 What should I focus on the most? Because what is most important? And the answer is what's up you guys? Sit down and welcome back to my channel. So I wanted to make this video for you guys because I've been getting this question a lot in my consultation sessions and like many of my videos questions arise in consultation sessions and I feel the need to share those answers with the rest of my subscribers that aren't necessarily in those one-on-one sessions with me. So that is what I'm doing today. So I wanted to talk to you guys about what makes you the most competitive candidate for PA school, right? That is the question on everyone's mind that is what everybody wants to know because ultimately you want to be the most competitive candidate so that you can get in. So that's what I'm going to be talking about. Obviously you know the compounds of what goes into your PA school application and if you don't know it is your patient care experience, your GPA, your GRE and with respect to your GPA it is both your cumulative GPA and your overall like your overall cumulative GPA and your science GPA. You'll also be now taking into consideration not only the GRE but the PA CAT and CASPER for some schools, your shadowing hours which hopefully kind of goes away with your coursework that you've actually completed in your personal statement, right? So with respect to that those are all of the components of your actual application for PA school and you want to know like typically like all right so if I only have enough time in the world in the time that I've set aside to apply to PA school what should I focus on the most because what is most important? And the answer is all of them you guys and so honestly I cannot tell you guys I cannot stress it enough that not one thing, one thing is not going to get you into PA school. One thing can keep you from PA school and that is if you don't meet all of the minimum requirements so let's say there's a minimum GPA requirement of a 3.0 and you don't have a 3.0 you have a 2.9 well you don't meet that minimum requirement and PA programs are inundated with applications therefore your application is not going to be looked at because guess what you're not meeting the minimum requirements it's going to be outsourced immediately as they're sifting through the list of applicants so there are things that can keep you from PA school but one thing is in and of itself is not going to get you into PA school in terms of the application. The one thing that will get you into PA school is your interview but before you get to that point you have to get this application in and be even offered an interview so what I would suggest that you guys do and what I'm telling you all to do is to make sure that if there are areas of your application that are lacking that you focus on those areas that you can easily fix right. So with respect to like patient care experience let's say that you don't mind waiting you know a year or two before you apply to PA school because you're you know a new grad from undergrad you want to get some like health care experience under your belt you just kind of want to be out there working a little bit save up some money for PA school then that way you can plan ahead you can plan out those two years until you're ready to apply to PA school in terms of how you're going to get that patient care experience are you going to get a certification what kind of certification are you going to get how long is it going to take and then how many hours are you going to try to accrue by the end of that two years now keep in mind if you're taking gap years the application cycle for PA school always starts April of the previous year so if you're taking a gap year you might want to look at exactly how that gap year is falling because you might end up taking two gap years depending on when you're applying so let's say you're graduating from undergrad and you want to go directly into PA school then you need to apply to that PA program the junior year your the April of your junior year so that in your senior year you're actually interviewing for PA programs if you wait until you graduate from undergrad then you will be interviewing for programs throughout like the summer and fall of that year that you've graduated you will also be interviewing in like the spring and then you would likely not start until the end of spring like May or August of September of the following year so those are just things to keep in mind with respect to your GRE it is important that you obviously you take your GRE you study for it and the same with the PA CAD and the CASPER exam now again which one is the most important what should I put my focus in right the main thing that schools slash CASPA CASPA the application site is looking at is your GPA so if we want to pinpoint one thing that it will make or break you in terms of your application it's your GPA because if your GPA is not at that minimum requirement you will not get your application looked at so if you would like to focus on one thing that you feel like hey this is the most important thing look at your GPA can you raise that GPA enough points to where you are competitive and competitiveness is relative because if I have a GPA of a 3.2 the minimum GPA is a 3.0 but I have over 6000 patient care experience hours I'm very competitive I'm a highly competitive applicant and so that's why this application is very fluid it's not like anything that you've ever done before where it's like all right I just need to do this one thing be really proficient at that and that's it having a 4.0 GPA is not going to get you into PA school it may get your application to be looked at but what if you have a 4.0 GPA but you only have 200 health care experience hours where else are you picking up on those intangibles that's actually going to make you competitive so when you guys are answering this question for yourself because each applicant has their own competitiveness or their own thing that makes them competitive I want you guys to look at all of those things look at all of these across the board as a nice little pie or a nice little family all of these parts come together to make the body of your application right and so if they're not working in tandem like picking up the slack for other areas that may be actually lacking then your application as a whole will fall but if they are working in tandem and like I explained you may be lacking in your GRE score but your GPA is really high or you may be lacking your GRE and your GPA but your health care experience is really high and then also your personal statement is super bomb then those areas will pick up the slack for the areas that may be a little bit more like less than average on your application so hopefully this helps you guys I know it might not have been the answer that many of you were looking for but honestly it is the best answer that I could give it's the answer that I always give to all of my consultation session people and frankly it's the answer that you really should be looking at with respect to your PA school application all right if you have any other questions for me leave them in a comment section below as usual please go ahead and like this video subscribe and follow me on instagram thank you guys so much for watching I will talk to you guys next time bye