PA · Loma Linda, California · private
Loma Linda University Physician Assistant Program prerequisites
What Loma Linda asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 10 lines differ from the standard PA school set, marked below.
Coursework
- General chemistry with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
Two accepted chemistry pathways: General Chemistry I and II with Lab, or Inorganic Chemistry with Lab plus Organic Chemistry with Lab plus Biochemistry with Lab. Labs are required on every course in either pathway.
- Biochemistryrecommendeddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits and list it as required.
Not required on its own. Biochemistry with Lab appears only inside the second chemistry pathway, alongside inorganic and organic chemistry; an applicant who takes General Chemistry I and II with Lab never needs it. Where it is used, the lab comes with it.
- English or writing-intensiverequireddiffers
2 semesters · 6 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 6 credits and list it as recommended.
"College English" is a named non-science prerequisite here, not a suggestion. No credit figure is published.
- Statisticsrecommendeddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits and list it as required.
Statistics sits in Loma Linda's recommended section, not its required one, and specifically cannot be used in place of College Algebra: "Statistics courses, although recommended, do not satisfy this prerequisite."
- College mathematicsrequiredextra here
No published minimum
"College Algebra" is required, and the program closes the usual substitution: "Statistics courses, although recommended, do not satisfy this prerequisite." Statistics will not clear this line.
- Psychologyrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"General Psychology," listed among the non-science prerequisites. No unit count published.
- Sociologyrequiredextra here
No published minimum
"General Sociology or Cultural Anthropology" is a named non-science prerequisite. Either course answers it; no credit figure is published.
- Anatomy and physiologyrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
Two separate courses: "Human Anatomy with Lab" and "Human Physiology with Lab." Both labs are required, both must be human-focused, and both fall under the 10 year science recency window. Loma Linda publishes no unit count.
- Microbiologyrequired
1 semester · 4 credits · lab
"General Microbiology with Lab." Lab required, no unit count published.
- 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 experiencerequireddiffers
2000+ hours
Most PA programmes ask for 500+ hours.
"Documented paid patient care experience of 2,000 hours minimum is required by August 1 of the year of matriculation." Paid only, and one of the higher published floors in the country, roughly double the common 1,000 hour minimum. Shadowing and volunteering do not count toward it.
- Healthcare experiencenot required here
No healthcare experience figure is published. Loma Linda counts only documented paid patient care toward its 2,000 hour minimum and treats volunteer and shadowing hours as recommended extras rather than a second countable bucket.
- PA shadowingrecommended
20+ hours
"While shadowing and volunteer hours are not accepted as meeting the patient care experience hour requirement, they are strongly recommended." No hour figure is published, so none is recorded.
Letters
- Science faculty letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
Loma Linda specifies only one of its three letters. The other two are unconstrained on the requirements page, so a science professor is a reasonable choice rather than a stated requirement.
- PA letterrequireddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum and list it as recommended.
Three letters total, "including one from a practicing MD/DO/PA with whom the applicant has worked under in a direct, hands-on, paid patient care experience." A PA letter satisfies this but so does an MD or DO letter, and the writer must be someone who supervised your paid patient care, not someone you only shadowed.
- Supervisor letternot required here
Not a separate line here. The one letter Loma Linda specifies is already from the MD, DO, or PA you worked under in paid patient care, so the supervisor voice is folded into the clinician letter rather than asked for twice.
Also on the school’s page
Loma Linda names its prerequisites as courses rather than credit totals: the requirements page lists Human Anatomy with Lab, Human Physiology with Lab, General Microbiology with Lab, a chemistry sequence, General Psychology, General Sociology or Cultural Anthropology, College Algebra, and College English, and publishes no unit or credit figure for any of them, so no credit numbers are recorded here. Minimum GPA is "Overall GPA 3.0 on a 4.0 scale AND Science GPA 3.0 on a 4.0 scale." The recency window is firm: "All prerequisite science courses must be taken within the last 10 years; this is calculated from the time of application." Every prerequisite must carry a letter grade, outstanding prerequisites must be finished "with a grade of C or better by the end of Spring quarter," and all prerequisite coursework must be complete by the spring term of the matriculation year. Prerequisites are verified through CASPA. Neither the GRE nor the PA-CAT appears anywhere in the program's published requirements, so plan on no admissions test unless the program says otherwise. The program's admissions information page reports a Class of 2027 average overall GPA of 3.76, science GPA of 3.75, and 4,455 patient care hours, which are averages of who got in, not thresholds.
Check your transcript against this list
Cyclios keeps this list beside your coursework and tells you what Loma Linda still needs from you.
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