Physician Assistant

Physician Assistants provide diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive healthcare services under the supervision of a physician, usually in a hospital or clinic. Working as part of a comprehensive medical team, they take medical histories, examine patients, order tests, and prescribe medications.  They also treat injuries, apply splints and casts, provide other types of therapy and surgical assistance, and may be the principal care provider in small or rural clinics where a physician is not on staff every day. They may also have managerial and supervisory duties.

---

Required Classes for Physician Assistant

Required courses	CHEM 464 -- Biochemistry I & 464L Lab - 4
Entrance exam	MCAT exam
Suggested electives	Biol 488 Molecular immunobiology BIOL 487 Diagnostic parasitology BIOL 470 -- Cancer Biology BIOL 423 -- Pathogenesis (we don't currently offer this but we should bring it back; Dr. Racz would like to teach it) BIOL 498 -- Undergraduate research PSYC 221 -- Lifespan Developmental Psychology - 3 PSYC 451 -- Psychology of Abnormal Behavior - 3
Shadowing hours	50-100 hours of medical shadowing generally required

 

---

Required Classes for All Medical Majors

Biology courses	BIOL 151 -- General Biology I & 151L Lab - 4 BIOL 153 -- General Biology II & 153L Lab - 4 BIOL 221 -- Human Anatomy & 221L BIOL 326 -- Biomedical Physiology & 326L BIOL 331 -- Microbiology & 331L 381L Lab - 4 BIOL 371 -- Genetics & 371L Lab - 4
Chemistry courses	CHEM 112 -- General Chemistry I & 112L Lab - 4 CHEM 114 -- General Chemistry II & 114L Lab - 4 CHEM 326 -- Organic Chemistry I & 326L Lab - 5 CHEM 328 -- Organic Chemistry II & 328L Lab - 5
Math courses	MATH 123 -- Calculus - 4 MATH 281 -- Introductory Statistics - 3 or Math 381 Probability and Statistics
Physics courses	PHYS 111 -- Introduction to Physics I & 111L Lab - 4 PHYS 113 -- Introduction to Physics II & 113L Lab - 4
Social Science courses	PSYC 101 -- General Psychology - 3 SOC 100 -- General sociology
English courses	Met through SDBOR general education requirements
Suggested electives	BIOL 375 Current Bioethical issues Epidemiology (no course number yet) SOC 411 Licit and Illicit Drugs SOC 420 Alcohol Use and Abuse

---

Student Resources

Professional Schools, Application, and Entrance Information

• American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA)
• Physician Assistant Education Association
• Accredited Physician Assistant Schools

Entrance Exam

Most physician assistant schools require the Graduate Record Exam as an entrance exam. Learn more about the GRE here .

Selected Regional Programs

• University of South Dakota - Graduate Physician Assistant Studies / Vermillion, SD
• Augsburg College - Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies / Minneapolis, MN
• Des Moines University - Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies / Des Moines, IA
• University of Nebraska Medical Center - Physician Assistant Omaha, NE
• University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine, PA Studies and Services / Iowa City, IA
• University of Nebraska Medical Center - Physician Assistant / Omaha, NE
• University of Utah School of Medicine - Physician Assistant Program / Salt Lake City, UT
• Wichita State University - Department of Physician Assistant / Wichita, KS

Important Note:

Consult the admissions/application web pages of the professional programs for information on required pre-requisite courses and admissions tests, application procedures, and application deadlines. Some professional/graduate programs will not accept AP or CLEP credits, online courses, or correspondence courses for the core science and math pre-requisite requirements. Many programs also require that all pre-requisite coursework be completed within a certain period of time, e.g., within 5 years prior to application. Policies vary by school and program. Be sure you know the requirements.

Contact Us

If you have questions about any of our pre-med programs, call (605) 394-2447.