Admissions Criteria and Requirements
ADMISSIONS CRITERIA
The admissions committee will base all decisions upon the applicant's overall and science grade point averages (GPAs), the personal interview, personal and professional references, GRE scores, knowledge of the profession and the applicant's written personal statements. It should be noted that the application process is very competitive and that completion of all prerequisites does not guarantee an interview for or acceptance to the program.
BASIC ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Candidates for admission to the LMU-DCOM PA program must meet the following requirements:
1. Baccalaureate degree earned prior to matriculation from a regionally accredited university or college. Applicants must have official transcripts submitted directly to the Central Application Service for Physician Assistants (CASPA) at https://portal.caspaonline.org/.
Prerequisite courses completed with a grade of "C" or better from a regionally accredited college or university:
- General Biological Science with laboratory (two semesters, eight to ten semester hours or
equivalent)
- Human Anatomy with lab and Human Physiology (separate courses of at least three to four
semester hours each), or a combined anatomy and physiology course with lab, at least two
semesters
- General Chemistry with laboratory (two semesters, eight to ten semester hours or equivalent)
- Biochemistry or Organic Chemistry, with laboratory (four to five semester hours or equivalent)
-LMU’s CHEM 220/C220 will be accepted.
- General Psychology (three semester hours or equivalent)
- Psychology elective (three semester hours or equivalent)
- Microbiology with lab (four to five semester hours or equivalent)
- English (six semester hours or the equivalent with at least one writing intensive course, such as
English composition)
- Mathematics (three semester hours or equivalent of college algebra or higher)
- Medical Terminology (one semester) (Online courses from an accredited college or university are acceptable.)
**Note: a test in medical terminology will be given at the beginning of the program. Students who
score less than 80% will have to retake examination until they pass it. Exception: a grade of
"B" or higher in any medical terminology course.
Applicants who have taken their prerequisite courses at different regionally accredited colleges or universities must have all official transcripts submitted directly from those colleges or universities to CASPA.
Because of the rapid evolution of the basic sciences and the rigor of the program, it is highly recommended that applicants who have completed the pre-professional basic science prerequisite coursework greater than five years prior to application may want to review materials if accepted into the program.
Strongly recommended additional courses which will strengthen an application include statistics or biostatistics, advanced psychology, cell biology, embryology, epidemiology, histology, immunology, parasitology, pathogenic bacteriology, abnormal psychology, human sexuality, physics, technical writing, advanced chemistry and quantitative analysis. Applicants who have taken these courses will be given preference.
2. It is required that the applicant has an overall and science grade point average of at least 2.5. In order to be competitive, most students will have cumulative and science GPAs of at least 3.2.
Applicants with Foreign Coursework
Applicants who wish to use coursework completed outside the United States must submit their transcripts for evaluation to one of the following services:
World Education Services
P. O. Box 745, Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113-0745
212.966.6311
www.wes.org
Josef Silny & Associates
7101 SW 102 Avenue
Miami, FL 33173
305.273.1616
www.jsilny.com
A course-by-course evaluation is required and all coursework must be designated as undergraduate, graduate or professional. The LMU-DCOM PA program will only honor evaluations from one of the above services. The completed evaluation must be sent to CASPA by the applicant after the course work has been evaluated by either one of the above services mentioned.
3. Applicants are also required to submit three required letters of reference which should be submitted to CASPA. References should include: at least one letter from a physician assistant (PA), osteopathic or allopathic physician (DO or MD) or other health-care professional and at least one letter from the applicant's pre-professional advisor, science professor or former employer.
4. Applicants must take the general test component of the Graduate Record Examination, GRE, within five years of the application date and have scores reported to Lincoln Memorial University (school code: 1408). Applicants will be required to log the score on CASPA when completing the application. There is no minimum score requirement. It is expected that successful applicants will have received GRE scores at or above 1000. Information about the GRE can be found at www.gre.org.
5. An applicant whose native language is not English needs to submit scores from the combined TOEFL and TSE examination unless the applicant is a graduate of a U.S. college or university. The minimum required score for the IBT (Internet Based Testing) is 79 and a minimum score of 26 is required for the speaking component.
6. Meet all the technical standards for admission to the PA program.
7. While not required, health care experience is strongly recommended for the PA Program applicant.
8. Complete the supplemental application. Additional materials to be included with the supplemental application include:
- a complete curriculum vitae or resume
- a one-page typewritten, single-spaced statement on the personal qualities you possess
that would make you a successful physician assistant.
- official GRE scores sent directly to LMU-DCOM
- TOEFL scores (if applicable)
- check/money order payable to Lincoln Memorial University of $50 for the supplemental
application fee.
9. Preference will be given to those applicants who live in TN, KY, VA, GA, NC, AL and WV.
Dr. Michelle Heinan, PAC, DFAAPA
Director, Physician Assistant Program
800-325-0900, ext. 6669 (toll-free)
423-869-6669 (direct)
PAAdmissions@lmunet.edu
