feel blinded and so unsure of what's the best path for me to get to PA school. Even my college pre-PA college advisor wasn't really helpful. I appreciate all of the suggestions I've received so far, though.

[UGoLong]

I agree with your thoughts on PA training; I too think that it is more well-rounded. I have worked with some excellent NPs and the best ones had experience as a nurse in the area of what became their area of practice as an NP. They can't quite switch around as well as PAs (NP clinicals seem more focused), but they are still good folks and do a good job.

 

If you are set in concrete to become a BSN, want primary care, and don't expect to want to switch into something else, it is a shorter path to become an NP and you might be happy. If there is a glimmer of thought that you might like something else (after you get exposed to it during your clinicals), then the PA would probably be better for you.

 

The fact that you are considering the BSN because the science is easier is a bit of a concern, whichever way you go. Science is central to either PA or NP (think "the intersection of science and people"), so finding an easier approach as far as science goes might be a warning bell for you.

[awilliamsesu]

I can rock biology and chemistry courses with no problem, but I've had issues with upper level math courses and physics and whatnot. Those classes really pulled me down my last two years of undergrad. I know nursing has no physics and sticks to lesser math courses than calculus, so I figured that would probably be a better route for me to try to get my GPA up. I did find a post-bacc program I liked that also has a PA program at the same school, but they require that you have a C in physics and unfortunately I got a D, so I'd have to retake that before I apply.