Admissions

Advanced Placement Policy ^A3.12c

The Penn State College of Medicine PA Program is a full-time academic program administered in a sequential fashion that builds from courses completed in the prior term. The program does not award credit for experiential learning or advanced placement, nor does the program accept transfer credits.

Penn State's holistic admissions process considers multiple factors beyond academic performance. While meeting the minimum GPA requirements is an essential component of the review process, academic metrics alone do not determine interview selection or admission decisions.

Preference Factors ^A3.12a

The Penn State PA Program gives interview preference to applicants who demonstrate one or more of the following attributes:

• Residence in a rural or federally designated underserved community

• Origin from an educationally or economically disadvantaged background

• First-generation college student status

• Veteran or active-duty military service

• Pennsylvania residency

• Graduation from Penn State University

• Employment within Penn State Health

• Completion of an advanced degree

Meeting one or more preference factors does not guarantee an interview invitation or admission to the Program.

All applications are reviewed holistically. Interview invitations are extended following a comprehensive application review of preference factors, cumulative GPA, science GPA, patient care experience (type and hours), extent of leadership experience, volume of research involvement, and extent of volunteer and community engagement.

General Application Requirements ^A3.12b

Applicants to Penn State College of Medicine must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or have official DACA status. International candidates are not eligible.

All applicants must have a bachelor’s degree with completion of all academic requirements from an accredited U.S. or Canadian college/university. Health science majors are preferred; however, this is not a mandatory requirement for application or admission. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

For applications to be screened by the admissions committee, applicants must complete the program’s secondary application and have a verified CASPA application that includes:

• Personal/biographic information, experiences, achievements, and certifications

• Academic history with official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended

• CASPA-calculated overall cumulative GPA of > 3.0

• CASPA-calculated overall science GPA of > 3.0

• Completion of the GRE (no minimum score requirement): GRE school code 0900

  • In lieu of the GRE, applicants may provide MCAT, PCAT, or DAT scores. The program has not adopted using the PA-CAT test results as a substitution for the GRE.

    • MCAT (old version) 29 or MCAT (new version) 505 required

    • PCAT total score 75^th percentile rank or higher

    • DAT total score of 18 or higher

• Three letters of recommendation

• Completion of the release statement

• Submission of personal essay

All applicants must agree to abide by the CASPA Professional Code of Conduct and the CASPA Admissions Code of Cooperation.

Incomplete applications will not be considered or screened by the admissions committee.

Following completion of the CASPA application for admission, each applicant will have to register in LionPATH, the college's internal admissions system, prior to interview participation.

Candidates should have a CASPA-calculated overall cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 and a CASPA-calculated overall science GPA of at least 3.0. A minimum of 500 hours of healthcare experience (paid or volunteer) is required for admission. Hours as a personal trainer or lifeguard are not accepted by the program.

Applicants may apply to the program while prerequisite coursework, degree completion, and required patient care or healthcare experience hours are still in progress at the time of application and interview. However, all prerequisite courses, degree requirements, and required hours must be successfully completed and verified prior to matriculation into the program in May.

Pre-Requisite Course Requirements

Applicants must complete the following courses with a C or better:

• General Biology

• Anatomy and Physiology (two semesters or one semester each)

• Microbiology

• General or Principles of Chemistry

• Biochemistry or Organic Chemistry

• General Psychology

• Statistics or Biostatistics

• English Composition (two semesters, or two writing intensive courses)

• Medical terminology test

  • All students will be required to pass a medical terminology exam during the Introductory Concepts in Medicine Course. A list of terms that may be used as a guide for studying will be provided to accepted students by April 1 through the online pre-matriculation forum. Incoming students may self-study or may find it helpful to take a formal medical terminology course before arrival. Download a list of terms that may be used as a study guide.

Online courses from regionally accredited institutions are accepted. AP credits accepted by the undergraduate institution can satisfy general biology, general chemistry, psychology, statistics, and English composition courses. Anatomy, physiology, and microbiology should have a 7-year currency for completion, which may be waived for applicants who have been working full-time in the healthcare field since completion.

AP and CLEP credit accepted by the undergraduate institution can be used to satisfy pre-requisite requirements for general biology, general chemistry, general psychology, statistics, and English composition.

Three pre-requisite courses have a seven-year currency:

• Anatomy / A&P I

• Physiology / A&P II

• Microbiology

This currency requirement will be waived for any applicant who has been working full time and continuously in the healthcare field since completion of coursework.

Healthcare and Patient Care Experience Hours ^A3.12d

Applicants must have a minimum of 500 healthcare experience hours (paid or volunteer) prior to matriculation into the PA program. These hours can be in progress or planned during the application and interview cycle. While the program is flexible in accepting a wide variety of hours to help satisfy the 500-hour requirement, hours as a personal trainer or lifeguard are not accepted.

For admissions related questions, please contact 717-531-0003, ext 285595, or PSUPAProgram@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.

The Penn State PA Program has early assurance programs with the following institutions:

• Franklin and Marshall College

• Hampton University

• Lebanon Valley College

• Lincoln University

• Gettysburg College

The Early Assurance program allows students to apply to the PA Program during their junior year of undergraduate coursework. Early Assurance applicants have the opportunity to be granted admission at the completion of the Early Assurance process, forgoing the entire CASPA application process as a senior.

Information regarding this program is available by request. Students at these institutions should speak directly to their pre-med, pre-health, or pre-PA advisors to discuss requirements and eligibility.

Admissions decisions will be made in accordance with clearly defined and published practices of the institution and program as noted above.

The PA Program at Penn State College of Medicine has updated its admissions policies, understanding COVID-19 may have impacted your educational experience.At this time, we have updated our policies as follows:

• GREs continue to be an admissions requirement. This remains unchanged.

  • We have never had a minimum GRE requirement and the range of an acceptable score varies. This can be viewed on our .

• While our grading preference remains taking a letter grade for courses, the Penn State PA Admissions Committee revised its grading policy for courses taken in the Spring 2020 and Summer 2020 semesters to accept Satisfactory or Pass grades in lieu of letter grades for both pre-requisites and other courses. Again, our preference is that a candidate reports a letter grade, but if your school did not give you the option to take a letter grade, we will accept Satisfactory or Pass grades for all courses, including pre-requisites, during these two semesters.

• We do not have a minimum letter grade requirement for individual pre-requisite courses; this remains unchanged.

• We have always accepted online courses and labs, including sciences, from regionally accredited institutions; this remains unchanged.

• You will be given the option to detail any academic, professional, personal hardships faced because of COVID-19 by way of an Impact Essay within CASPA.

• Healthcare hours required to matriculate remains at a minimum of 500 hours; many virtual experiences are accepted towards the minimum requirement.

The 2026-2027 admissions interview cycle will be conducted virtually.

We are confident that what has been developed for this year's interview experience will enable candidates to experience the Penn State PA Program virtually to the best extent possible while also providing candidates ample opportunity to share who they are.

Our admissions committee will learn a great deal before a request to interview is offered based on all aspects of the CASPA and secondary applications. Our committee takes great pride in reading and reviewing each candidate's file prior to interviewing.

It is the goal of the PA admissions committee to provide a seamless, safe and informative experience from the candidate’s current location.

Interview sessions provide a personalized experience with the program and involve the following activities:

• Program director interview

• Faculty/staff/alumni panel

• Program presentation

• Current student session