Cyclios

PA · Fort Myers, Florida · public

Florida Gulf Coast University Physician Assistant Program prerequisites

What FGCU asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 1 line differs from the standard PA school set, marked below.

Read from the school’s pageCheck it with the school

This school states it has no required prerequisite courses. Everything below is coursework it recommends rather than a gate.

Coursework

  • General chemistry with labrequired

    2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

    The two-semester sequence with lab. Around a fifth of programs want only one semester or skip general chemistry entirely and start at organic or biochemistry.

  • Biochemistryrequired

    1 semester · 3 credits

    Roughly half the programs that ask for an upper chemistry accept either biochemistry or organic chemistry for the same single line, so one course often covers both entries on this list.

  • English or writing-intensiverecommended

    2 semesters · 6 credits

    English composition, usually two semesters where it is asked for at all.

  • Statisticsrequired

    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.

  • Psychologyrequired

    1 semester · 3 credits

    General psychology. Many programs fold it into a broader social or behavioural science block that sociology or anthropology also satisfies.

  • Anatomy and physiologyrequired

    2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

    The full A&P sequence with lab, the one course essentially every program names. Recency windows bite hardest here: several programs expire A&P specifically, one at three years, while leaving the rest of the list alone.

  • Microbiologyrequired

    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.

  • Medical terminologyrecommended

    1 credits

    Required outright by nearly half of programs, which is more than its recommended level here suggests. Several refuse a certificate or a free online course and want transcript credit; a few teach it after acceptance instead.

Experience hours

  • Patient care experiencerequired

    500+ hours

    The number PA applications are judged on, and the one most often misread. Just over half of programs set any minimum at all; among those that publish one the median is 500 hours and the range runs from 80 to 2000. Admitted classes routinely average several times the floor, so treat 500 as the door, not the target. A few programs score the type of work rather than the total and say outright that extra hours earn no extra preference.

  • Healthcare experiencerecommended

    500+ hours

    Many programs publish one combined healthcare figure instead of splitting patient care from healthcare exposure; where they do, the number lands here. Median published minimum is 500 hours.

  • PA shadowingrecommended

    20+ hours

    PA shadowing specifically, weighed by volume with no published number: greater consideration goes to applicants showing a "Higher number of hours of PA shadowing experience." The baseline's 40 hour planning figure is dropped here because FGCU states none.

Letters

  • Science faculty letterrecommended

    No published minimum

    Only a handful of programs require a science faculty letter by name. An academic letter is welcome nearly everywhere and mandatory almost nowhere.

  • PA letterrecommended

    No published minimum

    Fewer than a third of programs require a letter from a PA. Most ask for a clinician letter that a PA, physician or nurse practitioner satisfies equally, so a PA letter is usually sufficient and rarely necessary.

  • Supervisor letterrequireddiffers

    1 letter

    Most PA programmes publish no minimum and list it as recommended.

    FGCU names the writer type it wants rather than a count: "Strong letters of recommendation from clinicians." Letters come through CASPA.

Also on the school’s page

FGCU does not publish its prerequisite course list on the program's own page. That page says only that "All program prerequisites must be completed and submitted" by the deadline and sends applicants to the FGCU Academic Catalog for them, and the catalog page for this program would not render on retrieval, so no course lines are recorded here and the Core Baseline courses stand unchanged. Check catalog.fgcu.edu for the course list before planning around this file. What the program does publish is how it weighs applicants: "Greater consideration for admission is given to applicants who demonstrate the following: Higher GPAs (B/C/P, UD60); Higher GRE scores (at or above the 20th percentile in Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning and a 3.0 or above in Analytical Writing)," along with direct patient care experience, PA shadowing hours, strong letters of recommendation from clinicians, and alignment with the program's mission. The GRE is therefore in play here, with those percentile figures as the stated target rather than a floor; the page does not name the PA-CAT. No minimum number of patient care or shadowing hours is published, only that more is weighed more favorably, so the baseline patient care line is left in place as a planning figure and not as FGCU's number. This is a Florida public program applying through CASPA, with a January 15 deadline for verified applications for the following August.

School

fgcu.edu/mariebcollege/healthsciences/physicianassistantstudies-mpas.aspx

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