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Physician Assistant Applications – Career Path: 5 major steps to start with

As the name indicates, it is pretty obvious that a physician assistant is someone who practices medicine under the supervision of a physician. Now you may say it is easy to be a PA assuming this as two years of the degree course. But that’s not the case. Getting into a PA school is a journey filled with hard work, consistency and not giving up.

Following are some basic steps to help you get started with the program.

PA School Admissions – Degree Requirement

PA School Admissions requieres a bachelor’s degree in any field. However, a science or healthcare related major will be perfect. What matters most is you complete all of the pre-requisite courses completed with good grades.

Here is a list of science pre-requisite required by almost every PA school.

General Chemistry (2 semesters with lab)

Biology (2 semesters with lab)

Microbiology with a lab

Anatomy and Physiology

In terms of non-science pre-requisite;

Statistics

English (2 semesters)

Psychology

Make yourself a competitive applicant by taking the following classes as well.

Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry

Medical Terminology

Genetics

Immunology

Embryology

Histology

Physics

Developmental or abnormal psychology

Public speaking

Foreign languages

PA School Admissions- Healthcare Experience Requirement

Once you have your bachelor’s degree in hand, you need to have relevant healthcare experience. The minimum number of healthcare experience is different in many PA schools. Usually, an average PA school will want you to have 1000 to 2000 hours of healthcare experience. Some will want you to have enough shadowing experience to make sure you understand what you’re signing up for. Here’s a list of professional ways which will gain you enough healthcare experience to become a competitive PA applicant.

Patient care Experience

Average hours: 3,020

Healthcare Experience

Average hours: 1,024

Volunteering

Average hours: 488

Shadowing

Average hours: 143

Non-healthcare employment, including leadership, athletic, military, research experience etc.

Average hours: 2,096

PA School – GRE Requirement

According to Physician Assistant Education Association, more than half of PA schools require a GRE test. Unlike others, this is rather a more forgiving step. Because you can take multiple tests within a year and you only have to wait about twenty-one days in between test attempts. Make sure you gain the highest score in GRE by giving a few re-attempts before the final deadline of the PA school application.

CASPA

CASPA or Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistant is a portal constituting all PA program in one convenient place. CASPA saves you time and energy by providing you with a platform where you can send out one singular application to all PA programs available. However, some PA schools want you to write a 5000-word Personal Statement to secure yourself an interview. Through CASPA, you submit all your credentials and you start getting an interview for PA schools. And if the interview goes well, you’ll finally get acceptance in that particular PA school.

PA School – Letter of Recommendation

While submitting your documents through CASPA, you are also asked to add three to five recommenders to your list. The CASPA, then, will verify them to check the validity of your list. Select your recommenders carefully. Choosing a PA will surely strengthen your application and give you a leg up among other applicants.

By following these steps, you’ll have greater chances of getting into a PA school.

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