The physician assistant (PA) profession is rapidly growing with more and more people applying to PA school each year. The PA school application process is highly selective so it’s important that you make sure that you’re a competitive applicant. One way to do this is to choose the right major.
While there isn’t a specific major required to become a PA, some majors are more advantageous than others in terms of preparing you to enter the healthcare field and covering prerequisites. In this article, we’ll discuss the top five majors for pre-PA students. Later, I’ll talk about what to do if you want to become a PA but have a degree in an unrelated field. Let’s dive into it. 🙂
Table of Contents
General Requirements for PA School
First, let’s go over the requirements for applying to PA school. While specific requirements will differ slightly from program to program, these are the ones that you can expect to see from the majority of PA programs:
- Bachelor’s degree
- Prerequisite coursework
- Direct patient care experience
- Healthcare experience
- Personal statement
- 3 letters of recommendation
- GRE scores
- Shadowing
- Volunteering
For the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing on the academic side of the PA school application process. This includes PA school prerequisites, undergraduate major, and GPA.
Question: Can I switch from medical school to PA school?
Answer: If you’re thinking about switching from medical school to PA school, then you might be out of luck. Typically, those who have already completed medical school are not eligible to apply to PA school. However, you’ll be able to apply to PA programs if you haven’t finished medical school or graduated from an international medical school. Just be sure to double check with each individual program admissions.
Required Prerequisite Coursework for PA School
Before we talk about the best majors for PA school, we need to first understand course prerequisites. Along with earning a Bachelor’s degree at an accredited, four-year institution, These are the classes (lecture and lab courses) that you’ll need to take in undergrad that are required for applying to PA school.
As I mentioned earlier, different PA programs will have slightly different requirements; it all depends on each program’s focus and preferences. That being said, there are some courses that are required for nearly all PA schools that you should plan on completing regardless of which programs you’re planning on applying to.
Required Courses for PA School
- General biology lecture and lab (1 year)
- General chemistry lecture and lab (1 year)
- Human anatomy and physiology lecture and lab, combined or separate (1 year)
- Microbiology lecture and lab
- General psychology
- Statistics
Additionally, there are other courses that aren’t necessarily the “core” classes required by most PA programs but are still required by many. Which ones you’ll take will depend more on how much time you have before applying and which specific programs you want to apply to.
Other Courses Commonly Required for PA School
- Genetics
- Organic chemistry or biochemistry lecture and lab
- Physics lecture and lab
- Other upper division biology course(s)
- English composition or writing-intensive course
- Abnormal psychology
- Sociology or other humanities (e.g. ethics)
- Medical terminology
- Foreign language (e.g. Spanish)
Main Takeaway: Make sure to take all of the classes from the first list. These courses are mandatory for most PA programs. Then, decide which programs you want to apply to and figure out the additional courses you’ll need to take in order to cover all required coursework prerequisites.
The Best Majors for PA School
Now that you have an understanding of the most common prerequisites for PA school, it’s time to talk about the best majors for pre-PA students.
Applying to PA school requires a different approach than medical school. In general, PA schools require a greater number of prerequisites and have a more extensive list of specific requirements for admission compared to med schools.
With PA programs, you’re expected to enter with some experience under your belt already, whereas with medical programs, the expectation is that you’ll learn the majority of what you’ll need to know once you start school.
As a result, when it comes to medical school, unconventional majors often help pre-med students stand out due to an oversaturation of biology majors. Since there are fewer required prerequisites to apply to medical school, it’s not as big of a deal to pursue an unrelated major, since it’s relatively easy to fulfill the prerequisites separately and fill in the gaps.
For PA school, however, it’s best to choose a major in which you’ll already be taking the majority of the required prerequisite courses so there’ll be fewer classes that you’ll have to take independently. Simply put, choosing a more traditional biology or healthcare-related major is best if you’re thinking about applying to PA school.
Top 5 Majors for PA School
- Biology
- Biochemistry
- Exercise science/kinesiology
- Psychology
- Public health
Important Note: Although nursing is sometimes recommended as a good major for pre-PA students, I would exercise caution when considering this option.
As another healthcare route, nursing provides a strong foundation for entering PA school. However, choosing to major in nursing runs the risk of PA programs viewing you as an uncertain applicant who is using either path as a “backup” option. (PA school admissions want students who know exactly why they want to be a PA, rather than a doctor or a nurse.)
Additionally, it’s important to note that there’s a big difference between PAs and nurses in terms of education. Like physicians, PAs follow the medical model, which is disease-focused, while nurses are trained using the nursing model, which is patient-centered.
Required GPA for PA School
The majority of PA programs require an overall GPA and science GPA of 3.0 or higher, as stated on their admissions websites. What you really need to know is that you’ll need to have a science GPA of 3.6 or higher to be a competitive applicant for PA school. This is often referred to as your BCP GPA, or biology/chemistry/physics GPA. This unspoken GPA cutoff is the reason why many PA school applicants are rejected.
Important Note: Many prospective PA students retake courses to improve their GPA. This is a great way to make yourself more competitive for PA school. Just keep in mind that retaken courses will not erase your original grade; PA programs will take the average of the two and use that grade when assessing your application.
What to Do If Your Major is Unrelated to PA School
Suppose you have already obtained your undergraduate degree, but your field of study is not related to healthcare. Alternatively you might be currently working towards completing your degree but as a non-science major. You might be wondering: Do I have to start all over again and complete a four-year Bachelor’s in a related field if I want to become a PA?
The short answer is no! Your Bachelor’s degree can technically be in any field of study. As long as you complete all of the prerequisite coursework and other requirements, you can apply to PA school.
Let’s say you have a Bachelor’s degree in English and want to apply to PA school. Then, you’ll need to make sure to take all of the required classes that we talked about earlier. Depending on which classes you’re missing, it might take several months or a few years to complete.
The two best ways to take prerequisite classes for PA school are at a community college or online. These classes are often listed as “postbaccalaureate” and are at the undergraduate level. You just want to make sure that the classes that you sign up for are accepted by the programs that you’re interested in, as some PA schools are particular and may require in-person courses only, especially for classes like anatomy and physiology.
Pro Tip: Avoid pursuing a separate Master’s degree for GPA purposes if your ultimate goal is to become a PA. While PA admissions will take into consideration the fact that you have a Master’s, it won’t carry as much weight as you think.
Only undergraduate-level courses are taken into account for GPA calculations. Therefore, it’s far better to focus on doing well in your science courses, as they’ll have a more significant impact. If your grades aren’t great, then retake the courses in which you earned a B- or lower and concentrate on bringing those grades up.
Finally, don’t worry if you’re not from a healthcare background. One of the great things about PA school is that cohorts tend to be diverse, consisting of people from all different ages, backgrounds, and experience levels. It’s not uncommon to see people pursuing PA as a second career, and most will say that it’s well worth it. 😀
Conclusion
I hope you learned lots! Applying to PA school can be an overwhelming and stressful process, but with the tips that I showed you here, you should have a clearer roadmap of how to pick the perfect major and start on your path to becoming a PA.
For more insights into the PA profession, you might want to take a look at some of my other articles
where I answer other frequently asked questions about this blossoming profession. See you there! Until next time, stay healthy and keep learning.