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What pre-reqs are required by most schools?


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These are the basic core requirements: A bachelor's degree. A 3.0 GPA overall and in science courses. One year of general chemistry. One semester of organic chemistry or biochemistry, Two semesters of combined human anatomy & physiology OR one semester of human anatomy AND one semester of human physiology. One semester of microbiology. One semester of calculus or statistics. One semester of general or abnormal psychology. 2,000 hours of health care experience. About 50 hours of PA shadowing experience.

 

If you have all that you will meet most of the minimum requirements for about one third of PA schools. To qualify for more schools and be a more competitive candidate you will need courses like medical terminology, Spanish, genetics, more organic and biochemistry, upper division science courses like advanced physiology, more psychology, bacteriology, and nutrition. A 3.5 GPA and 5,000 hours of health care experience would also help. An RN, RT or paramedic license would also help. Some PA programs seem to have very tough requirements indeed and I would think it would be easier to just go to medical school rather than get all of the requirements for those PA programs.

 

Good luck to us all! :)

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Just research all of the programs you want to apply to (trust me, you are going to have to do it anyway).

Ive seen this said multiple times and I must admit that it distresses me a little.  I am not tied to a region in regards to school and thus will apply broadly.  Does this mean if I want to apply to say, 25 schools, than I should look up 25 programs and learn the specifics?  Ungh.

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Ive seen this said multiple times and I must admit that it distresses me a little. I am not tied to a region in regards to school and thus will apply broadly. Does this mean if I want to apply to say, 25 schools, than I should look up 25 programs and learn the specifics? Ungh.

Yup.

 

I looked through 150+ programs and their requirements. I had the freedom to apply and move anywhere...and ended up accepting admission in my own state, go figure.

 

(PS, it's not that bad. Just go in alphabetical order of states and cross off schools as soon as you hit any reqs that you don't meet or plan to meet.)

 

 

Sent from the Satellite of Love using Tapatalk

 

 

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Calc 1 (analytic geometry and calc) is a 4 credit class and Stats is a 3 credit class..can we choose which one we want to submit as a part of our sGPA?

 

You have to submit every class you have ever taken from every college you have ever been to. If you withold a transcript or otherwise conceal coursework then you can get into a lot of trouble. Be completely and totally honest with your application, even if you had some bad academic history.

 

A lot of programs require stats, fewer programs require calc or pre-calc. Do all of them to be on the safe side.

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You have to submit every class you have ever taken from every college you have ever been to. If you withold a transcript or otherwise conceal coursework then you can get into a lot of trouble. Be completely and totally honest with your application, even if you had some bad academic history.

 

A lot of programs require stats, fewer programs require calc or pre-calc. Do all of them to be on the safe side.

thanks for the reply..I wasnt trying to hold anything back I thought we could only put either one of the two. That's good then. 

another question..

 

does stats, genetics, cell bio, medical ethics all come under the sGPA or pre-req GPA?

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Eric9, be aware that each program is going to want to hear (either through an essay or during the interview) how you came to select their program as one of your top choices. They will expect you to know details about the program like their facilities, a little about their faculty, their clinical sites, their philosophy, their simulation labs, yada yada. This past cycle I made the mistake of applying to 14 different programs just because I met their minimum entrance requirements and it was a waste of money. I will be much more selective this year.

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Ive seen this said multiple times and I must admit that it distresses me a little.  I am not tied to a region in regards to school and thus will apply broadly.  Does this mean if I want to apply to say, 25 schools, than I should look up 25 programs and learn the specifics?  Ungh.

 

You're going to drop tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and living expenses.  It's worth a couple hours of your time.

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Eric9, be aware that each program is going to want to hear (either through an essay or during the interview) how you came to select their program as one of your top choices. They will expect you to know details about the program like their facilities, a little about their faculty, their clinical sites, their philosophy, their simulation labs, yada yada. This past cycle I made the mistake of applying to 14 different programs just because I met their minimum entrance requirements and it was a waste of money. I will be much more selective this year.

 

Applying broadly is the way to go for anyone with a weakness in their app or just anyone that doesn't want to risk waiting another cycle.

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I made an excel spread sheet and broke down the numbers, heres what I found

126 schools require Chem 1

104 Chem 2

87 Bio 1

58 Bio 2

137 A&P 1

135 A&P 2

118 Micro

83 O Chem

50 Biochem  (Some schools said ochem 1 or biochem, others said ochem 2 or biochem, others specified biochem)

26 Genetics

37 Medical terminology

5 Physics

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I made an excel spread sheet and broke down the numbers, heres what I found

126 schools require Chem 1

104 Chem 2

87 Bio 1

58 Bio 2

137 A&P 1

135 A&P 2

118 Micro

83 O Chem

50 Biochem  (Some schools said ochem 1 or biochem, others said ochem 2 or biochem, others specified biochem)

26 Genetics

37 Medical terminology

5 Physics

 

Great job on this. I am impressed. They all seem to require A&P 1&2 and mircobiology. After that is some type of intro gen chem course, tho it's plain strange that biology isn't required more often than it is. From there it's a total mixture.

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