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
  Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. RVU is currently awaiting approval for international students.
• Bachelor’s Degree
  Applicants must have earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university in the United States
• GRE
  Official scores are required and should be directly reported from ETS to CASPA using institutional code 4111. Scores must be visible in the application prior to submittal to CASPA . Please verify that ETS has submitted your scores for your app prior to submitting. Exam results must not be older than 5 years. No minimum score is required. **Applicants with Verbal, Analytical, and Quantitative scores in the 50^th percentile or higher are preferred
• GPA
  All applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.8 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, 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.
  
• PA-CAT Test
  The PA-CAT (Physician Assistant College Admission Test) is a specialized test designed to measure applicant knowledge in key prerequisite science subjects typically required for PA school. The PA-CAT measures general academic ability and scientific knowledge necessary for success in the demanding physician assistant curriculum. Although not a requirement, the RVU PA program strongly recommends that all applicants complete this test as part of their application. For more information and to register visit their website.
  
  Note: It is highly recommended that you take the PA-CAT in January, February, or March of 2021. This will allow your score report to be received when CASPA opens at the end of April. Scores must be received no later than Sept 1, 2021.
• 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.