Supplemental Applications and Physician Assistant School

Supplemental Applications for Physician Assistant School

Last Updated: 08/03/2015

Supplemental applications should not reflect anything in your CASPA application and are your chance to let admissions know more about you as an applicant. Nothing should be repeated from your personal narrative. If you start to deviate from the question as the paragraph continues, you are not answering the question. Find out what you want to tell admissions because you usually only have 300-500 words to answer, although some may have higher word maximums. Supplemental questions are your last chance to speak to admissions committees so it is important that you put lots of effort into them. Below are example questions from supplemental applications. As you can see, most programs ask similar questions. While these may not be used again, it is suggested that you write specific answers to the prompts you receive from your program’s supplemental application. As you gain experience, you can use these as a guide as to what type of questions you might see when you get ready to apply. It is never too early to draft a supplemental essay or your personal narrative. Jot ideas down in your spare time while shadowing or working. Keep an idea in your mind about what you’ll be asked about in the future.  

For help with your supplemental applications, utilize resources such as The PA Platform, which provides pre-PA assessments, supplemental application reviewing, letter of recommendation reviewing, and mock interviews.

Health Care Experience and PA School

Health Care Experience and PA School

Updated: 06/08/2016

Whether you’re new to learning about physician assistants, you’re still not sure if PA is right for you, or you know that you want to go into the medical field, health care experience can be a tricky business. Many application systems out there require you to fill in your experience in a very technical, monotonous way. The CASPA (Central Application Service for Physician Assistants), AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) and TMDSAS (Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service) are the most well-known. So you’re probably wondering what type of health care experience (HCE) you’ll need? Yes, the abbreviation “HCE” stands for health care experience, and you’ll see many students and PAs using it a lot when they talk about admissions requirements. I’ll talk about the different types of experience below and then list a few types under each. Just as a tip, always ensure that your “training” for any profession you list below is not counted in your hours of experience, as schools will not accept any training hours as HCE.

Patient Care Experience

This is experience in which you are directly involved in the patient’s care.