Biology (BS) Pre-Physician Assistant

Program Overview

Barry University’s biology program will prepare you well for entrance into a physician assistant program at the graduate level. We attribute this to two things: the highly competitive nature of the program and the structured program.

If you want to be challenged to excel and you are willing to follow the program outline strictly, you can also have this kind of success! This program is designed to make you exceptionally competitive for professional school admission.

Curriculum

A major requires a minimum of 40 credits including Botany, Zoology, Biological Foundations, Genetics, and at least one course from each of the following core areas:

• Growth and development: Introductory Human Anatomy or Human Anatomy or Comparative Anatomy
• Cellular and molecular biology: Introductory Microbiology, Microbiology, or Cell Biology
• Physiological and biochemical principles: Introduction to Human Physiology or Comparative Physiology or Human Physiology
• Environmental biology: Introduction to Oceanography, Marine Biology, or Ecology or Biodiversity of Ecosystems
• Biological theory: Evolution or Seminar or Virology

Students in this program must complete additional semester hours of biology electives. Students must also fulfill the following biology, chemistry, and physics requirements:

• G12 semester hours in chemistry
• 4 semester hours of physics
• 9 semester hours in mathematics (or Calculus I - 4 semester hours)
• Elementary Probability and Statistics is recommended
• Introductory College Physics is recommended
• Biomedical Ethics
• At least 2 courses in psychology or sociology (one of which should be upper level)
• Medical terminology is recommended

With the guidance of your advisor, you must demonstrate that you have significant experience in the medical field, whether shadowing a physician or physician assistant or working for a period of time in the health care field. Experience must be completed before graduation.