<p>I just got my final grades for this term back, and I saw that my GPA dropped from a 3.6 to a 3.1. This happened because I had a death of a family member, and I kind of went into a deep depression for the past couple of months after that happened. I am a double major in business and public health. I want to add biology as a minor so I can get all of my pre-reqs. I'm supposed to be graduating, but I have one more class to take in public health. Im just worries that my chances of getting into PA school is ruined from my GPA dropping so low? </p>
<p>Well, you didn’t help your cause with the GPA drop. I don’t know if it’s a fatal situation, though. Since it appears you have not starting taking your science pre-reqs, you still have time to raise your GPA before you’ll apply.</p>
<p>The grade drop will worry adcomms, not so because of the GPA itself, but because you appear to have poor coping skills w/r/t to stress. This is something you need to work on. Not to be harsh, but there are students who have had much worse happen to them than losing a family member and those students were able to maintain their good grades. You will need to demonstrate to adcomms that you have developed coping skills when you go to apply. Resilience is important for those in the healthcare professions since it’s an emotionally difficult field to work in.</p>
<p>Additionally, beside academic pre-reqs, PA programs expect hands on direct patient care experience. Anywhere from a hundred hours to a thousand, depending on the specific program. Do you have that? Have you begun volunteering/working in a patient care situation?</p>
<p>Lastly, you will need a standardized exam score (MCAT or GRE, depending on the program) to apply to PA school.</p>
<p>tl;dr you are missing too many pieces of the puzzle (clinical experience, sGPA, GRE/MCAT) to get an good assessment of your chances for PA school.</p>