Top Masters Programs in Physician Assistant

The Marriage and Family Therapy program at Oklahoma State University-Main Campus offers several appealing features. The program leads to a Master of Science degree in Human Development and Family Science, providing students with the qualifications to sit for the national licensing exam and pursue licensure in Oklahoma and most other states. Additionally, it prepares students for further doctoral studies if desired.

With a curriculum consisting of 60-63 credit hours, the program emphasizes the development of clinical skills, self-awareness, and the establishment of a personalized model of family therapy. Students have the option to choose between a thesis or non-thesis track, with the non-thesis option requiring three additional credit hours.

The program is designed for full-time study due to its intensive nature, and it typically takes around 2.5 years to complete. Students engage in coursework covering areas such as human development, marital and family studies, marriage and family therapy, professionalism and ethics, research and statistics, and supervised practicum.

Practical experience is a significant component, with a minimum of 500 direct client contact hours, including at least 200 hours working with couples or families. Students also receive at least 100 hours of supervision from faculty during their clinical training. The program operates the Center for Family Services, an on-campus clinic where graduate students gain hands-on experience and fulfill their required clinical hours under the guidance of faculty members. This provides students with valuable practical training in a real-world setting.

Importantly, the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Oklahoma State University-Main Campus is the only program in Oklahoma accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), ensuring high-quality education and training. The program's total cost is approximately $52,785. The program offers the option of submitting the GRE score, but it is not mandatory for admission.

Yale University's online/hybrid master's in Physician Assistant program has a track record of producing the highly skilled physician assistants that the country requires. The 28-month curriculum is designed to prepare students to become patient-centered medical practitioners. wherein the first 12 months are primarily devoted to online lectures and assignments covering the various organ systems, such as gastrointestinal, haematologic, and cardiovascular. The final 16 months will be devoted to a pediatric, emergency, and geriatric medicine, during which time students will work to hone their clinical abilities and think about how the knowledge they have acquired applies to actual circumstances.

This program trains students as patient-focused physicians who can choose to learn in their own communities. Each week, students come together in virtual classrooms to converse with teachers and classmates. Course materials are presented using a multimedia approach, emphasizing the systems of the body when studying medicine.

The Stanford School of Medicine Master of Science in Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program seeks to develop highly skilled clinical PAs and inspire PA students to become PA leaders through work in scholarly concentrations, including community health, clinical research, health services and policy research, and medical education. During the 9-quarter program, students will be educated by exceptional Stanford clinical faculty, will immerse themselves in scholarly concentrations to build leadership skills, and will experience clinical practice in a world-class healthcare infrastructure.

The Stanford University School of Medicine is at the forefront of transforming medical education. Medical students at Stanford benefit from an educational model known as the “flipped classroom”, which moves traditional lecture content to online video, thereby freeing classroom time for interactive learning among peers and faculty. The Master of Science Degree in PA Studies Program will harness this model and other innovative concepts in the future to redefine PA education.

The mission of the program is to prepare physician assistants (PAs) to provide compassionate, high-quality, patient-centered care as members of interdisciplinary teams. Graduates from this program are culturally competent, committed to continuous learning and professional development and make significant contributions to communities and the advancement of the PA profession.

The vision of the Northwestern University Physician Assistant Program is to strive to be the national leader in PA education and to prepare physician assistants of the highest quality to practice medicine, with the supervision of a physician, in this ever-changing healthcare environment.

The program aims to facilitate the acquisition of the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to respond positively to the challenges and opportunities of future trends in healthcare delivery.

Dartmouth College offers a master's degree in Physician Assistant that teaches students the knowledge on how to evaluate patients, identify illnesses and injuries, administer medication, and carry out a variety of other tasks typically done by MDs. This full-time master's program offer courses in basic sciences, behavioral sciences, and clinical medicine across subjects such as anatomy, pharmacology, microbiology, physiology and more. The program can be completed in one or two years depending on the specialty you choose.

Weill Cornell Graduate School offers a 26 month Master of Science in Health Sciences for Physicians (MSHS PA) program that gives students the chance to use the wealth of academic and clinical resources to apply the principles of medicine they have learned in the classroom to patient care in a variety of practice settings. Students will also gain knowledge of research techniques and strengthen their research skills, which will help them better adopt new medical techniques and advance in clinical practice. 

Early March marks the start of the program's two study stages, the first of which is an intensive pre-clinical classroom phase and the second of which is the clinical phase. The Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences oversees the instruction of this course.

 Graduates are qualified to take the National Certifying Board Test administered by the National Physician Assistants Certification Commission once these steps have been satisfactorily completed.

The aim of this program is to train physician assistants who are highly competent, kind, and sensitive to cultural differences and who can work and prosper in a range of clinical and academic contexts.

The 21-month MPA-DP is a STEM-designated, practice-oriented professional advancement degree program where students will acquire the knowledge, and build the skills, experience, and networks to make a just and sustainable world. The objective is to empower and support you through a combination of core and elective courses, skills development, and real-world practice. The department support diverse, work-experience opportunities during the program, including a 3-month professional placement, a client-oriented, team capstone project, and internships. pon graduation, you will be ready to apply these competencies with leading organizations in the public, non-profit, and private sectors or create your own enterprise, as many of the students have done.

Students graduating with an MPA-DP STEM-designated degree acquire skills to advance their career and work in leadership, management, and research positions in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. With a STEM degree, students enter the job market with a US nationally-recognized designation, and it allows international students to apply for an additional 24 months of Optional Practical Training (OPT) after their first year of standard OPT (a total of three years).

Your academics will cover a wide range of disciplines and sectors, including core courses in sustainable development, economics, statistics, global food systems, and more. In addition, you will also choose to focus your degree in a particular area, such as Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition; Disaster, Emergencies, and Crisis Management; or Gender, Human Rights, and Social Inclusion, to name a few.

PA programs are a competitive and attractive option for students who want to use their knowledge and passion for science to care for others. This section provides information regarding the PA profession, preparation and the admissions processes to PA programs, and resources for exploring the field and becoming a competitive applicant.

Physician Assistants (PAs) are health professionals who are licensed to practice medicine with physician or surgeon supervision.

They work in a variety of healthcare settings including hospitals, physician offices, education, public health agencies, research centers and government institutions. PAs are required to be licensed to practice in every state.

The general length of PA programs is roughly 3 years and includes supervised rounds of clinical rotations lasting between nine to fifteen months.

PA programs that require healthcare experience are usually specific regarding the length of time and types of experiences they are looking for in applicants.

In order to be considered competitive most programs require an average of 1,000-4,000 hours of relevant healthcare experience.

Top 5 Tips for a Career as a Physician Assistant.

Major in the field which interests you the most, while showing strong academic ability in science.

Explore the Physician Assistant field, Patient Care Experience is a requirement for all PA programs.

The ability to speak a second (e.g Spanish, Vietnamese etc.) language is required or highly desired by most PA programs.

Keep your grades as high as possible. An upward trend in grade performance will be noted, especially when you are trying to overcome a less than spectacular year.

Be sure to start looking for people who can write your letters of recommendation. Be sure to choose those individuals who know you and your work well and who you have close relationships with, e.g. shared interest in academic and or professional matters.

What you can do as a second year grad student.

Letters of Recommendation for Grad Students Postdocs.

The Emory Physician Assistant Program recruits educates and mentors a diverse group of students to become highly regarded physician assistants providing compassionate health care of the highest quality.

The university value the highest standards of professionalism and team-based medicine with a commitment to the medically underserved. Graduates are prepared to practice evidence-based primary care and preventive medicine and engage in lifelong learning.

In addition to the outstanding academic and clinical opportunities, they are particularly proud of their program’s long-standing heritage of community service. Each year, their students travel to rural South Georgia where they care for the farmworkers who harvest our crops. Locally, they work in urban Atlanta clinics, providing for the uninsured.

The Department of Family and Preventive Medicine affords the students students rich resources to draw upon, including lectures from nationally known experts in their respective fields and a diversity of clinical experiences.

In addition to teaching the science and art of medicine, we are committed to helping their students become professionals who understand the team-based practice, efficient learning, and advocating for patients. They train the students to become competent, confident practitioners.

The Primary Care Physician Assistant Program at the Keck School of Medicine of USC has a long and successful history of training and graduating outstanding clinicians who work in a variety of medical care settings with diverse patient populations. The graduates are trained not only for clinical excellence, but also in the breadth of competencies required to be professional leaders in this exciting career within the rapidly changing, medical environments of the 21st century.

The Master of Physician Assistant Practice (MPAP), offered by the Primary Care Physician Assistant Program at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, trains students in a range of medical, social and behavioral sciences required for competent clinical practice. Physician assistants are educated in basic medical sciences and clinical disciplines, including human anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and clinical laboratory medicine. Further, PA students are taught to hone the cognitive skills required for medical decision-making.

The 33-month graduate curriculum includes integrated course work in the basic sciences, medicine, clinical skills, public health and epidemiology, health care administration, and psychosocial and behavioral sciences. Students enter the program having completed a Bachelor’s degree as well as a set of program prerequisites. Our unique location within the Keck School of Medicine of USC provides students with a vast array of educational and clinical resources that contribute to the excellence in training. A physician assistant (PA) is a health care professional qualified by academic and clinical education and by formal certification to practice medicine with the supervision of a doctor of medicine or osteopathy. PAs perform diagnostic, therapeutic, preventive and health maintenance services in any setting in which physicians provide care. PAs are accountable for their own actions as well as being accountable to their supervising physician.