Frequently Asked Questions

You can find our P.A. program at two of our beautiful South Florida campuses, Miami and St. Petersburg.

Our P.A. program has 100 seats, total. In Miami we will be accepting 76 applicants. In St. Petersburg, we will admit 24.

There is no supplemental application. The application you can find here is all that is required.

Your degree from a regionally accredited university or a community college is equally accepted.

We do not require a specific degree discipline. You are welcome to apply with a degree achieved in any subject matter.

We highly recommend a science discipline. While you may apply with a degree in any discipline, a background in science gives you a strong foundation for our P.A. coursework.

Your preference in location will be a personal choice. Both locations are considered part of one  program, so one campus is not better or more competitive than the other. 

Your application will only be reviewed and considered for the location you submit your application to. We will not consider it for the other location.

At the time of application, you may only submit to one campus program, so make sure you apply to your desired location.

We do offer rolling admissions.

You can find our application on the CASPA portal at the beginning of April of every year. We recommend that you apply as early as possible, and no later than September.

We recommend that you apply as early as possible!

December 1st is the absolute latest your application can be verified, but we strongly recommend submitting no later than September.

Your degree can still be in progress when you submit an application. If you are accepted, you can begin the program following graduation.

As an applicant, you are required to have all prerequisite coursework (including labs) completed prior to submission. If your application is submitted with pending or unverified prerequisites, your application will not be considered.

If your prerequisites are from within the past ten (10) years, they are considered current and will be accepted.

Five (5) years. If your GRE scores are older than the five-year limit, you will have to retake the exam and submit your current scores.

We require three letters of recommendation with your application. You may submit letters from a professor, current employer, and/or an observer in a clinical setting (ex: PA, MD, RN, etc.) These are examples of people who can speak to your quality of work and reliability.

Your GRE Scores are sent by searching “Barry University” for GRE program code 5053. Then, you can search for “Physician Assistant Program” for department code 0634.

If you are an International student, welcome! Your application requires you to fulfill all of the necessary admissions requirements provided (prerequisites and GRE exam), along with attending an institution within the United States for one year. You must have completed 24 credits and taken the TOEFL exam prior to applying. In addition, you must provide a GPA.

We do not offer Advanced Placement for this program.

Your seat cannot be deferred. We can only welcome you for the year that you apply.

Please see below a detailed list of our prerequisite courses. If the course(s) you are inquiring on falls into these categories and meet the requirements for prerequisites courses (also below); they will be accepted.

Prerequisites for the Physician Assistant Program

• 2 courses of General/Inorganic Chemistry (MUST BE 3 CREDITS EACH/LAB NOT REQUIRED)
• 1 course of Organic Chemistry OR Biochemistry (MUST BE AT LEAST 3 CREDITS/LAB NOT REQUIRED)
• 2 courses of Human Anatomy & Physiology (MUST INCLUDE LAB FOR EACH COURSE). Kinesiology, Environmental Engineering, and Exercise Science will not be accepted. Must be taken in the appropriate sequence (either Human Anatomy & Physiology I & II with labs will be accepted OR Human Anatomy with lab and Human Physiology with lab will be accepted)
• 1 course of Microbiology (MUST INCLUDE LAB)
• 1 additional course of Biological Science (MUST BE AT LEAST 3 CREDITS/LAB NOT REQUIRED)
• 2 courses of Behavioral or Social Sciences (MUST BE AT LEAST 3 CREDITS EACH). ONLY Psychology (all psychology courses accepted), Sociology (all sociology courses accepted), and Human Growth & Development subjects are accepted towards the behavioral science prerequisite. Anthropology, Humanities, Political science, and Criminology courses are not accepted

Prerequisite Requirements

• Must be completed with a C grade or higher
• Must be completed within 10 years of the year of matriculation
• Must meet the required credit distribution (provided above)
• Must be complete & verified by CASPA
• Introductory & AP courses will be accepted(must identify the subject completed, fall within the required timeframe, and fulfill the minimum amount of required credits)

Incomplete prerequisite coursework may be completed as a non-degree seeking student at any accredited institution including community colleges and accredited online programs. Please make sure all courses are complete BEFORE submitting an application to ensure all courses are verified. Any verified CASPA applications with pending/in progress/unverified prerequisite courses will not be considered.

We will accept your AP and CLEP credits if they’re shown on an accredited official college transcript as three (3) credits completed within the required timeframe.

We will accept your credits from online prerequisite courses that come from regionally accredited institutions.

We do not require a specific level in a prerequisite course.

We do not have a requirement for patient care hours; however, we highly recommend you complete approximately 1,000 hours of direct patient care experience. 

We always recommend you gain some form of licensing and work in the field prior to submitting your application. Most applicants become Paramedics, EMTs, CNAs, and MAs. Some become scribes, phlebotomists, surgery technicians, athletic trainers, and physical therapists. Mission work and volunteer work are also considered.

We do not require Medical Terminology for admissions, but we do require it for matriculation.

Financial aid is offered and reviewed by the graduate financial aid office once you are offered a seat in the program.

The program costs approximately $34,134 per year. You can find a breakdown of our cost of attendance on the website.

This program is full time.

We cannot offer a part-time option for this program; you must be a full-time student.

Once in the program, you can expect to be in class from Monday to Friday, anywhere between 8 AM and 6 PM, and later on days where labs are scheduled (approximately until 9 PM). For that reason, you are strongly discouraged from working while enrolled in the program. The curriculum is very demanding and time consuming. It would prove difficult to hold external employment simultaneously and do well in the program, particularly during your clinical rotation year, when your location and hours will vary greatly.

When your application is verified, we will only consider the overall and science GPA that are provided by CASPA. For specifics on their calculations, you can contact their Customer Service.

We will only be able to use the GPA provided on your verified application.

We recommend you take the GRE exam and send it to our institution before applying. We cannot process your application without the official scores in our system. GRE scores must be submitted no later than 30 business days after receipt of notification from the Admissions office.

We do not provide housing. Barry University offers limited graduate housing at the Miami location.

We do have a dress code. We require that you dress business casual during the didactic year. On certain days, you will be required to wear scrubs and your white coat. For your clinical year, we have a different dress code. Please see the didactic and clinical year manuals for more specific information.

The P.A. Program is 28 months. The curriculum and program format are the same in all locations with the use of interactive video conferencing. Your first year is didactic education. Your second year consists of eight clinical rotations. Your last four months are advance didactic where final preparation for the PANCE exam will be completed.

The Program has determined that the best imaging for Anatomy is through using modern software. It is the trend in anatomy education to move away from cadavers, which may expose you to chemicals. The anatomy course curriculum currently employed online, three-dimensional, layered images that are accessible on most devices. This may be supplemented with scheduled time with a full-sized Anatomage table with layered images.

We have eight six-week rotations: Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine/Geriatrics, Prenatal Care & Women’s Health, Pediatrics, Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, Surgery, and an Elective Rotation.

We have affiliations with local hospitals, clinics, health departments, and private offices in each campus location. You will get to experience rotations in a variety of settings.

If you are a student in good academic standing with our program, you will be permitted to complete limited rotations out of state. 

We will provide your rotations, so you do not have to worry about creating your own.

There is no maximum distance for an assigned clinical site.

If you are a student with good academic standing in the program you are permitted to visit the other locations once per semester.

We do give special consideration if you are an applicant who meets the competitive requirement for the program.

While we don’t have a formal job placement program, we do have job opportunities posted on our website on a regular basis. Some of our students do receive offers while completing clinical rotations.

Yes, the GRE Exam is required for all applicants.

Yes, attendance is required.