Frequently Asked Questions

We have two requirements for admission: (1) a bachelor's degree; and (2) completion of the CASPer assessment. All other application elements are recommended but not required. 

Yes. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited academic institution in the U.S. or Canada (three-year bachelor's degree from Quebec, four-year bachelor's degree from other provinces) by July 15 of the year of matriculation. Applicants with a graduate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. academic institution and an equivalent undergraduate degree ( see required minimum level of study) from a recognized academic institution outside the U.S. are also eligible to apply. Applicants with degrees in progress at the time of application may be conditionally accepted into the program but must demonstrate that they are on track to complete their degree and must receive their degree by July 15.

Please note that applicants with non-U.S. medical degrees are ineligible to apply unless they also hold a U.S. graduate degree and an equivalent undergraduate degree from a recognized academic institution outside the U.S., or an undergraduate degree from the U.S. or Canada. 

Yes. International students are welcome to apply as long as they meet our eligibility requirements. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited academic institution in the U.S. or Canada (three-year bachelor's degree from Quebec, four-year bachelor's degree from other provinces) by July 15 of the year of matriculation. No specific discipline or major is prescribed. 

Applicants with a graduate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. academic institution and an equivalent undergraduate degree (see required minimum level of study) from a recognized academic institution outside the U.S. are also eligible to apply. 

Please note that applicants with non-U.S. medical degrees are ineligible to apply unless they also hold a qualifying U.S. graduate degree and an equivalent undergraduate degree from a recognized academic institution outside the U.S., or an undergraduate degree from the U.S. or Canada. 

Applicants are considered for admission to the Stanford MSPA program without regard to their country of origin. Eligible applicants include U.S. citizens, permanent U.S. residents holding a valid visa, applicants who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the time of application, undocumented applicants, and international applicants. 

In order to practice in California or any other state, physician assistant graduates must pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) and apply for state licensure. Criteria for eligibility to sit for the PANCE board examination and/or to qualify for state licensure are set by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) board and each state. DACA students are currently eligible to apply for and obtain a license to practice as a physician assistant in California; however, this varies by state. Prospective PA students should consult the requirements of the licensing authority in any state in which they contemplate practicing to determine the qualifications for licensure. Information concerning licensure in California can be found at https://www.pac.ca.gov. Information about other states can be found at https://www.nccpa.net/stateboards.

Yes. Applicants are considered for admission to the Stanford MSPA program without regard to their country of origin. Eligible applicants include U.S. citizens, permanent U.S. residents holding a valid visa, applicants who have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the time of application, undocumented applicants, and international applicants. For more information visit Non U.S.-Citizens and Undocumented at Stanford.

In order to practice in California or any other state, physician assistant graduates must pass the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) and apply for state licensure. Criteria for eligibility to sit for the PANCE board examination and/or to qualify for state licensure are set by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) board and each state. DACA students are currently eligible to apply for and obtain a license to practice as a physician assistant in California; however, this varies by state. Prospective PA students should consult the requirements of the licensing authority in any state in which they contemplate practicing to determine the qualifications for licensure. Information concerning licensure in California can be found at https://www.pac.ca.gov. Information about other states can be found at https://www.nccpa.net/stateboards.

Maybe. Applicants with non-U.S. medical degrees are only eligible to apply if they also hold a regionally accredited U.S. graduate degree and an equivalent undergraduate degree from a recognized academic institution outside the U.S., or a regionally accredited undergraduate degree from the U.S. or Canada. 

No. All elements of the application are included in the CASPA application.

Information about our current cohorts can be found at the Admissions page.

Completion of the GRE, MCAT, or PA-CAT is not required in order for applications to be eligible for review. We recommend that applicants complete either the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), the Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT) examination, or the Physician Assistant College Admission Test (PA-CAT), but we will review all eligible applications regardless of standardized test completion. 

Applicants with GRE scores should submit official scores for all sections (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical) in the CASPA application using the Stanford MSPA Program CASPA code 4510. Applicants with MCAT scores should provide their Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) verification code in the CASPA application using the Stanford MSPA Program CASPA code 4510. Applicants taking the PA-CAT should designate Stanford as one of the schools to send their scores to, and then PA-CAT will send official scores directly to us. Official GRE, MCAT, and/or PA-CAT scores should be verified either in CASPA (for GRE and MCAT) or received by our admissions office (for PA-CAT) by October 1 in order to be included in our review. 

You can check the status of GRE or MCAT scores by viewing your CASPA application at any time after submission. For PA-CAT scores, you will receive an email when our admissions office receives your scores. Please do not contact our admissions office to ask if we have received your scores. 

We do not have a minimum GRE/MCAT/PA-CAT score requirement. 

CASPer must be completed by October 1 in order for an application to be eligible for review. Applicants are encouraged to complete CASPer before submitting the CASPA application, but applicants may submit the CASPA application prior to completing the CASPer assessment if desired. 

Applicants should go to www.takeCASPer.com to sign up for the American Professional Health Sciences test (CSP10101) and select the Stanford MSPA program to receive their official results. Once you have designated Stanford to receive your results and completed the assessment, your results will be sent directly from CASPer to our admissions department; no other action is needed. Please be sure to select the current admissions cycle, and review available test dates carefully. CASPer must be completed by October 1.

Due to our high volume of applicants, please note that we are unable to confirm receipt of individual CASPer results. If we discover any issues with receipt of your results, we will contact you before continuing with our review of your application. 

Yes. CASPer test results are only valid for one admissions cycle; applicants who have completed CASPer in previous cycles must retake it for the current cycle. 

We do not have a minimum GPA requirement.

We use the GPA calculations from the CASPA application portal. Overall GPA and overall science GPA, as well as GPA for undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and/or graduate work (when applicable) will be included in our review. 

We will see all coursework completed on any transcript(s) submitted in the CASPA application. In the case of multiple grades for the same course, we will give preference to the better grade; however, we will note all grades during our review. 

Maybe. None of our recommended preparatory coursework is required, and we will review all applications regardless of prior coursework. We strongly recommend that you complete as much of the preparatory coursework as possible to increase the competitiveness of your application. Please review the Preparatory Coursework page for more detailed information about specific course recommendations.

No. Because preparatory coursework is strongly recommended but not required, we do not make exceptions or provide "waivers" for preparatory coursework. If a course does not meet the criteria described on our preparatory coursework page (e.g., is a specialized statistics course), we will note the course but it will not be formally considered during our review as meeting our preparatory coursework recommendation. You are not required to take any of the preparatory courses; however, completing as many of the recommended preparatory courses as possible may increase the competitiveness of your application. 

No. Because preparatory coursework is strongly recommended but not required, we do not make exceptions or provide "waivers" for preparatory coursework. If a course does not meet the criteria described on our preparatory coursework page (e.g., is a specialized psychology course), we will note the course but it will not be formally considered during our review as meeting our preparatory coursework recommendation. You are not required to take any of the preparatory courses; however, completing as many of the recommended preparatory courses as possible may increase the competitiveness of your application. 

Preparatory coursework must be completed prior to the application deadline in order to be considered during the review process. 

Yes. All preparatory coursework from regionally accredited educational institutions will be considered, although we prefer that courses with a lab component (e.g., Anatomy and Physiology) be completed in person if possible.

For our upper-division course recommendation, please note that because most upper-division courses are offered only to advanced students at four-year institutions and carry a course number of 300 or above, they may not be offered online or at two-year institutions. Unless the course is explicitly classified as upper division by your institution, it will not satisfy our course recommendation.

Probably. As long as the course appears on the transcript from your "home" institution and was completed for a grade, we will consider it in our review.

No. We strongly recommend that preparatory coursework be completed within the last ten (10) years. Coursework completed more than ten years ago will be noted but not formally considered during the review process.

No. We strongly recommend that preparatory coursework be completed prior to applying. Coursework in progress will be noted but not formally considered during the review process.

No. Preparatory coursework should be completed at the postsecondary level only; AP credit or coursework completed in high school does not fulfill our coursework recommendations and will not be considered during the review process.

Our recommendation for clinical experience is not a prerequisite for admission, and we will review all applications regardless of prior clinical experience. However, we recommend that applicants complete a minimum of 500 hours clinical experience. Direct patient care experience, which includes hands-on contact with patients in a medical setting, is strongly preferred. Common examples of direct patient care experience include but are not limited to: athletic trainer, behavioral health technician, certified nursing assistant, clinical pharmacist, dietician, emergency medical technician, medical assistant, medical scribe, medical technician, military medic, nutritionist, paramedic, physical therapist, physical therapy aide, radiology technician, registered nurse, respiratory therapist, and sonographer. We will consider other health care experience as well, including volunteer experience, and applicants will have an opportunity to describe their clinical experience in their application.

No. We do not require shadowing experience and will not formally consider it during the review process.

The CASPA application fee for the 2020-2021 application cycle is $179 for the first program and $55 for each additional program. We do not have an additional supplemental fee. For more information about CASPA fees, including the CASPA Fee Assistance Program, visit the CASPA Fees and Fee Waivers page

The fee to take CASPer for the 2020-2021 application cycle is $10 plus $10 for each distribution. For more information about CASPer fees visit the CASPer test dates and fees page.

Please update your contact information directly through the CASPA website.

You can update your CASPA application at any time prior to the application deadline though the CASPA application portal. However, we only consider experience and coursework completed by the time of application. Please do not contact us with updates about additional experience or coursework after the application deadline, as it will not be considered during the review process.

In order to ensure fairness for all applicants, we do not offer individualized feedback on applications, but we are happy to provide general information about the admissions process and answer questions. Prospective applicants are welcome to schedule an appointment to speak with an admissions officer. 

If you would like to speak with an admissions officer, please email paadmissions@stanford.edu to schedule an appointment. Appointments are available in person, by telephone, or via Zoom.

Please note that we are unable to accommodate admissions walk-in inquiries as our admissions team is not based on campus. Appointments are subject to availability, and in-person meetings must be scheduled at least one week in advance.

Our admission team reviews all eligible applications on a semi-rolling basis. This means once an application has been submitted and verified in CASPA, we begin the review process. We will continue to review all applications submitted by the October 1 deadline. The only advantage to applying early is that you may be notified of the status of your application sooner; there is no other advantage to applying early.

Our admission team reviews all eligible applications on a semi-rolling basis. This means once an application has been submitted and verified in CASPA, we begin the review process. If we determine that an applicant will move forward in the review process, we will send an interview invitation via email. Interview invitations may be sent anytime between October 2020 and January 2021. If we determine that an applicant will not move forward in the review process, we will send a denial letter via email. Denial letters may be sent anytime between October 2020 and January 2021. Please do not contact our admissions office for updates about application status.