How to Choose a PA School

You have decided you want to be a PA. This is of course THE crucial first step in committing to a future of caring for people and becoming an amazing PA. However, with over 250 accredited PA programs within the United States and more schools working towards accreditation, how do you choose the right one? We get asked this question frequently and the answer changes for each person. 

Choosing the right PA program for you is very personalized and there are many variables that go into making this decision. Let’s explore a few of them.

First let’s consider geography. Where in the US you go to school may play a major role for you. Perhaps you want to stay where you currently live in order to make connections, due to family being close by, or you just love your current location and want to remain there after PA school. These are important questions to consider as living close to family may play a part in your support system while going through PA school. Many students find their first jobs and make lifelong connections within the healthcare field based on clinical year rotations. On the other hand, you may want to try a new area where you can start a whole new chapter of your life. You may have dreamt of living in a specific city or state, and this is your opportunity to explore that region. Additional considerations for you may include, choosing a school based on the climate, living in a city or rural location, and more. Geography alone may help you to narrow down the list of schools you consider.

Is it important to you to receive an additional degree along with becoming a PA? This is a question that many pre-PAs do not consider, but may be important in the pursuit of your future career. You may think, I just want to be a PA. Isn’t that enough? Yes! That absolutely is and finding a program that offers an additional degree may not be important to you at all. If it is, there are programs that allow you to gain extra schooling, credentialing, and licensing in various areas, such as, public health, business, and law. You may have specific interests in working beyond the clinic with patients, may want to specialize in medical law, work internationally, or just want to leave your options open. If so, consider being more deliberate in pursuing these joint degree programs.  

As well as receiving additional degrees, class size and duration of the program may impact your personal learning. Class sizes range wildly from program to program being as low as about 25 to over 100 students. It is important to consider both your personality and learning style. Reflecting on previous schooling, did you thrive in small classes where teachers were more involved or did you prefer the large setting? Also depending on your personality of being an introvert versus extrovert, you may simply feel more relaxed and thrive in various sized groups which may impact your comfort, stress levels, and learning. Then, there may still be others where this may not be a factor, but it is important to spend some time self-reflecting. Similar to class size, duration of programs varies greatly with the shortest being around 24 months and longest around 30 months. There may be extenuating circumstances that influence an individual’s need to return to the workforce as soon as possible. Someone else may desire a longer program in order to be exposed to as well as receive additional training. You just need to know yourself.

While all programs will train you to become a PA, how and with what methods will vary. This may be another time to self-reflect on your learning style. All programs will incorporate traditional lectures into the curriculum. However, some may focus on experiential, case based, self-paced/directed, or group learning. Do you prefer or find you learn best in one of these environments or a combination of them? Many programs also offer a variety of amenities to enhance learning and could be important considerations during your pre-PA journey. Some of these amenities include tutoring, cadaver dissection, ultrasound, medical volunteer groups, learning an additional language, or something else. Do you want these to be part of your education process?

An area that many applicants do not consider, but could greatly impact your life, are the clinical rotations and a school’s affiliation with an academic hospital. Usually, the first year of PA school involves learning the basics and is spent primarily in the classroom. It is the second “clinical” year when you receive the opportunity to put all of your skills and knowledge together to care for patients. As a PA student you will be placed in rotations, as well as provided with an opportunity to learn and grow. The breadth of opportunities, distance needed to travel, and more can be influenced by the program’s connections. Commonly, but not all the time, an affiliation with academic hospitals will provide more opportunities as well as local opportunities as compared to another program. Challenges with a non-affiliated program may present itself in the form of having to find your own housing, needing to finish a rotation in one location that is far from the next (for example, completing a dermatology rotation in Washington State with your family medicine rotation located in Tennessee), or sharing your rotation with multiple students. On the other side, this affiliation can also leave you competing for rotations with medical students, residents, and NPs. It is important to investigate and know what each school offers for clinical rotations. One situation is not necessarily always better than the other, but one may fit you better.

Depending on where you are in your pre-PA journey, the prerequisites of the school could determine the entire decision to apply or not. It is essential to make sure you have completed all basic prerequisites including courses, volunteer and patient care hours, and GPA. Commonly an admissions committee will not even consider an applicant without these basic requirements being met. Additionally, it is important to understand the type of students accepted into the program you are applying to. Some things that may influence this depending on your personal situation may include age, any prior careers, completing prerequisites classes at a junior college vs. a post baccalaureate program, how recently you graduated college, and your undergraduate major. Some programs prefer pre-med majors who have recently graduated college while another one leans toward older students who have had careers both within and outside of the medical field. 

Some other factors to consider and ponder include the total cost of school, scholarships, attrition rates, remediation plans, attending a non-accredited school, and how happy students and faculty appear. 

Applying to PA school is a big decision and undertaking. It is important to spend time researching and making deliberate decisions about where you will apply. You are making a significant investment in your life and future. It is vital to be as knowledgeable as possible. If you are not sure where to start or are looking for some additional guidance, do not hesitate to reach out to us. We know how daunting it can be to narrow down the choices. Good luck on your PA journey!