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UK PA Student Page

UK Graduate School Links:
Graduate School Bulletin, with PA Program Description
Graduate School Home Page

Outside Links:
American Academy of Physician Assistants
Kentucky Academy of Physician Assistants
Association of Physician Assistant Programs

(See notice regarding outside links)

Please see our policy on Transfer of Core Courses/Advanced Standing. 

• Note: All prerequisites must be completed by the time of your application to the program. We can no longer consider applicants who have courses in progress at the time of application. Thus, the last semester in which you may complete prerequisites is the Spring semester before the June 15 application deadline.  Note: An exception to these deadlines will be made for any newly-added prerequisites, such that the new prerequisites will be required by the time of enrollment (i.e. by the end of Fall semester).

• For GRE scores, we use the Verbal and Quantitative sections for our initial comparison. We may also consider the Writing score in our evaluation of your qualifications. We now require  a minimum of 800 for the combined Verbal and Quantitative sections. See the FAQ page for a longer discussion of the scores. All GRE scores still must be no more than 5 years old.

• Please note that we accept ONLY the GRE for our program. We do not accept any substitutes (e.g. the MCAT).

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college with minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. 

• Applicants with a GPA of less than 3.0, but other strengths may also be considered, and should contact the program to discuss their other qualifications. Please be aware that applicants will need other significant strengths to ameliorate the effect of lower GPA. Examples may be:

  • More than 20 hours of graduate level work with a high GPA

  • The Graduate GPA (rather than undergraduate) will be used for applicants with a graduate degree

  • Applicants with more than 20 hours of graduate level work with a high GPA may be considered at the discretion of the PA program

  • An academic record that shows excellent grades recently, with a GPA that may be lowered by poor grades in the remote past

  • Very high GRE scores and outstanding clinical experience

• One semester each of the following prerequisite courses with a C grade or better:

General Chemistry with lab¹
Organic Chemistry with lab Pre-med or Chemistry major level 
General Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Microbiology (lab recommended)² 
Biology/Zoology with lab Not Biology for non-majors
Human Physiology^3,4
Human Anatomy^3,4
Sociology/Anthropology
Medical Terminology⁵

Notes:  1) Our program requires only one semester of General Chemistry, however, applicants should be aware that usually two semesters of Chemistry are required to take Organic; 2) Bacteriology can substitute for Microbiology; Cell Biology, in general is NOT equivalent to Microbiology-- microbiology is the study of microorganisms, particularly infectious ones, whereas cell biology has to do with the biology and genetics of cellular function in general;  3)  Animal Physiology and Vertebrate Anatomy can substitute for Human Physiology and Human Anatomy, respectively. This reflects the situation that the Human courses often cannot be applied toward a degree (e.g. Biology), whereas the animal versions can apply. Likewise, Bacteriology often can be applied toward a Biology degree whereas Microbiology may not be in some cases; 4) A 2-semester sequence of combined Anatomy and Physiology is equally acceptable for these prerequisites, although a single 1-semester course will not adequately satisfy the requirement; 5) Medical Terminology may be taken as an Independent Study course from the University of Kentucky; see http://www.uky.edu/ISP and look for the CLA 131 course, or call 800-432-0963.

• Advance Standing/Transfer of Credit: We do not offer "advance standing" to any students based on past qualifications or work experience (i.e. all students must take all of the coursework). However, it is possible to transfer in credit for some of our courses (e.g. PGY 412G, HSM 601 and STA 570; see the Curriculum section of the FAQ page). These courses must have been taken while enrolled as a graduate student in order for the credit to transfer, and you must have earned an A or a B in the course(s). In addition, only the hours, not the grades, will transfer. Please do not assume that hours will automatically transfer; check with the program to be sure. For further discussion of this issue, see the FAQ page. 
• Other Requirements: Three letters of recommendation, an admission essay, certification in Basic Life Support by the American Heart Association, compliance with the Technical Standards established by the College of Health Sciences for the College, and for the PA program (these are PDF documents). Competitive applicants are granted an interview.