Physician Assistant Prerequisites

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Physician Assistant Prerequisites

What are the Prerequisites for Physician Assistant Schools?

To find out what you need to know to become a physician assistant, visit:

http://www.physicianassistantprerequisites.net

http://www.physicianassistantprerequisites.net/


What are the prerequisites for physician assistant?

The physician assistant program prerequisites vary from college to college. In general, universities seem

to accept people from a fairly wide range of educational backgrounds. Therefore, no specific types of

degrees are necessary. So, you don’t need a degree in science but in general you will most likely need to

know some basic scientific concepts and they will most likely take a look at your science courses and

whether you’ve competed them or not. Those who have worked in a variety of medical care settings do

seem to be favored somewhat. Prerequisites for physician assistant may include for you to have been a

participant in the CASPA (Centralized Application Service for Pas)

Degree

As stated, the prerequisites for physician assistant school don’t necessarily require you to have a

degree in the sciences, but you do need a college degree from an accredited college or university (some

only accept degrees from the United States). Seniors who will be graduating soon are usually able to

apply in advance.

GPA (Grade Point Average)

Your grade point average must typically be higher than 3.0 (using the 4.0 GPA scale where 4.0 is an “A”).

GRE (Graduate Record Examination)

Your score in the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE must usually be at least around 1,000 or so

with about a 3.5 or above in the analytical parts of the GRE.

Course Requirements

Course requirements may vary from institution to institution, but the typical physician assistant

prerequisites include courses such as: Human Anatomy; Human Physiology; Microbiology; General

Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Statistics; General Psychology; and English Writing.

Also, many colleges and universities value cultural diversity for this field due to the great diverse

backgrounds of the patients you will have to interact with as a Physician Assistant.

If you are still in college and are interested in this profession, to prepare, you might want to take courses

such as genetics, organic chemistry, microbiology, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology,

immunology, biochemistry, and cell biology.

BLS Certification

Some colleges and universities may also require that you have a BLS Certificate. Many do not accept BLS

certificates that do not fully comply with either the American Red Cross or American Heart Association

guidelines. Therefore, you may want to rethink simply getting an online certificate course here, you will

have to have actual practical experience to fully comply with the guidelines.




Currently there are over one hundred and fifty accredited PA programs in the U.S. Most of them lead to

a master’s degree (MPSA or MHS or MMSc). A significant portion of these graduates go on to pursue a

doctorate degree in health-care related fields. Although post graduate programs are usually around two

to three years long which is much shorter than the four years plus residency required for medical school,

most who apply for a master’s usually have past experience in the health-care field. Thus, although the

physician assistant prerequisites for many schools may have a reasonable minimum requirement, it may

be difficult to get into some of the better ones without some prior experience in the medical or health-

care field.

A few things you might learn in Physician Assistant schools include things like:

Microbiology

Anatomy

Pharmacology

Hematology

Clinical medicine

Family medicine

Pediatrics

Emergency medicine

Pathophysiology

Pathology

Gynecology

Obstetrics

Geriatric medicine

And other electives

There are a few examinations and prerequisites you must pass in order to graduate from an accredited

physician assistant program:

NCCPA (National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants)

PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam)

100 Continuing Medical Education (CME) hours


According to the statistics, over fifty percent of physician assistant graduates (PAs) end up working in a

physician’s office or clinic. Over twenty percent end up working in a hospital. The rest usually end up

working at some kind of public health clinic, school, nursing home, prison, or health-care agency. The

employment rate for physician assistants has been growing quite rapidly over the past five years or so

and it has been due to a multitude of different reasons:

Firstly, the health care industry has been expanded quite a bit in recent times, perhaps due to

government ran health care programs. Secondly, a very large percentage of the population is quite old

nowadays due to the baby-boomer generation. They procreated like mad during the 60’s and now their

quite old in the 2000’s. According to Money magazine and other sources, the PA profession is

considered to be one of the best jobs you can get in the United States. Over the next decade the job

growth rate may expand by up to fifty percent as a result. The median income for PAs is around $90,000,

those that work in certain fields such as emergency medicine and medical surgery related specialties

may expect to earn up to $200k.

Overall, the physician assistant prerequisites are pretty high and competitive; however, the rewards for

those that work hard at it are quite good. The salary for a physician assistant is very competitive and the

benefits are among the best in the country.



To find out what you need to know to become a physician assistant, visit:

http://www.physicianassistantprerequisites.net


Physician Assistant Prerequisites

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