PA · Downers Grove, Illinois · private

Midwestern University Downers Grove Physician Assistant Program prerequisites

What Midwestern IL 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
1 semester · 4 credits · lab
"Biology with lab, 4 Sem/6 Qtr hours." One semester, and it must be a course designed for science majors: no survey courses, and no course whose laboratory component is online.
General chemistry with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
"General Chemistry with lab, 8 Sem/12 Qtr hours," the full two semester sequence designed for science majors, with the laboratory taken in person.
Organic chemistry with labrequiredextra here
1 semester · 4 credits · lab
"Organic Chemistry with lab, 4 Sem/6 Qtr hours." One semester with an in person laboratory. Midwestern requires organic chemistry outright and offers no biochemistry substitution, since biochemistry is not on the Downers Grove table at all.
Biochemistrynot required here
Biochemistry is not listed on the Downers Grove table at all, not even as a recommendation. Organic chemistry carries the upper chemistry requirement here.
English or writing-intensiverequireddiffers
2 semesters · 6 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 6 credits and list it as recommended.
Required here rather than recommended: "English Composition, 6 Sem/9 Qtr hours." The accepted range is wider than the label suggests: "Courses accepted for the English Composition prerequisite include rhetoric, composition, technical writing, and courses designated as writing intensive by the institution."
Statisticsrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"Statistics, 3 Sem/4 Qtr hours," a separate line from the college algebra requirement. Both are required.
College mathematicsrequiredextra here
1 semester · 3 credits
"Math (college algebra or above), 3 Sem/4 Qtr hours," listed separately from and in addition to statistics. Statistics alone does not clear both lines.
Psychologyrecommendeddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits and list it as required.
Psychology is not a line of its own. It appears only as one option inside the six hour social and behavioral sciences block, where sociology or anthropology count equally.
Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
1 semester · 4 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
Lighter than the baseline sequence and named as anatomy alone: "Anatomy, 4 Sem/6 Qtr hours." No physiology course is required in its own right, though the sequence works: "Combined Human Anatomy and Physiology of two academic terms that meet the required minimum semester/quarter hours will also meet the anatomy prerequisite." The table does not attach a laboratory to this line, but the online laboratory rule still applies to any biology course used for it.
Microbiologynot required here
Microbiology does not appear on the Downers Grove prerequisite table, which is unusual on this path. The eight lines are biology with lab, anatomy, general chemistry with lab, organic chemistry with lab, math at college algebra or above, statistics, English composition, and social and behavioral sciences.
Medical terminologynot required here
Not among the prerequisite courses.
Social sciences and humanitiesrequiredextra here
2 semesters · 6 credits
"Social and Behavioral Sciences (Sociology, Psychology, or Anthropology, etc.), 6 Sem/9 Qtr hours." Six hours across a wide range of departments, with no single course named.

Experience hours

Patient care experiencerequired
500+ hours
"Candidates must demonstrate a minimum of 500 hours of direct patient care experience, accrued at the time of application submission." Both halves matter: direct patient care specifically, and already accrued when you submit rather than projected forward to matriculation.
Healthcare experiencerecommended
500+ hours
No healthcare experience number is published. The only broader statement is qualitative: "Motivation for and commitment to healthcare as demonstrated by previous work, volunteer work, or other life experiences." Only the 500 direct patient care hours carry a figure.
PA shadowingrecommended
20+ hours
The catalog names no shadowing requirement and publishes no hour figure. Time with a PA still matters indirectly, since the second letter of recommendation may come from a healthcare professional, preferably a PA.

Letters

Committee letterrecommendedextra here
1 letter
A pre-health advisory committee letter can answer either of the two required letters. It is named as an alternative to the preferred science professor for the first, and again among the acceptable writers for the second.
Science faculty letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
Preferred, not mandated. "Applicants are required to submit two letters of recommendation from professionals to CASPA," and the program prefers that "one letter is written by a science professor who has actually taught the student or a pre-health advisory committee." A professor who never taught you does not qualify for the preference.
PA letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
A PA letter is a preference inside an option list, not a requirement. "The second letter may be written by any one of the following: a pre-health advisory committee, a pre-health advisor, college professor, or a healthcare professional (preferably a PA)."
Supervisor letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
Midwestern does not ask for a work supervisor letter. Only two letters are required and the named writers are a pre-health committee or advisor, a college professor, or a healthcare professional.

Also on the school’s page

The requirements live in the Illinois catalog's admissions section rather than on the program's marketing page, and the Downers Grove table is not the same as the one Midwestern's Glendale campus publishes, so do not read one for the other. Eight prerequisites, no microbiology and no biochemistry, and anatomy stands as its own four hour line. Academic minimums are a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution and "Minimum cumulative science and overall GPAs of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale," with the catalog noting competitive applicants typically sit at 3.5 or higher. Every prerequisite needs a C or better and a C minus is not acceptable. Two coursework rules do most of the rejecting: "All science prerequisites must be courses designed for science majors. No survey courses will fulfill science prerequisites," and "Courses with an online laboratory component will not meet any biology or chemistry prerequisite," with limited COVID era exceptions. No prerequisite recency window is published. On testing, the GRE has not been required since the 2022-2023 cycle and the PA-CAT is not mentioned. The single distinguishing number is the patient care floor: "Candidates must demonstrate a minimum of 500 hours of direct patient care experience, accrued at the time of application submission," which is low by PA standards and means the hours must already be banked when you submit, not promised for the spring. The CASPA deadline is "September 1, 11:59 PM ET" with rolling admissions, so applying in September at a rolling program is applying late.

School

midwestern.edu/academics/degrees-programs/college-health-sciences/master-medical-science-physician-assistant-studies/master-medical-science-physician-assistant-studies-downers-grove-campus

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