I want to get into a physician’s assistant program at whatever undergraduate college I attend, however, I was wondering if there were any leading high school classes I should be taking.
Also, is there a path where I major in nursing and switch over to the PA career path? I know that most PA programs take the applicants that have previous medical experience. My info may be inaccurate but I am confused in this whole ordeal with the PA programs and such.
You need bio, chem, physics at any level+if possible AP Bio and A&P. Math through Precalculus and AP stats, AP psychology, AP Lang.
You’ll need to speak another Language to deal with non English speaking patients - Spanish but it could be anything. French if you can take Community Education Creole. Portuguese can be good too, or depending on where our live Korean, Somali, Hmong, Ukrainian… thus could be from a Community Education class and practice in a clinic.
You need to volunteer at a clinic. Spend time with patients. Shadow nurses, PAs, EMTs. You can even prepare for a CNA or EMT.
Only do nursing if you want to be a nurse.
For PA, you can take any major as long as you have the pre-reqs:
You’ll typically need to complete at least two years of college coursework in basic and behavioral sciences before applying to a PA program, which is very similar to premedical studies.
The majority of PA programs have the following prerequisites:
Chemistry
Physiology
Anatomy
Microbiology
Biology
Then you have to have some experience…but that doesn’t have to be nursing.
So what courses for HS?
Highest levels of Chemistry, Biology, Calculus you can take. Also take Anatomy and Physiology if you want.
Volunteer in a hospital or nursing home to get a feel if you like that.