PA · Harrogate, Tennessee · private

Lincoln Memorial University Physician Assistant Program, Harrogate prerequisites

What LMU Harrogate asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 14 lines differ from the standard PA school set, marked below.

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Coursework

Biology with labrequiredextra here
6 credits · lab
"General Biology with lab," two courses, six minimum total credit hours. Online is accepted for the Spring 2020 through Spring 2025 window.
General chemistry with labrequireddiffers
6 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
"General/Inorganic Chemistry with Lab," two courses, six minimum total credit hours rather than the usual eight. Online accepted for Spring 2020 through Spring 2025.
Organic chemistry with labrequiredextra here
6 credits · lab
"Organic Chemistry I & II with Lab OR may substitute Biochemistry," two courses, six minimum total credit hours. This is on top of two semesters of general chemistry, so LMU asks for four chemistry courses in all. Organic I cannot be swapped: "Biochemistry online or traditional may be substituted for Organic Chemistry II only. Biochemistry lab is optional."
Biochemistryrecommendeddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits and list it as required.
Not required on its own. Biochemistry earns its place two ways: it may stand in for Organic Chemistry II, and only for Organic Chemistry II, with its lab optional; and it heads the list of preferred courses whose holders "will be given preference" in admission.
English or writing-intensiverequireddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 6 credits and list it as recommended.
Required rather than recommended, and only one course rather than the baseline's two: "A writing-intensive course, such as English composition, is required." Technical writing appears separately on the preferred course list.
Statisticsrequireddiffers
2 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits.
One course, two to three minimum credit hours, so a two credit statistics course clears the bar here. A statistics course housed outside a maths or science department still counts if it can show the content: "Courses not listed as math or science course must have course objectives that show coverage of descriptive and inferential statistics." Biostatistics is separately on the preferred course list.
Psychologyrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"General Psychology," one course, three credit hours, and the content is specified: it "Should cover the full spectrum of psychological development from childhood to advanced age." Abnormal psychology and advanced psychology appear separately on the preferred course list that earns admission preference.
Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
6 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
Two separate table lines: "Human Anatomy with Lab," one course, three credit hours, which "Should cover all organ systems"; and "Human Physiology," one course, three credit hours, with no lab of its own. If you took the combined sequence instead, the bar is higher: "Combined human anatomy and physiology courses should have a minimum of eight (8) credit hours, have taken place over one-two semesters, and include a lab." Online accepted for Spring 2020 through Spring 2025.
Microbiologyrequireddiffers
3 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 4 credits · lab.
"Microbiology with Lab," one course, three minimum credit hours, lab required. Online accepted for Spring 2020 through Spring 2025.
Medical terminologyrequireddiffers
1 semester · 2 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 credits and list it as recommended.
Required rather than recommended, and the format rule catches people out: "May be taken as an online course from an accredited school with an official transcript. No certificates accepted." A certificate that satisfies other programs will not satisfy this one. One course, two minimum credit hours, and "Courses that cover all human systems are strongly encouraged."

Experience hours

Patient care experiencerequireddiffers
150+ hours
Most PA programmes ask for 500+ hours.
A low bar by PA standards, with a deadline attached: "A minimum of 150 hours of verifiable direct patient care must be completed by April 15 in either a volunteer or paid capacity." The program defines what counts as "directly taking vitals, taking or recording patient histories, assisting in surgeries, procedures such as drawing labs, giving injections, etc." and lists qualifying roles including medical assistant, physical therapist aide or assistant, respiratory therapist, occupational therapist, EMT or paramedic, LPN, RN, RT, MLT, NP, CNA, nurse's aide, phlebotomist, medical corpsman, pharmacist assistant, hospital social worker, psychologist, x-ray tech, ER tech, peace corps volunteer, clinical health education, athletic trainer, hospice work that includes direct patient care, dietician, scribe, dental assistant or hygienist, and certified pharmacy technician, with others considered on email. "Though not required, it is strongly encouraged that at least half of the required, aforementioned time be completed by the time of the applicant's interview date." Note that certified pharmacy technicians, RNs, RTs and paramedics are also on the program's preference list.
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 shadowingrequireddiffers
40+ hours
Most PA programmes ask for 20+ hours and list it as recommended.
Required, PA specific, and half of it must be primary care: "a minimum of 40 hours of verifiable time must be completed shadowing a Physician Assistant (PA) with at least 20 of those hours spent shadowing a PA in a primary care setting (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics or Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care)." These 40 hours sit beside the 150 patient care hours rather than inside them: "If an applicant is working/ volunteering directly with a PA in a primary care setting then the minimum total time that must be completed prior to matriculation is 160 total hours." All hours are due by April 15 if accepted.

Letters

Science faculty letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
Also one of the eight acceptable authors for the second letter, alongside a second PA, a physician, dentist, podiatrist or optometrist, an academic advisor, or a current or recent employer. LMU accepts a mathematics professor here as readily as a science professor.
PA letterrequireddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum and list it as recommended.
Only two letters are required, and one of them is not negotiable: "At least one letter/reference must be from a physician assistant (PA)." References go to CASPA, never to the program, and they expire: "References must be less than one year old." Letters gate the outcome as well as the file, since "If invited to interview, an applicant can only be considered for an alternate and not for full acceptance until letters are received."
Supervisor letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
One of eight acceptable authors for the second letter, not a requirement of its own. "A second letter must be from an additional physician assistant, or physician, dentist, podiatrist, optometrist, academic advisor, science/mathematics professor, or current/recent employer." A current or recent employer answers it.

Also on the school’s page

The course lines below come from the prerequisite table the admissions criteria page links to, a PDF revised April 14, 2024 at https://www.lmunet.edu/school-of-medical-sciences/documents/pa-harrogate/2024_2025_Prerequisite_Courses.pdf, which gives each requirement a course count and a minimum total credit hours. Prerequisites need a "C" or better, and the program says plainly it does "not accept prerequisite courses with a grade of C-, D, or F." You may apply before finishing prerequisites or the degree, but both must be done before matriculation. There is no hard recency window: "it is highly recommended that applicants who have completed the pre-professional basic science prerequisite coursework greater than five years prior to application may want to review materials if accepted into the program." Science prerequisites taken online are accepted for Spring 2020 through Spring 2025, and non-science prerequisites such as English, psychology and medical terminology may always be taken online. The GPA floor is low and the competitive line is published separately: "It is required that the applicant has an overall and science grade point average of at least 2.8. In order to be competitive, most students will have cumulative and science GPAs of at least 3.2," while the class of 2028 averaged 3.57 cumulative and 3.51 science. Nothing on the admissions criteria, application process, or checklist pages names a GRE or PA-CAT requirement; the only test mentioned is a TOEFL for applicants whose native language is not English and who did not graduate from a U.S. college, needing an IBT total of 79 with at least 26 on speaking. The CASPA deadline is December 1, 2026 for the class beginning in May 2027, and interviews run September through February. Who gets read first matters here more than at most programs: "applicants from the Appalachian region (TN, KY, VA, NC, GA, AL, WV) are given preference in the admissions process," and 52 percent of the class of 2028 came from that region. Preference also goes to LMU students, student-athletes, certified pharmacy technicians, RNs, RTs and paramedics, LMU MLS students, students with higher GPAs, and students who have taken one or more preferred courses: "biochemistry, biostatistics, advanced psychology, cell biology, embryology, epidemiology, genetics, histology, immunology, parasitology, pathogenic bacteriology, abnormal psychology, human sexuality, physics, technical writing, advanced chemistry, pharmacology, and quantitative analysis." Students in LMU's GPA program are guaranteed an interview, and up to three seats a year are reserved for each of five articulation partners: Centre College, Hampton University, Transylvania University, Tusculum University and Union College. No coursework waivers and no transfer credit are given.

School

lmunet.edu/school-of-medical-sciences/pa-harrogate/index.php

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