Pre-Physician Assistant Course Plan

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Pre-Physician Assistant Course Plan

This is a general course plan for students interested in attending a Physician’s Assistant (PA) graduate program after graduation from SLU and who are completing a biology major.  (PA students could also complete other majors such as chemistry, neuroscience, or psychology). This plan must be personalized for you through discussions with your advisor, allowing for situations like study abroad or completing a minor. PA prerequisites are italicized; other listed courses are biology major and general graduation requirements.  Some PA programs have unique prerequisites; identify 5-6 programs of interest to you and research their pre-requisite and patient contact hour requirements. SLU has a PA program articulation with Clarkson University; see website for specific requirements.

First-Year

Fall

  • General Biology with Lab (Environmental literacy distribution)
  • General Chemistry with Lab (Natural Science with Lab distribution)
  • FYP
  • Intro Psychology (without Lab)

Spring

  • General Biology with Lab
  • General Chemistry with Lab
  • FYS
  • 100 level Sociology course (Social Science distribution)

 

Sophomore

Fall

  • Organic Chemistry with Lab*
  • Genetics
  • English– writing* (Arts distribution)
  • Statistics (Quantitative reasoning distribution)

Spring

  • Organic Chemistry with Lab*
  • Human Nutrition
  • English- literature*
  • Diversity course

 

Junior

Fall

  • Anatomy & Physiology I with Lab
  • Course of your choice**
  • Humanities distribution
  • Health Coaches*

Spring

  • Anatomy & Physiology II with Lab 
  • Course of your choice **
  • Diversity course
  • Health Coaches*

 

Senior

Fall

  • Microbiology with Lab
  • Biochemistry*
  • 2 courses of your choice**

Spring

  • Upper Level Biology with Lab*
  • 3 courses of your choice**

 

* Notes:
  • Organic Chemistry: Some Physician’s Assistant Programs do not require Organic Chemistry OR require only one semester.  Make a list of 5 or 6 programs you are interested in attending and check to see what they require (and whether they have any other unique pre-requisites).
  • English courses: Two 200-level English courses, one literature and one writing focused, should be taken.  Intro to Fiction, Intro to Creative Non-Fiction, and Intro to Poetry are recommended for the writing course, while any 200-level literature course is appropriate.
  • Health Coaches: These courses are each worth 0.5 unit per semester. If you complete the courses as listed above in the spring or fall semester, this is 3.5 units total, which is full-time student status.  You may choose to take another 0.5 unit or 1 unit course  in addition to the courses above for the fall or spring semester.  Discuss with your advisor to determine what the best plan is for you.
  • Upper level biology courses with lab: Potential course options of interest include Immunology with Lab, Research Methods in Fluorescent and Confocal Microscopy (Lab), Research Methods in Molecular Biology (Lab), Research Methods in Cell Biology. (Lab)  One semester of SYE could also complete this  Upper Level Biology with Lab  slot.
  • Biochemistry: This course is a pre-requisite course for a few Physician Assistant programs.  Check the pre-requisite lists for the top 5-6 programs you’re interested in.  NOTE: 2 semesters of Organic Chemistry is a pre-requisite for Biochemistry at SLU. 
** Course of your choice- of particular relevance:

Medical Sociology, What’s So Bad About Aging?, Women’s Health and Aging, Cultural Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Positive Psychology, Hormones and Behavior, Social Psychology, Community Psychology, The Human Skeleton, Dealing with the Dead, Health Psychology.