The PA-CAT (Physician Assistant College Admission Test) is a specialized entrance exam a small group of PA programs use to evaluate applicants’ science readiness. Most programs don’t require it — but if a school on your list does, you need to know early, because the exam has its own registration windows, fees, and prep timeline. This page tracks every PA program that currently requires the PA-CAT, live.
Live snapshot (Jul 16, 2026): 19 PA programs require the PA-CAT, 304 do not, and 14 do not clearly state a policy.
How to plan for the PA-CAT
Treat it like a second, smaller MCAT-style commitment: check each program’s admissions page for score deadlines relative to their CASPA deadline, give yourself a dedicated study window focused on anatomy, physiology, and the core prerequisite sciences, and confirm score-reporting logistics before you register. If none of your target schools require it, you can safely skip it — an unrequested score won’t rescue an application.
This list updates itself
Most “cheapest/best/lowest” PA school posts were true the day they were written and quietly wrong a year later. This one is different: the list above is generated live from the PA School Finder directory every time the page loads. Program details are verified from each program’s own official pages and CASPA, and accreditation status is checked against the ARC-PA weekly — so the rankings, counts, and figures you see are current as of today, not the day this post was published.
Build your full school list
One data point never makes a school list. Combine this with state, GPA, patient care hours, deadlines, and PANCE pass rates using the free PA Program Match tool — or paste your stats into PA Program Match AI for a free competitiveness score and a personalized read on where you stand.
