To what extent does GPA play a role in acceptance in PA programs?

[spanishmedman]

Hi all,

I am a non-traditional pre-pa student, working on completing a BS in Biology. I graduated high school in 97 and spent a year as a patient assistant. I received my AAS in Digital Imaging Technology in 2000 and went on to spend a number of years in foreign mission work. The past 4 years I have worked as a crisis counselor before deciding to change careers (slightly!) and actually help people physically, not just counsel them.

My concern is this: My High School GPA was 3.18 and the Associates was 3.05. Like many, I had a bad case of immaturity and grades were of little concern at the time (obviously!). My life is different now and I feel that I can pull my grades for my BS up to around 3.4 or.5 (since i have to factor in the transfered low grades from the AAS). Is there any hope that I could make it into a PA program? I've had some tell me that because of my background (bilingual, minority, mission work, & counseling) that I present a fresh look on PA student. I'm trying to be realistic tho! Opinions? Thank you very much!

[SarahG]

Yup - you are on the right track. I graduated with a 3.08 with BS. I spent a few years doing post bacc and only managed to increase it to a 3.16 - the difference was that I could show where I changed from having Cs and Bs to making As in my post-bacc classes. I am about your age and found the other nice balance was my work experience- I had about 15k hours of HCE that really helped balance that low GPA.

Go get your bachelor\'s and keep getting HCE - there is definitely hope. Oh and I\'m not nearly the oldest in my class so you have plenty of company.

[PA_Hopeful]

Hello,

I\'m a senior with a science major at UCLA with a 3.1 GPA, but my pre-requisite GPA is a 4.0 (I took the classes at community colleges). Couple of questions:

-What are my chances of getting into PA school?
-How much do they weigh your major GPA vs. your pre-requisite GPA?
-In explaining my low UCLA GPA on my application, I want to say that I had a rough time with the large class sizes (which is true); is this a good reason?

Thanks!

[PaulK]

I think your chances are fine - it depends on the program. Generally those science prerequisites are weighted more than the others, but you also want to reassure them that you have good English and communication skills. For this reason, your narrative (essay) will be very important for you. You should work hard on it and really impress them.

I think the large class size argument is a little worrisome. Large classes require you to do more work independently (because you can\'t get one on one or small group time with the instructor). PA school will ask plenty of you in terms of working independently. If you do this, you should think through how you will word/present it. What would you want to hear a student say about it if you were on the admissions committee? What would reassure you? What would concern you? Were there any personal or other stressors on you at the time? Don\'t lie. But you decide how to present it, and there are good and bad ways to do that.

[PA_Hopeful]

Thanks for the helpful advice!