Careers in Medicine

Expanding our resources for those interested in other careers in the medical field.

We’ve compiled resources, contacts, and opportunities for careers in medicine that expand beyond medical school. We plan to soon expand to add more healthcare professions!

Physician Assistant (PA)

Why PA?

  • Expected growth of field

  • Flexibility across specialties

  • Consider autonomy differences

Prerequisite courses

- Anatomy w/lab

- Physiology w/lab

- Microbiology w/lab

- Gen Chem

- 1 quarter/semester of Org Chem

- Statistics

- Psychology

Some PA programs require:

- Genetics

- Biochemistry

- Medical Terminology

- Upper Division Sciences (Immunology, Molecular Biology, Pharmacology, etc.)

- Additional Psychology (Abnormal, Developmental)

Preparatory experiences

  • Direct patient care hours (range between 0 hours and 2,000 depending on the program)

  • Focus on jobs and opportunities with as much patient interaction as possible for higher-quality hours

  • Include a list of common ways pre-PA students get direct patient care hours

  • Shadowing a PA (SIMS!)

  • Important to understand the role of a PA and why you want to be a PA specifically

  • Volunteering

  • Leadership experience

  • Research experience (not required, looks good!)

GRE exam: required by most programs, but not all!

Application cycle and timing/gap year(s):

  • Discuss CASPA

  • The average age of PA applicant is 25 years old

  • Enrollment cycle timeline

Applying to PA School

Previous/current student-athlete PAs:

  • Jess Plaza (plazaj22@alumni.stanford.edu - Softball), Kayler Detmer (kndetmer@gmail.com - Softball)