Does It Matter What Pa School You Go to

Choosing the Right Physician Assistant School

Updated: 08/08/2015

Past Dec of 2012, in that location were 168 PA programs nationwide. At the update of this article, there are currently 196 ARC-PA accredited accredited programs listed in the PAEA program directory , eight of which are on probation, and 22 currently in development.

Information technology's up to you to make up one's mind which program yous will graduate from, but there are several characteristics you might utilize to help you determine betwixt programs, especially when programs accept so much similarity in what they offer.

I suggest you use the PAEA programme directory as a guide to help you lot search for schools in your area or state. Some students take found that the near reliable style to search for programs was to go through the CASPA website straight, simply not all programs participate in CASPA . They have a page of all participating programs, here . It includes the direct links to the individual program websites, each program'due south application deadline, and whether or not each program requires a supplemental application and the respective costs. Other students have used PAed.com because y'all can search past surface area and encounter a list of prerequisites earlier even going to the school website.

Where Do I Commencement?

-Narrow your schools down by where you wouldn't mind living during and subsequently PA schoolhouse

-Run across what schools in those states/areas you meet admission criteria for

-Check out each plan based on criteria below

-Visit programs, information sessions, talk with kinesthesia and current or by students; run into if they match with your expectations and standards

-Do your own homework (i.eastward. read more on their website) and narrow your result down farther, consulting friends and family unit for advice where needed

Choosing your PA program fit isn't meant to be a last minute ordeal. Y'all should have done enough of research to ensure yous are applying to advisable programs, otherwise yous will simply be wasting your money applying to schools you aren't really interested in or don't have a shot at admission to. Emphasis placed on saving coin here! Please annotation that the information in the following categories is from the 29th Annual PAEA Report, which surveyed 171 PA programs during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Customs Programs vs. University Associated Programs

The majority of PA programs are universities, whereas 4% are associate level colleges. 36.5% of programs surveyed by PAEA merits their sponsoring institution is an academic health center (AHC). 16.7% of programs claim to be associated with a medical center or medical school, while iv.8% are centered around a wellness professional school. If you nourish a community PA program non associated with a medical school, chances are y'all volition still get a fantastic education, only you probably won't interact with medical/chemist's/physical/occupational therapy students at all until clinical rotations. At major medical schools, where centrolineal health programs exist, interaction amongst allied wellness students will probably be more prominent in classes like beefcake, physiology, or neuroscience and again in rotations. At other programs, namely the University of Iowa, integration of allied health students and PA students is provided in virtually courses. Students larn, report, and examination together and are scored evenly against i another. It can exist to your advantage to interact with these people because you'll be working with people just like them in an everyday setting.

Caste Requirements and Preprofessional Caste Programs:

Co-ordinate to the 29th PAEA annual report , one.2% of PA programs offer associate level degrees, 2.ix% (5 programs) offering certificates, 3.five% offering baccalaureate degrees, 92.four% offering master'due south level degrees.

Since the twelvemonth 2000, there has been a rapid shift toward main'due south level degrees (from 43% to about 92%). As far as admission goes, 86.9% of master'due south degree programs require at least a baccalaureate degree. 60% of associate's degree programs exercise non require any degree for admission, while 78.3% of baccalaureate caste programs practise not require a degree for admission. But 10.9% of main'southward degree programs do not require a degree for access. A few examples of master's programs that practise not require bachelor'south degrees are Touro College'southward Manhattan and Bay Shore PA programs, where they require 90 hours of credit in lieu of a degree. Drexel University , Texas Tech University , Pacific University Oregon , and the University of Oklahoma - Tulsa are other programs with like requirements.

According to the report, 6 (2.viii%) PA programs award both a available's and a master's caste upon completion and are chosen preprofessional degree programs because they ready you for a main'southward level PA programme. As of 08/08/2015, there are currently 43 PA programs like this, only I will but listing a few. DeSales University has a v year available's to master's degree option, simply yous must enter directly from high schoolhouse. Seton Hill University offers a BS/MSPA with a bachelor of science in biology and a Master of Science in PA in 6 years. Rochester Institute of Technology offers a 5 year BS degree transitioning into a MS caste. Le Moyne Higher and University of Detroit Mercy (Michigan) offer students a 3+2 accelerated rails leading to BS/MS. It is very common for current and past PA students to be dislocated nearly the purpose of these "5- or 6-year" PA programs. Many "traditional" PA students criticize these programs before they understand their role, so but be aware of that when asking students well-nigh them. It would exist best to get communication or opinions from the programme directors, faculty, or students of the plan you are interested in. This is a huge decision to make early on on (as early on as high school), then I recommend trying to shadow a PA/physician/NP earlier deciding what route is best for you, or check out this commodity .

Certificate programs are also available equally an option, every bit you are not required to obtain a chief's degree to get a certified md assistant (PA-C) until 2020. The only current requirement is that you pass the PANCE. According to the report, two.nine% (5 programs) offer a certificate of completion. St. John's University is one example of a PA program that offers a certificate program for people possessing a bachelor'due south caste - this is a 2-year certificate program. Anne Arundel Community College is another program offer a 25 month certificate program. Unfortunately, certificate programs are being weeded out past the move to improve educational standards and more PAs and PA programs are choosing to deal away with them.

Online/Distance PA Programs:

Online (ameliorate named Distance ) PA programs , are amid the few and extremely competitive, requiring yous to have lots of intense hands on feel prior to admission. Please read more about online, distance, and post-graduate online PA programs in this article , which may help clarify some of the newest information.

Enquiry Based Program:

The current PAEA report did non include the percentage of programs offering research, just the last known percentage was around xxx%, which is surprisingly less than I would imagine. While nearly master'southward programs crave some form of inquiry as part of your master's projection, it may or may not be the research you lot might accept done in undergraduate studies. Some PAs continue research after school with their supervising physician(s) and if this is something yous're interested in, you should seek opportunities to rotate with physicians who do research.

Gender, Land, Veteran Bias:

If you lot're suddenly feeling a scrap overwhelmed by all of the female person PA applicants out there, you're non alone. On average, 71.9% of PA programs surveyed in 29th annual report were female, while 28.1% were male person. Men are definitely outnumbered in this profession. These percentages don't necessarily mean that programs are accepting more women than men, merely rather, they reverberate the population of people that are applying. This but simply means that more women apply to PA school than men. In my opinion, many programs encompass diversity and are looking to increment the percentage of male students in their programs.

But 1 PA program is war machine based ( IPAP ) out of 171 programs surveyed, co-ordinate to PAEA's 29th annual survey. Rumor is that the University of N Carolina in Chapel Hill will begin a PA program in 2015 for veteran medics.

A few programs have country bias, meaning they prefer students from their home state before accepting students from out of state. This has a lot to do with funding. States requite schools funding in render for graduates that volition return on their investment, i.east. add to the land workforce in primary care, etc. One such program I personally interviewed at that maintains state bias is the University of Texas Medical Branch .

Reputation and ARC-PA Accreditation:

And then your plan is old, or new? The advantages of newer programs are that they're usually cheaper when they first open up. Disadvantages are that you are a guinea sus scrofa and you have no idea what to expect from the program. Newer programs have no PANCE records and you will have to wait until testing time to effigy out whether the odds were truly in your favor or not. Newer programs tin also have new professors and kinesthesia, new curriculum with constantly changing construction, problems finding good rotation sites, and have no alumni support. One important fact to be aware of is that as long as the new program has provisional accreditation status when y'all matriculate, you will still exist able to take the PANCE at the end of your program , regardless of whether they are granted full accreditation or put on probation. From Figure 3b we notice that at that place have been 2 peaks of new programme enrollment between 1970-73 and 1995-2000. Since 2009, it shows that we might be in the heart of yet another tiptop in new PA programs.

Reputation can sometimes be more than than only about being new, though. Sometimes accreditation tin be lost for a number of reasons and information technology's up to you to decide whether it is worth applying to programs that have lost accreditation and for what reasons they lost information technology. Currently, in that location are 8 out of 196 programs that are on accreditation-probation. "Probation is an active accreditation status and those entering a program that is on probation are entering a programme that is 'accredited.' If the program remains on probation or is removed from probation and granted full accreditation by the time of your graduation, you would be graduating from an accredited program...in guild to be eligible to take the PANCE, students must successfully complete a program that was accredited at the fourth dimension the student matriculated ." ( ARC-PA FAQ ). This means that even while attending programs on probation, you lot can nevertheless sit for the PANCE. They tin even lose their accreditation while y'all are in your program, just non before you matriculate. It tin hurt your chances of gaining licensure and practice in some states. Many residency programs also require graduation from an accredited program.

If you want to know about when programs were first accredited, or when their next ARC-PA review is, check the ARC-PA website here . Otherwise, information about provisional, probationary, and accreditation status can exist found on PAEA's program directory.

Program Length:

According to the 29th annual written report, the average length of PA programs is currently 26.4 months . The range was between 21-36 months in the 2012-2013 bookish yr. The average didactic stage length was 58.8 weeks and the average clinical phase length was 54.1 weeks. The mean full program length was 124.five weeks (or 28.viii months), including holidays. In that location is no correct or incorrect answer to choosing an "appropriate" program length for yourself. There are several reasons you lot might choose a longer plan over a shorter one: lack of clinical experience (peradventure your program offers longer clinical rotations), you want to spread out your didactic educational activity, y'all desire more than time off (holidays). Other folks might choose shorter programs only to terminate sooner or considering they want to commencement a surgical residency, etc.

Full-time vs. Part Time:

Whether y'all're looking for part time or full fourth dimension PA programs, its helpful to know what your options are. There are currently still only three programs offering part time according to the PAEA program directory: Drexel University, Rutgers University, and the University of Detroit Mercy.

Program Outset and End Months:

Almost programs begin between the months of May and September, with 32% having showtime dates in August. The near common end months are May (24.8%), Baronial (29.3%), and Dec (24.2%), which hasn't changed much from the last report. The importance of these dates can have harboring effects on your family and moving situations if you are out of country applicants. For example, when I was accustomed to a school in Boston that began in Jan, information technology would have been extremely hard for me to travel in that location during belatedly Dec/early Jan and move all of my stuff in the worst possible weather. This is something to consider before applying.

PA Program Budgets:

PA program expenses can be difficult to come by, especially at information sessions and interviews, but they are especially helpful in discerning what type of programme you will be attention. For example, you might want to know what percent of the budget provides support for pupil travel for clinical training, if any. You might besides want to know what per centum of the budget goes into your education (i.e. instructional equipment and applied science).

Overall Program Cost:

The average resident tuition (in state) in 2013 was $61,489, while the average non-resident (out of country) tuition was $71,184. Incidental costs are full costs incurred by students during their PA programs and includes annihilation but tuition. This could be transportation, living, food, textbooks, diagnostic equipment, computers, etc. The average total incidental cost per student was $5,106.

Public vs. Private Programs:

Today, 62.5% of PA programs are private, while but 35.half dozen% are public. The boilerplate resident tuition (in state) for public institutions was $38,794 and was $74,426 for private institutions. Not-resident (out of country) costs between public and private institutions practice not vary greatly, with the average non resident tuition at $68,311 and resident tuition at $74,523. Incidental costs between public ($5,937) and private ($4,672) were nearly the same.

Student to Faculty Ratio and Class Size:

On average, in 2013, the student to faculty ratio was 17.8 for the 2010-2011 academic twelvemonth. This is an important gene to consider in your conclusion for a PA programme, as more 1-on-1 time volition be available to you at your exposure if you have a lower SFR. This number was calculated by dividing the full number of enrollees past the full number of core kinesthesia FTE.

In 2013, the boilerplate enrollment for first-year class size was 47 students. Brand sure you cull an appropriately sized plan. If a small course size is of import to you, and so don't pick a school like the University of Texas Medical Branch that accepts around 90 applicants annually or the University of Due north Texas that accepts around 73 candidates per year. Programs like the University of Wisconsin La Crosse accepts around xix candidates per twelvemonth.

Faculty and Student Opinion:

In 2001, a survey of 95 PA faculty was conducted by Dr. Blessing and colleagues to assess factors important to school rankings. The 95 directors strongly agreed that faculty to student ratio was important. Other important factors included faculty educational level, faculty in clinical practice, length of faculty clinical experience, and education or publishing awards by faculty. Ane particular opposed by kinesthesia was the number of faculty in tenure tracks. Currently, approximately twenty.9% of kinesthesia are on a tenure track, while some other 12.7% are already tenured. More than 71.one% of faculty members have a Master's degree, whereas 22.1% have a doctoral degree (including MDs). A whopping 77.one% of faculty members are PAs.

49% of kinesthesia performed clinical piece of work in the 2012-2013 bookish year at an boilerplate of nine.three hours per week. Student opinion can hateful a groovy deal to you, for newer and older programs alike. You lot may inquire most quality or availability of rotation sites, traffic, living costs, weather, faculty accessibility, plan reputation, mentorship programs, study groups, pupil run clinics, cadaver labs, PANCE preparation, available scholarship funding, and the quality of assessment skills.

Health Care Feel (HCE) and Prerequisite Requirements:

In 2011, PA programs surveyed were asked select prerequisites from a list of common scientific discipline courses. Physiology (91%), general chemistry (ninety%), anatomy (87%), microbiology (eighty%), and biological science (70%), statistics (63%), organic chemical science (55%), biochemistry (39%), algebra/calculus (37%), and genetics (19%) were the about of import. If you're wondering at all what they are looking for, these courses might give you a hint. Additionally, some programs want all prerequisites completed past December 31st of the year you apply, others desire them completed by the time you submit your CASPA, and fifty-fifty others let yous to have a few courses in progress. A few schools will interview you and accept you with contingency condition - meaning you have conditional acceptance based on the grades yous will submit for courses you have not yet finished.

In 2011, 46% of programs required applicants to have prior health care feel, while 14% did not require any. 40% "prefer," but do not crave applicants to have prior health care experience. Schools range from preferences of 0 to over 2000 hours of HCE. If you don't have a ton to offer, you lot might seek programs that accept students with less direct HCE than others. In 2013, 94% of responding programs reported their students accrued patient contact feel and just 21.2% said they had accrued research experience.

If your GPA is less than a 3.0, have no fear! There are PA programs that take students with GPAs less than 3.0. A helpful pupil named Matt recently put together a list of those schools, hither . Some schools weigh heavily the concluding 45-60 credit hours, but it is useful to check with the programs you lot are applying to to come across what their requirements are.

GRE/TOEFL Requirements:

At that place are currently 129 PA programs requiring the GRE for admission. 153 out of 196 PA programs take international applicants. Scores for the GRE and TOEFL are used as indicators for success in PA schoolhouse, although most programs do not weigh them too heavily and they are a small fraction of the admissions process. Generally, GRE scores above the 50 percentile are considered competitive for PA schoolhouse. The fact is, if you struggle with this standardized test, what does that say to schools about your performance on the PANCE?

There really is non an reward to programs that require these tests versus programs that do not. There are plenty of skilful and bad programs that require them and do not crave them, so GRE and TOEFL requirements are non good indicators of good schools per se.

Interview Requirements

Interviews may not be your thing. If not, take no fright. In 2011, only 95.2% of PA programs surveyed required interviews, which means at that place are 4.eight% of programs that don't crave them.

Background Check and Mandatory Drug Testing

82.8% of programs require students to have a groundwork cheque upon matriculation, while 78.seven% require drug testing.

Graduation and Attrition Rate:

The average graduating class in 2013 had 41.5 (93.5%) graduates with 1.5 (three.4%) students withdrawn. 71% of 95 PA faculty surveyed in 2001 agreed that student attrition charge per unit for the past 5 years should be accounted for in PA programme rankings. While this data is bachelor individually on a per almanac basis, it has non been compiled as a composite value.

More male students withdraw (four.6%) than female person students (two.9%). The most common reason for withdrawal in 2011 was academics (61%), followed past other personal reasons (27%), career alter (9%), financial reasons (three%), and medical school (0%). Instead, it is at the will of private programs to post their attrition rates on their websites or in information sessions. Some students have claimed that compunction charge per unit is one of the highest components you should consider in what schools y'all apply to. A high compunction rate could exist indicative of poor admissions standards or poor curriculum/kinesthesia. In this article on PA Student Essentials, I write most transparency from PA programs about attrition.

Program Rigor, Curriculum, and Failure Policy:

Program rigor tin be determined by a variety of factors, so there isn't a direct reply to this component. Test difficulty, study time, comprehensive testing, PANCE grooming, PANCE pass rates are all components yous might consider part of program rigor. You could start by asking students in the program about their experiences with each of these and depict your own comparisons. You want a program that isn't terribly hard to get through, and so that y'all're non miserable, simply you want it to be challenging enough to ensure y'all'll laissez passer your PANCE. Everyone will have a unique experience in PA schoolhouse because it all depends on your background in your prerequisites.

Curriculum is an entirely other ballpark. Although it can contribute to programme rigor, this is where you might variation betwixt programs. For instance, some programs lack pathophysiology, however, this tin sometimes exist integrated into other coursework like clinical medicine. In essence, you'll want to focus less on what subject matter is taught and instead on how it is taught. Names might be interchanged between programs, but accredited programs will teach the same subjects to go you to pass your PANCE. Co-ordinate to ARC-PA'south accreditation standards (page xiii), programs are directed to teach specific topics, but are free to structure them how they come across fit.

Some programs emphasize "cocky directed learning." If you don't know what this is, it is essentially student directed learning. Traditional students acquire using PowerPoints and lectures. Other programs teach using "organ" based learning or "system" based learning, collaborative or "team" based learning, traditional or "case" based learning, "asynchronous" learning, or "problem" based learning. For example, in organization based learning, you learn everything you need to know about each organization and and then motility on (east.one thousand. cardio, ob/gyn, etc.) There are many methodologies for teaching available, fifty-fifty some I have not listed, but finding the correct learning way for y'all matters significantly.

Failure policies tin can vary from program to programme. It is best to bank check with your individual programs on what the policies are. Some are more strict than others. For case, some programs require you to make grades of 85 and above on every test. If you do not, it is considered failing, and you might exist allowed to fail one exam the unabridged plan before yous are put on probation or asked to withdraw from the program. Other programs curve grades based on course averages and some throw out bad questions when students perform poorly on them.

Plan Emphasis and Values:

Whether you nourish a principal care or a surgical focused PA program, y'all will never need further certification to practice in whatever specialty y'all wish. Say you attended a chief care programme, but now you decide you lot want to go a surgical PA. You tin can either discover a supervising physician willing to train you, or elect to attend a surgical residency (although non necessary) or fellowship. At that place are a few surgical focused PA programs out there including the Academy of Alabama in Birmingham and Cornell University in New York. The idea is that you yet take the same board test as every other PA (the PANCE), but you come out of PA school more equipped for surgery (by having more than specialty training in surgical rotations). Some programs may place emphasis on integrative medicine, such as Knuckles University . In the Integrative Medicine Unit, practitioners at Duke share data about their specialty, types of patients to refer, services offered, etc. from specialties like accupressure, accupuncture, ayurveda, and massage. The University of North Texas in Fort Worth, Texas, is known for its osteopathic or alternative medicine accent. The Academy of Colorado - Denver has long been known for its focus in pediatrics. Other unique programs, similar Marywood University allow you to specialize  in your clinical yr in either emergency medicine, orthopedics/sports medicine, pediatrics, hospitalist, or general surgery. While most programs will place emphasis in primary intendance or underserved areas, it will exist upward to y'all to make up one's mind what programme accent is all-time for your needs. Proceed in mind that primary care and underserved areas doesn't necessarily hateful practicing in rural areas. You can practice primary care for an underserved population in a metropolitan area. However, if chief intendance is what you are looking for, schools similar the Academy of Nebraska with a 12 calendar week chief care rotation might exist what you want.

The values of each school may also vary and yous'll want to ensure that these align with your values and goals in life. If they aren't a lucifer, information technology could potentially exist problematic afterwards on down the route. Read over the program's website and get a feel for the school. Read their mission statement and make up one's mind if the program is a right "fit" for you. The only way to tell if a program is the right one is to put in the work yourself and do the research. When you go to data sessions, take notes. Jot downwardly things admissions personnel say and accept it dwelling with you lot and look it over. If you accept 2d thoughts about a school, then don't submit your supplemental applications or withdraw your application completely.

Quality of Clinical Skills:

Clinical skills can vary from programme to programme. This is definitely something you'll desire to consider in each plan. When you graduate, your supervising physician volition teach you lot what you demand to know specific to his or her specialty, but other skills you may be expected to know. Common clinical skills taught at programs (not all) are suturing, physical exam skills, intubation, chest tubes, Four insertion, ACLS, uncomplicated codes, PALS, splinting, wound intendance, articulation injections, phlebotomy, casting, biopsies, lumbar punctures, and ultrasound imaging.

Prosection vs. Dissection Cadaver Labs

Prosection refers to cadavers that take previously been dissected by another individual. This is usually a professor, a medical student, an centrolineal health student, or an upper grade PA student. Full dissection cadaver labs are sometimes offered where you are the principal investigator and are allowed to dissect the cadaver yourself or in a squad. Other programs won't offering either. Instead, some programs offer technological resources, such every bit computerized cadavers that y'all view along a glass computer screen or anatomy courses online. Programs with total dissection accept been scrutinized for "wasting valuable time" because of the fourth dimension it takes PA students to perform such dissections. Still, many students discover total dissections very useful and often perform amend on anatomy exams. Prosection may provide more time in PA school for other learning, but information technology might not requite you the spatial relationships you need for anatomical organs. Most PA students say that this cistron was definitely one of the "bargain breaking" components when choosing a schoolhouse.

Location, Resources, and Facilities:

Location tin be difficult to decide betwixt as there are lots of factors to consider. Do you lot want to alive close to home? Practice y'all like large metropolitan areas or small towns? Exercise you desire to nourish a programme shut to a medical school or lots of health centers? Would you need to commute to schoolhouse? Do you have a strong family or support base nearby? Is the program in a state y'all would be willing to work in after graduation? Subsequently because many of these questions, you might discover that other characteristics of school weigh heavier than these. This is because the quality of a PA program should weigh much more than than the location. Regardless of the location or any other excuse you can come up up with, the quality of the program defines what type of graduate y'all will become later. Subsequently, what type of employer volition hire you after depends on where you go to schoolhouse. Choose a quality PA plan over the location, delight. Practice yourself the favor. Several PAs accept made this decision and take even moved their families over 2,000 miles across the land to do so.

Resources and facilities should be taken on a instance by case basis. You should make your ain assessments of the quality and quantity of libraries, guest lecturers, report rooms, recording technology, dummies, cadaver labs, simulation labs, student run clinics, lecture halls, simulated encounters with actors, nearby food courts, gyms and any other resource you come across conducive to learning. You should also consider your admission to those resource and what times they offer (e.g. 7 AM - 11 PM).

Availability and Location of Clinicals and/or Preceptorships:

Personally, I recollect the quality of the rotations is a huge aspect of choosing your program, but admissions won't come right out and say their rotation sites aren't very expert. You'll have to dig deeper and ask students (lots of them) to get a practiced feel for how they really are. You might desire to ask questions like, are lots of the clinical sites located far from campus? Are you required to relocate for clinical rotations? Are you lot required to set upwardly whatsoever of your ain rotations? Does the program offering short term housing options? Near clinical rotations last betwixt 4-8 weeks each, and some programs offering elective rotations where you have the option to cull where you want to become. Y'all might also want to know most the quality of these rotations and if your schoolhouse has a database containing surveys from prior students virtually each i. These types of tips tin be very helpful in choosing a program as many PAs say that the quality of rotation sites is cardinal to jobs.

Some programs claim to cease clinical rotations with a preceptorship. Preceptorships are essentially just extended rotations. For example, you might do six five-calendar week rotations followed by ii 12-calendar week rotations (preceptorship). Other programs might have you start with a four month family practise preceptorship, followed by one month rotations in other areas.

Clothes Code & Attendance Requirements:

Some programs require a apparel code while others practise not. This tin can range from business casual, white coat, scrubs, "casual vesture," to no requirement at all. Some students at programs where there is no clothes code requirement at all complain that some students wear clothing that is highly inappropriate for schoolhouse, especially graduate education. About programs propose against athletic vesture, flip flops, and pajamas. If comfort at schoolhouse is important to you, this is something you might consider looking into.

While nearly medical schools don't make a fuss near attendance, virtually all PA programs require attendance in lecture and laboratory. The majority of programs hold class Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, only reports of class exterior this time are not uncommon.

PANCE Pass Rates & Program National Ranking:

In a study conducted by Dr. Approval on 95 PA faculty in the year 2001, 86% believed the overall PANCE pass rate was meaning for plan rankings, while 84% believed the 5-year average PANCE pass rate was important. While a score of 350 out of 800 on the PANCE exam is required to pass, near students won't score above a 700. Showtime time PANCE pass rates are probably more than important than 5-year or overall averages, considering anything could have happened in the last 5 years, 10, or 15 years, including modify of directors or faculty, etc. Additionally, each year is dependent upon the quality of the students matriculating, and then scores tin vary. PANCE rates are ultimately what determine if you go a PA, so counterbalance these pretty heavily in your list.

Program national rankings by U.South. News & Earth Study can be found online, hither , although they are conducted periodically and the last one available is from 2015. Their methodology is also highly debated and has been criticized past many PAs and programs every bit not being a adept indicator for plan success. Also, USN&WR only surveys principal level programs and some of the all-time programs might offer document, associate, or bachelor level degrees.  Other people, such as Rhee et al. have proposed new methods for ranking PA programs.

Overall, be careful in choosing a school and listen closely as you attend information sessions or interviews. Take time to get to know yourself before applying, visiting, and interviewing. The closest schoolhouse, the cheapest, or the easiest route may non exist the best fit for you lot. There is no number of PA schools y'all should shoot for, although cost will end up limiting you in the end.

My stats: Ultimately, I applied for about 15 by end of July and I received interviews for about 12 of them by December. Two of which I never finished my supplemental applications and didn't submit transcripts to i because of program costs. Of the 12 I received interviews at, I but attended 4 interviews and I was accepted at iii and waitlisted at 1.

Read this article to help determine whether you are a PA competitive applicant or not. Best of luck applying!

Sources:

An Investigation of Potential Criteria for Ranking PA Programs (Approval et al., 2001)

Predictive Modeling the Doc Assistant Supply: 2010-2025 (Hooker et al., 2011)

A Novel Approach to Ranking Doc Assistant Programs (Rhee et al., 2010)

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