Pre-Physician Assistant
Study as an undergraduate in the College of Liberal Arts and complete your degree at Mercer's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Students who wish to become a licensed physician assistant must earn a degree from an accredited physician assistant program and pass a national certification examination. Students at Mercer University who are interested in eventually applying to physician assistant programs may do so in several ways. First, Mercer University offers a Guaranteed Admission Plus Degree Program (GAPDP) for eligible students who are interested in attending the physician assistant program at Mercer University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (http://cophs.mercer.edu/pa.htm), which is located on Mercer’s Atlanta campus. Detailed information about the Pre-Physician's Assistant Guaranteed Admission Plus Degree Program is described in the following document: PrePhysicianAssistantGAPDPInfo.doc.
Most non-GAPDP students at Mercer University who are preparing to enter a physician assistant training program will begin by earning a bachelor's degree. Although some physician assistant programs accept applicants who have not completed bachelor's degrees, most programs require students to earn bachelor's degrees before enrolling. However, no specific undergraduate major is required or preferred by physician assistant programs. A student interested in becoming a physician assistant should choose a major about which s/he is passionate; a student who majors in a topic in which s/he is genuinely interested is more likely to achieve the academic success that will enable her/him to get into a physician assistant program.
The courses applicants must complete in order to be eligible for admission to a physician assistant program vary greatly from school to school. Thus, early in her/his undergraduate career, a student should research the admission requirements for the physician assistant programs to which s/he intends to apply, and s/he should schedule her/his undergraduate classes based on the requirements of the programs in which s/he is interested. Each student is ultimately responsible for knowing and fulfilling the admission requirements of the programs to which s/he intends to apply. As a general guide, however, many physician assistant programs require the following classes:
Two semesters of human anatomy and physiology with laboratories*
Two semesters of general biology with laboratories*
One semester of microbiology
Two semesters of general chemistry with laboratories*
One semester of organic chemistry with a laboratory
One semester of statistics
One to three semesters of psychology (general, developmental, and/or abnormal)
*A few programs require only one course from these sequences, but most programs require applicants to take both courses in each sequence.
Some physician assistant programs require the following courses, in addition to those listed above:
The second semester of organic chemistry
One semester of biochemistry*
One to three semesters of upper-level biology electives
One semester of college-level math, in addition to statistics (Note that the Medical College of Georgia's physician assistant program requires its applicants to have had a semester of pre-calculus or calculus.)
One semester of medical terminology
One semester of nutrition
One semester of pathophysiology
One semester of computer science
One semester of sociology
*Of the courses in this second list, biochemistry was required by the most physician assistant programs. Most of the other courses listed were required by only a handful of programs.
Some physician assistant programs recommend courses in the following disciplines, in addition to those courses they require for admission:
Anthropology
Economics
Ethics
Genetics
Histology
Immunology
Pharmacology
Physics with laboratories
Speech
Technical or scientific writing
In addition to taking the required and recommended courses for the programs to which s/he intends to apply, a student should note that physician assistant programs expect their applicants to be computer literate. Thus, if a student on a pre-physician assistant track feels that her/his computer skills could use improvement, the student should consider taking a computer class.
Many physician assistant programs require applicants to have a minimum overall grade point average of 3.0 or higher, though some programs accept students with a grade point average as low as 2.6. In addition, most programs also evaluate each applicant's grade point average in math and science and/or prerequisite courses. Note that having the minimum required grade point average does not guarantee entry to a program; the higher a student's grade point average is, the more competitive the student will be when applying to a physician assistant program.
Most physician assistant programs require applicants to take a standardized test as part of the admissions process, though some programs do not. Many physician assistant programs require applicants to achieve a minimum score on the Graduate Records Examination (GRE). For more information on the GRE, visit the following website: http://www.ets.org. Some programs will take the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) in place of the GRE. For more information on the MCAT, visit the following website: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/.
In addition to the academic preparations a student should make before applying to physician assistant programs, s/he should keep in mind that some type of experience with the physician assistant profession is advisable. This experience should include shadowing physician assistants extensively in various clinical settings. Such experience will, of course, serve as evidence to physician assistant programs that a student is truly interested in and knowledgeable about the profession, but it will also help the student determine if s/he is making the right choice by enrolling in a physician assistant program. Note that some physician assistant programs require applicants to have completed a minimum number of documented hours observing physician assistants and/or working directly with patients in a healthcare setting before applying for admission. The number of hours a person should spend shadowing a physician assistant and/or working in healthcare before applying to a physician assistant program vary greatly from program to program. Some programs do not require applicants to have spent any time observing or working in a healthcare setting, and some programs require applicants to have spent 2,000 hours or more working in a health care setting. Students should research the requirements of the specific programs in which they are interested. Also, some programs require that students submit at least one letter of recommendation from a physician assistant.
In addition to gaining experience with the physician assistant profession, pre-physician assistant students may wish to join Mercer's pre-health club, MerPMed. For more information, students should send an e-mail to merpmed@yahoo.com.
Note that, in addition to evaluating applicants based on their academic abilities and extracurricular activities, physician assistant programs require that their applicants have certain "technical skills." Technical skills include an applicant's abilities in the areas of observation; communication; sensory and motor function; intellectual, conceptual, integrative and quantitative abilities; and behavioral and social skills.
Applicants should familiarize themselves with the application process for each program to which they intend to apply. Many physician assistant programs participate in the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA). This centralized service allows students to fill out one online application and submit it to multiple physician assistant programs. For more information, visit https://portal.caspaonline.org/. Many programs that participate in CASPA also require applicants to complete supplemental applications. For those programs that do not participate in CASPA, students should contact the college or school directly for application materials.
Informational Web Sites
For a listing of physician assistant programs offered throughout the United States, visit http://www.aapa.org/pgmlist.php3.
For more information about physician assistant programs and careers, go to
More Information
For more information about preparing for and applying to physician assistant programs, visit http://www2.mercer.edu/AAS/Pre-professional+Information/Pre-Physician+Assistant+Information.htm, and contact the pre-professional advisor in the Office of Academic and Advising Services, at (478) 301-2078.