Hello! I’m currently a senior and I’m in the middle of doing college apps, but I’m still a bit lost on what major to decide on if I want to be a PA (physician assistant).
I was going for psychology, but since it’s impacted at every school I want to apply to, I’m a bit worried esp. since my GPA and SAT score is a bit low (3.35 gpa, 1190 sat – applying to USF, USD, SFSU, CSULB, CPP, SDSU, UOP)
I was also considering a major like public health but I’m not sure if I should. Psychology is my main interest but I’m really afraid that I won’t be accepted because it’s so impacted everywhere.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should major in?
You can major in anything you want, as long as you take the prerequisites for PA studies. Most PA schools have very specific prerequisites - generally they include 2-3 semesters of chemistry, 2-3 semesters of biology, 2 semesters of anatomy & physiology, a semester of statistics, and usually a semester of psychology. Many also recommend or require that you take some other upper-level biology or chemistry classes.
It’s easier to complete these requirements as a science major but very possible to complete them as another major.
If you like psychology and are interested in health/medicine, you will probably like public health. Public health is an interdisciplinary field that is the study of the health of populations. You’ll look at health through a ecological lens - so instead of individual body systems, you’ll consider things like how income and socioeconomic status influence health; or how environmental factors may affect people’s health; or how different government policies or organizational management can affect health or work towards improving health. It’s a really nice complement to the clinical training you’ll eventually get - because it’ll help you think about things like the fact that your patients’ families, living situations, jobs, hobbies, and other factors will affect whether or not they can follow your prescribed regimens.
At most of the CSU campuses I checked, admission to the psychology major is for upper-level students - so that means you are admitted as pre-psychology and have to take some prerequisites first before you are admitted, because of the impaction. Your admission is probably mostly dependent on your grades in college.
Have you considered applying to some less competitive campuses where psychology is not impacted, like Humboldt, Chico, San Bernardino or Bakersfield?
Psychology isn’t impacted at CPP. And at some of the other campuses where only certain majors are impacted, anthropology doesn’t seem impacted at any of them.
