There are many universities that offer great physician assistant programs, but here you will see the top five universities that have the best PA programs. You’ve made a great career choice because becoming a PA will open you up to many new experiences. This professions pays extremely well, it’s a job that is very high in demand and will continue to be for at least the next decade. Each of these PA programs have their own requirements and prerequisites for applicants. University of Iowa
The University of Iowa has a phenomenal PA program, and according to the U.S. News and World magazine, the program is ranked as one of the best in the nation. Aspiring graduates are consistently scoring in the top 5 to 10% on the national certification exam for PAs. Their program takes in 25 new aspiring PA students every year in May. The prerequisites for getting into the program are all applicants must have a bachelors degree from a college or university that is accredited, they must have taken different introductory and advanced undergraduate classes, and they must have a minimum of a 1,000 hours of working with patients in a medical institution. This is the requirements for the University of Iowa to get into their PA program.
Duke University
Duke is a phenomenal university for students who are studying to become a physician assistant. In fact, their PA program began in the 1960s. It’s a program that lasts only for two years with the first year dealing with pre-clinical course work, and the second week consisting of actual hands-on clinic practice. Their new enrollment classes start in August, and those who apply very early are given admission when those who don’t will go through some problems with their application. Each class consists of 75 students, and those who get accepted into the program will spend 1 to 3 years getting experience working with patients, and this will be a full time program with classes every day.
University of Emory
Every year at Emory university, PA students take in farm workers as their own patents. This happens in southern Georgia and they are placed in groups to be supervised by physicians. In Atlanta, students will also be required to run a monthly walk-in clinic for those who are uninsured. At the most there is 50 students in the class every year attending Emory’s physician assistant program that lasts for 28 months. Requirements for an applicant to be accepted into the program is that they must hold a bachelors degree from an accredited college or university, and they must have a minimum of 2,000 hours working directly with patients in health care institutions. Admission will be easier for students who have undergraduate coursework in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, statistics, and microbiology.
George Washington University
There are 2 PA programs that GWU has. Their first one is PA-MSHS which lasts for 2 years, and there’s the PA-MPH program that lasts for 3 years. Students who finish the 3 year program will achieve their Master of Science in Health Science degree and they will get their public health master’s degree. In both programs you will be doing coursework for a total of 42 weeks, and the rest of the program will have aspiring graduates doing clinical rotations. Students are encouraged to apply online because of the convenience and ease, and all applicants must have a minimum of 960 hours of providing health care to patients directly.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
This place is located in Dallas, Texas and it has a great PA program. All it requires applicants to have is a bachelor’s degree with coursework in anatomy, physiology, genetics, general chemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology, psychology, and mathematics with a “C” average or better. It requires that applicants have a minimum of a 1,000 of direct clinical patient care. The program will have students doing academic course work and clinical rotations. What is mandatory is that all students must have taken or take Spanish classes. It’s one of the best PA programs because of the fact that there is a 99% student pass rate on the national PA certification exam.
There are a lot of other physician assistant programs at other universities, but these are ones that have a high student pass rate.
