Maybe I have kind of a paranoid mentality, but if I don't hear anything from Emory by Tuesday (maybe Wednesday at the *absolute* latest), then I might follow your lead and pursue general PA school instead. There are many more general PA schools than there are AA schools, so by virtue of probability alone, I would have a much higher chance of getting accepted to a moderately competitive PA program (especially if I apply to 10+ schools).
The way I see it is, I would much rather pursue a career that I can make tangible progress towards attaining than keep wasting my time chasing the pipedream of getting accepted to AA school, if I am in fact wasting my time. Notice that I did not say I would rather become a general PA over an AA... I just want to pursue something that I can actually make progress towards achieving.
The other option is to take a GRE quantitative prep class and blow the quantitative score out of the water. But even if I score in the 70th percentile or higher, what happens if I re-apply next summer and the same thing happens and Emory, for whatever reason, chooses to reject me again?
There is always the option of becoming a general PA and then applying to Emory's AA program after graduating from PA school. I was actually advised by a practicing AA to follow that route, and he even pointed out that it would be worth it for the substantially higher salary alone. So who knows -- maybe that's a better plan.
The other option is to do an online 12-month BSN bridge program, work for a year as an RN, and then go to CRNA school. That would take about 2 extra years of schooling and working before starting CRNA school, but look at it like this... if I re-apply to AA school this summer and get rejected again, then that's an automatic two years I have to wait anyways, even if I re-apply the summer after that and get accepted. At least I would have the confidence of knowing that I would actually be progressing towards achieving the goal of becoming a CRNA, whereas I could very well be wasting 2 more years by applying again to Emory.
I know that some snarky prick is going to read this post, see that I'm considering committing the sin of pursuing CRNA school, and take the "Go ahead and become a CRNA, we don't want people like you in our profession" kind of elitist attitude, and after reading many of the posts on this board for the last few months, I would completely expect that kind of response.
Wow, talk about a long post! LOL. There are definitely a lot of options that need to be considered, as this is a very important decision to make.