 I wanted to join the pre-med club but I was laughed at by the pre-med advisor at the time because my GPA was so low. She told me medicine was probably not something that I would be able to do. Hi, my name is Adana and some of you may know me as I experienced this far in PA school with weekly videos on YouTube. And I know many of you have been following my True Life series where I introduce you all to different pre-PAs, PA students and actual PA's and give them the opportunity to share with you all their experience and insight on their different paths that they're on right now. So on my YouTube channel, I get a ton of questions about GPA. Does my GPA even matter? Adana, I have a 2.9 GPA. Is that enough to get me into PA school? Or hey, Adana, what is the best GPA that I can have that will guarantee my spot in a PA program? And I do my best to answer that question for you guys through some of the videos that I've made already. But once I heard this story, I had to share it with you guys. I want to introduce you guys to Samora. Samora is the PA student that is featured in today's documentary and she has an amazing story. I know that you guys are going to be inspired. She is going to talk to you guys about her experience in getting into PA school. And she talks about GPA and what GPA she had. And let me stop because I don't want to give too much away. But she talks about the GPA question. And so if you have any question whatsoever about GPA and PA school, this is for you. So stay through to the end the entire documentary. Listen to all of Samora's story because this is for you and I know that you will be inspired. Hi everyone, my name is Samora. I'm a PA student coming up to the end of my first semester. I am originally from New York, moved to Virginia, and I'm currently in Arkansas now in school. I have two brothers, one sister, who I love dearly. And growing up it was always, it was always told that I had to be an example to my siblings. My parents were definitely a lot harder on me to do well in school and also to be a good Christian. My parents are both from Haiti. And so if anyone knows any Caribbean families or you are Caribbean, you know that I grew up in a very strict household. On top of that, my father was a real strong believer. We grew up seven-day Adventists, which is Christianity. But I went to a seven-day Adventist school for most of my childhood, which means most of my friends were seven-day Adventists. I didn't really have any friends in the neighborhood. I was seen as weird by a lot of the kids in the neighborhood because they didn't really know me. I went to school, I came home, did my homework. My father usually had extra learning for me to do, which was 25 words from the dictionary or learn about a planet. He really wanted me and my siblings to just be the best that we could be. So I went to private school up until 10th grade, I believe, and going to public school was a shocker because I didn't really watch TV or secular television. So I didn't know what was cool, what TV shows, what was the cool music, or even how to dress. I think my mother was still doing my hair even. So when I entered public school at 11th grade, I was basically an alien. I was picked on. People only talked to me if they wanted me to do their homework or copy from me. It was an adjustment, but it was at that moment when I joined the real world that I realized that I was different and I didn't want to be different. Even though I was 15 or 16, I knew that if I wanted to be a regular person, I didn't want to be different. I needed to get out of this sheltered lifestyle that my father created for me with good intentions based on his beliefs and how he was raised, but I wanted something different. I wanted to just learn everything that I could. So in 11th grade, like most high school students is when you have to start picking your colleges. I decided that I was going to go to wait to school. I was going to apply to schools that were either away or apply to live on campus so that I could just be my own person. And I knew that my family wouldn't be happy with it, but I figured they would be mad and then they'd get over it at some point and then they'd just be proud of me because for me it wasn't getting away so that I could party or do drugs or any of the other things that people do in college. I really just wanted to be independent and see what life was like outside of this home that I just was allowed to go and leave from every day. So like I said, I went behind my parents back and the college process, I had to ask my father for help here and there but mostly was my guidance counselor. I'm probably really sure I lied. Like, oh no, my parents are cool with me applying to this school and that school. So my guidance counselor really helped me with applying to colleges and I was starting to get acceptances and I kept them. My father would ask me and I'd be like, I didn't hear from anything because I was trying to wait till the last minute to tell him where it was that I was going to go. And so that moment came because he's not an idiot, he knew that I had to have heard back and so this is when I told them that, hey, I got into a few schools, two of them were out of state, one of them was in state in New York but it was about an hour and a half away from my home in Long Island and so I figured that would be the best choice because I could live, I was far away enough to not have to commute back and forth from school but I was close enough if I did want to go home so I made the decision to attend that school and so I told, it was CW Post Long Island University in case anyone wants to know and so it came time to tell my father, my parents and I said, hey, I'm going to go to post but I'm going to live on campus and that did not go well at all. It's like, what are you talking about? I'll drive you every day, we'll buy you a car. I was like, no, I really want to live on campus and so he told me that if I decided to defy him in this way that he would not be in my life anymore and I know to some of you that may be extreme but growing up in my father was raised to believe and his belief is that a woman should not leave her house before she's married I should stay under the safety of his guidance and his home and so what I was doing was basically defying him in his eyes and so I told him okay but I was steadfast I knew I really wanted to, I was going to do this so in August when it came time to move to school I packed myself up, he told me he wasn't going to help me move and I moved myself on campus. The first few weeks my mother or my father didn't talk to me it was hard but I really thought that they were going to get over it in the meantime college was awesome I was making friends, I lived in a suite actually one of my very best friends to this day is a girl that I met my first semester in school, Afiza who's also a PA, a great PA in the Bronx in New York and so I was, I loved it I was involved in clubs, I was meeting people from other where some were, some believed in God, some didn't but it was the learning experience to me that college is awesome I think it was amazing for me and for anyone that's grown up the way that I did it's great to just be exposed to so many different things It came time for the holidays so we're now in November where we are now and I called to let them know that I was coming home for Thanksgiving even though I know we hadn't really kept in communication up until that point but it's Thanksgiving it's a time for family, I was looking forward to going home to mom's cooking and I should note that I kept trying to I would always call and leave messages from my parents and they wouldn't return my phone calls and I just figured out they're still mad but a week before Thanksgiving break I got a phone call from an aunt of mine who let me know that my father no longer considered me his daughter and although that she disagreed with his decision that she didn't think it would be a good idea for me she thought I would be hurt because my father's a very stubborn man so I knew that if that's the way that he felt if I were to go home he would not open the door for me and I don't think I could handle that so here I was a freshman in college now learning that the only family that I knew because again I grew up so sheltered all I had my siblings were my friends my mom was my friend those were the people that was home and coming up on the holiday season I had no home to go to and that was very strange I don't think I realized how much the being this own so to speak from my family really affected me I think I was just like well this is awesome I don't care I'll be fine but spring semester started and it just really hit me it was like I have no family and I wasn't doing well in school I just wasn't motivated to study anymore I started off I always knew I wanted to work in medicine I think I hadn't heard about the physician assistant field yet so I was hoping to get into med school so I was in all these bio classes but I was not doing well in them I went to CW post for my first semester but I had applied to go to Stony Brook which is another school some of you may know because I have a med school and a PA school and I got accepted to Stony Brook so for my second semester I actually transferred to Stony Brook Stony Brook that's when things went downhill C's, if I was lucky and those were in the easy classes like the English but all my hard sciences I was getting D's and F's and if anyone knows Stony Brook it's a huge university so it's really hard to have that one-on-one guidance I had an advisor but she wasn't advising me to stop enrolling in other classes or that perhaps I should take a break from school and back then you registered yourself and the system no matter if you had failed Bio 101 you could register for Bio 102 it didn't stop you from registering because I was getting D's and you really shouldn't take the second part if you failed the first but I was allowed to register for it so this went on for about two semesters I believe I was suspended first is the way that it works and then I went to a community college took chemistry, pulled a C and that appealed to go back to Stony Brook and for some reason they accepted my appeal and I got back into school on probation and that last semester I believe we're up to four semesters now of me just getting bad grades that last semester I was officially dismissed from school because my GPA at this point it went from like a 3-4 maybe when I left CW Post to going into Stony Brook at the end of my semester being a 2-4 then it was a 2-2 then it was a 2 then it was a 1 it's amazing to me because when I look at that last Stony Brook GPA and everything, every class was an F my GPA was like a 0.9 for that semester which I did not even know was a thing but yeah I received notice at the end of that semester that I would no longer be able to attend school there and with the GPA that low no school I couldn't apply to go to any school even if I wanted to so here I was a girl that grew up smart so to speak right because I was doing well in school all through high school all through the first part of college semester or two education was important to me I knew I wanted to work in medicine and I had ruined my life I had ruined my future of becoming a doctor at that point or anything in medicine because who's going to let you in with the 0.9 GPA I couldn't even get back into school with that the only advice that the best advice my advisor gave me when she told me that I was dismissed was that I should probably take some time off from school to deal with my internal issues and then re-enter and choose a different major so that's where I found myself I think this was 2007 out of school, no family and whatever I think about the way that I grew up I think that I never had an identity and so my identity was what my father wanted me to be and so I think when I found out that I had no family I lost the only identity that I knew I was never allowed to form who Samora was going to be I didn't know myself so I guess you could say I was depressed but it was more so I was lost I didn't know what to do who I was, where to go and so I think with just those feelings of being scared and alone and really just lost you can't really focus you can't really focus enough to do well in science classes and although I had friends no one could relate I felt they couldn't relate some of my friends knew what was going on but they had their parents they had their siblings they had somewhere to go I didn't have any of that and I didn't know who I was so that period of time that I took off from being in school I really worked on who Samora was and I was fortunate enough to have great people in my life at the time that helped me gain that confidence that helped me find direction that helped me be the woman that I am today but it was just self-reflection and just defining who it was that I wanted to be and what my goals were what I wanted to contribute to life after getting hit out of school I needed money because I couldn't use scholarship money anymore if I'm not in school so I worked full-time not in healthcare yet I worked a long time for Starbucks which I loved working because I loved interacting with people and meeting people worked my way up to assistant manager but was also tutoring which is where I met the dean of the college that eventually let me back into school which was City College of New York I wanted to join the pre-med club but I was laughed at by the pre-med advisor at the time because my GPA was so low she told me medicine was probably not something that I would be able to do once I got back into school and knew that I wanted to be a PA but needed to work in healthcare I did vocational training to be a patient care tech and so I was working in healthcare as a scribe, as an M.A. I feel like I've had so many jobs and then also still in post-back and when I got rejected after the first time and I was still in a post-back but I needed to take more classes and I was faced with the decision of either doing a master's in science or a master's in something else that was health related and I chose to start a master's in public health because to me I'm very much of a planner and so I figured if I wasn't if I wasn't going to get into any PA school although I'm doing everything that I can let me choose the master's in public health because at least I would still be able to use that degree and work in healthcare to some capacity though I wouldn't be a clinician at least an MPH would allow me to do anything else in healthcare so I chose to do the MPH which I found out now that was a big part of the reason I was accepted into the school that I am now that they really liked that I continued my education and did well in that program as well so this most of my schooling and happened in New York but I was dating a guy my fiance now but he had to move to Virginia and at this point I was finishing up the MPH and when I was done with that applied to schools was still waiting to hear back I decided to join him in Virginia and he is an engineer by trade but kind of wasn't happy with what he was doing and we both talked about starting a business but it was going to be when I was done with school when he was done with school but we got this opportunity that kind of fell in our laps really to open up a restaurant and it was in a college park we were living in Virginia but the location was near the University of Maryland in college park and since I hadn't heard back and I was just confused as to where I was going to go in life we talked about it and I said let's just do it matter of fact I got to meet up with Adana and I got to show her the place so check it out on a day to day basis Radu and I changed our minds because this was a lot of work we knew we wanted to be later in life and then we were so excited by this we were like oh we're going to have a chain it's going to be great right now we just really want this to do really really well and then we'll see I'm just happy that we are doing well and I know I read a devotion this morning and it was talking about a season so right now this is his season managing it and your season is being in PA school and then when you come back for rotations you'll get many y'all reviews I'll be the first one I'll be like the fries were great Samora, write my name I just want someone to mention me somewhere Sure thing, absolutely Samora gave me great customer service So if you ever find yourself in the College Park, Maryland area near the University of Maryland Washington DC or Northern Virginia and you're looking for good ethnic food come check us out Pollo and College Park we do deliver and I'd love to have you try our food and let me know what you think I still remember this interview to this day I was super excited fell in love with the school and was placed on the wait list and did not get in unfortunately called that school and they told me more of the same just retake the GRE and at this point I was getting very very discouraged because I had post back I had to pay for out of pocket so I didn't have money to take more classes and I was working all the hours I could work to gain these hours that are required by schools so my third time applying I really paid attention to where I was going to apply It was a surprise to me I remember the exact day I was at the restaurant we were closing up I think we had just been open up for a month now so I was super excited involved, loved what was going on there and I get a phone call from a weird area code and I pick up the phone and it's the admissions director I forgot her official title and she's like Samora congratulations you've just been accepted to the PA program and I'm like huh what what I was like wait what what what's going on and she was more excited than me she was just like so I'm going to send you an email to make it official it's just I wanted to let you know what was going on and so I was kind of stunned and Radu my boyfriend came out from the back and he was like what's what's going on I was like I think I was just accepted to PA school he was like what I was like I know right and so we were both kind of just there like so what happens and then my phone banged and I got the email and I read it and I was like holy crap I start school in a month in two months because August 14th was the start date and I honestly it was something I wanted for so long but the timing we had just opened up a restaurant I couldn't leave I couldn't go to school in a month and a half like what was I going to do so I know it sounds crazy that I would even have to think about this decision but like I said I had already although I had applied back in the fall I got in all my applications early which you guys should too that does count and it does matter but I hadn't heard anything except for being interviewed early fall we were now in the spring semester and I hadn't heard anything back so in my mind my dream of becoming a PA was done and so to get this call to let me know that I was off the waitlist was surreal and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go because I had already closed off my heart and my mind from it and so I think the school gave me two weeks to submit my seat deposit and my decision if I was going to attend and so I discussed it with Radu my partner in this business and in life in general what it was that I really wanted to do and I decided to attend because it's something that I had spent the last five to six years working so hard on a dream that I thought was taken from me because of the mistakes of my past and because I was a non-traditional student but I just like what motivated me to get back into school I knew that I would regret it if I didn't move the timing was not perfect but a lot of times that's just the way life happens and so because I knew I would probably regret it for the rest of my life or would never get to see exactly what it was that feeling that I had that I've had since I was young that I meant to work in medicine I'll figure out how to pair these two now very different parts of my life but medicine has always been my passion my first love and so it was hard it was hard to leave the restaurant it was hard to leave my loved ones but I decided that I was going to accept the seat and attend PA school in a month and a half uproot my whole life and just move on down south took a lot of research but I went to every single school that CASPA had listed and I looked for schools that said holistic admissions or that they favored the last 90 credits higher than you know password credits so I had a very specific list of I think 15 schools and anyone can do this it's time consuming but if this is what you have to do so you don't waste money on applications and so that you can make sure your application actually gets looked at and so I said this is my third time applying I have this list I retook the GRE did better on it I think my I took the GRE three times and the grade that I submitted last I believe was a 313 so not terribly high but not low either and I received two interviews my third time applying and one of them led to an acceptance where I am now where I am today it's not easy I had this idea I have this superwoman complex that I'll be fine I'll find time to still do the administrative work of the restaurant because I'm not there physically but I thought it'll be fine I'll study and then I'll do all the things I need to do for the restaurant in the afternoon wow that's not how it worked out at all PA school is not easy you have to study a lot at least I have to but you know what after the first or second exam I think I went too hard probably shouldn't say that but I definitely killed myself trying to study because I really wanted to I really wanted to do I would rather do too much at first and then dial back and so after taking the first two exams and doing okay in it I kind of learned how much time I need to devote to studying so my schedule is we're in class most days from 8 to 5 I give myself an hour break and then I study anywhere from 4 to 6 hours depending on what exam we have that week but I typically take a weekend day off and I'll either just do something that's non-PA school related or something for the restaurant or I'll go I'm a real outdoorsy person so I'll go hiking or running or biking but I start every single day with exercise because that's the only way I can keep saying from all the things that we have to learn and the weekly tests but it's very doable just don't go into it thinking that you could still have a life because I have no life but that's okay because it's only for a year or so and then second year is here and it's all clinicals and what I've heard from my mentors in the class before me is that second year is a lot different vibe than the first year because you're not having to study as often so I'm about to end the fall semester I feel confident that I'll do well on my finals but it's doable and I'm happy I made the decision When I wasn't in school I knew that I had more to offer than just being a full-time worker I was working at Starbucks but medicine, everyone says this but medicine is something that I really feel like I'm meant for I'm supposed to help people and help people by being APA and so I use that belief in myself to take all these classes to invest in a post back to invest in the masters that I did because I really wanted schools to see that I understand I've messed up but I am capable of this rigorous program I am not the mistakes and the grades of my past I want to be this I want to contribute and I want to help people and so I remember that every time I had to study or every time I was tired from working two jobs it's like I'm meant for this and I have to show these people that I am so I use that to just get me through and study hard while all my friends were partying and joining the workforce as teachers and engineers here I was still in school just trying to get in somewhere but it all paid off believe in yourself no matter what people tell you because there's been a lot of no's in my journey but you just need that inner drive and that belief in yourself if you think you can do it then you can do it I wanted to tell my story because I don't think you can get any lower from being dismissed or having a GP that's not even a one when CASCO wants you to at least have a 2-5 or 3-0 if there's anyone that doesn't think they could do it or has been told no or maybe you have a situation like mine you can do it and I'm not going to lie and say it was easy because it took time it took me about since getting back into school in 2011 sorry I graduated with my bachelor's in 2013 we're now in 2017 and I got accepted now the road isn't going to be easy but if this is what you really want to do you can do it you take the extra classes you stay in touch with admissions teams you let them know that you are motivated and please ask me for advice I'm full of tips and things that I wish I would have known that I know now and things like that but please don't let anyone tell you no if you want to be a PA you will be a PA you may not get it on your first try on your second try but you just push forward during one of my interviews I met a girl that applied 5 times and I look at her like what? and she is the reason why I applied even a third time but I mean 5 times is crazy to some but why did she do it she's now in that program because she believed that she could do it so it sounds very cliche if you believe in yourself and you're willing to put in the work no matter how long it takes because a lot of people are like oh man I just need to start making money now you gotta ask yourself are you willing to put in the work to do this but please don't let anyone tell you no I'm living proof of that Adana's awesome I came across Adana from I think hashtagging black PA's or physician assistant whatever it was I found her page I thought it was awesome it inspired me and I'm in PA's school because I mean she's juggling a full family and still putting content for you guys weekly and so I said hey if I don't have the time to do it on my own and it was really important to me because I know this is a time of year where everyone's waiting to hear back from interviews if I can't do it on my own let me reach out to someone that I respect and think is awesome and see if maybe she could use this story on her with the platform that she's created so I reached out to Adana she also agreed that she thinks that I could really help someone because it's not easy this road even if you're a perfect student it's not easy getting into PA's school and so she said let's get together and do this and here we are oh my gosh you guys wasn't that amazing I told you guys her story was amazing and I hope that you guys are inspired as much as I am inspired I want to give a first really really quick thank you and shout out so much to Samora for just being so transparent and just being willing and able to lay it all on the table for us because her transparency has allowed me to be inspired and I'm pretty sure that many of you are inspired as well so please you guys go ahead and support Samora right now at her different social media handles that were left in this documentary and also if you are in the DMV area go ahead and hit up her restaurant because they have amazing food and you know support her in her business if you guys have not already done so go ahead and hit me up on Instagram at adanathepa follow me there and subscribe to my youtube channel at adanathepa on youtube as well I just want to thank you guys so much for watching this documentary and hopefully you guys were inspired to just do more if you have any suggestions on any other true life topics that you may want to actually see please go ahead and leave that in the comment section below and I will talk to you guys next time later Thank you Adana for letting me share this story like I've told you before I love your page I check in with it I check into your page probably every day or every other day because you give me motivation to keep going and I'm in PA school I just love that you always have a smile you always have kind words or motivation and to see you do it with everything that you're juggling I know I can and I'm in it so I just really thank you for actually replying to me and saying that yeah I think together we could help those people that are struggling and trying to get into school or just need that little bit of motivation to know look you can't be as bad as Samora if anything take that away while you're applying to schools and you're getting rejected just know that someone who was way worse than you got in so if that helps you get through the day then say if Samora can do it and she was terrible then I know I'll get in somewhere so yeah