PA · San Diego, California · private
Point Loma Nazarene University Physician Assistant Program prerequisites
What Point Loma 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 labrequireddiffers
6 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
"General Chemistry with labs: 6 semester hours or 8 quarter hours." The full two-semester sequence, labs plural and required.
- Organic chemistry with labrequiredextra here
3 credits · lab
"Organic Chemistry with lab: 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours." One semester, lab included, and required in addition to biochemistry rather than as an alternative to it.
- Biochemistryrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"Biochemistry: 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours," listed as its own line beside organic chemistry rather than as a substitute for it. No lab named.
- English or writing-intensivenot required here
Not on Point Loma's prerequisite table. The only language requirement is TOEFL, and only for applicants who attended a foreign or non-English speaking high school.
- Statisticsrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"Statistics: 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours." Grade of C or better, and no expiration date on the course.
- Psychologynot required here
Not on Point Loma's prerequisite table. The seven listed courses are all science or statistics.
- Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
6 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
Two courses at 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours each: "Human Anatomy and Physiology I" and "Human Anatomy and Physiology II." Labs are preferred but not required, which is rare on this path and worth confirming with the program before dropping them.
- Microbiologyrequireddiffers
3 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 4 credits · lab.
"Microbiology: 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours." The published line names no laboratory.
- 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
1000+ hours
Most PA programmes ask for 500+ hours.
"A minimum of one thousand hours of direct (hands on) patient care experience is required and must be completed at time of application. Hours must be paid, professional experience providing face-to-face patient care." Two exclusions to plan around: "Volunteering and shadowing, while helpful, do not count toward these hours," and "Hours accrued as a student as part of an educational program are not accepted." The program describes qualifying work as any paid healthcare position that requires specialized training, certification, or licensure. The hours must be finished at submission, not promised for later.
- Healthcare experiencerecommended
500+ hours
No hour figure is published, but "Prior health care experience: 22%" is a named line in the program's selection weighting, distinct from the 1,000 paid patient care hours it will actually count. Healthcare work that falls outside the paid hands-on definition is read here rather than discarded.
- PA shadowingrecommended
20+ hours
"Volunteering and shadowing, while helpful, do not count toward these hours." Helpful but uncounted, and no number is published, so none is recorded.
- Non-clinical volunteeringrecommendedextra here
No published minimum
No hour figure is published, but the program's own weighting puts "Volunteer and Service activities: 22%" level with health care experience and second only to academics. At a program that will not count volunteering toward its patient care hours, this is where that time is read instead.
Letters
- Science faculty letterrecommended
No published minimum
Only a handful of programs require a science faculty letter by name. An academic letter is welcome nearly everywhere and mandatory almost nowhere.
- PA letterrecommendeddiffers
1 letter
Most PA programmes publish no minimum.
Point Loma asks you to "submit, at minimum, three letters of recommendation that will be requested through CASPA" and does not say who must write them. References sit inside the 11 percent bucket with the CASPA narrative, so a PA letter is a good choice rather than a stated requirement.
- Supervisor letternot required here
Not required by name. The program sets a floor of three letters through CASPA and leaves the choice of writers to the applicant.
Also on the school’s page
Point Loma publishes a short, fully quantified prerequisite table in semester hours: Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II at 3 each, Microbiology 3, General Chemistry with labs 6, Organic Chemistry with lab 3, Biochemistry 3, and Statistics 3, all in semester hours with the quarter equivalent given alongside. "All prerequisites must be completed at a regionally accredited college or university and must be completed with a grade of C (2.0) or better. A C minus is not acceptable." Unusually for this path, there is no recency window at all: "There is no expiration date for completed coursework." A science sequence from a decade ago still counts here. Minimums are a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a science GPA of 3.0, on top of "a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited US or Canadian post-secondary college or university." The program publishes how it weighs a file: prior academic performance 45 percent, prior health care experience 22 percent, volunteer and service activities 22 percent, and miscellaneous items such as references and the CASPA narrative 11 percent, which puts service on equal footing with clinical work here. On exams the program's own page says of the GRE and MCAT, "No, our program does not require either test to apply," and names no PA-CAT. TOEFL, "taken within the last 2 years, is required for any applicant who attended a foreign and/or non-English speaking high school," with a total score of 93 and a speaking score of 26. Applications close October 1 and must be CASPA-verified by that date, alongside a $35 supplemental application.
Check your transcript against this list
Cyclios keeps this list beside your coursework and tells you what Point Loma still needs from you.
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