I messed up...PAs hopefuls I need you.

[this_afreekan]

This year has been horrible. First semester: I took chem II and I failed. I took micro and got a D. Got a C in cell biology. Ended with a 1 something GPA. Not an excuse but i was so depressed I literally pulled myself from bed, sat in class, went home, cried and slept. Next semester was better! I made all Bs and a D in chem 2. So I definitely didn't do amazing but it was definitely a step up. I just realized CASPA is a thing. I got a D in micro (I will retake) but chemistry 2...it will be my third time taking it....lets say I got an A. How would CASPA calculate it? Or at this point should I just give up. Im so discouraged. It's my senior year and its soooo late to be messing up. I went from a 3.4 to a 3.06 but I was able to pull in back up to a 3.1 due to getting all Bs (none of the classes this semester were relevant to PA btw) and my D replaced my F. What should I do? Because I'm ready to give up. The rest of my pre reqs I have As or Bs.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[bocc54]

CASPA will count any and every class you've ever took, so all attempts at prerequisites will be included in CASPAs science GPA calculation. First and foremost I would take every science class you ever took and put it into a GPA calculator to see where your sGPA stands right now. It is kind of hard to give any other advice without knowing your exact sGPA.

 

[this_afreekan]

CASPA will count any and every class you've ever took, so all attempts at prerequisites will be included in CASPAs science GPA calculation. First and foremost I would take every science class you ever took and put it into a GPA calculator to see where your sGPA stands right now. It is kind of hard to give any other advice without knowing your exact sGPA.

sadly its like a 2.27 right now :/ because of the C in cell bio and 2 Ds. But I still have more classes to take and then I'm gonna retake the 2 Ds at a community college

 

[Makati2008]

sadly its like a 2.27 right now :/ because of the C in cell bio and 2 Ds. But I still have more classes to take and then I'm gonna retake the 2 Ds at a community college

I am concerned that you may not be ready for the rigors of PA school at this point. I would recommend taking advanced science courses and doing well in them to help decrease this red flag size.

 

[pamac]

The important thing for you isn’t school right now, and doing better in school, or even getting into PA school, isn’t going to solve your problem. But your problem needs to be addressed properly. If you tackle your emotional struggles, you will be equipped well for success, and to be able to clearly see your options. You need to be seen professionally by a therapist and probably a psychiatrist or psyche NP. After that, you will be headed the right direction. Doing that might be one of the most important things you can do in your life from here going forward. Please consider that.

So you are in a bit of a rut with school, and from here, any further setbacks will weigh down your emotional state and make it harder to succeed because you will feel more desperate each time you face a setback. Take some time to reset and look at your options. You really cant succeed at tough school courses when someone is standing pointing a gun at you... it’s just not possible. You need to be able to sit down in a relaxed state with your chemistry book and digest the material.

So that said, your other prereq grades being As or Bs is a good sign. Your GPA is in the tank a bit. But also consider another path in case PA school proves to be too picky (they like folks with GPAs around 3.5 or better, and only rarely compromise). They throw a lot of information at their students really quickly, and each seat needs to be filled by someone ready for rapid fire learning and focus. It’s not much more complicated than that, they just can’t hold anyone’s hand because they get one year of in class schooling.

If things don’t pan out for you as far as Pa school, you have options. Your prereq grades might get you into nursing school. You could graduate with your biology degree and get into an accelerated bachelors in nursing. From there, you could go to NP school.

Just don’t fret, because that leads to more fretting, and more frustration. But you need to master your own mental state before you are ready to take on any more challenges. From there, things will improve considerably.