PA-cman Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Hello all Before I start I want to say that I did do a google search and looked through many threads here before I posted here and couldn't find the information I needed. Anyways I've shadowed a PA for 20 hours and a MD for 20 hours. From what I saw I'm ready to be a PA. I'm currently 26 and have matured enough to handle the responsibilities that come with working in the medical field. My problem is that I only have 3.0 gpa for my associates and even worse 2.69 gpa for my bachelors. I know that there is no way I can get into a masters program even with my 800 hrs of HCE. I got C's in chem 1 & 2 and C's and physics 1 & 2. So even if I were to retake those classes and get A's, with the combination I'd only average to a B. I'd rather not make excuses for my low gpa. Let's just say I was immature. My question is, what now? I feel like I hit a brick wall and would love to get out of it. Should I get a bachelors in PA? Then go on to get my masters? I looked into academic enhancement programs but they want 3.0 gpa to even get in. I would really like to start my career and any point of advice or direction would be fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmood Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I can see you've reflected on your academic history... part of your maturity now is sucking it up, retaking the classes, and realizing that you can't magically start a career without handling your basics. My point of advice would be to do that. To make it more palatable for yourself, look into finding a job where you feel like you're taking steps towards your future professional life. If you're working where you're respected and offered opportunities to learn and explore healthcare, you'll be much more satisfied in general with the extra year of schooling you have in front of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dondoro88 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Are you taking any classes now? It may be a good idea to add some more science classes in to up your science GPA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted September 15, 2011 Moderator Share Posted September 15, 2011 with a 3.0 you need STELLAR hce and lots of it. 800 hrs is 20 weeks. really not going to impress anyone as most reputable programs want 1000-2000 hrs and many programs have avgs much higher than that(for example at my local program last yr the avg accepted applicant had 8000 hrs, 10X what you currently have....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 First of all I want to say thank you for all the responses. Yes I made some mistakes and now I want to fix them. At the same time I'm glad that it happened this way because I feel that once I get into PA school, I won't take it for granted and will do my absolute best. And now I know for sure this is what I want. I currently have 800 hrs of HCE but I still have the job of a hearing screener at a hospital in the OB/GYN floor. So my HCE hours will only increase. I also have my CNA but couldn't find a job at a hospital! Since I only have 60 hours for my bachelor's (60 hours for associates) wouldn't getting my gpa to 3.0 be easier because I don't have that much hours in it? Also how does that work? Since I already have my bachelors how will retaking classes affect my gpa? Since I thought the gpa I have now is permanent. As a bio degree It seems like I had to take the pre reqs for PA too Chem 1, 2 = C (associates) Organic = A (Bachelors) Physics 1, 2 = C (Bachelors) Medical Terminology = A (Bachelors) Microbiology = A (associates Stats = A (associates) A&P 1,2 = B (associates) Psychology = B (associates) Genetics = C (Bachelors) Cell Bio = B (Bachelors) So it looks like I would have to retake physics 1,2 and chem 1,2 and get A's both of them. Would getting a masters in something else and then applying for PA showing them I can handle master's work be another way of getting into a PA program? I have seen a couple of 9 month masters for academic enhancement programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Steve Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 What of the idea of turning your bio path into an RN path? Bring up the GPA, get through a nursing program, land a job that has a decent salary and great HCE, then later transition to PA or NP? Get a rough idea of what schools you want to apply to and see what you'll need and tailor fit your path. Schools that tolerate lower GPA typically want much higher hours in HCE. I got into PA school with a 3.0 but their minimum HCE is 4000 hours..the current sitting class has an average of over 12,000 hours. I had well over that. Along the same lines of tailor fitting your path, PAMAC hinted at it...the hearing screening may not be considered top notch HCE. You said you were doing it in an OB/GYN setting so I am making the guess here that you are doing hearing testing on newborns. Not really indepth history/physical stuff going on there. Contact the schools you are interested in and ask them point blank. It would suck to finally rack up thousands of hours of what YOU think is HCE only to be told that your top programs don't agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Since I only have 60 hours for my bachelor's (60 hours for associates) wouldn't getting my gpa to 3.0 be easier because I don't have that much hours in it? Also how does that work? Since I already have my bachelors how will retaking classes affect my gpa? Since I thought the gpa I have now is permanent. There is no dividing your undergraduate work between degrees. Undergraduate is undergraduate. As you take more classes they will contribute to your GPA, even if they are repeats. You need to figure out your overall undergraduate cumulative and science GPAs. Then you need to play around with a GPA calculator and see how many credit hours of straight As it will take to break the 3.0 mark in both. Start retaking any pre-reqs or other science courses with less than a B and then take new ones if you still aren't at 3.0. It's going to be a long journey but it's doable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 I have thought about doing the accelerated program BSN. Having 2 bachelors, when i apply for PA, do I still have to mention my Bio gpa? Or If i were go to BSN can i just mention that in my applications? How about joining the military as a medic? Also wutthechris, where would i go about playing around the GPA calculator? PAMAC, Just Steve, wutthechris, EMEDPA, greenmood. Thank you guys for taking the time to help me out. I know I screwed up in college and am paying the price for it. It is a terrible feeling, feeling like I've hit a brick wall in my medical career when I know for a fact I can do so much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duchesskre Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 I have thought about doing the accelerated program BSN. Having 2 bachelors, when i apply for PA, do I still have to mention my Bio gpa? Or If i were go to BSN can i just mention that in my applications? How about joining the military as a medic? Also wutthechris, where would i go about playing around the GPA calculator? PAMAC, Just Steve, wutthechris, EMEDPA, greenmood. Thank you guys for taking the time to help me out. I know I screwed up in college and am paying the price for it. It is a terrible feeling, feeling like I've hit a brick wall in my medical career when I know for a fact I can do so much better. I dont say this to discourage you just to be completely honest. I am 30 years old applying to PA school. I have a bachelors degree with a double major and a master's degree. With that being said, I applied to an associate's degree PA program (while I was finishing up the science pre reqs needed for other schools) and they way they calculated things my GPA was a 4.0. They give you a pre-interview test to cut the applicants from ~1600. Lets just say even with my 4.0 GPA I didnt get an interview at this school Now, on to CASPA affiliated schools, I am having to live with consequences of taking classes at a junior college when I was a senior in highschool and being ok with C's in these classes. 10 years later and multiple degrees I still had to declare them to Caspa and they affect my overall GPA. It doesnt matter that I have gotten A's in all my post bacc classes (A&P 1 and 2, 3 chem classes, micro, genetics, etc) those grades from when I was in high school still affect me and the B I got in general Bio and the B- I got in general Bio lab dropped my science GPA from a 4.0 to a 3.7. With that being said, I think that PA schools look at the person from a holistic standpoint. What else do you have to offer. Why should they choose you. My suggestion is if PA is really what you want go for it but make yourself stand out. Retake (or take additional) classes to bring your GPA up and do stuff that shows your dedication to the medical field (for example I joined a international medical surgical disaster relief team that can deploy when disasters hit to treat patients)...besides shadowing just to get the hours in can you volunteer or do something that shows schools that you have grown up and matured since obtaining low grades like volunteering or doing something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 duchesskre: I work as a newborn hearing screener at the OB/GYN hospital. I basically spend 15 - 20 minutes explaining and doing the procedure to the parents inside the patient room. I have around 800 hours of that. I've also been volunteering at another hospital for a year at the ICU. I recently just got my CNA too, trying to find a job. As you can see I've surrounded myself with nothing but healthcare field experience. The only D I ever got was in my whole entire life was in Calculus. Thats why my gpa is so low to a 2.69. Amongst the C's. I know for sure I can get A's in physics 1,2. I never went to class and still got C's. So basically my plan of attack should be to retake my one D and the C's I got? So that would be Calculus, Physics 1 & 2 , Genetics, and Chem 1 , 2? And get A's in those classes. Also do phenomenal on the GRE and keep building up my HCE via working and volunteering? Is there a way I can find out what my overall GPA including associates and bachelors would be once I get A's in those classes? I know theres CASPA but I don't have a record of my transcripts. Basically I just added 2.69 and 3.0 and divided by 2 and got 2.84 to get an approximate. Seems like there is some hope for an aspiring PA!!! I do want to thank you guys again for all your help. I really had nowhere else to turn to and my adviser wasn't any help either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Wajek Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 CASPA explains exactly how the GPA is calculated in their FAQs. I think this website does it the same way. http://www.sfsu.edu/~gradstdy/gpa-calculator-sfsu.htm It doesn't have an AB, BC, etc option though, so if your school uses that grading system you might need to use something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duchesskre Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 duchesskre:I work as a newborn hearing screener at the OB/GYN hospital. I basically spend 15 - 20 minutes explaining and doing the procedure to the parents inside the patient room. I have around 800 hours of that. I've also been volunteering at another hospital for a year at the ICU. I recently just got my CNA too, trying to find a job. As you can see I've surrounded myself with nothing but healthcare field experience. The only D I ever got was in my whole entire life was in Calculus. Thats why my gpa is so low to a 2.69. Amongst the C's. I know for sure I can get A's in physics 1,2. I never went to class and still got C's. So basically my plan of attack should be to retake my one D and the C's I got? So that would be Calculus, Physics 1 & 2 , Genetics, and Chem 1 , 2? And get A's in those classes. Also do phenomenal on the GRE and keep building up my HCE via working and volunteering? Is there a way I can find out what my overall GPA including associates and bachelors would be once I get A's in those classes? I know theres CASPA but I don't have a record of my transcripts. Basically I just added 2.69 and 3.0 and divided by 2 and got 2.84 to get an approximate. Seems like there is some hope for an aspiring PA!!! I do want to thank you guys again for all your help. I really had nowhere else to turn to and my adviser wasn't any help either. Do a search on this website for GPA calculator. Its an excel file where you enter all your grades (youll need unofficial transcripts so you know exactl what you got because a + or - makes a difference) and then it calculates it...it was spot on with what it gave me as my Caspa calculated gpa in comparison to my actual Caspa gpa. Keep doing what you are doing. If you have time to take additional classes besides improving your c's and d take some upper level bio classes and keep padding your resume with experiences that make you stand out. If its what you really want, make it happen. I personally think if you retake classes and do things in the next year or two or three to show you are dedicated that will hold more weight than what happened a few years ago....but again thats just my opinion and I dont have a lot to go on as I myself am trying to get into PA school now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 Alright guys! I did a whole bunch of research and want to thank you all. Basically I've narrowed it down to Respiratory Therapy or 2nd Bach in Medical Lab Science. And made a list of the pros and cons. RT: Pros - A LOT of direct patient care Cons - 2 years, less money than MLS, the A's I get won't look as impressive as the 2nd bachelors in MLS MLS: Pros - makes 40k - 50k a year, the A's I get from classes will look impressive for PA schools Cons - 2 years, not a lot of direct patient care if at all. So what do you guys think? Besides Nursing, is there anything else out there that will provide me with a job right after i get the degree that will also help me with direct patient care? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 As an MLS, I would suggest that you go the RT route unless you plan to work in a rural or small facility(in which direct patient contact will be a little more likely). Larger facilities have phlebotomists so it is not necessary for med techs to do the draws. Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 not quite.... the RT could be just as expensive or more. and RTs could earn more, less, or the same.... i dont know for sure. but RT is some great hce... MLS is hit or miss. even with a good facility, MLS wont offer you near the direct patient care. im glad i did MLS because my situation fits well with a lot of my interests, but i pretty much have followed my interests first, and looked at the PA thing as secondary to those when i was pursuing it. the first year on the job you are spending a lot of time and energy just learning the job, and its a tough route to go just to turn it into a springboard to impress a PA school. pick the one you are more interested in working in for a while, because it could happen that you have to camp out there for a while. also.... getting the second bachelors probably wont be worth more than getting an RT associates in and of itself. be very wary of assuming that is the case. just go for what you want to do first, and then make the case to a PA school that you did the right thing. you should take away the con on RT of not being as impressive as the 2nd bachelors degree in MLS. i think you are comparing apples to oranges there. also, take away the salary considerations, because i think they could be around the same, or possibly even favor RT. The reason why I say MLS might look more impressive with PA schools is because a lot of the classes are level 200, 300 classes. So getting A's in those would show them I am committed. I looked at the classes for RT and most of them are level 100 and only a couple of 200 courses. I plan on taking RT at a community college. But that community college is 45 minutes away. Thats another con. But tuition is a lot cheaper. I really do like working with patients, and I'd rather do that then do lab work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasheenp Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 PA-cman not sure where you are from, but I am a RT and trying to get into PA school. My career as an RT is what has inspired me to become a PA, and if the PA thing does not work out I know I have a career that I really enjoy and I make good $$. By the way the $ is more than what you posted, but I know salary varies depending on where you live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 PA-cman not sure where you are from, but I am a RT and trying to get into PA school. My career as an RT is what has inspired me to become a PA, and if the PA thing does not work out I know I have a career that I really enjoy and I make good $$. By the way the $ is more than what you posted, but I know salary varies depending on where you live. sasheenp, would you mind going through a typical day as a RT? I think I've made up my mind and have decided that I am going to be a RT. Get straight A's while in RT program, work as an RT for 2 years (or more if i really enjoy it) and then PA. To everyone that helped me, I want to thank you all. Such a crappy feeling when you know what you want to do but can't because of previous mistakes. You've all shown me now what I need to get into PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasheenp Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 .PA-cman I have had the opportunity to have worked with patient's of all ages from premature infants to 100+ Adults. I have worked in all areas of critical care with the exception of trauma. When I graduated my first job was at a large 800+ hospital in Las Vegas. I learned a lot about respiratory while I worked at this facility. I relocated to Oregon 10 years ago and I am currently working in a smaller 200 bed community hospital. I real enjoy working here because when you work in a community based hospital you never know what kind of patient will walk through the door. I find that my previous experience prepared me for the job I have today. About a year ago I was promoted to the supervisor of the department. On a given day we have patients on ventilators that we manage and care for. My hospital is protocol based so the RT's have a lot of involvement in the management of critically ill patient. There are patients on the medical/surgical floors that we evaluate for therapy (breathing treatments, pulmonary toilet, and oxygen therapy). We draw arterial blood throughout the hospital and provide the necessary tx. I also perform outpatient procedures such as stress tests, pulmonary function testing, and assist in bronchoscopies. I think being an RT will give you the HCE you need, and will benefit you later when you’re ready for PA school. Work hard for what you want and never give up. If you have any other questions I would be happy to help. One suggestion is to shadow an RT which will expose you to the profession. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA-cman Posted October 5, 2011 Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 Thanks for that sasheenp. I just applied to 3 Respiratory Therapist programs. I hope I get into one of them -.- But just incase I don't I did some research on radiology tech. Does anyone have experience in this field? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinntsp Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Thanks for that sasheenp. I just applied to 3 Respiratory Therapist programs. I hope I get into one of them -.- But just incase I don't I did some research on radiology tech. Does anyone have experience in this field? http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/careers-health-care/directory.page? There's a lot of health career info on that site. It has descriptions of the different jobs, info about the certifying bodies, and info on where to go to find accredited programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panelson Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 But just incase I don't I did some research on radiology tech. Does anyone have experience in this field? PA-cman: I graduated with a BS concentrated in radiologic technology. I am a licensed rad. techn and was just accepted into PA school on Monday. If you have any questions at all feel free to respond to PM me! :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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