Rush > PA Program Admission Selection Criteria

Admission Selection Criteria

Admission to the Physician Assistant (PA) program is competitive and student selection is based on various factors, such as overall strength of academic performance, type and quality of prior health care experience, including experience working with or shadowing PAs, critical thinking capacity, and interpersonal communication skills.

The program is rigorous and applicant preparedness for admission will be assessed based on general and science course grade point average, prerequisite course work grade point average, coursework completed prior to application, and performance on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

Requirements for Admission to the PA Program

A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university prior to matriculation into the program.
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale is required each, for both the Total GPA and Science GPA is required. A GPA greater than 3.3 each for total and science is considered competitive.
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores taken within five years prior to application submission. Original copies of your GRE scores must be sent from Educational Testing Services (ETS) directly to Rush University. Our GRE code is 3263.
- A minimum combined verbal and quantitative score of 1,000, or 297 in the new scoring system, is required for interview and admission consideration. The score must be attained at a single seating of the exam. If you take the GRE more than once, batched and partial scores are not accepted.
- A combined score of 1,200 and above, or 308 in the new scoring system, is considered very competitive.
Documented hands-on, direct patient contact experience in a health care setting. Experience working with or shadowing PAs is required. Working with MDs in a health care setting is strongly recommended.
- A minimum of 1,000 hours direct patient contact experience is required at the time of application submission. Having 1,500 hours and above is considered competitive.
A completed application submitted to the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA).
- A supplemental application and $40 fee is required only if you are invited to interview at the program. Information regarding this will be provided with an interview invitation.
- The application cycle through CASPA begins June 1 and ends December 1 of each year. The deadline for other application materials (such as GRE scores) is February 1 of each year.
An on-campus interview with members of the PA program faculty and admissions committee.
All applicants must meet the minimum requirements to perform the essential functions of a PA. See the Technical Standards sheet for more information.
Knowledge of medical terminology. Proficiency of medical terminology is assessed during the interview process. More information regarding this is provided with an interview invitation.
Admission is contingent upon successful completion of a health assessment, criminal background check, and drug screening processes prior to matriculation. Information regarding this requirement is discussed during interviews.
Applicants with coursework or a bachelor's degree conferred outside of the United States must submit a course equivalence evaluation by either World Education Services (WES) or Education Credentials Evaluators (ECE) at the time of application submission. These must be submitted directly to CASPA for inclusion in your application packet to the program. Please refer to CASPA for more information about submitting course evaluation materials.
- To meet admissions standards, degrees conferred outside the United States must be recognized by either ECE or WES as equivalent to a US undergraduate degree.
TOEFL scores, if English is not your native language. Refer to the College of Health Sciences TOEFL policy for more information.

Attendance in the program is on a full-time basis only. No advanced standing or transfer credits will be awarded, regardless of previous professional or academic experience.

The PA program admits students into the class on a rolling admission basis. This means that at each interview session, offers are made to fill seats in the class. Under a rolling admissions process, it is possible to fill all the seats in the class before interviews are done. It is to the applicant's advantage to submit all application materials as early as possible.

Due to the intensive nature of the training, students are not able to work while attending the program.

Due to the competitive nature of the application process, meeting posted criteria for admission to the program does not guarantee a candidate will be offered an interview for the program.