Master of Science: Physician Assistant Program

Frequently Asked Questions

ACCREDITATION

The ARC-PA has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Southern California University of Health Sciences Master of Science: Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Southern California University of Health Sciences. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.

Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be September 2030. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.

The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at https://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-southern-california-university-of-health-sciences/

Admissions

AP and IB credit will be accepted to fulfill the Mathematics, Psychology, English Composition, and Statistics prerequisites only. You must receive a score of 3 or above on an AP or IB exam to receive credit for the applicable prerequisite course(s). If this score is not noted on your official college or university transcript, you must request an official score report from the College Board or International Baccalaureate Organization which must be received by January 15, 2026. Prerequisite courses cannot be fulfilled through CLEP or certificate courses.

Yes, we do accept introductory courses to fulfill prerequisite requirements, however, we prefer upper-level core science courses.
We do not prequalify courses; however, SCU does offer several prerequisite courses through our Accelerated Science courses. These courses must meet all minimum prerequisite requirements to qualify.
While CASPA automatically makes a quarter to semester conversion of all credits, SCU does not follow this conversion. For example, if you have 4 credits of a course under a quarter system, this will still be counted as 4 credits for the purposes of our prerequisite requirements.
Yes. All prerequisite courses must be completed and the official college or university transcript verifying successful completion of the course must be received by CASPA by January 15, 2026. This includes score reports for Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams that are being used to fulfill a prerequisite course. Additionally, any supporting documentation for prerequisite courses (e.g., course descriptions, syllabi) must be received by this date to be considered.

No, we do not accept courses or degrees from foreign or international institutions.

No, a TOEFL is not required.
Yes, a total of 1,000 paid hours of healthcare experience are required at the time of application submission. Updates to experiences will not be accepted after submission. Please note that experiences marked as both paid and volunteer will not be accepted.
No. Please upload all admissions documents through CASPA. Please send all official transcripts directly to CASPA. The only exception to this is for official Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) score reports which should be sent electronically (school code 4838). Archived AP or IB score reports that cannot be sent electronically should be mailed to the address below.

Southern California University of Health Sciences
MSPA Admissions
Attn: Trina Cicinelli
16200 Amber Valley Drive
Whittier, CA 90604

The 2025-2026 application cycle for our program opens on April 24, 2025, and closes on January 15, 2026, for applicants who wish to matriculate with our next cohort on August 31, 2026. Applications must be submitted and verified through the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) by January 15, 2026. Applications must have all admissions requirements completed at the time of submission except for pending prerequisite courses and in-progress degrees. Applications submitted with pending prerequisite courses will not be reviewed until official transcripts are received by CASPA. All transcripts, including Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) score reports, must be received by January 15, 2026. Applications with in-progress degrees will be reviewed if all other requirements have been met by January 15, 2026, and the anticipated degree completion date is no later than August 21, 2026.
We participate in a rolling admissions process. This means that applications that meet our admissions requirements will be reviewed after verification by the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA). Applications that have pending prerequisite courses will be put on hold until all prerequisite courses have been completed and official transcripts or Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) score reports have been received. If not received by January 15, 2026, applications with pending requirements will be denied. The only exception to this is in-progress degrees which must have an anticipated degree completion date of August 21, 2026 or earlier. We anticipate conducting interviews throughout the application cycle, as well as after the application cycle closes, and will do our best to notify you via email of updates to your application as they occur. We anticipate that all applicants will be notified of their application status by April 2026.
Our program is approved to admit 50 students each fall.
Yes, applicants will be notified if they were selected for the waitlist by April 2026. Applicants on our waitlist may be offered a seat in the program through the second week of classes.
There are many reasons why an applicant may not meet our minimum admissions requirements. The most common are related to GPA, missing prerequisite courses, core sciences courses taken more than seven years ago, and healthcare experience. Please monitor your email throughout the application cycle as we’ll do our best to communicate any missing prerequisites with you.
Last application cycle we received over 2,000 applications. Each year we interview approximately 200 applicants. This means most applicants who qualify for application review will not be invited for an interview. Below are a few tips that may improve your chances of qualifying for an interview in the future:

  • Take additional biology, chemistry, and/or physics courses to improve your BCP GPA
  • Take additional courses in chemistry, human anatomy, human physiology, and/or microbiology to improve your core science prerequisite GPA
  • Start or continue working in a paid healthcare role within a hospital, urgent care, outpatient clinic, or surgical center
  • Take prerequisite courses at a four-year college or university
  • Take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and achieve the benchmarks noted in the “Preferences” section on our “Admissions Requirements” page
  • Enroll in SCU’s BSHS or MSMS Program and fulfill the minimum requirements to qualify for a preferential interview

Our program is limited to 50 students each year. We invite applicants who align with our mission and who we believe will succeed in our program. Below are a few ways you can improve your interview in the future.

No. Last year we received over 2,000 applications and unfortunately are unable to provide one-on-one advice or application review prior to submission. Please carefully review the admissions requirements listed on our website. We also encourage you to attend one of our monthly Virtual Information Sessions for more information about our program. If you are unable to find an answer to your question after a careful review of our website, you may email PhysicianAssistant@scuhs.edu.

ACCEPTED STUDENTS

All pre-matriculation requirements, including immunization records and titers, must be submitted and approved prior to matriculation, unless otherwise noted.
Yes, all applicants who have accepted an enrollment offer will be required to complete a background check and drug screen prior to matriculation. Any applicant who has an infraction noted on a background check and/or a positive drug screen may have their enrollment offer rescinded. Additionally, if information on the submitted application is found to be falsified or inaccurate, the applicant’s enrollment offer may be rescinded. If an applicant has already matriculated, the student may be administratively withdrawn from the program. Students will be required to retake the background check and drug screen before starting clinical rotations. If the student has new convictions on their record and/or the drug screen is positive at this time, the student may be administratively withdrawn from the program.
Financial aid information will be provided once an applicant accepts their seat in the program. An individualized financial aid plan will be provided to each student to meet their financial aid needs. Registration information will be sent to students prior to orientation.
Schedules are made at the program’s discretion and may change from term to term. In general, students can expect to participate in live, synchronous lectures via Zoom and on campus classes and activities approximately 2-3 days per week. Classes are generally held Monday through Friday during the day, although classes may be scheduled at any time, including evenings and weekends. Once students transition to the clinical year, all learning is conducted in person for clinical rotations. Clinical hours may vary and include nights, weekends, and holidays.
This is a full-time program and students are discouraged from working while in the program.

Clinical rotation sites are typically located within 100 miles of campus, however, placement in sites outside of this range, including out of state, may occur.

No. The program does not require students to find their own clinical rotation sites.