腦瞳憫

Statistically, our program accepts more Georgia residents due to the high number of in-state applications received.

Admission is based on undergraduate college coursework including the overall, transfer, and math/science grade point averages. Other criteria include personal interviews, assessment of the applicant's motivation and the possession of the personal qualities needed to successfully complete the program. Prior to enrollment, the applicant will be evaluated on:

1. Bachelor���s degree from a regionally accredited institution.
2. An overall grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 (on a traditional 4.0 scale) and at least a 3.0 BCP (biology, chemistry, and physics) on all previous undergraduate college work.
3. Completion of either the GRE (GRE School Code: 5406) or the PA-CAT exam.
   
   • : A minimum combined GRE score of 290 from the verbal and quantitative sections is needed for full admission. The individual results of the verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections of the general GRE exam must be provided. Make sure to select 腦瞳憫 PA Program as a score receiving school. A minimum writing score of 3.5% is also recommended.
   • : A specialized test designed to measure applicant knowledge in key prerequisite science subjects typically required for PA school. It is recommended that you take the PA-CAT exam early in the application cycle for early admission consideration. 
4. Completion of test. It is recommended for applicants to have this completed prior to interviewing. We are unable to make decisions on your status without this score. Thus, your status may be delayed until results are received.
5. Completion of at least 100 combined hours shadowing a Physician Assistant, in a minimum of three different clinical settings. Additional shadowing hours will be accepted but do not replace the required PA hours. 
6. ���Hands-on��� direct patient care experience can come from traditional paid employment, volunteer, or research experiences that provide care, therapy, diagnostics, counseling, and education. Administrative work, office work, observation or shadowing, are not included. Hours submitted as part of a training, educational, or internship program will also not be credited.
7. Participation in community service and/or volunteer activities. This can be either healthcare and/or non-healthcare related. (Examples: church, humane society, American Red Cross, food bank, Community Clean Up, etc.)
8. Three letters of recommendation that focus on an applicant���s generic abilities for clinical work rather than just their academic ability. One of these letters is required to be from a Physician Assistant. (Note: CASPA allows applicants to submit up to five letters of recommendation. 腦瞳憫���s minimum is three, but all letters will be reviewed, if submitted.)

Interviews are by invitation only. This year���s interview cycle will include opportunities for virtual interviews. Selected applicants will need to be available between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the day of the scheduled interview.

Applicants whose first language is not English must submit official TOEFL scores. A minimum TOEFL score of either 250 on the computer-based exam (cBT), 600 on the paper exam (pBT), or 100 on the internet based exam (iBT), with 26 in the speaking component. Applicants must take the TOEFL by October 1 to be considered for admission the following year.

Applications, and all supporting documentation, must be received by the Graduate Admissions Office no later than October 1 to be considered complete. Early submittal is highly encouraged!

The Admissions Committee selects the applicants who seem best qualified for the program from among those who apply and submit all required documentation. 

Mandatory Prerequisites for the Master of Physician Assistant Program

 

 

Transfer Credit Policy

Advanced placement credits will be accepted if included on your official transcript. However, they will not be included in your overall grade point average. 

There is no transfer of credit (except for 90 semester hours of prerequisites at a regionally accredited institution) or credit for experiential learning allowed. Previous medical professions coursework will not be accepted toward completion of the MPA degree. It is important that our students are exposed to specific course content. To ensure this, only courses taught within our curriculum are accepted for credit toward graduation. The 腦瞳憫 Physician Assistant Program does not have a program in which foreign-trained physicians or medical graduates are given advanced placement or preference in admission decisions. For additional information, please see the Office of Academic Admissions' Transfer Credit Policy.

Criminal Background Check

Criminal background checks will be conducted on conditionally accepted applicants prior to their enrollment in participating programs in the College of Allied Health Sciences. Final admittance is conditional on a satisfactory criminal background report which must be completed and approved prior to matriculation. Additional information regarding this policy may be found here.

Guiding Principles in GPA Calculation

腦瞳憫 does not honor grade forgiveness at another institution. All grades from all courses attempted and earned are included in all of our transfer GPA calculations and evaluations for admission.

Credit by Exam (AP/CLEP) may be accepted, but grades are not earned, therefore they cannot be calculated in the GPA considered for admission.

The Physician Assistant Program at 腦瞳憫 does not accept Health Science based science courses as equivalent for prerequisite science requirements. While the Transfer Equivalency Guide for students transferring into an undergraduate program at AU may indicate that a health science based science course will transfer in as an undergraduate science equivalent course, the PA Program will not accept this course.

All science prerequisite coursework is expected to be at the level of what would be required for a science major in an undergraduate program. Remedial or introductory level coursework will not be accepted. For example, BIO 1101 & 1102 at 腦瞳憫 are introductory science courses that non-majors can take. BIO 1107 & 1108 are the first sequential Biology courses in a science major curriculum. In this example, the PA Program would not accept BIO 1101/1102 as meeting the prerequisite of Principles of Biology I/II, but BIO 1107/1108 would be accepted.