I was looking to get some advice on what to do if I currently have not finished all my prerequisites for PA school, and it would take another semester to finish them, or two if I want to make my workload more manageable. I’m currently in my last semester (summer) of undergrad, but I can finish them as a 5th year.
However my GPA isn’t the best right now, so I was probably needing to do a post-bacc anyway, so I was thinking to just graduate and complete them in my post-bacc. An academic advisor told me that best case scenario would be to be able to show admissions that I can do well in the prereqs at my college, and then enroll in a post-bacc if I need to. Another issue is that I’m not 100% sure I want to go to PA school as I’m considering other careers, but I thought that it would be good to have all the prereqs done anyway, and possibly boost my undergrad GPA if I do well in them. If I graduated this summer, I would do a gap year (or two) where I’d shadow and gain some experience that would help me decide what profession I’d like to pursue, and then enroll in a post-bacc to finish the requirements.
I’d appreciate any input, thank you!
Thank you for your response! Would you still recommend this even if I’m not sure yet if I will be going to PA school? Additionally, I may also need to do a post-bacc even after a 5th year, since my GPA still might not be competitive enough.
Yes, because the post bacc won’t change your undergraduate GPA.
Also, dedicate a lot for time to your “experience” hours - you may need 12-15 hours a week for a year even if you’ve done hours in the past two years. Use that 5th year to earn responsibilities.
If you do not go to PA school you’ll still have a better GPA and a more complete transcript (especially if you choose your courses judiciously, with courses that are relevant to many professions such as statistics and analytics.) You’ll also have a better resume from the “experience hours”.
Actually a post bacc may change her undergrad gpa if she takes additional undergrad coursework.
No, in most contexts your undergrad GPA is set at graduation. After that, you are no longer an undergrad but you can take undergrad level courses if you wish.
I believe some schools will factor in your post-bacc GPA into your undergrad for a cumulative GPA, but I don’t think they consider it an undergrad GPA, just two separate ones that are added together.
What is your GPA and GRE right now? For PA that is not only require GPA at around 3.0, a good GRE and many hours of medical/clinical volunteering/shadowing. If you give a whole background about yourself, it will help us to make a more precise recommendation.
Like medical schools, PA schools are looking if you have a conviction in that profession as well.
If affordable, stay for a 5th year of undergraduate school in order to increase your undergraduate GPA.