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PA · Williamsport, Pennsylvania · public

Pennsylvania College of Technology Physician Assistant Program prerequisites

What Penn College asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 13 lines differ from the standard PA school set, marked below.

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Coursework

  • Biology with labrequiredextra here

    2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

    "Biology: two courses with labs." Penn College counts courses rather than credits here, and the eight credits shown is the ordinary size of two lab courses rather than the program's own number. Acceptable courses are "100-level introductory series courses (e.g., General Biology I & II, Introduction to Biology I & II, Principles of Biology I & II, etc.)", Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, and Evolution and/or Ecology, with an explicit warning: "NOTE: Genetics and microbiology are not acceptable as they are separate requirements."

  • General chemistry with labrequired

    2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

    "General Chemistry: two courses with labs," acceptable as "General Chemistry I & II" or "Principles of Chemistry I & II." This is the full sequence, and organic chemistry and biochemistry are required on top of it rather than in place of it.

  • Organic chemistry with labrequiredextra here

    1 semester · 4 credits · lab

    "Organic Chemistry with lab." One semester with its laboratory, sitting alongside two semesters of general chemistry and a biochemistry course rather than replacing either. Four credits is the ordinary size of the course, not a figure Penn College publishes.

  • Biochemistryrequired

    1 semester · 3 credits

    Required outright, not an alternative to organic chemistry: "Biochemistry. Acceptable course include: Chemistry of Life." No laboratory is named. Three credits is the ordinary size of the course rather than a Penn College figure.

  • English or writing-intensivenot required here

    Not on Penn College's prerequisite list. Only science coursework is named, and only science coursework feeds the 70 percent GPA category.

  • Statisticsnot required here

    Not on Penn College's prerequisite list. The Category 1 science block is biology, anatomy and physiology, microbiology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry and genetics, with no statistics line.

  • Psychologynot required here

    Not on Penn College's prerequisite list. Every prerequisite here is a laboratory science or genetics; no behavioural science course is named.

  • Geneticsrequiredextra here

    1 semester · 3 credits

    "Genetics," listed as its own prerequisite science line and explicitly excluded from the biology block. Three credits is the ordinary size of the course; Penn College publishes course counts rather than credits.

  • Anatomy and physiologyrequired

    2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

    "Anatomy & Physiology: two courses with labs." Either route works: "A&P I & II with labs" or "Separate Anatomy (with lab) and Physiology (with lab) courses." Both must fall inside the eight year science window, so for the January 2027 selection they must be from 2019 or newer.

  • Microbiologyrequired

    1 semester · 4 credits · lab

    "Microbiology with lab," one course. Penn College names microbiology as a separate requirement and will not let it double as one of the two biology courses.

  • Medical terminologynot required here

    Not on Penn College's prerequisite list.

Experience hours

  • Patient care experiencenot required here

    Penn College publishes no patient care hours minimum. Its single 500 hour requirement "can be any combination of Patient Care Experience, Healthcare Experience, and/or Shadowing," so hands-on patient responsibility has no floor of its own and the combined number is recorded on healthcare experience instead. Hands-on hours still read better to the committee that reviews each entry for suitability.

  • Healthcare experiencerequireddiffers

    500+ hours

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

    Penn College sets one combined figure and does not split patient care from healthcare experience: "All applicants must document at least 500 prior experience hours including 16 hours spent shadowing a practicing healthcare provider (PA, NP, MD, DO) in CASPA prior to the January 15th application deadline. These hours can be any combination of Patient Care Experience, Healthcare Experience, and/or Shadowing, as defined in the Experiences section of the CASPA Applicant Help Center." The hours are scored at zero weight but are a hard eligibility gate. Only hours from the past five calendar years count, the committee "may not accept all experience hours submitted," and coursework or rotations that earned academic credit do not count. The program asks for everything, not the floor: "Provide all relevant hours from the past five years (not just the minimum 500) along with a detailed description of key responsibilities for each experience."

  • PA shadowingrequireddiffers

    16+ hours

    Most PA programmes ask for 20+ hours and list it as recommended.

    Required with a hard number, and unusually it need not be a PA: "16 hours spent shadowing a practicing healthcare provider (PA, NP, MD, and/or DO)." The 16 hours sit inside the 500 hour total rather than beside it. "Please be aware that virtual shadowing hours will not be counted towards the 16-hour requirement."

Letters

  • Science faculty letternot required here

    Same reason. Effort spent chasing a strong science faculty letter is better spent on the science prerequisite GPA, which carries 70 percent of the ranking.

  • PA letternot required here

    Penn College does not read letters at all: "CASPA requires applicants to submit at least two letters of evaluation and an essay as part of the application process," and "Penn College does not utilize either in its selection decision." You still supply the CASPA minimum, but no letter influences this program's ranking.

  • Supervisor letternot required here

    Same reason: the program states it does not use letters of evaluation in its selection decision.

Also on the school’s page

Penn College runs a formula, not a holistic read, and publishes the whole weighting for the January 2027 selection that starts the August 2027 cohort. Ranking is four categories: "Category 1: Prerequisite Science Grade-Point Average (70%)", "Category 2: Cumulative Grade-Point Average Calculation (15%)" taken from the institution that awarded the bachelor's degree, "Category 3: Casper Test (15%)" and "Category 4: Prior Experience (0%)", the last marked "Required but not scored." The seat count is 30. The science prerequisite GPA "must be no less than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale." Casper is mandatory and has a floor: applicants must "Achieve a Casper test z-score of -1 (minus one) or higher," using "the United States Casper 2 - Physician Assistant (CSP-20100) version" through Acuity Insights, once per cycle; Duet is neither required nor used. The page names no GRE and no PA-CAT requirement. Two recency windows apply and they differ: "All prerequisite science courses must be completed during the eight-year period immediately preceding the selection year. For applicants applying to the January 2027 selection for an August 2027 program start, all prerequisite coursework must be from 2019 or newer," while "Only prior experience hours obtained within the past five calendar years will be accepted." Repeated science courses do not erase the first attempt: "the grade earned on each attempt (even those falling below a 2.0) will be included in the science grade-point calculation." Coursework location is restricted, with no waiver: "All prerequisite science courses must be completed at an accredited United States-based institution without exception," and courses absent from Penn College's Transfer Course Equivalency Search may not be accepted. Applicants apply through CASPA by January 15, either holding a bachelor's degree with all prerequisite science done, or finishing the degree that spring with at most two prerequisite courses outstanding and conferral by June 1.

School

pct.edu/academics/nhs/physician-assistant/physician-assistant-studies

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