Prepare for Physician Assistant Program Admission
Please note: Cal Poly Pomona does not offer any Physician Assistant program. The program is listed here merely for the purpose of providing general information about this program to interested CPP students.
Physician Assistants (PAs) are health care professionals who practice medicine under the supervision of a licensed physician. PAs provide physical exams, order and administer tests, make diagnoses, and treat illnesses. PAs work in a variety of settings including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and surgical centers. They are qualified to practice in over 60 specialty areas.
Prerequisites for most PA programs
The following prerequisites are generally required prior to matriculation into a PA Program. They are:
- Bachelor's degree or higher (less than 3% of matriculating PA students had Associate degree or some college but no degree in 2022 - data from PAEA Student Report 6)
- Minimum cumulative overall G.P.A. of 2.2 (* the average undergraduate GPA for applicants accepted into PA program was 3.6 in 2022, with the mean of 25th percentiles at 3.5 - data from PAEA Student Report 6)
General Course Prerequisites include the following. However, each program has its own requirements, so check spcific programsfor their requirements. To plan for your class schedule, please visit our "Class Schedule and Action Timeline" page for details.
- 1 full year of English (Composition component required)
- 1 year of inorganic chemistry with Labs
- 1 year of biology with Lab
- College Algebra
- Human Anatomy
- General Psychology
- General Sociology
- Physiology (human/vertebrate/organ)
- Basic Microbiology with Lab
- General Statistics
- Spanish
- Genetics
- 1 year of humanities (i.e. Art, Music, Ethics, Philosophy, Foreign Languages, Religion)
- Clinical Health Care Experience (direct patient contact experience) about 1000 hours
Strongly recommended: Medical Terminology, Biochemistry with Lab, Immunology, Other Biology courses, Organic Chemistry
Also recommended: Join CPP Pre-Physician Assistant Club
Tests Needed:
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) required by certain schools
Personal Competencies for Admission and Matriculation into PA school
Here is a link to the personal competencies(PDF) described for admission and matriculation into the Western University of Health Sciences College of Health Sciences Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPA) program
Here is another link to The Competencies for the PA Profession available on the PAEA (Physician Assistant Education Association) website. PAEA is the only national organization representing PA educational programs in the United States. Currently, all of the accredited programs in the country are members of the Association (see statement under "About us" on PAEA website).
PA Program Association
PAEA (Physician Assistant Education Association)
PA Schools in California
- California Baptist University
- Chapman University
- Charles R. Drew University
- Dominican University of California
- Loma Linda University
- Marshall B. Ketchum University
- Samuel Merritt College
- Southern California University of Health Sciences
- Stanford University
- Touro University - California
- University of California Davis
- University of the Pacific
- University of Southern California
- Western University of the Health Sciences