Midwestern University Physician Assistant Program Glendale prerequisites

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

"Biology with lab (must include at least 4 hours of Anatomy), 8 Sem/12 Qtr hours." This is the block that carries Midwestern's anatomy requirement, so plan the eight hours to include an anatomy course rather than treating them as separate requirements. Must be a course designed for science majors.

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

"General Chemistry with lab, 8 Sem/12 Qtr hours," the full two semester sequence, and it must be the sequence designed for science majors.

1 semester · 4 credits · lab

"Organic Chemistry with lab, 4 Sem/6 Qtr hours." One semester with lab, and unlike many PA programs Midwestern requires organic chemistry outright rather than offering biochemistry as a substitute.

4 credits

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

Not a requirement here, and Midwestern says so on the table itself: "Biochemistry (not required, but strongly recommended), 4 Sem/6 Qtr hours." It is the only line on the prerequisite table marked optional.

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." Two semesters of composition specifically.

1 semester · 3 credits

"Statistics, 3 Sem/4 Qtr hours," listed separately from the college algebra requirement. Both are required.

1 semester · 3 credits

"Math (college algebra or above), 3 Sem/4 Qtr hours." This is separate from and in addition to the statistics requirement, so statistics alone will not clear both lines.

1 semester · 3 credits

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

Psychology is not required as its own line. It appears only as one option inside the six hour social and behavioral sciences block, where sociology or anthropology would count equally.

1 semester · 4 credits · lab

Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.

Much lighter than the baseline and structured differently. Midwestern names no physiology course at all and folds anatomy into the biology block: "Biology with lab (must include at least 4 hours of Anatomy)." Four hours of anatomy inside the eight hour biology requirement is the whole ask.

Microbiology does not appear anywhere on Midwestern's Glendale prerequisite table, which is unusual on this path. The eight required lines are biology with lab including anatomy, general chemistry with lab, organic chemistry with lab, college math, English composition, social and behavioral sciences, and statistics, with biochemistry recommended.

Not listed among the prerequisite courses.

2 semesters · 6 credits

"Social and Behavioral Sciences (sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc.), 6 Sem/9 Qtr hours." Six hours across a wide range of departments, and the program does not name which of them you must take.

500+ hours

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

Midwestern publishes no patient care hour minimum. The requirement is stated qualitatively: "Motivation for and commitment to health care as demonstrated by paid direct patient care hours, volunteer work, shadowing, or other life experiences." What makes an applicant competitive is relative rather than absolute: "Health care hours at or above the current Midwestern University Physician Assistant Program class average." Healthcare experience is also one of the named interview selection criteria.

500+ hours

Recorded here without a number because Midwestern does not split patient care from healthcare experience and publishes no minimum for either, describing the requirement only as "Healthcare experience strongly preferred." For scale, the Glendale campus program page reports that in the Class of 2028 "Average paid healthcare hours ranged between 500-2000 hours with the majority of the matriculating class having > 2000 hours." That is a description of who enrolled, not a threshold to clear.

20+ hours

Shadowing is named as one of the ways to demonstrate "Motivation for and commitment to health care," alongside paid direct patient care hours and volunteer work. No hour figure and no requirement that it be a PA.

No published minimum

"Demonstration of service and leadership through community service or extracurricular activities" is one of the documented admission requirements, though no hour figure is attached to it.

1 letter

A pre-health advisory committee letter is explicitly welcome and can answer either of the two required letters: it is named as an alternative to the preferred science professor letter, and again as an acceptable writer for the second letter.

1 letter

Most PA programmes publish no minimum.

Preferred but not mandatory: "It is preferred, but not required, that one letter be written by a science professor who has taught the student or a pre-health advisory committee." Two letters total are required, both from professionals, and "Personal references are discouraged."

1 letter

Most PA programmes publish no minimum.

A PA letter is a preference inside a wide option list, not a requirement. The second of the two required letters "can be written by any one of the following: pre-health advisory committee, pre-health advisor, college professor, or health care professional (preferably a PA) who knows the applicant well." Letters are accepted only directly from CASPA and must arrive by November 1.

1 letter

Most PA programmes publish no minimum.

Midwestern does not ask for a work supervisor letter. Only two letters are required and the accepted writers are a pre-health committee or advisor, a college professor, or a health care professional.