Who Should Apply

Applicants to the PA Program should have a desire to practice medicine and to provide health care with compassion and empathy to patients of diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Applicants should be comfortable with the concept of the PA as a dependent practitioner, a role that demands intelligence, sound judgment, intellectual honesty, and the ability to relate to people.

Applicants to the B.S./M.S. Physician Assistant Program must, by the time of enrollment, have completed a minimum of 90 college credits that includes specific prerequisite coursework, as described in the Admissions section.

Some factors to consider are the following:

• The intense 24-month, 6-semester professional, graduate-level program requires personal as well as financial sacrifices, and demands a high degree of self-sufficiency and well-developed study skills.
• The rigorous nature of the program precludes maintaining outside employment.
• During the clinical phase, students must be adaptable to variations in scheduling, location of clinical sites, and scope of responsibilities.
• The profession necessitates working with those who are ill, and interacting effectively and cooperatively with doctors, nurses, and other members of the health care team.