<p>My soon to be college senior is graduating with a PSYCH degree with a lot of science courses on his transcript. What is the best track to take to get into a Physicians Assisting program ASAP? Are the top PA programs worth the wait to be able to apply to them or should he apply to a less known school right out of college? Thanks</p>
<p>you might want to look at either uab or university of south alabama (mobile alabama)</p>
<p>uab has one of the few surgical PA programs. ranked in the top 25!
[UAB</a> - Clinical And Diagnostic Sciences Surgical Physician Assistant](<a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found)</p>
<p>[Physician</a> Assistant ¶ Programs in Alabama](<a href=“Welcome mdjourney.com - Hostmonster.com”>Welcome mdjourney.com - Hostmonster.com)</p>
<p>if you want more info on uab, feel free to pm…</p>
<p>Which sciences did he take? And did he take the versions for majors? </p>
<p>These are common pre-reqs for Physician Assistants.</p>
<p>3-4 semester hours of biology I (lab preferred)
3-4<em>semester hours of biology II</em>(lab preferred)
3-4 semester hours of microbiology (lab preferred)
3-4 semester hours of human anatomy
3-4 semester hours human physiology
8-9 semester hours of general chemistry (labs preferred)
3-4 semester hours of statistics (upper level, population, and/or health-related with lab preferred)
9 semester hours of psychology (general, developmental, abnormal)</p>
<p>I don’t know if OChem is recommended or not.</p>
<p>Has he taken the GRE yet? If not, he needs to do so?</p>
<p>Are the top PA programs worth the wait to be able to apply to them or should he apply to a less known school right out of college? Thanks</p>
<p>PA schools are very hard to get into, so he needs to apply to both types and hope he gets into one. It’s like applying to med schools, you’re lucky to get into one. And if PA schools are like med schools, they’re all good, none are subpar.</p>
<p>Parent56 Thanks for the links and input. I will PM you if i need further details!</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids:He has taken bio 1+2 (with Labs) , A+P, Microbiology (with Lab), General Chem (With Lab). He is scheduled to take origanic Chem this semester. Psych courses all set. He is taking the GRE soon (stressed out). Thanks for the input. Any other thought of yours are appreciated!</p>
<p>accredited is really the most important thing, nobody is concerned were a PA went to school! it is a great career choice but, just get in to a program and I am sure he will not have to worry about the future as far as jobs go.</p>
<p>I hate to be THAT PERSON, but it’s not Physicians Assisting. He might want to make sure it’s something he wants to do. He needs experience with direct patient care and should probably shadow some Physician Assistants/Associates. The DPC could come from becoming a CNA or EMT/Paramedic. I imagine other things such as radiographer(tech), sonographer, etc would be fine as well.
^^ Unless he will be able to get that from now until application deadlines then it probably won’t happen.</p>
<p>I’m also curious as to why he didn’t choose Medical School. You and him can expect to get that question a lot, but he better have a good explanation for it. I am sure admission committees will ask him why he wants to be a PA-C and why he chose that particular school.
I’ve heard of plenty of people give the explanation, “because it’s quicker,” or “because I won’t be spending so many years learning,” or “because I don’t want the burden off a $200,000+ debt,” or “because I was not (or probably will not) get accepted into medical school so this is a backup plan,” or “because after medical school the graduates have to spend about 4-7+ years in residencies where they get paid lower than a PA would make immediately after graduating and have to work longer hours.” </p>
<p>Also from what I’ve heard PA schools are still very competitive. You have college students that want shortcuts to doing mostly everything a physician does and you have older workers that are looking for a career change in the health industry. Also I don’t believe it matters how known the schools are.</p>
<p>By the way, he might be interested in the physician assistant forum. It will probably be the first thing in google.</p>