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 amount of experience prior to application.
In other words, you can apply, but you may not stand a chance against an increasingly capable PA school applicant pool.
I recommend 2,000 hours (1 year of full-time hands-on patient care experience) to be a competitive applicant to PA school.
As you can see from this table, many schools claim to require much less.
Does this mean you should wait to apply until you have a load of HCE under your belt?
The answer to this question depends on your background, your age, your prior experience, and what else you bring to the table.
Are you a 21-year-old recent college graduate with no prior healthcare experience? Then the answer is yes, you should get out there and find some hands on patient care experience... no excuses!
Are you a 35-year-old mother of two with 10 years of experience as a licensed acupuncturist and extensive PA shadowing experience? Then you may have some wiggle room.
You can browse this interactive, geographical list of PA schools that don't require healthcare experience on my PA School Finder website.
You will see that most of these schools reside on the East Coast.
Remember, PA schools change their requirements all the time, so make sure to contact the PA program in question and reference their website before you make any rash decisions. If you have any updated information or corrections about these programs, please let me know in the comments section!
PA Programs That Don't Require Healthcare Experience
Live snapshot (Jul 16, 2026): 20 PA programs explicitly require zero patient care hours, 82 publish no minimum, and 235 set an explicit hour minimum.
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The new NP talking point is that PAs have no experience before PA school. I thought that was absurd as someone in admissions but I can see this may be a source of information for them
I’m concerned that while you make the point that HCE is preferred and in all truth almost always needed to be competitive, this provides false ammunition to those that want to make PAs look unqualified.
Hey Stephen…ive been a surgical assistant for 20 years…12 years trauma and an EMT…some medic school. Interested in becoming g a PA and live in Alabama….although UAB Birmingham is listed but it says they required a bachelor degree for admission……can you research that???
That would be 1.5 hrs for me and very doable.
Thanks…
Holly
College of Saint Mary on Omaha is now requiring experience
Thank you, Jill, I have removed College of Saint Mary from the list. Thanks for the update!
Stephen
Kettering also requires experience how.
Steve – I found your story interesting and inspiring but I still feel defeated when I talk to the schools. I live in a VERY rural area where I would like to ultimately like to practice. The job market is extremely tight to say the least and the volunteer positions are equally limited. The hospital volunteering is all reception/clerical, there really are few other service locations to volunteer (rural and high needs means there are no service agencies here to volunteer at!) And when I told the counselor at one school about my many years of volunteer work so far (peer counseling in lactation, childbirth educator, some birth attending as an assistant, hot line working with domestic violence) she said that was a very “weak” application and I was competing with those who have years as EMTs, CNAs etc. I know I can’t compete with that kind of experience. I have been doing foster care and raising a huge family (frankly doing way more “hands on” care than in many of those who work in group homes, which she said WOULD count!). So short of moving to another part of the world I don’t know what to do! I already started and run the local food pantry, and could volunteer at the hospital or at the crisis center, but apparently that won’t help! Any thoughts? Maybe I’m looking at the wrong schools? Thanks, Barb
Hello Barbara,
It might seem tough to get into a PA program right now, but never give up on what you want. Nothing is impossible. There are plenty of people who lack in other areas such as grades or clinical hours/experience but by the grace of God they make it into PA school. As long as you meet the minimum requirements you have chance of being admitted. If you think your experience isn’t strong enough make sure to excel in other areas.
Best of luck,
D
Yes, D! These are words to live by!
Stephen
I looked at most of these college and they do require medical on the job training how are these list truthful.
At the time of this posting these schools still listed health care experience as recommended/preferred. Based on your background they will still consider candidates on a case by case basis. If you see discrepancies in this list please send me the links and I will update the table. I will do some research as well to make sure this is accurate.
Thanks for the heads up!
Stephen
Cuyahoga Community College/Cleveland State University program is no longer in existence.
Hi Stephen,
Good name! First off, thank you for your amazing website! It is constantly helpful as I attempt to figure out a potential transition to the medical field. This post was, in a lot of ways, a real breath of fresh air. As a person who is interested in becoming a PA but has no medical work related background I really appreciated you taking the time to show that there are school out there that do not require working in medicine for years before applying.
In your post you mentioned that school often consider the person as a whole when considering the amount of medical experience they have. To what extent do school consider other career experience not related to medicine? It is very difficult to find good information on this subject without reaching out to specific programs personally, just wondering if you had any incite.
I am not be able to get any hands on medical experience without changing jobs and/or job locations which is not easily done in my current job and life situation. My concern is that I am currently wasting time and money taking prerequisites and shadowing in an attempt to pursue a dream that just isn’t realistic. (Waste is probably the wrong word since it is never a waste to learn new things!) I have to imagine that I am not alone in this struggle to continue a current career, while preparing to transition to a new one in medicine. While I would never ask for special treatment I do feel, as others do I’m sure, that my work and life experience could help be as a PA student and practitioner. Thanks for your time.
Respectfully,
Steve
Hi Steve,
You are very right indeed – if your current career is not in the healthcare field and you are looking to make a transition into PA school, it can be a long and arduous journey. It will probably take a leap of faith on your end to prove to the admission committee that you are indeed committed to your goal of becoming a practicing PA. Unlike other professions in the healthcare field PAs have a very steep learning curve. The healthcare experience you have as you enter the program can provide a strong foundation. Not that it is impossible to succeed without this, but it helps. I know my years working in the campus healthcare clinic and later for the Puget Sound Blood Center certainly helped me. Those skills still cary with me 15 years later.
In order to be competitive I would urge you to get creative. This could be simply picking up shifts on the weekends or moving to a part-time position at your current job. It gets a bit more complicated when you are trying to balance family, healthcare benefits etc. etc. But, I truly believe, where there is a will there is a way. Sometimes you just have to be a bit more imaginative to find a way to get the shadowing and HCE you need to prove to the admissions committee that you are prepared.
In other words, obtaining some HCE should be as much of a priority as completing anatomy and physiology. As you can tell from this post you don’t need a lot, but at least some and in whatever capacity possible.
Stephen
Stephen,
Thank’s so much for the reply. All good ideas, perhaps it is better play the long game. I look forward to additional informative posts!
Respectfully,
Steve