Let’s get to why you’re really here-MY STATS! The following were my final stats after six years of retaking classes, taking additional science and non-science classes, and getting a Masters degree. I took over 60 additional units and it barely made a dent in raising my GPA. I commonly get asked what I did differently each cycle and that is exactly why I curated this website-to tell you precisely what and how I did it!

6th and Final Cycle CASPA Stats:

Undergrad: University of California, Riverside: Bachelors in Psychology

Graduate: Western University of Health Sciences: Master of Science in Community Health Education

Undergrad GPA: 2.47

Undergrad Science GPA: 2.25

Post-Bacc GPA: 3.56

Post-Bacc Science GPA: 3.41

Graduate GPA: 3.90

Overall CASPA GPA: 2.74

Overall CASPA Science GPA: 2.83

Healthcare Hours: ~13,000 healthcare and patient-care hours

Volunteer Hours: 266 hours

Shadowing Hours: 128 hours

MY JOURNEY:

After graduating from undergrad in 2014, I worked full-time as an ER scribe for about 5 years which is how I accumulated so many hours. During those 5 years, I enrolled in several classes at local community college in hopes to continue boosting my GPA. After my 4th rejection cycle from PA programs, I decided to pursue a Master of Science degree in Community Health Education- I thought this would significantly help my GPA but spoiler alert-it didn’t. I continued scribing full time while taking classes until 2019 when I left scribing and became an ophthalmic technician to get more “hands-on” patient care experience. This helped me gain even more hours and work in a different healthcare setting.

So often, pre-PA students are hyperfocused on their grades and GPA, but forget that there are so many other ways to stand out in your application. Even with my final 2.7 overall GPA and 2.8 science GPA, I showed PA programs that I was more than just a dumb number and more than who I was on paper. I shed light on my experiences, personal statement, and other parts of my application to show that I was prepped and ready to be a successful PA student.