Physician Assistant Studies | Clarkson University

Two Options for Your Physician Assistant Future

Studying to be a top physician assistant (PA) is a demanding educational experience that leads to an outstanding career.

Undergraduate students at Clarkson who want to pursue a career as a physician assistant have two options for reaching their professional goals.

Option 1: Direct Entry Physician Assistant BS/MS-PA Program

One application. Two healthcare degrees. Our direct entry healthcare program streamlines your path to becoming a physician assistant.

Students complete four years of undergraduate study at Clarkson for a BS degree, then directly enter our MS in Physician Assistant Studies (MS-PA) program. There’s no second application, as long as all the requirements and academic criteria have been met. The PA program reserves 5 seats per year for students admitted through direct admission, provided they meet minimum entry requirements, including required healthcare experience hours.

Learn more about Clarkson’s Direct Entry Programs

Option 2: Pre-Physician Assistant Advising Track

The pre-physician assistant undergraduate advising track is for highly qualified and motivated incoming high school students who aspire to be a physician assistant or enter a related healthcare field.

As one of our six pre-health sciences advising tracks, the pre-physician assistant track provides undergraduate students with many advantages that help them reach their educational and career goals. These include access to:

healthcare internship and co-op experiences
relevant healthcare-related minors, such as Medicine and Healthcare
special healthcare-related courses such as Health Coaches
personalized attention through a pre-health adviser and physician assistant studies adviser
healthcare-related student clubs and organizations, such as the Pre-Physician Assistant Club
hands-on medical research opportunities
state-of-the-art facilities, such as our cadaver lab

Kayla Grey '25

Majoring in Biology on the Pre-Physician Assistant track with a minor in Medicine and Healthcare.

Learn More About Kayla

Relevant Health Courses and Minors

Students participating in our pre-physician assistant track greatly benefit from Clarkson's course and minor offerings that are relevant to a future career in healthcare. After choosing from one of our 50-plus majors, students still find time in their four years at Clarkson to choose relevant minors to take their studies further. We also offer all of the required coursework needed to pursue a masters degree in occupational therapy including biology, chemistry, physics, math/calculus/statistics, English, psychology and sociology.

Popular Majors for Pre-Health Sciences

Relevant Health Care Minors

For students who know that a career in the health field is in their future, we offer several minors that provide the right experience and coursework needed to meet their goals. They include:

Health Coaches Course

Pre-physician assistant students can take Health Coaches, a yearlong course featuring weekly discussions with healthcare professionals on topics such as population health, chronic diseases in the healthcare system and community medicine. This course also includes a semester working with patients to gain service and experience hours in the medical field.

Facilities, Resources & Research

Simulation Spaces

Our state-of-the-art Simulation Lab is an extension of the classroom that allows students to apply strategies learned in lectures to hands-on activities in a realistic environment. The Sim Lab consists of a fully functioning house and outdoor environment, complete with a vehicle. Mock hospital rooms also allow students to practice evaluations and interventions in acute care settings.

Take a Virtual Tour of Our Spaces

Cadaver Lab

An integral part of our undergraduate anatomy and physiology course is our Cadaver Lab, where students have the chance to work with an actual cadaver, something that isn't offered to undergraduate students at many other universities.

The Innovation Hub

Clarkson Ignite is an innovation ecosystem that connects students to faculty, staff, alumni, and community leaders to gain critical hands-on, creative experience. The Innovation Hub (above), located in the heart of campus, is home to a variety of innovation spaces such as the Dorf Makerspace and Digital Making Suite.

Personalized Attention & Advising

At Clarkson, we provide our undergraduate healthcare students with a team of staff from across the University to help plan course schedules, develop the credentials needed to get complete requirements for our graduate programs, study for placement exams and successfully enter their direct entry program of choice. Every student has a personalized experience to reach their individual goals.

The Office of University Advising provides a Pre-Health Student Advisor who specializes in mentoring and coaching our students throughout their time at Clarkson to reach their goals. Our Career Center works with students to assist in helping them find relevant internships and co-op opportunities that will boost their resumes and give them the experience needed to navigate the vast healthcare industry. Our faculty, especially in the departments of biology, chemistry and biomolecular science, and psychology are experienced in providing additional mentorship to students who are eager to find success in healthcare.

Learn about the Office of University Advising

Student Solicitation of Preceptor or Clinical Site Policy (A3.03)

The program must define, publish, make readily available and consistently apply a policy for prospective and enrolled students that they must not be required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors.

The Clarkson University PA program recruits, develops, maintains and determines student placements for all supervised clinical practice experiences (also known as SCPEs or clinical sites). Coordinating supervised clinical practice experiences (SCPEs/clinicals) by the program’s faculty involves identifying, contacting and evaluating sites and preceptors for suitability and student safety as a required (core) or elective rotation experience.

Students may suggest or provide information regarding potential preceptors or clinical sites to the program’s faculty but no student will be required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors. Any clinical site or preceptor recommended to the program by a student must be reviewed, evaluated and approved for educational suitability and student safety by the program.

Pre-Physician Assistant Studies