GPA debacle

[jamied2012]

Ok I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. I just received my Caspa and the GPA calculations caught me way off guard. I graduated over 10 years ago and my undergrad gpa was not stellar. I was in a field not science related and the focus on obtaining high grades was not a major factor. However, I went back to school a few years ago to focus on prereqs to become a PA and my grades are great. note: ( I have a BA, and an Masters). My Gpa is 3.56 in the university, 3.4 in the college. I am on the deans list repeatedly, invited to be a proctor with the University's EMT classes, nominated for peer tutor in biological sciences due to leadership and constant high gpa, operated a medical clinical as EMT and worked as ER tech...and all of this hard work may be thwarted by CASPA combing my post bacc grades with more poor grades from over a decade ago.

Will schools automatically see my combined gpa and toss me aside? Or will they see that my post bacc grades which are the ones regarding prereqs are much hugher and that there is vast improvement? (Also my Masters gpa is a 3.47)
Has anyone ever experienced this? What can I do?

[chetplease]

based on the information you've provided, i don't think it is a death-sentence.

you're justified in being frustrated by this, and realize that many people have had a similar experience and got into school just fine.

some programs might use the combined GPA to narrow the field without looking any further, but many i'm sure do not.

i got into PA school, with a less extreme version of what you are describing.

the best advice i feel that i can give you is to dedicate a *portion* of your CASPA narrative to explaining this. not to dismiss it, but to give some depth to the numbers and to call attention to all of the positive things you have done recently. your recent successes can be illustrative of what you have found yourself to be capable of once you set this goal..

sound good? i wouldn't worry too much, just do everything you can to be a strong applicant in every other respect. there is no changing the past, but you do have the opportunity now to get high quality HCE, rich shadowing experiences, glowing letters of recommendation, and a grand-slam narrative that will present it all in a meaningful way.