A guide to respiratory therapy as a pre-PA path: patient care experience, degree completion, missing prerequisites, course expiration, and timing.
About Stephen Pasquini PA-C
Choosing Between PA School Acceptances: How to Decide (and What Probation Really Means)
More than one PA school acceptance? Compare accreditation, PANCE results, attrition, real cost and clinical rotations, learn what ARC-PA probation means, and know what to ask before you pay a seat deposit.
LPN or LVN to PA School: Planning Your Degree and Prerequisites
Can an LPN or LVN become a PA? Plan your bachelor’s degree, accepted patient care hours, science prerequisites, and whether an RN bridge makes sense.
Most PAs Choose PANRE-LA. I Did, Too.
I chose PANRE-LA for my own recertification. A new NCCPA study shows most PAs did, too. Here is my experience and what the findings tell us.
How to Organize Your PA School Application in One Place (Free Planner)
Track schools, prerequisites, hours, letters, essays and interviews in one free PA school planner. See a full walkthrough with screenshots and demos.
Medical Scribe to PA School: Does Scribing Count as Patient Care?
Does medical scribing count as patient care for PA school? Compare program policies, virtual scribing, mixed roles, and when to add hands-on experience.
Phlebotomist to PA School: Do Your Patient Care Hours Count?
Is phlebotomy good experience for PA school? Learn how programs evaluate blood-draw duties, donor-center work, training, and your application timeline.
3 PA School Personal Statement Mistakes Our Editor Sees Again and Again
The PA Life’s longtime editor shares three common PA school personal statement mistakes—and how to sound positive, service-minded, and authentically you.
A Day in the Life of a Radiology PA
Interventional radiology PA Seth W. Collins walks you through a real day: CT-guided lung biopsies, port placements, renal biopsies, abscess drains, and the team that makes it all work.
RN to PA School: Should a Nurse Become a Physician Assistant?
Can an RN become a PA? Compare degree requirements, patient care experience, prerequisite expiration, and the decision between PA and NP training.
EMT to PA School: Is It the Right Path for You?
Is EMT a good path to PA school? Compare paid and volunteer hours, training costs, transport duties, prerequisites, and a realistic application timeline.
CNA to PA School: Is It the Right Path for You?
Is CNA a good path to PA school? Compare accepted patient care hours, training costs, work schedules, prerequisites, and when to apply.
Medical Assistant to PA School: Is It the Right Path for You?
Is medical assisting a good path to PA school? Compare training, accepted patient care hours, pay, prerequisites, and the timing of your application.
PA School Interview Ethical Questions: 5 Scenarios and How to Answer
Practice five PA school interview ethics scenarios with a clear answer framework, an annotated example, and a plan to rehearse with Maya and a live PA-C.
Sonography to PA School: Is It a Smart Major Choice?
Is sonography a good major for PA school? Explore prerequisite gaps, patient care hours, real career paths, and whether to work before applying.
Has AI Replaced the Supervising Physician?
I consult AI almost every clinical day. It is available 24/7, never judges, and helps me improve patient care—but it can also be confidently wrong. Has it replaced the supervising physician? Not even close.
PA School Interview Practice With Maya: Your AI Mock Interview Coach
Practice PA school interview questions out loud with Maya, our new AI interview coach. 70 questions including medical ethics and MMI role-play, immediate spoken feedback, and your first two questions free.
PA School Scholarships: The Best Grants & Repayment Aid (2026)
PA School Scholarships Matter More Than Ever The best PA school scholarships, grants, and loan repayment programs can make an expensive education more manageable. PA school is expensive. It is also demanding, which means you will have limited (if any) time to work while attending. With the average undergraduate education debt prior to PA school […]
The New CASPA Situational Decision Making Essay: How to Write It (2026–2027)
CASPA retired the COVID-19 essay and replaced it with a new 2,500-character question about technology and the human side of medicine. The exact prompt, where it’s hiding, and how to answer it.
How Much Money Do Physician Assistants (PAs) Make?
How much do physician assistants make in 2026? The latest AAPA, BLS & NCCPA data: $140K median pay, top-paying specialties, all 50 states. Know your worth.
The Perfect PA Program Picker: PA School Search, Sort, Match, and Apply
Choosing where to apply is one of the highest-stakes decisions of your pre-PA journey — and the data you use should never be out of date. The Program Picker below is powered by the live PA School Finder verified directory: every accredited US PA program, continuously re-verified from each program’s official pages, CASPA, and ARC-PA. […]
No Experience Required! PA Schools That Don’t Require Healthcare Experience
Are you looking to get into PA School fast? Then skip the healthcare experience! Below is a list of PA programs in the United States that do not require patient care experience for PA school admission. I use “require” lightly because many of these schools, which claim no healthcare experience requirement, do “strongly recommend” or “prefer” PA school candidates with a certain […]
200+ PA Schools That Don’t Require the GRE
Are you like me and looking to dodge the GRE? Does the thought of studying for the GRE exam make your palms sweat and your heart flutter? Wouldn’t it be great if you could find PA schools that don’t require the GRE and simply avoid the GRE exam altogether? Well, you are in luck! Roughly three out […]
How Much Does it Cost to go to Physician Assistant (PA) School?
How much does PA school cost in 2026? Average tuition hits $98,075+. See the full program tuition table, Grad PLUS loan changes, and application cost breakdown.
MD Versus PA Showdown Round 1 – Show Me The Money!
The net hourly wage of an internal medicine physician is 1.13 times that of a high school teacher and 1.25 times LESS THAN that of a physician assistant! Read more…
Accredited PA Programs Not Separately Listed in the U.S. News Rankings
Explore accredited PA programs and campuses not separately named in the latest U.S. News rankings, with directory counts and accreditation tables that update together.
Physician Assistant vs. Nurse Practitioner vs. Medical Doctor
The biggest difference between a PA and an NP is the training pathway. Physician assistants complete broad graduate medical education. Nurse practitioners are registered nurses who complete graduate nursing education in a specific patient population, such as families, children, or adults. Both diagnose illness, order tests, and prescribe medication within their scope of practice. The […]
What are the Best PA Schools in 2026? Here are the Latest U.S. News Rankings
Which PA schools rank highest in 2026? In the 2025 U.S. News peer-assessment ranking shown below, Duke University and the University of Iowa tie for No. 1 with scores of 4.1. Rutgers, the University of Colorado, and the University of Utah tie for No. 3 at 3.8. But a ranking can only tell you so […]
PA School Ranking by PANCE Pass Rates
ince 1998, US News has been publishing the only known ranking of PA programs. Their rankings are based on subjective peer assessment surveys of PA program faculty. These peer assessment surveys are sent to deans, other administrators, and faculty at accredited physician assistant programs. Respondents rate the academic quality of physician assistant programs on a […]
What PA Admissions Directors Actually Told Applicants at the 2026 Virtual PA Admissions Fair
I reviewed the 2026 Virtual PA Admissions Fair chats and pulled out the advice admissions teams repeated again and again: complete does not mean submitted, patient-care experience is program-specific, and your application has to sound like a real human being.