I just wanted to share my round about journey from high school to PA school. I applied to 10 PA programs to increase my chances and got 6 interviews and 4 acceptances (forgot to mention this in the video).
Wow! So inspiring man! Coming from a guy whose GPA isn't as high either, watching you has given me hope that I can turn things around with my upcoming finals! Keep encouraging & good luck with the rest of your clinical rotation's! I know you're gonna rock it! I know you don't have a lot of views as of yet, but please keep uploading! Seeing people who look like me succeed & do well aspires me to wanna be better in such an underrepresented field for minorities & black men in general! Can't wait for your next video!
This video gave me some insight. Didn’t focus much in college and worked a lot to survive. Finished school with a 2.5 then went back for Respiratory which I’m working now. Worked through that whole program to survive as well. I really want to become a PA. So I’ll do what it takes to get my gpa.
You're journey is so inspiring. I have similarities! I went to Rutgers with a pretty low gpa and not much motivation on what I wanted. Then, I realized I loved medicine and found out about PA school. Now, I'm 25 and just starting to do all the pre-reqs and more pcare hours. It's definitely a ton of work! Watching this helped me a ton.
Miss VictoriaLynn thank you and congrats to you! I interviewed at Rutgers and they have a great program. I'm so glad the video helped, it is very possible once you put your goals in place!
congrats bro. on a long successful journey to finish PA school. I myself have raised my overall GPA from a 2.17 to a 3.01 through my MBA in Healthcare Administration and post bacc science courses and other miscellaneous courses . So I know first hand what you went through. Now I am working to get my healthcare hours and should be applying around this time next year god willing.
EMEKA TV hi this was so inspiring as well as the video. If you don't mind me asking, I'm sort of in the same boat with around the same GPA as my science GPA, how long did it take you to bring it up to 3.1?
I want to thank you for this video. I'm in the same boat. I've reached out to many schools regarding their PA programs and being that my GPA is not quite at the schools requirement and barely have HCE hours/volunteering/shadowing, and my pre-requisites are not quite complete, I am not a strong candidate. My undergrad degree is in Business Administration/Accounting. I'm losing hope because I was advised that I may have to get a second degree in science and start all over again. I understand the process of getting into a PA school can sometimes be long and tough but my heart and my mind are set to become a PA. I've thought about getting into a Post-Bacc Program close to home. However, I am a single mom with bills and it's hard not to have a job, and just to depend on student loans. My plan is to reserve taking out loans for when I start my PA school. I've also thought about getting into MBA and maybe take science classes as electives and do my best to bring my GPA up. However, I'm not sure schools will allow me to take science classes in Grad school and if that will make me a strong candidate. I am very persistent and I don't give up on my dreams and reaching my goals, which is one of the good qualities I have. Mind you, it took me 9 years to finish undergrad (life happened - I got pregnant, took a year and a half off from school, went part-time and then finally full-time). I was very determined to finish my school and to earn an undergrad degree. I'm sorry for the long message, but finding your channel is definitely motivating and inspiring. Any advise you can give me will be very much appreciated. I've subscribed to your channel so I won't miss your new videos.
Joann Ancheta thanks for listening and subscribing! I can imagine your struggle, but if you're persistent enough you can make it happen. I'm not sure how old you are but if you're under 30 you have the advantage of youth and time to get everything in order. I needed that graduate degree plus post bac to bring up my undergrad gpa so you may want to follow a similar path if you know your gpa might not meet the requirements. You should look into graduate programs that will allow you to take science classes. If not, you can always do post bac. It's gonna take some sacrifice, but when i did post bac i was living off a weekend job and loans. But Focus on the grades first
Thank you so much for responding. I have reached out to schools for my MBA and I'm also looking to do a dual master's program for MBA/MPH. I have accepted that my road to becoming a PA is not going to be easy but with persistence I can become one someday. Just a side note, even the master's program is expensive ;/
Hey Matt super inspired by your GPA and story i'm currently in the same situation is there any way we can talk more on this topic? RU-vid doesn't have a send message option anymore and i'm interested in knowing more as 2.66 GPA student in my undergrad. THANK YOU hope to hear from you soon.
Matt, thank you so much for your videos. As an aspiring physician assistant your experience and advice are very inspiring. I am struggling to find out where or not I'm competitive for a program. I dropped out of high school and joined the Army until I got out at 22 and started college a little later than the traditional student. Thankfully I graduated with my bachelor's.Currently I have my bachelor's in applied health science with a 3.6 GPA and my associates in respiratory care with a 3.3 GPA. I have been working as a respiratory therapist for almost 1 year and currently have my RRT registration. I have many hours shadowing PAs, probably close to 300hours. I still have to take a few more classes such as genetics, organic chemistry 2 with lab and biochemistry before I meet the requirements for most programs. I also have not taken my GRE yet. In school I worked as a tutor tutoring classes such as advanced A&P, mathematics from algebra to calculus, chemistry up to organic and most levels of biology. I volunteered for the American Cancer society and helped coordinate a couple of event's. I know this all looks like a lot but this is pretty much everything I have done so far to get into a decent program. In your honest opinion, what do you think? Am I on the right track? Am I missing anything that could help my chances? Thank you so much for your feedback and all of your great videos.
Hi, I’m struggling right now because I just graduated from college with a bachelors in Biology. I’m kind of getting discouraged because my overall GPA is a 2.8. I’ve taken all of the pre reqs but all of the schools keep telling me the minimum gpa is a 3.0, being a P.A is really in my heart, but being told no is really hard to swallow. What do you suggest I do? Btw all of my science courses are fine, I just messed up in my other courses. Help me please!
daes Research Postbacc programs.. Or get a master's degree in something you actually enjoy.. that should surely bring your overall GPA to the minimum requirement. Best of wishes!
I did both. Most of my prerequisites were in post bacc and took a few community college courses that I found out that I needed to take after I finished post bacc. As long as its from an accredited school you can take prerequisites anywhere
Do you think that pharmacy technician counts toward the health care working environment they are looking for? I’ve been working as a tech for 3 and a half years and I’m praying that counts
Edwanny Nivar what I would do if I were you is contact the schools you're considering applying to and just ask them. They should be more than happy to let you know if that would count towards patient care experience. They really want you to have direct patient contact on your job.
Bennie Junior there's different ways to look at that. You can always look up PA school rankings online. Usually the programs that have been around for a long time tend to have the better reputations among students. At the same time, you have a better chance of getting accepted to a newer program that hasn't been around for too long. From my prospective, I wanted to apply to a mixture of both new and old programs because I just wanted to get in somewhere. You want a program that's good for you and will give you good clinical experience. I have met some great PA's that went to city college programs. In the end you will be a PA no matter what school, it just depends on what you're looking for in a program (it could be an accelerated program that you want, it could be something financial that may make your decision, it could be the location, the number of electives they offer, many things) you just need to research. I go to Pace University
011atm good question, luckily for me admissions for MBA at Johnson & Wales isn't as strict as with PA admissions. The min GPA was 2.5 and along with a combination of letters, work experience and essay, I was able to get through. I had to maintain a 3.0 throughout grad school as with PA school
pshyeah1128 a pre-med post bac (post bachelorette) is a non-degree program designed for aspiring medical professionals to take as much pre-requisites as you need to apply to medical or PA school. I did mine at Northeastern university. You just have to research programs online.
