Applicants must meet the following minimum requirements prior to application. Any requirement below that is not completed prior to submitting the CASPA application will not be considered for review:
Citizenship
Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
Bachelor’s Degree
Applicants must have earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the United States.
GPA
All applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. **Applicants with a CASPA verified Biology, Chemistry, Physics (BCP) GPA of 3.0 or higher are preferred
Healthcare Experience
Applicants are required to have a minimum of 1,000 hours of documented paid healthcare relevant experience. Paid internships are not accepted as paid healthcare relevant experience. The RVU PA Program does not determine for the applicant what is acceptable healthcare relevant experience and encourages applicants to appropriately describe, within the CASPA application, the type of experience they have accumulated and support why they feel it is healthcare relevant.
Physician Assistant Shadowing
Though shadowing PA professionals is not required, it is strongly recommended. Shadowing enhances the applicant’s exposure to physician assistants, giving them a deeper understanding of the PA profession.
Coursework
The Program does not require applicants to have completed specific prerequisite courses. However, the program strongly recommends the following coursework from a regionally accredited institution of higher education:
- Biology
- General Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Physics
- Statistics
- Behavior/Social Science
- Additional coursework such as:
Genetics, Human Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology, Cellular Biology, Medical Terminology, Ethics, Humanities, and Communication
References
Three letters of reference must be submitted through CASPA before an application will be considered complete and reviewable by the RVU PA Program. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure all references have been received by CASPA and are not pending at the time of application submittal. The RVU PA Program does not specify who letters should be written by, rather references should be selected from individuals who are well acquainted with the applicant academically, professionally and/or personally over a period of time. References from family members are strongly discouraged. The program does not accept and will not consider any form of reference (email, phone call, letter, etc.) from individuals outside of the 3 official letters submitted through CASPA.
Advanced Placement and Transfers
The RVU PA Program does not take into consideration advanced placement credit for any courses and does not accept transfers from other Physician Assistant Programs.
