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Community colleg class to get into PA program?

I completed all the classes at a state university for bio major. While in college I didn't know which career field I want to get into. Now I know for sure that I want to get into PA (physician assistant) program. Since I never took couple classes that are prereq for PA program at my college I'm planning on taking them at my local community college. Will the grades from these classes be included in my college gpa? I'm also thinking about retaking couple science classes that I didn't do so well in college. I'm going to take these classes at a community college. I was wondering if the PA programs will look at these classes that I retake. If they do not consider these new grades I don't think I will get accepted into the program because my college gpa is really bad. I just had a rough time in college...mostly health and personal problems. I'm finally better and try to get back in track. thanks

Public Comments

1. When you apply for any kind of program, schools ask for transcripts from all institutions you attended at any point, so you will send in your CC grades as well as your university grades. How the program calculates and evaluates GPA across institutions will vary, but they will take both sets of grades into consideration. Most applications will also have an area where you can include any additional information that you want the college to know, so you can mention how your grades in university suffered because of health issues. Hopefully, this will cause them to give greater weight to your CC courses (assuming you do much better in those) and increase your chances of acceptance. Good luck!
2. I think Phaedra has covered the bases well on this one. If you're still on the fence as to whether to retake the science classes, contact a few PA programs to see what they think. Yea, community colleges, BTW! This kind of situation is just one of the many opportunities to be found.