As part of my “5 steps to PA School” series on my PA Life website I covered the healthcare experience requirements of all 204 Physician Assistant Programs in the United States.
Included in the post was a survey asking people to predict what percentage of PA programs in the US required 2,000 or more hours of healthcare experience.
The overwhelming majority (32%) thought that 67% of PA schools nationwide required 2,000 or more hours of healthcare experience.
What is the actual number?
Four percent! Yes, you read that correctly, in the year 2015 only 4% of PA schools nationwide require that PA school applicants have 2,000 hours or more of health care experience (HCE) in order to apply.
Despite this, the median number of HCE hours that successful PA school applicants have is quite a bit higher.
Does 2,000 hours sound like a lot?
Well, the good news is, this is only 1 year of full time work which in my opinion is not just a good requirement but a great goal as an applicant deciding if the PA profession is right for you.
You can use the PASchoolfinder website to filter PA schools by healthcare experience requirements in order to find which programs may be a good fit for the upcoming application cycle.
