Undergraduate education: BS in biology, minor in chemistry
Overall GPA: 3.45Science GPA: 3.14
GRE: Did not take the GRE
Total HCE hours: 1888
Total PCE hours: 11000+
Shadowing hours: 409
Other volunteer hours: 336 as a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters, 1068 as a hospice caregiver
LORs: 4; Two from physicians, one from PA, one from volunteer manager
How many times did you apply?: 3
Age: 28
Gender: Female
How many programs did you apply to? 17
How many programs did you interview with and what were the outcomes? 4 interviews, 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, 1 rejection, 1 have not heard back.
Where will you be attending?
Touro University California-Joint MSPAS/MPH Program
Any red flags on your application? I did not do well my sophomore year (had all upper division courses) and it really hurt my science GPA. I had to explain why on a couple applications and interviews.
Anything you found surprising about interviews? One of the schools I interviewed with replaced the writing portion of the interview process with a video segment. This through me for a loop! I am not the type of person who likes to record myself talking so the jitters got the best of me.
The rest of the interviews were as expected: MMI’s, writing, group activity.
Were there any helpful resources (books, websites, apps) you used to get through prerequisite courses, the application or interview process?
I googled for different blogs to help me with the interview process. The blogs provided me with tips on how to prepare for the interview such as what questions I should definitely prepare for, what the interviewers are looking for in your answers, and what you should and should not say during an interview.
Any other advice for other pre-PA students?
DO NOT GIVE UP!! I know it is easier said than done, but it is true! I applied three times before finally being accepted. My second round of applying I was interviewed five times and waitlisted twice before ultimately not being pulled off the waitlist (talk about a bummer!) If you are a reapplicant, you definitely want to show the schools that you have improved since the last cycle. For me, I enrolled in more classes. It does not have to be science courses necessarily, schools want to see that you are constantly trying to improve yourself. I continued to shadow the PAs in my community. If a school’s mission is to provide primary care, you should shadow a primary care PA because the school will ask if you have done any shadowing in this specialty.
If you are invited for an interview, first off, congrats! That is a huge accomplishment considering schools look over thousands of applications and they chose YOU! How to prepare for the interview? Be able to answer why you want to become a PA and why you chose that particular school (research research research). Practice interviewing with your friends, coworkers, etc. but do not over practice. You do not want to sound rehearsed. Try to converse as if you were on a coffee date (relax). Lastly, be you. Schools do not want to hear the cookie cutter answer, what separates YOU from the everyone else?
