Physician Assistant Admission Criteria

In addition to our prerequisite criteria, the Admissions Committee highly values applicants who have healthcare experience, additional science preparatory coursework, research experience, and align with the mission of our program. However, we will review all applicants who meet our prerequisite criteria regardless of additional preparatory work.

Healthcare Experience

The Admissions Committee recommends that all applicants observe or directly worked with a physician assistant for a minimum of 40 hours. We also recommend all applicants obtain direct quality human patient care experience of a minimum of 400 hours. Common examples of direct quality patient care experience include but are not limited to: athletic trainer, behavioral health technician, certified nursing assistant, clinical pharmacist, dietician, emergency medical technician, medical assistant, medical scribe, medical technician, military medic, nutritionist, paramedic, physical therapist, physical therapy aide, radiology technician, registered nurse, respiratory therapist, and sonographer. We will consider other health care experience as well, including volunteer experience. Applicants will have an opportunity to describe their clinical experience in their application.

Please note that clinical experience completed in a veterinary medical setting or those experiences that do not require direct patient will be noted but not formally considered in our review.

When reporting experience hours, applicants should report only the number of hours completed at the time of application. Anticipated hours should not be included in the application and will not be considered during the review process.

Please note, virtual shadowing or observation hours will not be considered.

Research Experience

The Admissions Committee encourages applicants to include research experience. We will consider all research, but strongly recommend research that aligns with the mission and goals of our program. There is no expiration date for research experience.

Mission

• The Admissions Committee values applicants with the following experiences that align with the mission of our program:
  • Pennsylvania residents
  • Underserved Exposure
    • Applicants living or working in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/P) as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • Life Experience
    • Examples including but not limited to experiences such as cancer diagnosis, English as a second language immigrant (ESL), caring for a parent of loved one, personal experience with overcoming hardships or adversity, or a significant injury
  • Service
    • Examples including but not limited to domestic and international mission trips, military service, coaching, mentoring, elderly companionship, food pantry, blood drives

Science Prep

The Admissions Committee values students who have achieved a grade of 3.0 or better in additional higher-level science courses including but not limited to biochemistry, physics, immunology, neurobiology, advanced biology courses

Of Note: Our admission committee also values applicants who have obtained post baccalaureate coursework and repeat applicants who have shown increased efforts to improve their application.

Yes, as long as the course is taken through a United States Accredited Institution.

Yes, if your undergraduate institution accepted your AP credits and it is on your transcript then we will also accept them towards your prerequisite coursework.

The program is firm on the B or better requirement for prerequisites, and a B- would not be considered a B. Should you choose not to retake the course before applying and still be considered for the interview process, any offer of acceptance would be conditional on retaking those prerequisites for which you received less than a B. The program also does not accept pass/fail for any prerequisite courses. If you received a pass/fail on your transcript, please contact the registrar’s office for your official letter grade in that course.

Mid-May of each year.

Our clinical rotation scheduling process is centralized through a program clinical coordination team. Usually, these rotations are with health system partners with whom the program has ongoing relationships. While the majority of the clinical rotations are in Pennsylvania, we do have several sites in other states across the US.  The program provides supervised clinical practice experiences to students with preceptors who are board-certified in their area of instruction.  Students are not responsible for scheduling their own rotations and must not solicit clinical sites or preceptors per the program policy.  Referrals of potential health system contacts may be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Clinical Coordination Team.

We do! The undergraduate portion is handled through the Department of Biological and Health Sciences.

Pre-Physician Assistant Program

These transcripts need to be evaluated by WES or a similar service. Once that report is complete, we can review it, but we do not review individual international transcripts without the WES evaluation.

The last day that we accept applications is November 1st. However; the transcript must be completed and verified by CASPA so we strongly encourage you to submit your completed application at least two weeks prior to that date. We do not accept any applications after November 1st.

We will only accept transcripts with prerequisite coursework after the submission of an application (we will not accept additional coursework, healthcare experience, shadowing hours, etc.). Please an send any additional transcripts with completed coursework to Lori Beers at lbeers@commonwealthu.edu.

We do not require a specific number of patient care hours to apply to our program. We encourage students to gain some experience with a physician assistant to understand the role of the profession but we understand that opportunities do vary for each applicant.

Commonwealth University's PA program does not accept or grant advanced placement (a waiver of required coursework within the PA Program curriculum for applicants or currently enrolled students which would result in students advancing in the curriculum without completing required coursework within the program). No previous coursework will substitute for any PA Program courses, and the program must be completed in its totality.

At the end of each rotation, students will be required to return to one of the campuses to take their End-of-Rotation Exam in-person.  Exceptions for extenuating circumstances may be granted by their advisor.  Additionally, clinical year students, regardless of campus location during the didactic year, will be required to travel periodically to the Lock Haven campus for testing outside of End-of-Rotation Exams during the clinical year.

Campus Locations

• The program operates across three different campus locations:
  • Lock Haven
  • Clearfield
  • Harrisburg

Cohort Sizes

• Each cohort consists of a set number of students:
  • 36 students are accepted at the Lock Haven campus.
  • 12 students are accepted at the Clearfield campus.
  • 12 students are accepted at the Harrisburg campus.

Campus Selection Process

• When students are accepted into the program, they are asked to provide their preferred campus location ranking of the three campuses. If a seat is available at that campus, they will be placed at their preferred location. If not, they will be offered a seat at their next choice of campus pending seat availability.