Had some bad semesters in college, can I still get in?

[AshleyMarie]

Hello everyone,

I am posting here because I am sort of panicking right now about getting accepted into PA school. I have not applied yet, but am planning to on the next cycle. My background goes like this: I found out about the PA profession a few years ago and got so excited that I signed up for 4 major, upper level, DIFFICULT science classes in one semester right from the jump. I thought since I was the type of person that could get good grades without studying, that I could handle it. I was also working 40 hours a week during this time. My life quickly turned to hell as I discovered the sobering reality of my choices. I. DID. NOT. DO. ANYTHING. BUT. WORK. In the end, I passed one class with a B, one with a C, and the others with F's. One F was because I overslept and missed a test, the other was because I ran out of time to ever fit in doing the homework. It wasn't that I couldn't grasp the material, but rather did not have the energy or time to expend on this magnitude of school work. I should mention by the time I decided that I couldn't handle it, it was too late to withdraw from the courses. I thought that I would start fresh the next semester. My job promised me part-time hours. I signed up for 3 difficult science courses this time, thinking I would be in much better shape to handle it. Besides, I thought I needed to do this to prove that I am not a quitter. Well, my job didn't end up allowing me to cut my hours. Here I was in the SAME predicament from before. I have to tell you, the feeling was and is absolutely defeating. I took over six months off of school, changed jobs, and went at it again. I re-took the classes I did badly in and got all A's and a B+. I still have a few more classes to go to fulfill all the prerequisite requirements. I am hopeful that I will do really good on the remaining coursework, but I feel like the multiple F's and a D that I got during that tumultuous time is going to ruin my chances of ever getting into PA school. Is there any way that I can explain my circumstances to the acceptance committee? I just have such a deep feeling of dread that my application won't get a second look. I should mention, I calculated my average GPA for all the classes I've taken during my college career and it averaged out to a 3.43, which is not terrible, but my transcript gets pretty rough to look at.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation?

[Gansolean]

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