Choosing a Major for PA | Springfield College

Contact PMPHS

Dr. Travis M. Gagen
Director of Pre-Health Professions
Location: Locklin Hall 101C
Email:tgagen@springfield.edu

Students generally complete the following requirements to apply to physician assistant (PA) school.

Requirements vary by program and additional prerequisite courses may be required for some courses on the list.

Common PA program prerequisite courses

Bioscience 1 & 2
General Chemistry 1 & 2
Organic Chemistry 1 (Organic Chemistry 2 is also required by some PA programs)
Human A&P 1 & 2
Biological Chemistry
Microbiology
Pre-Calculus or Calculus
Statistics or Biostatistics
Intro to Psychology (content included in MCAT)

Additional PA program requirements

GRE or MCAT exam scores (varies by program)
High overall GPA
High GPA in science courses
Letters of recommendation
Personal statement
Patient care hours (many schools require 500-2000 hours, although exact number of hours varies by program; many applicants work as a medical assistant, CNA, or an EMT to accumulate these hours)
Community service and extracurricular activities

Additional course requirements are needed to complete the following majors:

Health Science (12 additional courses), Psychology (9 additional courses), and Sports Biology majors (8 additional courses):

For Health Science major

Intro to Health Care
Intro to Public Health
Intro to Health Care Ethics
Human Disease and Chronic Illness
Principles of Epidemiology
Concepts of Assessment in Health Care
Evidence-Based Health Care
Cultural Competency for Health Professionals
Senior Research Practicum
4 Health Science selectives (e.g., EMT 1, EMT 2, Health Psychology, Health Law, etc.)

For Psychology major

Biological Basis of Behavior selective
Developmental Processes selective
Individual Differences selective
Social and Cultural Contexts selective
Applied Psychology selective
2 Psych in the Larger World selectives
PSYC 301 – Research Methods
PSYC 482 – Senior Capstone Seminar

For Sports Biology major

Physiology of Exercise
Kinesiology
Physics 1 & 2
Organic Chemistry 2 (sometimes required for PA school)
2 Biology selectives (e.g., Genetics, Developmental Biology, Virology and Immunology, etc.)
Seminar in Biology (BIOL 482)

Resources developed by Sofija Zagarins and Melinda Fowler.