Low GPA, is it worth trying??

[king_99352]

So I had a bumpy start in school. Always tried hard, and eventually obtained a BS and am working in the medical feild right now and have applied to PA school this year. So here is my question since I'm getting the post application jitters... Is there a chance? Let me elaborate.

I think I have a solid statement that goes over who I am, where I come from, and why I wish to be a PA. Those who have read it think its compelling, but I'm sure there is some bias in there since family, friends and mentors have read it. I've explained my low GPA (I finished in the mid 3s, but because of failures and retakes my CASPA GPA is 2.7 overall, higher in science). Not going in to any detail here, would a compelling statement and life experience make a difference? At all? I also have solid letters of rec from two of my great mentors who are university professors, and an RN who is familiar with my work at my hospital.

My GPA really suffered because I enrolled in a university and had a nightmare year due to financial problems and family issues. It was a painful year and I withdrew from the school with many Fs, but enrolled in a different school to give me a fresh start. I did really well from there on, but CASPA averages the GPA...Even though I got solid A's in for example Biochem+lab, the Fs from the nightmare year really brought my biochem GPA down.

I have solid clinical experience because of my profession. I have a compelling life story that I've explained in my personal statement...but crappy GPA. My question is this. Will the screeners at my school of choice even look at my application to get to the letters of rec and personal statement? And if they do, will it matter? Will the fact that I started poorly but finished strong even matter?

Thanks for any responses!

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[pamac]

The CASPA gpa is going to be really hard to get last unless it averages above 3.0 for science and cumulative. If those both don't line up, your references and awesome personal statement won't matter much because of the autoscreening that takes place. It's real, and schools told me about it when I specifically asked. I climbed that hill and fortunately made above 3.0 for both, but I found that the programs that focused on academics were still uninterested. The only schools that came calling were ones that found my healthcare experience to be compelling enough for them to want to know more about me. The averaging is a real pain for folks that made a turnaround. You'd think putting your money where your mouth is and retaking a course would be more of an asset, but these days, if a school wants a smart kid in their class, they want them that way out of the box.