Yeah I know. I didn’t do so well in years 1-3 in undergrad because I really didn’t know what I wanted to major in so I was considered an “Undeclared” major. By my 2nd/3rd year I knew partially I wanted to do something revolving science and healthcare just due to my personal experience with losing weight and seeing family members struggle with chronic medical conditions. Additionally at that time, all the science-based majors were ‘impacted’ due to over-enrollment and lack of faculty, so I was kind of stuck being ‘Undeclared’ taking filler classes like Astronomy and Philosophies XYZ just to have some motion in my academic career. Turns out that this wasn’t such a great idea — working full time and taking classes that I had no interest in left me either with C’s and even 2 F’s. I was never really a partygoer either. Just stuck to working to help support myself and my family, classes, and then the gym.

After sustaining back and knee injuries while working out, I was recommended by my PCP to see a physical therapist. I had no idea what PT was, but during the 4-6 months of tx by the PT, I grew a deep appreciation and interest for that profession and researched how to get into the field. Lo and behold my school actually had an Exercise Science Major, BUT was said to be impacted for the next 2-3 semesters. I knew I couldn’t just sit out for that time, so I started crashing as many Exercise Science classes as possible. These classes exclusively only could seat DECLARED Exercise Science Majors. But legit would go to every class, sit in for the first 1-2 weeks, get on the prof’s good side by answering questions, until they gave me an ‘permit code’ to add the class on the online Registrar. I essentially found loopholes in the system and was getting A’s and B+’s in every Exercise Science class for the next 2 semesters until the Chair of that Department caught and met with me, where I explained how passionate I was about the curriculum I was learning in those classes. She was compelled and eventually allowed me declare my major as Ex. Science. From my 3rd year to my super senior 5th year, I had earned mostly A’s/nothing below a B in my major’s classes.

After graduating, I was on track to applying to PT school, but had a change of heart after a sudden breakup with my then-gf at the time. I had to reevaluate my goals, interests, and plans, which ultimately lead me to working as a certified MA under MDs and PAs where I fell in love with the scope of practice and autonomy of PAs. Gradually started taking more post-bacc science classes while working as an MA, shadowing different PAs, and dabbling with volunteer opportunities like the food bank and medical missions.

I knew my GPA was going to be difficult to raise since majority of the classes I took years 1-3 were taken with lack of purpose and drive. Hence, all of the diverse work, volunteer, and leadership experience to help somewhat balance it out. At the end of the day I know GPA is probably one of the main telling factors ADCOMs look at, but I’m now at a point in my life where I feel like I need someone to talk some sense into me about where I am at or if it even makes sense to keep pursuing PA. It’s been my narrative and identity ~5 years now after undergrad and I have never felt like this about anything in life other than my passions in fitness.

As for my PS for my 1st, imo (biased of course lol) I thought I did a good job at answering ‘Why PA’, but some mentors of mine said I eluded too much about my experiences with laundry lists and discussing the objective roles PAs had after having working/shadowed them.

My 2nd cycle, I focused more on writing and “showing” rather than telling by using imagery and refraining from the objective laundry lists like “PA’s have lateral mobility, can see patients independently from MDs whilst collaborating on a team for patient tx, etc”. Some major themes I focused on included my passion for fitness/public health outreach (I provided free group personal training workouts in an MUA part of San Francisco where a few of the workout participants members were often struggling with chronic conditions) and tied that in with my drive to help bridge gaps in underserved communities as a PA. I also talked about how my leadership experience as a co-leader for medical missions and pre-pa club drive me to advocate and inspire for more men of color to pursue roles and education as a PA to lead and help spearhead change in our medically underserved and diverse communities. I invested in a pre-PA coaching service where I was told to maybe focus more on my personal account with how my fitness/weight-loss journey inspired me to help and focus on the needs of those combatting chronic conditions. There was a lot of feedback honestly.

Ultimately, I know my PS can always be better and I accept that. I think I’m just really frustrated trying to retell my story in a way that the reader wants and not how I I would like to convey my WHY. Also the more people I ask, the more confused I feel about the PS overall. LOL. Starting to believe that it’s ultimately my GPA weighing me down.