PA · Birmingham, Alabama · private
Samford University Physician Assistant Program prerequisites
What Samford 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
- Biology with labrequiredextra here
6 credits · lab
"General Biology I and II with labs* (6-8 semester hours)." General biology sits beside anatomy and physiology here rather than being folded into it. The asterisk marks it as "required for health majors," so verify how it applies to a non-health degree.
- General chemistry with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
"General Chemistry I and II with labs, or Higher-level chemistry (Organic Chemistry I or II with labs) (8-9 semester hours)," and "Health majors must complete a full sequence." Organic chemistry can stand in for general chemistry here rather than being an additional requirement.
- Biochemistrynot required here
Biochemistry is never named. Samford's chemistry line is general chemistry, with organic chemistry as the higher-level alternative, so biochemistry answers no requirement here.
- English or writing-intensivenot required here
No English, composition or writing credits appear in the prerequisite coursework list.
- Statisticsrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"Statistics: Includes statistical tests and analysis (3 semester hours)." The clause is the constraint: a research methods or math-for-liberal-arts course that never reaches hypothesis testing will not count.
- Psychologyrequireddiffers
2 semesters · 6 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 3 credits.
"Two of the following three courses (6 semester hours total): General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychology." Introductory psychology alone does not satisfy it, and any two of the three do.
- Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
6 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
"One complete sequence with laboratories (6-8 semester hours)," satisfied by "Human Anatomy and Human Physiology with labs, or Anatomy and Physiology I and II with labs, or Comparative Anatomy and Mammalian Physiology with labs." The warning matters: "Full sequence required; substitutions or mixed sequences are not accepted," so an anatomy course from one sequence plus a physiology course from another will not clear this.
- Microbiologyrequireddiffers
3 credits · lab
Most PA programmes ask for 1 semester · 4 credits · lab.
"Microbiology with lab* (3-4 semester hours)." Three hours is enough, and the asterisk again marks it as "required for health majors."
- Medical terminologyrequireddiffers
1 credits
Most PA programmes ask for 1 credits and list it as recommended.
Required rather than recommended, at "1 semester hour," and it is the one prerequisite exempt from the two-course-in-progress cap: "Medical Terminology does not count toward the two-course limit."
Experience hours
- Patient care experiencerecommendeddiffers
500+ hours
Most PA programmes ask for 500+ hours and list it as required.
Samford publishes no patient care hour minimum and does not list experience among its minimum admission requirements. Patient care experience appears only in the list of ways "Applicants may enhance their application," alongside a graduate degree, Samford student or alumni status, military service and NCAA athletic participation. Treat the absence of a floor as an absence of a floor, not as permission to apply without hours: the personal statement must address "Personal and clinical experiences and how they support candidacy for the program."
- Healthcare experiencerecommended
500+ hours
Many programs publish one combined healthcare figure instead of splitting patient care from healthcare exposure; where they do, the number lands here. Median published minimum is 500 hours.
- PA shadowingrecommended
20+ hours
Under a fifth of programs set a shadowing minimum; among those that do the median is 20 hours and a handful ask for 100 or more. Several count shadowing inside their experience total rather than separately, and a few have dropped it from scoring entirely.
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 letternot required here
Three letters are required and no more than three accepted, but no writer type is mandated. Letters "must attest to the applicant's academic ability and/or clinical experience" and must come from "one or more of the following: Current or former professor; Supervisor; Physician Assistant (PA), Medical Doctor (MD), Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (CRNP)." A PA letter is permitted, not required.
- Supervisor letternot required here
Same allowed-writer list. A supervisor is one of the accepted categories, but three professors would satisfy Samford's letter requirement on its own terms.
Also on the school’s page
Samford publishes its whole admission picture in one PDF rather than on a web page. The floors are "A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (4.0 scale)," "A minimum science and non-science GPA of 3.0," and "A minimum grade of C in all prerequisite coursework." No recency or expiration window is stated for prerequisite coursework, but there is a hard cap on how much can still be outstanding: "Applicants may have up to two prerequisite courses in progress or scheduled for future completion at the time of application submission," where "Biology I with lab counts as one course" and "Medical Terminology does not count toward the two-course limit." AP, IB and CLEP credit apply if documented on official transcripts and accepted by your undergraduate institution, and spring 2020 pass/fail grading is accepted. Two prerequisite lines are marked with an asterisk, meaning "Courses marked with an asterisk are required for health majors," so confirm with the program which lines bind you if your degree is outside the health professions. On exams the GRE IS required: "GRE scores are required," with "No minimum score is established; applicants are evaluated competitively," official scores sent to CASPA code 2733 no later than August 1, and self-reported scores accepted in CASPA only alongside the official submission. The three GRE section scores sit directly in the interview screen, which is run on "Cumulative GPA, Last 60 hours GPA, Science GPA, GRE Verbal score, GRE Quantitative score, GRE Analytical Writing score." The PA-CAT is not mentioned. The cycle runs April 30, 2026 to an August 1, 2026 deadline for August 2027 entry, with a Samford supplemental application and a $75 supplemental fee. ARC-PA status is Accreditation-Continued, next validation review approximately March 2034.
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