Hi there! I am currently in my last semester of college and am planning on applying to PA school this coming April. However, I am worried I may be wasting my time and money if my application isn't strong enough. Although I am glad to be graduating college early, it has also given me less time to gain PCE, HCE, shadowing, volunteering, etc.. At the most, by the time I apply I could potentially have around 1,800 PCE hrs as a CNA and MA, 200 HCE hrs, 100 volunteer hrs, and 60 shadowing hrs. As of right now my overall GPA is a 3.6. I know the decisions by these schools also have a great deal to do with the personal statement, professionalism, and extracurriculars or experiences. I guess my two big questions are: 1) Do you think they will consider the fact that I am a early graduate which has led me to having a limited number of hours? 2) If it were you, would you take another year to continue building hours?
Thank you for your discussion!
It would be highly advantageous to take a gap year to gain more experience. You will most definitely be a competitive applicant if you increase your clinical, volunteer, and PA shadowing hours! However, if you plan to apply this coming April, I would recommend researching schools that don't require many clinical hours and are more GPA-heavy based!
