Since 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 scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). They are instructed to select "don't know" if they did not have enough knowledge to rate a program.
Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked. Those schools with the highest average scores appear in the rankings.
US News and World Reports ranked 154 of the 238 PA programs in the United States, leaving out 84 US PA programs.
At the time of this writing, there are 22 developing and non-accredited PA programs which means the US News rankings leave many PA schools in the dust.
A Broken PA School Ranking Model
US News ranks schools based solely on the results of a subjective survey without providing evidence for their validity. Not to mention, how much does a PA school's departmental faculty really know about other PA programs? Could their opinions be biased?
A useful ranking system should be “measurable, reproducible, and not opinion based.
The current approach to PA school ranking is outdated and provides little to no value for pre-PAs making critical application decisions.
A Better Physician Assistant Ranking System
When surveyed 79% of PA school faculty agree that that 5-year PANCE pass rates should be used as a ranking criterion for PA schools.
Multiple studies use a school’s first-time PANCE pass rate as a standardization tool to evaluate other program characteristics, such as degree granted upon completion, class size, and curriculum length.
Objectively, PAs that scored higher on the PANCE tended to have scored higher on the Physician Assistant National Recertification Examination (PANRE).
Not to mention, to practice as a PA you must first pass your PANCE, so in this regards it should not be taken lightly when you are considering where to invest your 100+ thousand dollars of PA school tuition.
PA Schools Ranked by 5-year PANCE Pass Rates
Below is an interactive table of all US physician assistant programs ranked by 5-year PANCE pass rates.
I contacted the NCCPA who surprisingly does not make this information available to the public, so we have to rely solely on a PA school's willingness to publish their individual PANCE pass rates.
The data in this table is based on what PA schools choose to publish.
I have provided links to these publications along with links to the PA program websites in the table below.
We tried to use 5-year data whenever possible. Many newer programs (for obvious reasons) do not have 5-year data and some schools, if they do, have chosen not to make this information readily available or just haven't updated their reporting.
This is an interactive table which you can search (using the provided search box) or reorganize in real-time by clicking on the column header.
Please share this post and let's work together to create a better, unbiased, objective, fair and useful ranking system!
Physician Assistant Programs Ranked by PANCE Pass Rates 2017
Share the love!
If this article was helpful, please share this on Facebook or your favorite social network.
If you have any questions or updated data to provide, please feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment below.
You may also like -
Does PA Program length matter?
In 2004 I graduated from the UMDNJ (now Rutgers) PA program.
It was a three-year PA program with a nearly 100% PANCE pass rate. At the time, Rutgers was one of the best ranked PA schools in America and they continue to rank […]
2015 Physician Assistant Program Tuition and Cost Comparison TableNEW: CLICK HERE to view the updated 2017 PA School Tuition Comparison Table
Updated 2015 Physician Assistant Program tuition and cost comparison table.
Tuition and cost data of resident and nonresident tuition including […]
Direct Entry and Dual Degree BS/MS Pre-Physician Assistant ProgramsDirect Entry PA Programs
There are 33 direct entry, dual degree BS/MS physician assistant (PA) programs in the United States.
These programs offer the opportunity for early provisional acceptance to exceptional high school students […]
Sign up for Great Updates From The PA Life
Do you want to stay up-to-date with The PA Life and learn about the latest releases, cool freebies and killer tutorials? Then what are you waiting for? Subscribe now.
You have Successfully Subscribed!
CASPA Personal Statement Help
We offer comprehensive, start-to-finish personal statement assistance or help perfecting a draft you already have. We have services to fit every budget.
This article, while having good intentions and methodology I agree with, is SUPER misleading due to the high amount of INCORRECT data.
The information is probably just as misleading as the US News Ranking, because you have not correctly calculated/interrupted the 5 year pass rates. e
Really hope you change this article to contain accurate information so it can actually be useful to those who take the time to visit the page.
Thanks (but no thanks)
Hi Stephen,
Here is some corrected data-
School State “Program First Time Pass Rate
(2012-2016)
Invalid Article Data”
1) Baldwin Wallace University PA Program OH “incomplete 5 year data (only 2015-2016)”
2) University of St. Francis PA Program NM
3) University of Texas- HS Center at San Antonio PA Program TX Not 100%
4) UT Southwestern PA Program TX
5) University of Saint Francis (Fort Wayne) PA Program IN
6) University of Missouri- Kansas City PA Program MO “incomplete 5 year data (only 2016)”
7) Arcadia University PA Program- Pennsylvania PA Not 100%
8) Pace University PA Program NY Not 100%
9) University of Wisconsin- La Crosse Pa Program WI
10) University of the Sciences of Philadelphia PA Program PA Not 100%
11) University of Texas- SW School of Health Professions TX
12) University of Oklahoma, Tulsa PA Program OK “Data not up to date (2011-2015) & Not 100%”
13) University of Iowa PA Program IA
14) University of Florida PA Program FL Not 100%
15) Tufts University School of Medicine PA Program MA “incomplete 5 year data (only 2015-2016)”
16) Thomas Jefferson University PA Program PA “incomplete 5 year data (only 2016) ”
17) Springfield College PA Program MA
18) Rush University PA Program IL “incomplete 5 year data (only 2013-2016)”
19) Penn State University PA Program PA “incomplete 5 year data (only 2016)”
20) Nova Southeastern University PA Program FL Not 100%
21) Mercer University PA Program GA Not 100% **2014= 88%**
22) Marshall B. Ketchum University PA Program CA “incomplete 5 year data(only 2016)”
23) Marquette University PA Program WI NOT LISTED ON WEBSITE
24) Long Island University PA Program NY “Data not up to date(2009-2013) & Not 100%”
25) Lake Erie College PA Program OH “incomplete 5 year data (only 2016)”
26) Johnson & Wales University PA Program RI “incomplete 5 year data(only 2016)”
27) Eastern Michigan University PA Program MI “NOT LISTED ON WEBSITE– listed as “”provisional”” on ARC-PA website”
28) East Carolina University PA Program NC
29) Boston University PA Program MA “incomplete 5 year data(only 2016)”
30) Arcadia University PA Program- Delaware DE Not 100%
Great relavant article – am going through your list to remove any schools from the list of 30 that don’t actually have a 5 yr 1st time pass rate of 100% and will send it to you.
Other metircs that would be good to use are:
1) Attrition rate – (academic, personal/medical, deceleration)
2) cost of program
3) Alumni job placment rates
Are you willing to take on US new and Reports to move towards meaniful change
Thank you so much, Alan, I really appreciate this. I will update the table when you send me the data or maybe include this in a note… I know many people have been requesting this.
I love this idea. Unfortunately the data is not accurate, at least for my program, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, had a 100% pass rate last year (2nd class) and 92% pass rate for the first class. The aggregate then would be a 96% pass rate.
Your list of schools with 100% first-time pass rates is misleading and needs to be qualified with the following information: Date each program was accredited (or, provisionally accredited), number of students accepted per class, and number of students who took the PANCE (attrition rate). If a school is brand new, accepted 20 students in its first and only class, and graduated 17 of them, that 17/17 or “100%” pass rate is not nearly as meaningful as, say a 96% pass rate at a school that has been continuously accredited for 40 years with a class size of 60 and an attrition rate of <1%. If you really want to make your table meaningful, add for each school the % of accepted students who are educationally disadvantaged, the overall ethnic/racial diversity breakdown of the class, and the student to faculty ratio. This truly objective look would better-inform prospective PA students the "quality" of each program, if this is your intent. There are many measures students should consider when choosing a program, and while I agree the current system of peer rankings should incorporate objective data such as pass rates, peer assessment also has value. Faculty learn a great deal about each others' programs simply by working together on so many different educational projects, not to mention, as ARC-PA site visitors and mock site visitors to each others' programs, over many years' time. Think of it the same way you'd refer a patient to another specialist…how do you choose the "best" doctor if you don't happen to know one off-hand? You ask your trusted colleagues who they'd send their patients to, and your trusted colleagues are nearly always spot-on.
I think this is a flawed idea because it doesn’t take in account how many people drop out of the program before completion. You can have 100% PANCE success and have multiple students drop out of the program…
Also, some schools take students on the idea of passing the pance and others take a more diverse cohort of people that would be less likely to pass the pance.
Hi Josh,
I agree with you that having this as the only ranking is indeed flawed, but integrating it into a more comprehensive ranking system seems like a good idea. The current US NEWS ranking is what most people refer to . . . It is definitely time we start looking at a better method. The PAEA has the resources and the means to make this happen.
Stephen
I noticed that you have incorrectly labeled Mercer University’s program as having a 100% 5-year PANCE pass rate, while it is actually only a 95% (still good, but not 100% as noted). Cornell is listed as having only a 90% 5-year pass rate, while it is actually a 98%. These were just schools I was familiar with and spot checked, but this list may need to be more carefully gone through to ensure accuracy.
Both Thomas Jefferson and Penn State have only had 1 graduating class from their PA programs, so sayign they have a 5 year pass rate of 100% is somewhat misleading.
Arcadia University is located in Pennsylvania, not in Delaware, as one of the charts says.
THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP i WILL UPDATE IT IN THE UPCOMING UPDATE