Admission to the PA program involves a 2-step application and an in-person interview for the best-qualified candidates. You must apply to
1. Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA)
2. UK Graduate School/College of Health Sciences

Applications for admission to the PA program are due June 15th, 2013 and classes will begin in January 2014.

Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

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 900 for the combined Verbal and Quantitative sections on the old GRE. For the new GRE, the minimum score required are 150 for Verbal and 141 for Quantitative. 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

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college with minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale by December 1st, 2013. The deadline will be August 1st for those applying in 2014.

Academic Performance

The UKPA program values academic success as well as personal attributes and experiences that we feel will our students need to possess to provide healthcare to our diverse community. The admissions committee utilizes a holistic review process. This approach allows us to consider multiple factors to ensure that we are matriculating a diverse group of future physician assistant.

Prerequisite Courses

The prerequisites are as stated in the Graduate School Bulletin, which is the official source. Briefly, the prequisites for the 2013 cycle for the PA class entering in January 2014 are:

*Anatomy and physiology courses must be from a biology, anatomy or physiology department.

You may determine course equivalency with the University of Kentucky courses listed above by going to http://www.uky.edu/degreeaudit/CAS/.

Other Requirements

Health Care Experience

A minimum requirement of 1000hrs of direct patient contact may be in a medical discipline such as CNA, EMT, CRNA, CMA, Medical Tech, hospice volunteer, etc. We will accept hours as that have occurred from these select disciplines, (Pharmacy Tech, Dental Tech, Physical Therapist Tech, Athletic Trainer). However,  these hours can occur in a limited capacity with 500 hrs maximum.

In addition to the 1000 direct patient contact hour, you must have a minimum of 50 hours of shadowing a clinical Physician Assistant. We prefer that you shadow a PA in a variety of medical specialties.
 

Timeline for Direct Patient Care

Applications:

1.CASPA:  Application cycle will be from mid-April until June 15th, 2013

2. Graduate School: at the time you submit your application to CASP

3. PA Supplemental: concurrent with the CASPA cycles

•     All three applications must be completed and on file to be considered for the PA program.

Letters of Recommendation

a. Three letters of recommendation are required

b. Please make sure that the people that you get to write your recommendation letters know you well. They will have to answer questions about you.

Other Requirements

a.            Admission essay

b.           Certification in Basic Life Support

c.            Compliance with the Technical Standards established by the College of Health Sciences for the College

d.           Compliance with the Technical Standards established by the PA program

NOTICE: Although every effort is made to ensure that this material is accurate and up to date, it is provided for the convenience of the user and should not be considered the official version. The official version of this material is available at the UK Graduate School site. Specific information about the PA program is at the UK Graduate School PA program site. The user is advised to refer to and rely upon the official version of this material when making significant decisions or judgments.

Technical Standards

All students matriculating into the PA program are required to be able to meet certain Technical Standards. Click here to view these Technical Standards. If you have questions concerning standards please contact the Office of Student Affairs.

Questions?

If you have thoroughly reviewed the content on this site, including the Frequently Asked Questions, and have additional questions concerning the application process, pre-requisite courses, or anything else regarding admissions, please contact College of Health Sciences Academic Advisors:
Corrie Scott, cyscott@uky.edu
Wayne Center, wayne.centers@uky.edu
For Morehead campus location
Julia Flannery, julia.flannery@uky.edu