Pre-Health Advising: Physician Assistant/Associate Preparation

• The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) have announced that the official title of the PA profession will be “Physician Associate”. Transitioning to this new title will take time. You may see programs that use the titles interchangeably. Visit the AAPA for more information.
• PA’s can perform physical examinations, diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret labs, perform procedures, assist in surgeries, make hospital rounds, and provide patient education and counseling.
• PA programs, modeled after medical school curricula, provide students with both classroom and clinical experience at an accelerated pace. PA’s are trained to be versatile and collaborative and a PA’s scope of practice will continue to grow and may shift over time due professional interests.
• The level of autonomy and scope of practice vary state to state. In Oregon, supervision of duties may be performed by a healthcare professional other than the physician and is established through a collaborative agreement.
• There are 310 Accredited/provisionally accredited PA programs in the US with many new programs opening up every year, and class sizes that range from 25 to 100 students. A PA master’s program typically takes 2 years to complete.
• PA program in Oregon: Oregon Health and Science University, George Fox University, Pacific University.
• Common majors pre-physician associate UO students pursue: Human Physiology, Multidisciplinary Science, or Biology. 

• Completing the prerequisite courses is just one aspect of the process. You must also have a well-rounded application consisting of experience (shadowing, volunteer work, undergraduate research, life experience, etc.), letters of recommendation, GRE and/or PA-CAT scores (not all programs require this), and a strong admissions essay.
• One unique requirement of most PA programs is the large number of direct patient care hours required, either paid or volunteer. The typical applicant has anywhere from 2 to 4 years of health care experience, equivalent to a minimum of 1000-2000 cumulated hours. Many PA programs list on their websites approved health care experiences that qualify as direct patient hours.
• Be sure to research individual programs about any COVID-19 related changes (pre-req and GRE exceptions, pass/fail policy, etc).

The chart below illustrates one way common requirements can fit into a 4-year plan. 

• Keep in mind that a graduation plan is as unique as the student following it - Math placement, major, transfer credits, application timeline, and other factors will help shape your graduation plan and timeline. 
• Following the "common requirements" list above will allow you to cast a wide net when applying to Physician Assistant Graduate Programs. 
• The list above outlines "requirements that vary". It is strongly encouraged that students explore programs to ensure their graduation plan captures all of the requirements they need for their programs of interest.
  • Use to PAEA Program Directory explore Physician Assistant Graduate Programs.
• Work with a pre-health advisor to solidify your graduation plan! 

Watch the Physician Assistant Prerequisite Overview Video for additional details on prerequisite courses.

i This course is not required by PA programs. This is a co-requisite/prerequisite for General Chemistry I. 

ii These courses are prerequisites for UO’s anatomy & physiology sequence. They are not typically prerequisites for PA school.

iii Loophole alert! Take this course to complete the 1 year of general biology requirement, to then use BI 214 to satisfy the biochemistry requirement. Only do this if you plan to apply to programs that require biochemistry. Watch minute 6:45-9:56 in the Pre-PA Overview video for more details.  

Questions? Email pre-health advisors at prehealthadvising@uoregon.edu.