Best Physician Assistant Degree Programs of 2023

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Duquesne University created the first five-year, entry-level master's degree for physician assistants. Taught by professors and active professionals, students who complete the full-time program graduate with both a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree. Students complete their clinical rotations in various settings, including inpatient facilities, long-term care, and office settings. Applications are accepted from students during their freshman year at Duquesne, which is a medium-sized private Catholic university founded by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in 1878. Admission is highly competitive and students should have advanced science and math skills, demonstrated academic success in high-level science and math courses, leadership skills, and knowledge of the physician assistant profession. Transfer students with more than 12 postsecondary credits are not eligible to apply.

An innovative curriculum is the hallmark of the University of Iowa's graduate physician assistant program. It is purposefully designed to ensure students complete their classroom coursework alongside the university's medical students. The University of Iowa's physician assistant program is a nonthesis 28-month program that leads to a Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree. The program is highly competitive and admits just 25 students annually. In addition to a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0, applicants must have completed several prerequisite courses in the biological, chemical, and statistical sciences. Applicants must also have a minimum of 1,000 hours of direct patient health care experience via paid work, volunteerism, or research. Iowa's program is very hands-on and utilizes the university's Carver College of Medicine Simulated Patient Program so physician assistant students are exposed to real-life scenarios even before they begin their clinical rotations.

Baylor College of Medicine offers a highly comprehensive Master of Physician Assistant Studies program on campus in Waco, Texas. The program is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary. Physician assistants (PAs) and medical students learn together, sharing the same facilities and clinical sites, including Texas Medical Center - the world's largest medical facility. Courses are taught by professors from the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Doctor of Nursing Practice-Nurse Anesthesia program, and National School of Tropical Medicine. Instruction also comes from clinicians in many medical fields, including emergency medicine, pediatrics, and surgery. Baylor's program seeks diverse cohorts and welcomes applicants whose undergraduate degree is not in the sciences and who have no experience in a health care setting. A minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.2 is required to apply, as are several prerequisite courses, including anatomy, organic chemistry, and English composition.

Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Marquette University is a private Catholic school that offers a Master of Physician Assistant Studies program grounded in the Jesuit ideals of spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. The program accepts 75 new students annually and boasts a low attrition rate of 4% (2021), as compared with the national average of 5.1% (2019). Additionally, the program's Class of 2020 had a 100% job placement. Marquette's program offers several unique hands-on learning experiences, including clinical rotations in Belize and in rural communities in Alaska. Application requirements include a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 and completion of several prerequisite courses, including microbiology, biochemistry, and medical terminology. Applicants are also required to have had a minimum of 200 hours of patient contact. Examples of patient contact include scribing, EMT service, or volunteering in a nursing home.

Duke University has the distinction of being the birthplace of the physician assistant (PA) profession. Dr. Eugene A. Stead, Jr., then-chairman of the department of medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine, formed the first PA class in 1965 to fill a national need for more medical practitioners. Stead also saw the benefit of giving veterans returning from war who served as medics and corpsmen a pathway to continue to practice medicine. Today, the university still places a strong value on including veterans in its PA program. The official values of Duke's PA program include diversity and inclusion, kindness and compassion, and scholarship. Duke's PA program takes 24 months to complete and is highly competitive. For its Class of 2023, the school had approximately 3,100 applications for 90 seats. In addition to prerequisite courses, applicants to Duke's PA program must have a minimum of 1,000 hours of hands-on patient care experience, such as serving as a registered nurse, scribe, or Peace Corps volunteer.

A Master of Physician Assistant Studies degree with academic rigor and hands-on experience is offered at Massachusetts-based Springfield College. The degree takes 27 months to complete and students can expect to be in classes daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Additionally, the school arranges 11 four-week clinical rotations in the field, including in pediatrics, emergency medicine, and psychiatry. Employment or graduate assistantships while enrolled in the program are discouraged owing to the intense time commitment required from the program. The Master of Physician Assistant program typically accepts two or three students a year as the majority of the class comes from the school's six-year undergraduate preprofessional program. Among the admissions requirements are at least 30 hours of shadowing experience with a practicing physician assistant. The program boasts a 100% job placement rate, and employers of recent graduates include UConn Health, Maui Medical Group, and the New England Center for Functional Medicine.

George Washington University's Master of Physician Assistant Studies program is one of the oldest in the nation. It is administered by the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and features distinguished faculty. Because of its location in the nation's capital, it also offers unique opportunities for students interested in health policy and leadership. The school has pledged that within the next five years it will diversify its physician assistant (PA) classes even more by adding more students who are first-generation, military veterans, economically and/or educationally disadvantaged, and residents of communities in health profession shortage areas. George Washington's PA program takes two years to complete. There is also an option to earn a dual PA/Master of Public Health, which takes an additional year. Program competencies for both degrees include medical knowledge, patient care, and systems-based practice.

Located in Chicago, Illinois, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is a small private school that has offered a Master of Physician Assistant Practice program since 1991. The program embraces team-based learning and interactive classroom and clinical activities. Among its core values are diversity, professionalism, and teamwork. The program prefers applicants with direct patient care experience and requires undergraduate courses in biochemistry, human anatomy, physiology, psychology, and microbiology. Rosalind Franklin admits around 67 students to the program annually; they have an average age of 26 and a cumulative GPA of 3.49. Among the research focuses of current faculty are spinal changes in pregnancy, health education in a cultural context, and opioid use and abuse.

A rigorous physician assistant Master of Medical Science degree program is offered by Saint Louis University, a medium-sized private school in Missouri. This 27-month program features state-of-the-art classrooms and a simulated medical office with eight exam rooms. A broad curriculum in the medical and surgical disciplines is taught by distinguished full-time faculty and complemented by guest lectures from area physicians, physician assistants, and science faculty from within the university. Clinical rotations are diverse in discipline and location, and several are required to be performed outside of the St. Louis area. Applicants are required to have at least 500 hours of direct patient care experience, but the average applicant has about 2,000. Other requirements include prerequisite courses and an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0. Other factors taken into consideration during the admission process are maturity, empathy, and oral and written communication skills.

Research is an integral component of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio's Master of Physician Assistant Studies program. The program takes 30 months of continuous studies to complete and is one of the few in the country that requires a research component to graduate. There is also classroom instruction and 15 supervised clinical practice experiences, including behavioral medicine, primary care, and women's health. Students must also complete a communications program called TeamSTEPPS and participate in a teamwork experience called Common IPE. Unlike most programs on this list, shadowing and patient care experiences are not required for admission but are highly recommended. There is also no required undergraduate GPA, but the average GPA for admitted students is 3.79. Texas' Master of Physician Assistant Studies program takes about 55 new PA students a year from a pool of about 1,750.