The Physician Assistant program at Samuel Merritt College participates in the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA). The link to the CASPA website is provided for you at the bottom of this page.

Admission Requirements
Diversity within the PA profession is greatly valued and the PA department is committed to recruiting a class which is representative of the community in which we operate.

Admission to the PA department is competitive. Last year, 90 out of 426 applicants were interviewed for 29 seats. Each applicant is evaluated based on evidence of potential, knowledge of the culture of health care, personal integrity, motivation and interpersonal skills.

The academic and health care experience of the average student accepted into the Class of 2005 was:

Cumulative GPA:	3.45	Range: 3.15 - 3.88
Science GPA	3.46	Range: 3.04 - 3.94
Months of Full-time health care experience: 12

Applicants must meet the following prerequisite criteria:

• A bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution. College seniors are eligible to apply provided they will receive their degree prior to matriculation into the PA program. Applicants coming straight from undergraduate studies may be at a disadvantage because of the likelihood that they will have fewer months of health care than other applicants.
• The preferred standard for applicants is a cummulative all-college GPA of 3.0.
• The preferred standard for applicants is an overall science GPA of 3.0.
• Applicants who received their degree from institutions outside the United States or Canada must have their transcripts evaluated by a recognized foreign transcript evaluation system. In addition, it is strongly recommended that such applicants complete at least one semester (15 credits) of additional undergraduate or graduate work at a US college.
• Prerequisite courses:
  1. A minimum of 16 semester units of biological sciences are required including human anatomy*, human physiology* and microbiology*. The remaining units can be in any area of the biological sciences.
  2. A minimum of 8 semester units of chemistry* are required. This must include 4 semester units of Inorganic Chemistry and 4 semester units of Organic Chemistry.
  3. Statistics (three semester units)
  *Strong preference will be given to those who have completed these courses within the past 5 years. This recency recommendation is less stringent for those currently working in the health care field. It is preferred that students only have one prerequisite course in progress in Spring.
• TOEFL (U.S. citizens or international students) - The need for TOEFL will be assessed based on information provided by applicants on the application for admission, if required, a score of 100 (Internet Based Test) must be achieved and official score results must be provided.
• GREs are not required.

Health Care Experience
The MPA program defines health care experience as direct, "hands on" patient contact. This can be gained through paid experience as an EMT, paramedic, helath educator, RN, patient care attendant or nurse's aid, clinic assistant, Peace Corps participant or other cross-cultural health care training, technologist, therapist, clinical research coordinator, etc. To a lesser degree, volunteer experience may be considered. Most competitive applicants will have a minimum of 1000 hours of related direct patient contact.

References
Three references are required. References from at least one health care provider with whom you have worked closely are strongly recommended. Relatives and personal friends should not complete the reference forms.

Interviews
Upon receipt of your complete application packet from CASPA, the review process will begin. Approximately one hundred individuals will be invited to interview and a class of thirty-six will be accepted. Academic potential, personal integrity and maturity, interpersonal skills and knowledge of the health care system in the United States are all part of the evaluation process and weigh heavily in the final Admission decision.

Notifications
All candidates are notified of the Admission Committees decision in writing. Candidates who are interviewed are notified as early as two weeks after the interview. Deposits of $350.00 are required to reserve a place in the class. This deposit is non-refundable and is attributed to the first semester's tuition.

Each year an alternate list is generated from the candidates who have interviewed. Should an accepted candidate withdraw from the program prior to the start of classes, the position is offered to the highest ranked candidate on the alternate list.

---

Applying for Admission
The MPA program at Samuel Merritt College participates in the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA). Applicants apply online at www.caspaonline.org [1]
[2]

Applications for the upcoming Fall are generally available on the CASPA website [3] beginning May 1st. First consideration will be given to applicants who have submitted all required documents to CASPA by Dec 1st. Applications submitted to CASPA after Dec. 1st will be considered on a space-available basis and admission will be closed after a suitable cohort has been identified.

For applicants with questions about completing the online application:
CASPA's "Help" contact number is (240) 497-1895
CASPA's e-mail address is apply@caspaonline.org [4].

Use the following mailing address to send your completed material to CASPA:
CASPA
Post Office Box 70958
Chevy Chase, MD 20813-0958