r/prepa

Will weak eyesight keep me out of the PA profession?
I’ve been thinking about becoming a Physician Assistant, but I’m worried my eyesight could affect my chances of getting accepted into PA programs or working in the profession or overall count me out of this field.

I’m extremely nearsighted I can’t really see far away without correction but I’m not like blind. My left eye is much better than my right eye, and my right eye is very blurry. I haven’t tested for my driver’s license yet either, so that also makes me nervous.

Does anyone here have experience with poor eyesight in healthcare or PA school? Can vision problems hold you back from getting accepted or becoming a PA if they’re corrected with glasses or contacts?

Re: How to do well in these courses at Portage Learning specifically

Hey, I'm going to be starting CHEM 212 (Biochemistry with Lab) & CHEM 219 (Principles of Organic Chemistry with Lab) at Portage Learning.

For those who have taken and succeeded in these courses, I would really appreciate it if you could comment or PM me any tips/advice/resources you have for doing well on both the exams and labs.

I’m trying to build up patient care hours for PA school. I have my bachelors degree in social work, and decided that it wasn’t the career path I wanted to take and pivoted to working towards getting into PA school. I’ve been working towards taking all of the necessary prerequisite classes to apply to pa school, and have gotten CNA certification, EMT certification, and phlebotomy training. I’m at a point where I am able to work a full time medical job and I’ve applied to 30+ CNA and medical assistant jobs at this point. I’ve had a few interviews, but have mostly not heard back from the jobs I’ve applied to. I have a young family to provide for and I’m feeling a lot of pressure to find a job both to provide for them and to start building up patient care hours so I can begin applying to PA school. Any tips to make myself a more desirable candidate? It seems like my lack of experience in the medical field as a 25 year old is what is holding me back, I’m open to any advice or suggestions!

Hi everyone, I wanted some advice because I’m trying to figure out the best path toward becoming a PA.
Right now, I work as a PT aide and by the end of this year I’ll already have over 1,000 patient care hours. I’m planning to continue into PTA, and while doing that, I also want to finish my bachelor’s degree and complete my PA prerequisites at the same time.
My thought process is:
I genuinely have interest in PTA, not just PA
I want to work sooner and feel financially stable earlier
PTA would let me make money, gain even more direct patient care/clinical hours on top of the hours I’m already getting as a PT aide, and give me a backup career no matter what happens with PA school
Even if I don’t get into PA school right away, I’d still have a stable healthcare profession I enjoy
I’m trying to complete PA prereqs during my bachelor’s so I don’t have to do a huge catch-up later
A lot of the classes I’m already taking now will count toward both my bachelor’s and requirements for PTA/PA, so I’m not really “behind” in school progression
Ideally, I’d apply to PA school as soon as I’m competitive instead of taking a long gap year just to get hours
The main thing I’m worried about is whether doing PTA first would unnecessarily delay PA school or make the process harder academically. My biggest focus is protecting my GPA while balancing work and prereqs.
For people who did PTA → PA (or considered it), do you think it was worth it? Would you recommend going straight toward PA instead, or does my plan sound realistic?

Hey everyone, I’m currently debating between majoring in Neuroscience or Biology as a pre-PA student and wanted some outside opinions from people who may have gone through something similar.

Right now I’m leaning toward Neuroscience because a lot of my opportunities line up with it really well. I’m doing neuroscience research at my university for credit, and for the neuroscience major itself I need 12 elective credits — 6 of my research credits can count directly toward the major, which is a huge plus. I also recently got a really great internship working in neuroscience at a major hospital near where I live, so I already have strong involvement and experience in that field.

At the same time, Biology seems like the “safer” or more traditional degree for PA school. I know PA schools care more about GPA, prerequisites, patient care hours, etc., but I still wonder if a Biology degree would give me broader preparation overall.

I’m also considering adding a minor in Data Science, mainly as a backup plan in case PA school doesn’t work out. I’m somewhat interested in biotech/pharma and thought the data science background could maybe help open doors there, although becoming a PA is still my main priority.

One thing I’m also wondering is: if I do Neuroscience + a Data Science minor, would that still be a solid combination for getting into biotech or related industries later on? I know Biology is more broad, so I’m not sure if Neuroscience would limit me in that area or if the data science side would actually make me more competitive.

So I guess my main questions are:

• Does one major actually look better for PA school admissions?
• Would Neuroscience be unnecessarily harder GPA-wise compared to Biology?
• Is a Data Science minor worth it for someone interested in biotech as a backup career path?
• If I do Neuroscience + Data Science, can I still break into biotech/pharma-type roles?
• If you were in my position, would you stick with the path that already aligns with your research/internship experience, or switch to Biology for flexibility?

Would really appreciate any advice or experiences from pre-PA students, current PAs, or anyone in biotech/healthcare. Thanks!

Hey everyone, this is my first time doing a reddit so bear with me! I just need some advice as someone who wants to pursue the PA path but did not really apply herself classes wise.

Full story:
I'm a rising senior majoring in biochemistry and has had the idea of being PA in the back of my kind. Because I knew I had a guaranteed Navy commission after graduation through NROTC (with a 5+ year active duty commitment), l didn't fully apply myself to my classes early on. (I know that isn’t an excuse but I’m pretty dumb and thought that I could just cruise by).

My resume is more tailored to my military obligations and other extracurriculars and I do work part time. I did really struggle with college because of family/money/toxic relationship that had to get student conduct involved and being in a senior military college did not help with my time being so divided.

I know this is a bad GPA but my cumulative GPA is sitting at a low 3.10.

I am ashamed of how low it is but I am willing to work even if I have military obligations.

Since I graduate in a year, I know significantly raising my undergrad GPA will be hard.

Plus, I will be serving on active duty as an officer immediately after graduation. I'm looking for advice from anyone who took a non-traditional route or successfully applied with a lower GPA.

I do want to get out of the military after my contract. I am serving because they are paying me and its a guaranteed job out of college.

Specifically:

1. What should my immediate next steps be during my senior year?

2. How can I best use my next 5 years in the military to build a competitive application (PCE, shadowing, etc.)?

3. Thank

4. you in advance!

Thankfully a second professor wrote me one and I got another PA to write me one.

Something in my gut was telling me I needed to do that.

Hi!

I am currently a senior, Allied Health major in university about to graduate in the fall. I am trying to get an idea of where I am going to take my final prereq classes before I apply to pa school in a few years. I took A&P I and II, Stats, Psychology, Sociology, and English at community college before I transferred after 2 years to university. I took Gen Bio I and II, Gen Chem I, Microbio, Developmental and Abnormal Psych, and Med Term at my university. I have also taken other upper division science courses at my university as well, they just aren't required prereqs.

After I graduate, I was planning on enrolling to a state school as a non-degree seeking student, or utilizing the state schools' open university program, but it is a lot of money out of pocket with no eligibility of aid. I would love any advice on whether I should apply to another 4 year to take Gen Chem 2, Ochem or Biochem, and Genetics or if I should take it at a community college. I was told by advisors at my school that programs will be less likely to look at my application because I took other classes at community college before I transferred to university. For reference my GPA in community college was 3.9 and my cGPA in university is a 3.7 (science GPA is higher), and I have one more semester left. I am planning to take about a year to a year and a half gap before starting my first cycle of applications.

I am very stuck right now and want to plan ahead lol. Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated!!

I took my GRE today and unfortunately scored 157 quant and 151 verbal. Although I know that 308 isn’t terrible, I hoped to score enough to undermine my GPA, which is 3.4 for both cumulative and science. As for the other parts of my application, I have ~3000-3500 PCE. I know it is still early in the PA cycle, but I wanted to submit my applications as soon as possible for the best chance, since I do have a below average GPA. I am thinking of retaking the GRE in 3-4 weeks, because I do think my anxiety and time management caused me to underperform, but I’m not sure whether to submit applications now and update my scores later or if this would risk me being rejected before I have the chance to retake and if I should just wait until I have my new scores. I am in Florida and although I’d love to stay in my home state, I have accepted that I have to open myself to out of state schools because I am not a competitive applicant for a lot of schools here. I’d appreciate any advice I can get, thank you all.

Does the life experience essay have to be about yourself or can i speak about my experience from what I learned about others?

I’m currently in community college and about to turn 21. Originally, I was trying to get into the dental hygiene program, but I didn’t get accepted. It’s taken me about 2 years just to finish my prereqs, and now I’m feeling really behind.

I’ve always wanted to work in healthcare, and recently I’ve been researching the PA profession. The more I learn about it, the more interested I become. I’ve looked into what’s needed to be a competitive applicant, and I genuinely feel motivated to take on the challenge.

My biggest issue is that I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time already and started on the wrong foot.By the time I transfer and finish everything, I feel like I’ll be so far behind everyone else and age wise as I’m supposed to be class of 2027. I also don’t have perfect grades and have retaken several classes. My current GPA is around a 3.65 including retakes.

Here are the classes I’ve completed so far:

A’s:
AP 1 (no retakes)
AP 2 (no retakes)
Sociology (1 retake: B)
Nutrition (1 retake: B)
ENG 101 (no retakes)
ENG 102 (1 retake: B)
Psychology (no retakes)
Intro Course

B’s:
Statistics (2 retakes: C, C)
Intro to Microbiology
Chem 110
College Math from high school (not sure if it counts)

I’m most worried about Statistics because of the retakes. I know PA school is competitive, so I’m wondering if this path still seems realistic for me or if I should focus on something else before investing more years into it.
I’d really appreciate honest opinions, especially from people in healthcare or who had a nontraditional path.

Hi! This is gonna be a bit of a long read but I’m feeling super discouraged and could use some advice/words of encouragement! If you’re gonna say something negative or mean please don’t comment at all!!!

Idk what happened this semester, I started off in such a slouch, and I bombed my first two midterms for my classes. I was able to bring myself back in my classes but it still really hurt my grades since they’re all exam dependent, so I’m ending up with a C+ in human parasitology, C in microbio, and either a C or a D in gen chem 2 (final grades haven’t been posted yet but I’m .6 away from a C, but they don’t round up apparently) and it’s already my second time taking the class because I got a D the first time. I technically got an F from a community college but it was such BS because the prof failed me for my lab kit delivery getting delayed and not being able to do the lab assignments, which is a whole other story, but that also weighs my gpa down a ton. So that obviously kills any sort of upward trend I had, but also, I just finished taking separate classes from another online school separate from my full time school, and I got an A in all of them so I guess that kinda builds an upward trend again. The classes are genetics, biochem, orgo 1 and 2 with lab, A&P 1 and 2, and a human bio/nutrition class. I’m also gonna retake chem 2 (for the fourth time now..) if I get a D in the class.

So that leaves my current stats at:

Cgpa: 3.25
Sgpa: 3.05

1300 paid hours PCE (EMT)
5000 volunteer hours PCE (FTO EMT)

2120 hours leadership (cadet advisor for my ems agency, lieutenant at my ems agency - both volunteer)

50 hours of teaching cpr (volunteer) (I’m an AHA BLS instructor)
720 of teaching cadets (volunteer)

500 hours HCE (receptionist)

500 hours non-healthcare employment

25 hours non-healthcare volunteer (organizing a blood drive)

12 hours shadowing PA (ortho)

LORs: Professor, EM DO (who is a PA program medical director himself), PA I shadowed, and EMS chief who’s known me for 6 years

With all my other stats is it still even worth it for me to apply? Like do I have a chance or am I just wasting my money. If you have anything nice, encouraging, or helpful in the slightest to say, please lmk 😊

Hi! I wanted to know if it was just me that had experienced this, but I shadowed a PA for the first time today. She was very nice but was not very guiding in explaining what she was doing. It felt like I was talking the whole time and she was just sitting there. I just felt discouraged and the rest of the staff didn’t talk to me so I felt uncomfortable. I feel especially discouraged after knowing I need to continue getting hours. Has anyone else experienced this? I am thinking I maybe just need to find a different opportunity, but I don’t only want to go once.

I’m undergrad senior finishing my pre reqs I’m no where near done because i added a minor.

I wanna be a PA but my grades aren’t great so my first question do they care about college requirements B’s and C’s or just the Pa school reqs?

I know how competitive the admissions is and I’m definitely getting rejected because I’m at 3.0 but I haven’t took orgo1&2 and the biology classes.

Some people suggest that i take the pre nursing route finish my reqs then apply for an accelerated program then consider PA school. Why nursing? For patient care hours and fpr a stable job because i have no income to support me through school .

What do you guys think? Is it an unnecessary detour?

I feel pretty disappointed in myself since I just finished with a C in anatomy. What are my odds of getting in if I apply this cycle? I graduate on Friday, but have already registered to take anatomy again at a community college in the fall. I have 2 other outstanding prerequisites (physio lab + upper division bio) that I will also take in the fall. However, my cGPA is average at a 3.69 right now but will go down after the anatomy grade is posted. I also have about 1300 PCE at the moment but will get it up by the end of June. At a crossroads right now.

To add, my sGPA is 3.34 that's why i'm very nervous. i plan on taking 2 classes online this summer to try and raise it a bit

I feel really stuck and discouraged with PA school applications and I honestly need advice from people who’ve been through this. I’ve applied multiple times now and keep getting rejected. Every cycle I try to improve something, but it still feels like I’m not getting anywhere.

I have a couple lower grades in my prereqs and I never took organic chemistry. I’ve been working hard, gaining experience, and trying to stay motivated, but after getting denied again it’s starting to feel exhausting and defeating. I really do want to become a PA, but I’m struggling with whether I’m approaching this the wrong way or if I’m just not competitive enough yet.

For anyone who got accepted after reapplying, what made the difference for you? Did you retake classes, take o chem, change your personal statement, get more hours, apply broader, etc.? I’d really appreciate honest advice because right now I just feel lost and discouraged.

Hi everyone, I’m looking for honest advice about my PA school chances and application strategy.

I graduated from undergrad in 2022 with a 3.65 cumulative GPA and 3.76 science GPA prior to medical school. I’m a TX resident and got into med school in TX.

I currently have 7,000+ hours of direct patient care experience, primarily as a medical assistant and phlebotomist in family medicine and dermatology (post-med school), plus emergency department scribing during college and other clinical roles.

I also have leadership, research, lots of tutoring/teaching, and nonprofit healthcare experience, including helping found a small clinic in my home country and developing a low-cost water filtration project (research) for underserved communities (based in my home country).

I want to address the obvious “why PA?” question upfront.

For most of my life, becoming a physician was the only healthcare path I was exposed to, so I pursued that goal with tunnel vision without truly understanding the full range of provider roles or what aligned best with my strengths and long term goals. So I attended medical school and was academically dismissed after failing a course remediation exam after essentially completing my first year.

For context, I had passed all of my previous coursework except for that course. My dismissal was purely academic. There were no professionalism, conduct, or disciplinary concerns. At that time, I was dealing with significant personal stressors that impacted my mental health and academic performance.

Initially after dismissal, I intended to reapply to medical school, pretty much in denial of what had happened.

So I did the next reasonable thing. I was applying for jobs in healthcare and got accepted as an MA at a dermatology clinic, which is when I started directly working with not just physicians, but advanced practice providers like PAs and NPs. This is when I gained a much clearer understanding of what I genuinely wanted in a career. I know I should have done this before applying to medical school in the first place, but remember what I said about having that focused tunnel vision? Yeah, that’s where my head was always at throughout all of my schooling including college.

I’m addressing this transition directly in my personal statement, but wanted to provide some context here in case anyone feels my intentions on my transition to PA school are not valid. Long story short, I’ve learned a ton and have grown a ton since my dismissal. I feel like the person I was in July 2024 (when I got dismissed) is someone I can’t recognize (in a great way) and I’m proud of that. It’s made me realize alot of important things in life that I do not want to bore you all with.

Now for the difficult part. My medical school used a pass/fail system, but CASPA will still count my failing/NP grades.

From my understanding, my cumulative GPA may end up hovering around ~3.0-3.2 once CASPA calculates everything. I understand I need to disclose my academic dismissal and take accountability for it.

With that being said, I also want to provide evidence of academic growth, because I know admissions committees will question whether I can handle rigorous coursework. Well, since leaving medical school, while working full-time and living alone, I completed Anatomy & Physiology I + lab, Anatomy & Physiology II + lab and Microbiology + lab with A’s in all of them.

In anatomy specifically, I earned the highest lecture exam scores in the class consistently, and earned a perfect score on one exam that my professor said had not been achieved in years. I’m not sharing that to brag, but to demonstrate that my academic performance now does not reflect where I was at that point in my life.

I’ll also be applying with what I believe are strong letters of recommendation from the physician I currently work closely with in family medicine, a nurse practitioner I work closely with in the same clinic and my anatomy professor, who can directly speak to my academic growth and performance.

My questions:

1. Realistically, will some PA programs automatically screen me out due to the prior academic dismissal?
2. Has anyone here been accepted (or known someone accepted) after dismissal from another professional healthcare program?
3. If you were in my shoes, how broadly would you apply?
4. Any other thoughts/comments/concerns

Like I mentioned earlier, I am Texas based and would prefer to stay in Texas, but I’m open to relocating anywhere in the U.S.

Please be honest. I’d rather hear difficult feedback now than spend thousands applying blindly.

It took a lot to post this on here, so thank you to whoever read through all of this :)