I am a current upper sophomore and then found out about Physician assistant. I did not take any science courses during the 2 years as an undergraduate. If I start to take the pre-requisites, I need to stay an extra year as an undergraduate. Do you think it is worth it? NEED HELP 
WellâŠif you canât apply to PA school without those coursesâŠwhat else would be your choice?
You can start your pre-reqs, graduate and take any remaining pre-reqs as a part-time non-degree seeking student at a local university.
PA school requires not just academic pre-reqs but several hundred to several thousand hours of PAID direct patient care experience in order to be considered for admission.
https://www.aapa.org/career-central/become-a-pa/
Whether you think taking the. pre-reqs are âworth itâ depends on whether you plan on going to PA school.
PA is a well paying, in-demand job, but the entry requirements for the profession are high. You need a high GPA, good GRE scores plus. hands on patient care experience.
Thank you for replying! Will the pa school care if I take that route and finish my prereqs as a nondegree? And also, I am majoring in political science. And I know that this major doesnât have anything do with pre-health. Would that matter?
Thanks for replying. And yeah that is very true. I just donât know if it is worth it since my science isnât that strong
PA schools will not care if you took your science classes post graduation as a non degree-seeking student. You could even take some of your PA pre-reqs at a community college. Admissions wonât care and itâs something many applicants do. Some PA programs even accept on-line coursework. Please consult the admission website of your target schools.
Your actual major does not matter so long as you have completed the required admission pre-req coursework.
You need to be good at science if you want to get accepted to PA school. Youâll need to be good at science to graduate from PA schools since PA students often are in the same exact classes alongside med students during the classroom instruction portion of the program.
I heard that pa schools do not like it if you take science courses during the summer. Is this true? I have spoken with the pre-health advisor at my current school and they told me that the PA program is very competitive. I am scared that if I go follow this route, I will end up failing.
Admission to PA programs is competitive, but some programs are more competitive than others.
There are >250 accredited PA programs in the US. You will need to apply widely and be willing to relocate for PA school. I suggest you take a look at the admission websites of some of the smaller, less popular programs. And at the PA program at your home state U. That will give you a better idea of the competitiveness.
https://directory.paeaonline.org
You can take summer classes, but its not ideal for a couple of reasons. Summer classes are compressed and that means that they typically omit material that would be covered during a regular semester class. The other issue is that the class moves very fast so if you donât understand the material the first time you hear itâoops! itâs too late the instructor is teaching the next topic. I wouldnât recommend summer science classes for anyone who isnât a strong science student to begin with.
If you do want to take summer classes to get a running start on your pre-reqs, start with stats (if your math background is pretty good) or psych or a less rigorous science like intro bio.
The route to PA school is not easy and thereâs always the possibility of failure. But most things in life worth having require some risk. Only you can decide if the risk is worth it.
My neighborâs daughter has been thinking about applying to PA school for 10 years but there was always one more thing she wanted to do or one more class she wanted to take to improve her application. Sheâs now 32 and still hasnât applied to PA school. Even her mom says that she never willâŠ