PA School Admissions: Prerequisite Coursework, Degree Requirement, and Standardized Tests
The Physician Assistant Education Association, PAEA, conducts yearly surveys collecting information from incoming physician assistant students. The most recent PAEA Prerequisite Report includes information on specific prerequisite coursework, the percentage of programs requiring applicants to have a bachelor’s degree, and standardized exams. The report contains the most common prerequisite courses required by PA programs.
Here are the 12 most frequently required courses along with the average minimum number of semester hours:
- Anatomy- 4 hours
- Biochemistry- 3 hours
- Biology (general)- 4 hours
- Biology (microbiology)- 4 hours
- Chemistry (general)- 8 hours
- Chemistry (organic)- 4 hours
- English composition/Writing- 3 hours
- Genetics- 3 hours
- Medical Terminology- 1 hour
- Physiology- 4 hours
- Psychology (general)- 3 hours
- Statistics- 3 hours
Many programs have a minimum grade requirement for prerequisite courses. These grades are usually a ‘C’ or a ‘B’ at minimum. Also, a lab component may be required for prerequisite courses. The courses that most commonly require a lab are anatomy, biology, chemistry, and physiology. There may be restrictions for accepting coursework that vary course to course, such as how many years ago it was taken and whether it was taken online. Programs may only accept prerequisite courses that have been completed within the past 5 years, 10 years, etc. As a non-traditional applicant who may have not recently graduated from undergraduate school, this is important to be aware of. Some of your prerequisite courses may expire by the time you apply to PA school. If this is the case, these courses must be retaken. Other less frequently required PA program prerequisite courses include behavioral science, math, humanities, developmental psychology, CPR, abnormal psychology, cell biology, English literature, ethics, physics, calculus, nutrition, government, history, and Spanish.
Although CASPA’s verification process works to establish a standard for all applicant’s prerequisites and grades, it is difficult for PA programs to assure their applicants are similar to other PA program applicants. This is because there is a wide variety of prerequisite courses among PA programs. This causes PA school applicants to have to take extra courses in some cases, often just to qualify as a candidate for one specific program. A common debate among PA programs is to enforce “universal prerequisites.” The PAEA report states that “programs were asked whether they would support an effort by PA education to develop a list of universal academic course prerequisites for admission to all PA programs.” Out of the 233 responding programs, 67.8% would support the implementation of universal prerequisites and 32.2% would not support. As of right now though, programs are free to add or remove any prerequisite courses.
As for the degree requirement, a bachelor’s degree is required for entry into 94.4% of the 234 programs that responded to the survey. The remaining 5.6% do not require a bachelor’s degree for entrance into the program. I suspect this requirement statistic to change in the future and for all programs to require a bachelor’s degree for entry. Many pre-PA applicants have also pursued degrees beyond a bachelor’s degree. Succeeding in a master’s degree prior to PA school can exemplify your ability and readiness for the rigorous coursework ahead. Admission committees will find this valuable! Prior to enrolling in PA school, 13.% of applicants received a Bachelor of Arts degree and 69.9% received a Bachelor of Science degree. 7.8% of matriculating students have earned a Master’s degree, either non health-associated, such as an MBA, or health-associated, such as an MPH. 0.8% of applicants had earned either an academic doctorate or a professional doctorate degree prior to enrolling in PA school. The median time for “years since completing most recent degree” is 3 years; so most students enrolling into PA school have taken 3 years off between their prior degree and PA school. The range is extensive though, from 0 to 34 years.
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The standardized test requirement by most PA programs seems to be shifting. Many programs require the GRE to be completed to fulfil the standardized test requirement, but a new exam has recently been introduced. The Physician Assistant College Admissions Test, PA-CAT, has been launched as a new standardized test for PA program applicants. The GRE does not test on any specific science knowledge, and since PA programs require applicants to have completed a substantial amount of science-based prerequisite courses, the PA-CAT is targeted to focus on testing on information covered in these courses. However, I do not see as big of a push towards the PA-CAT as I had expected for the 2020-2021 cycle. I believe the COVID-19 pandemic could play a role in this. GRE exam dates have been canceled and some applicants have been able to take it online, in their own home. The “hype” of the establishment of the PA-CAT as the new standardized exam for PA school has dwindled and this may have to do with the fact that in this climate it is even difficult to take the GRE. For the 2021-2022 cycle, we may see more programs beginning to implement or recommend the PA-CAT for admissions.
As PA school becomes increasingly more competitive to be accepted to, more prerequisites or standardized exams may be required. Always refer to the specific PA program school websites for exact application requirements to assure you are on the right track!
