Description
The Pre-Professional Studies: Physician’s Assistant Pathway Minor is an interdisciplinary minor, drawing courses from a variety of disciplines. This minor is an intentional collection of mostly upper-level courses and experiences in the behavioral, social and hard sciences with a primary focus of preparing students with the critical thinking skills necessary for solving problems in human medicine. It is not intended to satisfy the list of to satisfy the entire list of prerequisite courses needed to apply to PA school or take the GRE or PACAT exams.
Admission to the Program
Any undergraduate student intending on applying to optometry school is encouraged to declare this minor. Students will need to take the following prerequisite courses to be able to complete the minor: ENG112, PSH110, BIO201, BIO202, CHM205 and CHM206 and intermediate level coursework in biology and chemistry. Students not intending on applying to PA School should instead explore the Pre-professional Health Minor.
Program Requirements
The minor requires 19-23 credits. Students design their course of study in close consultation with their minor advisor.
Required Core (7 cr)
- PSH 397 Health Psychology
- HCS 230 Medical Terminology
- PPH 400 Pre-professional Health Seminar*
Career Shadowing: Choose one (0-3 cr):
- PPH 300 Oak Orchard Health Shadowing
- PPH 399 Off Campus Internship/Shadowing
- Equivalent experience as determined by the PPH Program Director
Ethics Competency: Choose two (6 cr)
- PHL 321 Medical Ethics
- SOC 211 Social Disparities Health
- SOC 332 Health Medicine & Society
Writing Competency: Choose one (3 cr)
- ENG 300 Adv Composition
- ENG 210 Creative Writing
Upper-level Science Lab: Choose one (3-4 cr)
- BIO 422 Animal Physiology & Histology
- BIO 423 General Microbiology
- BIO 456 Systems Physiology
- CHM 467 Biochemistry I plus CHM 470 Biochemistry Lab
*Exit Requirements:
- Only students preparing applications to professional schools will be allowed to enroll in PPH 400, since this course is mainly focused on helping students prepare for the application portfolio and anticipated interview process.
- For permission to enroll in PPH 400, students must have an overall GPA of >3.00 and be working with a PPH Advisor on a PA school application timeline.