Austin College Physician Assistant Program prerequisites

General chemistry does not appear on Austin College's prerequisite list. Organic chemistry with lab is the only chemistry named, which is unusual for a PA program and means you can satisfy the list without ever having general chemistry appear on it, though your institution will almost certainly require it before organic.

1 semester · 4 credits · lab

"Organic chemistry with lab: 4 credit hours." One semester, laboratory included. Austin College requires organic chemistry while requiring no general chemistry at all, an inversion of the usual PA pattern, so plan on general chemistry only as the course prerequisite your college will impose before it lets you into organic.

Biochemistry appears nowhere on the prerequisite list and is not named as recommended either.

No English, composition or writing requirement appears among the nine prerequisite courses.

1 semester · 3 credits

Statistics, not calculus. The exception is regional: several Oklahoma and Texas programs require college algebra instead and do not count statistics, so check those individually.

1 semester · 3 credits

Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits and list it as required.

Psychology is one of two interchangeable ways to fill a single three credit requirement, not a course named on its own: "Psychology or Sociology: 3 credit hours." Sociology satisfies the same line.

1 semester · 3 credits

"Genetics: 3 credit hours," no laboratory. A hard requirement here where most programs list genetics only as a recommended upper-level science, and like every science prerequisite it must be a United States regionally accredited course for science majors, with no AP credit accepted.

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Eight credits with lab, reachable two ways: "Anatomy with lab: 4 credit hours (Human anatomy strongly recommended) Or Anatomy and Physiology I and II with lab (or equivalent): 8 credit hours" and "Physiology with lab: 4 credit hours Or Anatomy and Physiology I and II with lab (or equivalent): 8 credit hours." Separate anatomy and physiology courses or the combined two semester sequence both work. Human anatomy is strongly recommended over comparative.

1 semester · 4 credits · lab

Named by nearly every program, usually 3 or 4 credits. A minority accept it without the lab, so read the school's own line before dropping one.

1 credits

Most PA programmes ask for 1 credits and list it as recommended.

Required here rather than recommended as in the baseline: "Medical Terminology: 1 credit hour." It sits among the prerequisite courses, so like the rest it must be taken for a grade and passed with at least a C.

1 semester · 3 credits

"Psychology or Sociology: 3 credit hours." Either discipline answers the same single course, and the program names no other social science or humanities requirement.

500+ hours

Most PA programmes ask for 500+ hours and list it as required.

There is no minimum, and the program says so twice over: "Competitive applicants will have a minimum of 500 total hours of direct healthcare experience. Although not required, direct patient care experience (paid or volunteer) is strongly recommended for all applicants prior to application." The published scoring rubric turns those 500 hours into a real threshold anyway: "500 or more hours of patient care experience" scores in the top band, "200-499 hours" scores mid-range, and "Less than 200 hours of patient care experience" appears in the least competitive band. The Class of 2026 averaged 2,929 hours, which is a competitiveness marker rather than a floor.

500+ hours

Austin College draws the line explicitly and files desk work on the far side of it: "administrative work performed in a health care setting will not qualify as direct healthcare experience but should be recorded under the 'Related Health Care Experience' section of the CASPA application. This would include positions such as medical receptionist, unit clerk, etc." No hour figure is attached to that category, and it does not count toward the 500 hours the rubric rewards.

Shadowing is not mentioned on the admission requirements page or in the published applicant selection rubric. The rubric scores patient care experience, service mindset, personal statement and letters, and shadowing hours appear in none of those bands.

1 letter

Most PA programmes publish no minimum.

The program asks for a professor, not a science professor: "At least one recommendation should come from a professor able to speak of the applicant's academic capabilities." A science professor satisfies that, but so does one from any other department, so this is recorded as the broader faculty letter rather than a science specific one.

1 letter

Three letters are required overall, and the only one whose writer the program specifies is academic: "At least one recommendation should come from a professor able to speak of the applicant's academic capabilities." Any discipline qualifies, since the program says professor rather than science professor. The rubric is blunt about who not to ask: top scoring files have letters where "NONE are written by family members," and a file where "multiple references come from family members" lands in the least competitive band.

1 letter

Most PA programmes publish no minimum.

No PA letter is named. The clinical letter is open to any profession: "At least one recommendation from a healthcare professional knowledgeable of the applicant's performance in the clinical setting is strongly recommended." A PA is one such writer among many, and the wording is strongly recommended rather than required.

1 letter

Most PA programmes publish no minimum.

The nearest thing to a supervisor letter here is strongly recommended, not required: "At least one recommendation from a healthcare professional knowledgeable of the applicant's performance in the clinical setting." Knowledge of your performance, not merely of you, is what the phrasing asks for, which rules out a clinician you only shadowed.