View in PDF Format- Position Description
- Education and Training
- Application Timeline
- Admissions Criteria
- Prerequisite Coursework
- Professional Associations and Resources
Position Description
Physician assistants (www.aapa.org/) are health care professionals licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision. As part of their comprehensive responsibilities, PAs conduct physical exams, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel on preventive health care, assist in surgery, and in most states can write prescriptions. Because of the close working relationship PAs have with physicians, PAs are educated in the medical model designed to complement physician training.
Physician assistants receive a broad education in medicine. Their education is ongoing after graduation through continuing medical education requirements and continual interaction with physicians and other health care providers.
All PA programs must meet the same curriculum standards and prepare students to sit for the same certification exam. PA programs look for students who have a desire to study and work hard, and to be of service to their community.
Most physician assistant programs require applicants to have previous health care experience and some college education.
PA's work in at least 60 different specialty areas, including Family/General medicine (34.5%), General Surgery and Surgical subspecialties (21%), and Emergency Medicine (10%).
The average starting salary for PA's was $63,000 in 2002 and the average salary for all PA's was $72,241
Education and Training
The typical applicant already has a bachelor's degree and over four (4) years of health care experience. Commonly nurses, Emergency Medical Technicians, and paramedics apply to PA programs.
Degrees Offered: Certificate of Completion (no degree) and/or either an Associate, Bachelor, or Master's degree.
Program Length: 18-48+ months. The average PA program length is 26 months. PA's are trained in the medical model, including approximately one you of classroom instruction followed by approximately 50 weeks of clinical rotations.
The profession is moving toward the Master's degree as the entry degree for the profession, but currently successful completion of any accredited program will qualify an individual to sit for the certification exam.
Practicing PA's are required to complete continuing education every two years and take a recertification exam every 6 years.
- Freshman-junior years: Gain patient-contact experience, research PA programs and admission criteria, take prerequisite courses, develop communication and leadership skills through campus/community involvement, visit target schools, identify individuals who will write letters of evaluation.
- Spring of junior year: Take GRE if applicable, begin working on the CASPA application (see information on the Central Application Services for Physician Assistants below), collect applications for non-CASPA schools, give recommendation forms to evaluators with stamped, addressed envelopes.
- Summer prior to senior year: Order and send transcripts, complete and submit CASPA application and any additional applications for non-CASPA schools, possibly take/retake GRE, complete and return secondary applications, if applicable. On all applications, take time to read and follow the directions, proofread, have others read the application, etc. Make a good first impression!
- Senior year: Finish any remaining applications, take/retake GRE if necessary, interview at selected schools, decide which program to attend, send final transcripts to school of choice.
- Note This timeline can be flexible, however, most program deadlines are between October and December of the year prior to admission. The Career Center and CASPA highly recommend completing the application as early as possible. Some schools operate on a rolling admission basis, so it's extremely important for students to apply well before the deadline.
- Central Application Service for Physician Assistants
- Approximately 93 schools participate in CASPA, the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants. Students who are applying to at least one participating school must fill out a CASPA application. This application can be sent to multiple participating schools. The fee starts at $90, and increases with each additional school.
- CASPA collects one set of materials from each applicant including an online (or paper) application, transcripts, letters of evaluation (Do not use LEO, use CASPA forms), and any applicable standardized test scores (except GRE scores which should be sent directly to the schools).
- The CASPA website provides clear, detailed directions for completing and submitting applications.
- Students wishing to apply to non-CASPA schools should visit the schools' websites for application instructions.
- The CASPA website is www.caspaonline.org. Applications are available in April of the year prior to admission.
- Admissions Test: GRE for graduate level programs.
- Prerequisite Coursework: Grades of C or better are required in all prerequisites.
- Clinical Experience: Many programs suggest students have up to 2000 hours of patient-related medical experience and/or volunteer experience. One to four years of experience is typical.
- GPA: Minimum GPA of 2.75-3.0 for most programs. Average GPA's are as high as 3.5 and up.
- Letters of Recommendation: Prefer one academic performance letter (from an instructor) and one letter from a health professional. Use CASPA forms (downloaded from CASPA website) or individual school forms (for non-CASPA schools). Do not use LEO for PA Programs!!
- Interviews: Many programs will invite qualified applicants for on campus interviews.
- Refer to the PA Programs Directory at the Physician Assistant Education Association (www.paeaonline.org) website. The username and password to access this directory as a registered subscriber is available at The Career Center or by emailing Bernadette So at bernaso(at)uiuc(dot)edu.
- Biology with lab (2 courses min.)
- 1 year Chemistry with lab
- Organic Chemistry with lab (1 course)
- 1 year English
- Biochemistry (1 course)
- Anatomy (1 course)
- Physiology (1 course)
- Microbiology (1 course w/lab preferred)
- Statistics (1 course)
- Psychology and/or Sociology (2 courses)
- Physician Assistant Education Association
- Association of Physician Assistant Programs
- Central Application Service for Physician Assistants
Application Timeline
Admissions Criteria
Prerequisite Coursework
Professional Associations/Resources
