Physician Assistant Program Admissions

Requirements

1. A bachelor’s degree from a four-year regionally accredited college or university. No specific major is required. An overall college GPA of 3.0 or higher is recommended.
2. Satisfactory completion (a letter grade of C or better) in the Medical Core Prerequisite courses. All coursework must be taken in the United States at a regionally accredited institution. A prerequisite GPA of 3.2 or higher is recommended (competitive GPA range is 3.4-3.6).
3. A minimum of 1,000 hours clinical experience with direct patient contact completed by July 15. Although applicants may be in-progress of completing hours at the time of application, applicants who have completed and/or exceeded the minimum 1,000-hour requirement at the time of application are deemed more competitive.
4. The MUPAP recognizes academic success with review of total, science, and prerequisite GPA. Further, the MUPAP values diverse backgrounds within its cohorts and specifically identifies the below qualities in application review as contributing to the diversity of our program and profession.• Students who are from economically and/or environmentally disadvantaged backgrounds
   • Military affiliation (active duty, veteran, reserves, military spouse)
   • Exceeding the 1,000-hour clinical experience requirement
   • Extracurricular activities (i.e. student athlete, club/organization member/leader, significant volunteer experiences, etc.)
   • Completion of an honors program
   • Graduate of a master’s level science program
   • Rigorous post-bacc performance (with 25 or more semester hours and above a 3.0 GPA)
   • Cape Fear region resident
   • Extraordinary life or healthcare experiences
5. No history of drug abuse or conviction of a felony.
6. No history of dismissal from a PA, medical, or nursing school for academic or disciplinary reasons.
7. Applicants who have attended and/or completed a foreign or domestic medical school must have achieved a 3.0 overall GPA (program will use WES evaluation for GPA calculation for foreign schools), no history of dismissal from the medical program, and/or no failures on the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE).
8. Advanced Placement: The program does accept advanced placement (AP) credit from high school for prerequisite coursework. The program does not grant advanced placement into the program based on previous educational experiences. For example, if a student has been enrolled in another medical program (i.e. PA school, medical school), coursework completed in the previous program will not replace any curricular components of our program, if accepted. All required curricular components of the program must be completed.
9. Applicants who have completed their degree outside the US must follow policies for Foreign Graduates.
10. Applicants must also meet the program’s Technical Standards.
11. Completion of a successful interview with the Admissions Selection Committee.