The First Rejection

Today I got my first letter telling me that because of my science-GPA (2.77) they would not be requesting me to fill out a secondary application. The good thing, they didn't let me waste my money because they had an exorbitant secondary application fee - about 4 times more than the average. The bad thing, this was the school that my advisor told me to apply to as a total backup. I'm basically giving away what school this was, but they've yet to have a graduating class. Needless to say, this is a huge blow to my hopes of getting in anywhere.

With this slap of reality I'm reevaluating what I should be doing with my life. Some of the questions I'm asking myself:

- Should I bother filling out the secondaries?
- Should I apply to PA school right now?
- Would I get into PA school?
- Should I even go into health care?
- If I didn't what would I do after graduation?

I'm thinking that I need to basically abandon the med school thing. And to be quite frank the idea of being poor for the next 7 years (min) doesn't please me. But this is me just trying to make myself feel better. I'm going to fill out the secondaries and send them in, but I'm not putting any hope into this. And I honestly don't think I'll be that upset anymore. Well, let me rephrase this. If I go to PA school as opposed to med school I won't be upset. At least, I don't think I will be.

So this brings us to our next step: Getting into PA school.

There are a couple of differences between med school and PA school requirements. One is that many more PA schools require biochem, than DO schools. Another thing that's different is that most PA schools require A+P (anatomy and physiology). I was planning on taking Vert. Phys. and Comp. Anatomy, which are the harder courses recommended by my school for the premeds. There are some PA schools though that request that you only take A+P instead of VP and CA. Also, some PA schools require crazy amounts of documented health care experience - some as high as 1000 hours. I'll be graduating with about 135 hours, but this is enough for plenty of schools. There is also the matter of my science GPA. There are plenty of schools that require that you have a 3.0 science GPA, which I still don't have. This could very well mean that I can't apply until next year, assuming that I can raise my science GPA. Taking the easier AP would def help this effort.

I think my best plan of action is to make a list of schools and record what each of their requirements are. I'll then evaluate whether I meet the requirements for enough schools without taking biochem. At this point I'm going to try my hardest to get into AP because getting a good grade is more important at this point than taking the seemingly more impressive class. Plus, is allots me me options.

I think I'm officially a pre-PA student.