Penn State University Physician Assistant Program: A Comprehensive Guide to Requirements and Curriculum

The Penn State College of Medicine Physician Assistant (PA) Program aims to equip graduates with the academic, clinical, professional, and cultural skills necessary to deliver effective healthcare services. The program emphasizes the development of critical thinking abilities and prepares students to offer compassionate, comprehensive care to improve the health of their patients and communities in an efficient and cost-effective manner. The program's mission is to prepare graduates to be academically, clinically, professionally, and culturally competent physician assistants who are devoted to serving patients in their communities through the application of clinical reasoning, critical thinking, and evidence-based practice to deliver compassionate and comprehensive care.

Admissions Requirements

Before beginning the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) application, it is crucial to review the program admissions requirements. The verified CASPA application deadline is in December. For any questions, you may contact the program.

GPA Requirements

For admissions consideration, an applicant must have:

A CASPA-calculated overall cumulative GPA of at least 3.0
A CASPA-calculated overall science GPA of at least 3.0

GRE Requirements

GREs continue to be an admissions requirement. Penn State's PA Program GRE Code is 0900. The program has never had a minimum GRE requirement, and the range of an acceptable score varies. If it has been more than five years since you took the GRE, and the Educational Testing Service no longer has record of your score, the program will accept a student copy of your GRE results. You must upload this document with your secondary application via LionPATH.

The program has not adopted the PA-CAT or CASPer as an admission requirement. In lieu of the GRE, applicants may provide MCAT, PCAT, or DAT scores.

MCAT (old version) 29 or MCAT (new version) 505 required
PCAT total score 75th percentile rank or higher
DAT total score of 18 or higher

Citizenship Requirements

Applicants must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or have official Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. International candidates are not eligible.

Bachelor's Degree

Applicants will need to complete an undergraduate bachelor's degree prior to matriculation into the PA Program. A health sciences major is preferred.

Prerequisite Courses

Several course prerequisites are required for admission consideration, although completion of this coursework is not required until the time of matriculation. Applicants can submit their CASPA and secondary applications with courses in progress or planned. A minimum of one semester is required, and science labs are strongly encouraged to supplement any science course lecture component.

Prerequisite courses are:

General biology
Anatomy and physiology - two semesters (or one semester each)
Microbiology
General or principles of chemistry
Biochemistry or organic chemistry
General psychology
Statistics or biostatistics
Two semesters of English composition (or two courses listed as writing intensive courses)

Conditional Admission

The program offers conditional admission in the event that a course(s) or hours are outstanding at the time a candidate interviews with the program.

Advanced Placement (AP) and CLEP Credit

AP credit that was accepted by your undergraduate institution can satisfy a number of prerequisites, including general biology, general chemistry, psychology, statistics, and English composition courses. You can also use CLEP credit to satisfy course prerequisites.

Course Hours

Each prerequisite can be satisfied by one full semester, typically 3 to 4 semester-hours. For applicants on a trimester schedule, five-to-six quarter hours at minimum satisfy a prerequisite.

Online Courses

The program accepts online courses from regionally accredited institutions.

Course Currency and Exceptions

Three prerequisites have a five-year currency:

Anatomy (or A&P I)
Physiology (or A&P II)
Microbiology

This currency requirement will be waived for any applicant who has been working full time and continuously in the healthcare field since completing the coursework.

Read also: Penn State Admission: Average ACT

English Composition Courses

Any course that the institution deems as having satisfied a "writing intensive" requirement will suffice. The course can be in any major and does not need to be an English-major based course. Additionally, if completion of a bachelor's degree incorporates writing across the curriculum, please share this information with the admissions committee.

Healthcare Experience

For admission consideration, a candidate should have 500 hours of health care experience (paid or volunteer). These hours can be in progress or planned during the application cycle, and you can update the program directly to add hours accrued after initial submission of the CASPA and secondary application. Hours must be completed by the time a candidate would matriculate into the program. Hours as a personal trainer or lifeguard are not accepted by the program.

CASPA Application Requirements

CASPA applications must include the following items to be eligible for consideration:

Personal/biographic information, experiences, achievements, and certifications
Academic history with official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
CASPA-calculated overall cumulative GPA of at least 3.0
CASPA-calculated overall science GPA of at least 3.0
Completion of the GRE (no minimum score requirement): GRE school code 0900
Three letters of recommendation
Completion of the release statement
Submission of personal essay
All applicants must agree to abide by the CASPA Professional Code of Conduct and the CASPA Admissions Code of Cooperation.

Secondary Application

Following completion of the CASPA application for admission, each applicant must submit a secondary application to receive full consideration by the admissions committee. There is no application fee associated with submission of the secondary application.

Early Assurance Program

The Early Assurance program allows students to apply to the PA Program during the junior year of undergraduate. Early Assurance applicants have the opportunity to be granted admission at the completion of the Early Assurance process, forgoing the entire CASPA application process as a senior. Information regarding this program is available on request. Students at these institutions should speak directly with their pre-med pre-health adviser to discuss requirements and eligibility.

Program Curriculum

The PA Program requires 101 credits for successful program completion. The program curriculum contains a senior summative, one-credit course that also must be successfully completed in order to meet the program requirements for graduation eligibility. All courses offered in the curriculum are required, and all of these courses must be successfully completed to meet this eligibility for graduation.

Course Timeline

You'll need 101 credits total to complete our program: 55 credits in the pre-clinical year and 46 credits in the clinical year. All courses in the curriculum are graded on a letter grade basis with the exception of the Evidence-Based Medicine Course in the didactic year and the Summative Experience in the clinical year. These are both Pass/Fail courses. Course descriptions can be found in the Penn State Graduate Bulletin.

Didactic Year: Summer Courses (17 Credits)

PAS 701: Applied Human Structure and Function I (3 credits)
PAS 700: PA Professional Practice I (1 credit)
PAS 783: Inclusive Healthcare Practices (1 credit)
PAS 736: Introductory Concepts in Medicine (2 credits)
PAS 763: Principles of Immunology, Hematology and Oncology (3 credits)
PAS 784: Principles of Dermatology (2 credits)
PAS 785: Principles of Infectious Disease (3 credits)
PAS 786: Principles of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology (2 credits)

Didactic Year: Fall Courses (19 Credits)

PAS 702: Applied Human Structure and Function II (3 credits)
PAS 721: PA Professional Practice II (2 credits)
PAS 787: Principles of Endocrinology (2 credits)
PAS 789: Principles of Pulmonology (3 credits)
PAS 788: Principles of Nephrology/Urology (2 credits)
PAS 790: Principles of Cardiology (4 credits)
PAS 791: Principles of Gastroenterology (3 credits)

Didactic Year: Spring Courses (19 Credits)

PAS 719: Evidence-Based Medicine (1 credit)
PAS 725: PA Professional Practice III (1 credit)
PAS 723: Principles of Behavioral Medicine (2 credits)
PAS 792: Principles of Neurology (3 credits)
PAS 793: Principles of Rheumatology and Orthopaedics (4 credits)
PAS 722: Principles of Human Sexuality and Reproductive Health (3 credits)
PAS 729: Principles of Emergency Medicine (3 credits)
PAS 794: Principles of Surgery (2 credits)

Clinical Year

During the clinical year, students will complete three mandatory primary-care rotations. Each rotation is 5 weeks.

Mandatory Clinical Year Courses (1 credit)

PAS 756: Summative Experience (1 credit)

Mandatory Clinical Rotations (40 Credits)

PAS 741: Behavioral Health Rotation I (5 credits)
PAS 732: Emergency Medicine Rotation I (5 credits)
PAS 734: Family Medicine Rotation I (5 credits)
PAS 739: Inpatient Internal Medicine Rotation I (5 credits)
PAS 735: Ambulatory Care Selective (5 credits)
PAS 737: General Surgery Rotation I (5 credits)
PAS 743: Pediatrics I (5 credits)
PAS 745: Reproductive Health I (5 credits)

Elective Clinical Rotations (select 1 for 5 credits)

PAS 776: Medicine Specialty Rotation (5 credits)
PAS 777: Surgical Specialty Rotation (5 credits)

Students enrolled in the PA program will have the opportunity to complete an elective rotation in either a medical or surgical specialty. Students in good academic standing may select from a variety of specialties; including but not limited to additional time in a mandatory rotation listed above or experience another specialty such as burn, cardiology, critical care, dermatology, endocrinology, ENT, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, infectious disease, interventional radiology, nephrology, neurology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, palliative care, prison medicine, radiation oncology, trauma, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, plastic & reconstructive surgery, physical medicine & rehabilitation, or vascular surgery. Students with identified deficiencies during clinical year may have their elective rotation assigned to them by the clinical year team to ensure minimum program requirements for graduation have been met.

Summative Experience

Upon completion of the clinical training, students will participate in a one-credit Summative Experience. In addition to taking the PACKRAT examination (which does not impact student placement in the PA Program), students will be evaluated on their professionalism and participate in assessments for knowledge, technical skills, interpretation, and performance of diagnostic evaluations. The Summative Experience must be successfully completed as one of the final requirements for program completion.

Graduation Requirements

Graduation requirements for PA students include:

Enrollment in the program for the time period specified by the program and approved by accrediting body for completion
Satisfactory completion of all curricular requirements in good academic standing
Cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher
No course or rotation grades below a "C" or "Low Pass"
Repeat and receive a "C" or higher in any course or rotation in the program for which a grade of "F" was earned.
Attainment of good professional standing
Successful completion of all components in the summative experience
Meet or exceed the minimum requirements for clinical experiences and competencies.
Recommendation for graduation by program faculty
Satisfactory fulfillment of all financial obligations to the Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State University

Advanced Placement and Transfer Credits

The Penn State College of Medicine PA Program is a full-time academic program administered in a sequential fashion that builds on courses completed in the prior term. The program does not award credit for experiential learning or advanced placement, nor does the program accept transfer credits.

Student Roles and Policy on Employment During Program Enrollment

Students are strongly discouraged from working while enrolled in the PA program. It is expected that the PA Program is the student’s primary responsibility. Concessions for missed classes, late assignments, scheduled assessments, and clinical rotation obligations due to work outside of the program will not be made. Students are not permitted to work for the PA Program in any capacity while enrolled as a student at the Penn State College of Medicine. Students may not substitute for, or function as, instructional faculty, clinical staff, or administrative staff while enrolled as a student at the Penn State College of Medicine.

Accreditation

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Pennsylvania College of Technology Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Pennsylvania College of Technology. Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be in September or October 2027. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.

Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.

Mission and Goals

Consistent with the goals of the entire College of Medicine, the Physician Assistant Program emphasizes humanism in medicine, which takes into account the dedication required for individualized and personalized medicine.

The program aims to prepare graduates to be academically, clinically, professionally, and culturally competent physician assistants who are devoted to serving patients in their communities.

Promoting critical thinking, enrolling a student body that is academically qualified and emphasizing primary care and underserved communities are among the program's goals.

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