Pre-Physician Assistant Resources
Click on the three categories below to learn more about the pre-physician assistant track at UCCS, testing requirements, and experiential learning opportunities in the industry.
To prepare for applying to PA school, you can major in anything that you want as a undergraduate student, and you will be on a Pre-PA track to complete the necessary coursework that is required for admission to PA school.
Prerequisite Coursework through UCCS Pre-PA plan. It is important to work with your Academic Advisor to develop a plan and also making your list of programs that you want to apply to early can help you plan.
IMPORTANT: UCCS does not have a physician assistant program. Pre-Child Health Associate/Physician Assistant Prep is not a major or minor but a listing of requisite courses and recommendations needed to be eligible for admission to the CU School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant program at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, CO.
A bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 120 credits from an accredited college or university is required to be completed prior to matriculation to the program.
Other schools may have different requirements. Students should check admissions requirements for all schools to which they plan to apply. Completion of requisite coursework does not guarantee acceptance into any professional degree.
Click Here to access the Program Catalog for the Pre-Physician's Assistant Track Information
It is important to make a list of PA programs that you are interested in applying to and become aware of their testing requirements.
Altus Suite- CASPer Exam. Register for test here https://takealtus.com/
CASPer assesses for 10 characteristics: Collaboration, Communication, Empathy, Equity, Ethics, Motivation, Problem Solving, Professionalism, Resilience, and Self Awareness.
It is a 60-90 minute virtually proctored assessment, made up of 12 sections. Each section contains a video-based or word-based scenario and three open-ended questions. Test takers have five minutes to type their responses to all three questions.
Further information is on the CASPer Website.
It depends on the program if they require the CASPer exam.
GRE: Once CASPA opens, when you go to select which programs you are applying to, all of the due dates will be listed. You need to have your GRE scores in before the application due date for the program. Not every PA program requires the GRE, so check with each program to determine their testing requirements.
Free GRE Strategy Sessions with the Princeton Review can be found here: https://graduateschool.uccs.edu/
PA-CAT information: a new requirement for many PA programs is the standardized assessment specifically developed for PA.
Averages for Matriculation:
Around 3.6 GPA
CU: "To be considered for admission, applicants must have a minimum cumulative and science GPA of 3.0 on a scale of 4.0. Applicants who are offered interviews commonly have cumulative and science GPAs in the higher range. See our Admission Statistics webpage for full details on average GPAs of accepted students. Applicants with GPAs of less than 3.0 for either the cumulative or science GPA will not be considered.”
https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/physician-assistant-program
Community & Volunteer Involvement
As a physician assistant, you will serve the needs of others, and community and volunteer involvement can indicate that you are devoted to that cause. Consider some type of volunteer experience as required. There are endless opportunities for you to volunteer your time, many of which you can find out about through the UCCS Career and Innovation Center, local hospitals and clinics, El Paso County Community Service opportunities, local churches, or personal acquaintances. Be sure to check out the “Community Resources Tab” for an initial list of locations.
Around 200 hours of volunteering is a solid number for application to PA school.
Generally, your clinical experiences as you get started early in college will probably include volunteering because you likely don’t have the training required for a paid position where you’re interacting with patients, but we cannot quantify the amount: how much of your health-related experience is for pay, or through an internship, or shadowing, or true volunteer work is all up to the individual. In addition to clinical experience, civic engagement in other settings — tutoring, coaching kids, helping the elderly — are also valued, so don’t turn down those opportunities just because you don’t think PA schools will be interested in them. Also, volunteering through Hotline/Counseling opportunities, many students value the opportunity to develop active listening and counseling skills in these helping roles.
Shadowing and Clinical Experience
Shadowing is considered observation without direct patient contact. Shadowing consists of following and observing one or a few physicians around as they perform their jobs to gain a “day in the life” perspective. In choosing a physician to shadow, it may be best to pick a general practitioner of family medicine or internal medicine for an overall perspective, especially if you are just starting to build your clinical experiences. If you find yourself interested in a particular field, explore it by seeking out physicians that specialize in that or similar fields.
Typically, around 100-150 shadowing hours which are consistent. Shadowing is a short-term, passive opportunity. You may have a chance to see how a physician interacts with their patients, discuss rewards and challenges of the profession, and gain insight on what you might want in your career.
Clinical Experience is clinical interaction with patients. As long as who you are interacting with are patients, then it’s clinical. Clinical experience is with trained professionals, whether in a hospital, surgical center, physician’s office, or similar environment. Clinical experience can be paid employment, although typically it is volunteer work. You must gain first-hand experience in the field before making the decision to pursue PA as your career. A consensus among many universities, though there is not a set number required, is to recommend at least 1,000-4,000 hours of direct clinical exposure. Becoming comfortable in a clinical setting is critical to understanding what patient care is actually like, confirming PA is the right fit, and demonstrating you have an understanding of the path ahead to admissions committees.
Examples:
Hospital / Clinic / Hospice volunteering: longer-term, active opportunity in which you provide a service to the clinical setting. This can give you a sense of the culture within a unit of the hospital or other care facility over time, allow you to interact with the team within the unit (nurses, techs, physicians, etc.), and, in some units, you may have the opportunity to interact directly with patients and their families.
Volunteering with patient populations: Opportunities outside of the hospital/clinic setting interacting with individuals with medical needs, such as working at a summer camp with kids with health issues; spending time with elderly individuals who are navigating dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other conditions; assisting with health screenings for at-risk populations.
Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) : after a course and certification test, CNAs work alongside nurses to provide direct care to patients. Training is available through community colleges and through care facilities like nursing homes. Check your state’s Department of Health for a list of training facilities.
Medical Scribing: paid position in which you follow doctors as they visit with patients and take notes for them, so that they can focus on the patient.
Certified EMT/EMS: Another option to accumulate clinical hours quickly is to become certified as an EMT.
Participation in extracurricular activities is an important aspect of your undergrad years. Through your involvement in social and community activities, athletics, volunteer work, clinical experiences, and employment, PA schools can gain insight into your personal qualities – beyond just your grades and metrics. Also, by showing that you can successfully juggle both academics and extracurriculars, you prove responsibility and foreshadow success when faced with a busy PA school schedule. Extracurriculars always draw time and attention away from your course work, so make sure you choose to participate in ones that hold value. Think of extracurricular activities as absolutely required. Quality extracurriculars can make your application stand out from the crowd.
Social Activities & Athletics
Involvement in athletics or in undergrad activities/organizations like clubs, societies or other interests can give you an opportunity to:
explore your own personal interests.
demonstrate to PA schools what is important to you (other than just being admitted)
develop leadership qualities.
prioritize your mental health, self-care, social, physical and emotional well-being by being involved in personal interests too.
Embrace your college experience by surrounding yourself with activities that mean something to you and are valuable to your well-being. Not only will you feel personally fulfilled, it will be reflected in your application to PA school (in the work/activities or essay sections of the application, or in your interview discussion).
UCCS Student Orgs to consider: