Pre-Physician Assistant Course Checklist
Physician Assistant Required Courses
Physician Assistant (PA) programs require that a Bachelor’s degree be completed prior to starting the program. PA programs vary significantly in their required pre-requisites. It is critical that you research the PA programs you are considering to determine which prerequisite courses you need to take and to become familiar with specific requirements. Information on PA programs is available on the Physician Assistant Education Association website Links to an external site.. Take the time now to review the pre-requisites for the schools you are considering so that you can build them into your academic plan! Also pay attention to any stated requirements regarding which courses must be complete at the time of application.
The following list provides an overview of pre-requisites that are most often required by PA programs. Each program has its own policies about whether or not it will accept AP credit to satisfy pre-requisites.
| Class | Credits | Options | Notes |
| General Biology w/ Labs | 8 | BIO 201/205 & BIO 202/206 | |
| General Chemistry w/ Labs | 8 | CHM 203/204 & CHM 205/206 | |
| Organic Chemistry w/ Labs | 8 | CHM 321/322 & CHM 323/324 | |
| Biochemistry | 3 | CHM 371 | Some schools requiring Biochemistry may only require 1 semester of Organic Chemistry. At Creighton, students must complete 2 semesters of Organic Chemistry before moving on to Biochemistry. |
| Microbiology | 4 | BIO 350 (non-major) or BIO 452/453 (bio majors) | BIO 350 is a Fall course; BIO 452/453 is a Spring course |
| Human Anatomy w/ Lab | 4 | EXS 331, or PHA 310/311 | |
| Human Physiology w/ Lab | 4 | BIO 449/450 or EXS 320 | BIO 362 is the pre-req for BIO 449 |
| Psychology (General and Developmental/Lifespan and/or Psychopathology/Abnormal) -some programs may have a preference for either Developmental/Lifespan or Psychopathology/Abnormal | 6 | PSY 201 & PSY 351, PSY 341/342, or PSY 510 |
Both PSY 341 and PSY 342 must be completed to fulfill lifetime development requirement PSY 510 covers lifespan development and is offered in the Spring |
| English | 6 | ENG 150 & ENG 22X | Magis: Contemporary Composition & Magis: Literature |
| Statistics | 3 | Many options | Often taken through major |
| Medical Terminology | 1 | OTD 215 |
Creighton Physician Assistant Pre-Requisites
The following chart lists the pre-requisites for Creighton's Physician Assistant program Links to an external site.. You will notice that the required courses on the Creighton list look much lighter than the courses on the first list. Keep in mind, many of the courses required by Creighton's PA program have pre-requisites that are not explicitly listed (EX: to get to Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, you must first complete General Chemistry).
Undergraduate Degree Requirements
: A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution within the U.S. or Canada must be completed by the end of the spring term prior to matriculation.
General Coursework Requirements:
All prerequisite courses must be completed at an accredited institution within the United States or Canada with a grade of C or higher.
All prerequisite science courses must be completed at an accredited four-year institution.
No more than 16 semester hours of prerequisite coursework may be planned or in progress at the time of application submission.
All prerequisite coursework must be completed and official transcript(s) must be submitted to the program by July 15 of the summer term prior to matriculation.
The program will not accept any prerequisite course work graded as Pass/Fail or courses obtained by CLEP Examination or Advanced Placement (AP).
Grades for repeated courses will be averaged together and the mean grade will be used in GPA calculations for purposes of the application.
| Class | Credits | Where | Notes |
| Human Anatomy w/ Lab | 4 | Must be from 4-year institution | |
| Human Physiology w/ Lab | 4 | Must be from 4-year institution | |
| Microbiology w/ Lab | 4 | Must be from 4-year institution | |
| Organic Chemistry w/ Lab | 4 | Must be from 4-year institution | Must take both semesters of Organic Chemistry to be eligible for Biochemistry |
| Biochemistry | 3 | Must be from 4-year institution | |
| Psychopathology (Abnormal PSY) | 3 | Community college accepted | PSY 351 |
| Statistics | 3 | Community college accepted | |
| Medical Terminology | 1 | Community college accepted | |
| Immunology | 3 | Not required, but strongly recommended | |
| Genetics | 3 | Not required, but strongly recommended |
Graduate Record Exam (GRE)
Some Physician Assistant programs require the GRE. The GRE covers the following topics. There are no specific courses you must take prior to taking the GRE.
- Verbal Reasoning (analyze and evaluate written material)
- Quantitative Reasoning (concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis)
- Analytical Writing (critical thinking and analytical writing skills)