Medical school admission easier than PA school admission?

[Lemon Bars]

Are physician assistant programs harder to get into than medical school? What about those 3 year primary care centered medical schools?

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I read somewhere that PA school might now be harder to get into that some medical schools.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Depends on your definition of harder. With grade replacement, I think it's easier to achieve the GPA necessary to get into DO school. That said, you still have to take o-chem, physics, and the great equalizer MCAT. MD, unless a very new school/Caribbean/URM school, is always harder than PA in my opinion. The average GPA for allopathic is at above 3.8 and the average MCAT is 30.

 

I would say that it depends on the school. New DO/MD school easier to get into than a established PA school, maybe. Overall, I say no.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Also, many med schools want research, which can be a pain.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

pa programs have much more variable admissions standards.... each school is a little bit different. that makes the shotgun approach more difficult. if you fit into the typical mold of what medical schools want, then its often a numbers game of getting your application out to enough schools. dental school is the same way. i would say that thier application base is pretty homogenous as far as academics and such. but some PA schools look harder at academics, or hce, or volunteer hours... things are wieghed differently. so in that regard, its more difficult to match your strengths as precisely to various schools like it is for medical and dental school.

 

Good summary here

[EMEDPA]

the 3 yr programs (md/do) are very hard to get into.