Getting In: Course Prerequisites

     An undergraduate degree is required before admission to most PA programs, and with that comes particular prerequisite classes. My undergrad college had a pre-health professions concentration with a PA track option that included classes required by most PA programs. However, the required classes for this track were somewhat flexible as PA programs can vary widely in what they require. So here's my first piece of advice: when you know you want to pursue a career as a PA, start checking out the schools you are interested in to find out exactly what classes they require. I sort of love spreadsheets, so when I started looking at schools I used Excel to compare all the schools. Here's a snippet of that spreadsheet:

The whole spreadsheet ended up being quite helpful in deciding to which schools I should apply, as well as let me know what other classes I needed to take.

     As can probably be seen just from this smaller section of the whole, there are some similarities between schools, as well as some big differences. Here are the things required by every, or almost every, PA program that I looked at:

• Statistics, or Statistics and Algebra
• Year-long course of General Biology
• Year-long course of Human Anatomy and Physiology
• Year-long course of General Chemistry
• Microbiology
• Biochemistry
• 1-2 courses of Psychology

You'll have to do it at some point.

     If you have taken all of these courses, you're on the right track for a PA program. However, as I've already stated, schools can vary widely in what they require. For some schools, this might be enough. Other schools required Genetics, Sociology, Medical Terminology, Anthropology, Pharmacology, or Pathophysiology. Unlike many medical school programs, PA programs tend to require, or at least recommend courses in the social sciences, which is part of what drew me to the program in the first place. Many schools required General Chemistry or Organic Chemistry, and some required both. If I had chosen to do the accelerated PA program at MCPHS's Manchester or Worchester campuses, I would have needed at least one semester of Organic Chemistry and one semester of General Chemistry, but just two of either would not work. Also, most schools required either Algebra or Statistics and not both, with many favoring only Statistics. Western University, oddly enough, required both Statistics and College Math, but would not accept AP credit as a substitute for the College Math course. I thought this was a bit silly because many students take the AP exam to avoid having to take the basic math classes since they have already shown their proficiency in such courses. Western also required a College English course, like most of the other programs, though they would not accept higher English courses without a copy of the course syllabus (not the course description which was all that was required by many other programs). It wasn't really a problem, but it is something to be aware of if you're thinking of applying to Western or another school with similar requirements.

     Many schools do not require all prerequisites to be completed before applying for the program, however, there is usually a limit, such as only 1 science class may be incomplete, or only 3 classes total may be in-progress. Again, this differs from program to program, but all require that every prerequisite be completed with a passing grade before the program begins. Schools also vary in whether or not they will accept an online course. I did Genetics online while going through my EMT program, and that was completely fine for the schools that required it. If you're ever not sure if classes you've taken fulfill a program's requirements, you can always check. Some programs, like Pacific University here in Oregon, even have a form (found here: Prerequisite Form) you can fill out and submit for verification. The admissions counselor there will check all your classes and let you know which ones are approved and how much you have left to complete. Quite a few programs do this, so I would certainly take advantage of this if it's available. Even if there is no checklist, you can still usually email the graduate admissions counselor and they will often let you know if you're on the right track for fulfilling all your prerequisite requirements.

Lessons of the post: Never assume that all programs require the same courses, always check for yourself, and ask for help when you're not sure.