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How to Apply

Below you will find information about how to apply to the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program.

The 2023-24 application cycle is now closed. The 2024-25 application cycle will open on April 25, 2024.


Please read the information below to learn about our application requirements and upcoming deadlines. Please also see our pages for Military Applicants, International Applicants and NMHC Employees, as well as our Next Steps page for what to expect once your application has been submitted.

Key Dates

Key dates for the 2024-25 Admissions Cycle (anticipated enrollment in early June 2025):

  • Application Opens: April 25, 2024
  • Application Deadline: September 1, 2024 (by 11:59pm Central Time)
  • Interviews: September 2024 - December 2024 (anticipated to be held virtually via Zoom)
  • Classes Begin: June 2, 2025 (anticipated; subject to change)

Overview

The 2023-24 application cycle is now closed. The 2024-25 application cycle will open on April 25, 2024.


Applicants must meet (or must demonstrate that they will meet, according to our established policies and timeline), the prerequisite degree, coursework, pre-admission clinical experience, and test requirements of this Program.

Below you will find a step-by-step guide to assist you in submitting your application. Please carefully review both this guide and the "Prerequisites" section below it to ensure that you understand our admissions requirements in full detail. We also welcome you to visit our admissions FAQ and to join us for an information session

We welcome you to contact us at paprogram@northwestern.edu and and follow us on Instagram (@nupaprogram) to learn more about student life at our Program. Thank you for considering Northwestern.

Step-by-Step Guide

 Step 1: Confirm That You Meet The Minimum Requirements

 Bachelor's Degree

A completed baccalaureate (or higher-level degree) from a regionally-accredited institution, or an equivalent institution as determined by Northwestern University, is required prior to matriculation into the program.

Applicants are welcome to apply with a baccalaureate degree in progress, provided that this degree will be conferred prior to matriculation.

For applicants applying in 2024 for admission to the Class of 2027, the anticipated start date of our Program is June 2, 2025.

International applicants should review these additional considerations and requirements.

 Minimum 3.0 Overall GPA & Science GPA

Applicants must have achieved an Overall GPA of 3.0 or higher and an Overall Science GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale, as calculated by CASPA, at the time of application submission.

Applications not meeting these minimum GPA requirements *at the time of application* are not eligible for application review and thus are not eligible for admission to the Program.

Competitive applicants have typically taken rigorous science courseloads and have typically achieved an Overall GPA and Overall Science GPA of 3.30 or higher.

We invite you to view our Class Profile to better understand the pre-matriculation academic performance of our enrolling class cohorts.

 Minimum 1,000 Hours of Patient Care Experience Accrued at Application

Candidates must present in their CASPA materials a minimum of 1,000 hours of direct patient care experience, accrued upon the date of application submission. CASPA applications submitted with fewer than 1,000 accrued hours of direct patient care experience are not considered further for admission. 

Enrolling class cohorts average well over 1,000 hours of direct patient care experience. 

CASPA defines a distinction between the application Experience categories of Patient Care Experience and Healthcare Experience. When evaluating an application, we look beyond this binary definition into the actual care responsibilities held and tasks executed in each clinical role.

As such, hours accrued in most clinical roles defined by CASPA as Healthcare experience will meet our definition of patient care experience, and thus are eligible to meet our 1,000 hour requirement noted above. Our admissions committee will review experiences provided by applicants in both the Patient Care Experience and Healthcare Experience categories of the CASPA.

On our Class Profile page, you can view the clinical roles held by our current students prior to matriculation, all of which qualify as patient care experience for this Program. This list does not include all qualifying patient care experience roles and does not indicate an admissions preference for one clinical role over another.

Please contact paprogram@northwestern.edu with questions about the eligibility of a given clinical role to meet our requirements.

 Completion (or Planned Completion) of the 6 Prerequisite Courses

The information below is an abbreviated version of the policies governing the completion of prerequisite coursework in accordance with our admissions requirements. For additional details, please review the Coursework Prerequisites section found at the bottom of the How to Apply page of our website.

Summary

  • There are 6 required courses.
  • Lab coursework is not required.
  • All courses must be have been completed on or after 9/1/2017 (7 year window) to be eligible.
  • All courses must have been completed for a grade of "C" or higher.
  • All courses must have been completed for 3 or more college credits (semester or quarter), with the exception of Medical Terminology, which need only be completed for 1 or more college credit.
  • Applications will still be considered if prerequisites are in progress or planned for the future per the stipulated timeline below. There is no admissions disadvantage to the applicant in this scenario.
  • Questions regarding course eligibility can be sent to paprogram@northwestern.edu 

Required Courses

Applicants to our Program must have completed (or have a qualifying plan to complete) the six required courses noted below for a grade of "C" or higher at one or more regionally-accredited institutions of higher learning:

  • Anatomy (3 or more college credits)
  • Biochemistry (3 or more college credits)
  • Medical Terminology (1 or more college credits)
  • Microbiology (3 or more college credits)
  • Physiology(3 or more college credits)
  • Statistics (3 or more college credits)

Timeline

All prerequisite coursework must be completed no earlier than 7 years prior to application cycle deadline. Thus, for the 2024-25 application cycle, all qualifying prerequisite coursework will have been completed on or after September 1, 2017. No exceptions are made to this policy.

Applications will still be considered if prerequisites are in progress or planned for the future. In fact, this is a common circumstance, and it carries no advantage or disadvantage to an applicant during application evaluation.

As of September 1, 2024, up to three prerequisite courses may be in progress or planned for the future. In this scenario:

  • Up to three prerequisite courses may be in progress or planned to be completed between September 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.
  • Only one prerequisite course may be in progress or planned to be completed between January 1, 2025 and May 30, 2025.

Qualifying Course Topic Coverage & Additional Topics

For additional details, please review the Coursework Prerequisites section found at the bottom of the How to Apply page of our website.

Questions regarding course eligibility can be sent to paprogram@northwestern.edu. When inquiring, please be so kind as to include the course syllabus in your email message, as this assists our admissions committee in their evaluation. 

 There Are No Test Requirements for Domestic Applicants

The submission of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test scores is not required and any GRE scores submitted will not be evaluated during application review.

Similarly, we do not require submission of results from theCASPer, PA-CAT, MCAT, or any other standardized test (except the TOEFL for international applicants), and submitted results will not be evaluated during application evaluation.

For International Applicants:

Official and valid TOEFL scores are required of all applicants who do not currently hold (or who are not in the process of completing) a baccalaureate degree or higher level degree from an institution of higher learning in the United States or English-speaking Canada, regardless of the official language of the country of origin or the predominant language of attended educational institutions.

Please visit the Test Requirements section at the bottom of this page to view our TOEFL minimum score criteria.

 Additional Requirements For International Applicants

If you do not, or will not, hold a bachelor's or higher level degree from a US or English-instruction Canadian institution, you are considered an international applicant to our Program and you will need to 1) have your transcript(s) and degree(s) evaluated by an accredited service, 2) submit TOEFL results which meet our minimum requirements, and 3) meet our requirements for minimum credit hours in the United States.

Detailed information about these requirements can be found on the International Applicants page of our website.

For more information about the TOEFL requirement, including minimum scores, please visit the Test Requirements section found at the bottom of the How to Apply page of our website.

 Step 2: Understand the Two Required Applications

 Brief Overview

A complete application to our Program includes two separate application submissions:

Once you have submitted both applications, and your CASPA submission has achieved Verified status, please allow us up to 5 business days to process this information.

We will then contact you by email at the address provided to us as part of your CASPA application to confirm the complete status of your application. Your application will then be put in queue for review by our admissions committee. All applications are reviewed in the order that they achieve complete status.

 The CASPA Application

Please visit the CASPA website to start your application. Applicants must submit their CASPA application to our Program by the September 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time deadline.

CASPA applications not in "Received", "Complete", or "Verified" status, as designated by CASPA, as of the September 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time deadline will not be considered further for admission. 

Please see Step 3 of this overview to learn more about our requirements with respect to the CASPA application submission.

CASPA Resources:

 The Northwestern University PA Program Supplemental Application

In addition to the CASPA application, applicants to our Program must submit the Northwestern University PA Program Supplemental Application by the September 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time application deadline.

The Supplemental Application will be launched on this webpage concurrently with the launch of the CASPA application on April 25, 2024, and can be started at that time with a current-cycle CASPA ID.

Applicants will not be able to access or submit the Supplemental Application after the September 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time application deadline.

Please see Step 3 of this overview to learn more about the Supplemental Application.

 Step 3: Submit Your Applications & Await Confirmation

 Submitting Your CASPA Application

Please be sure to follow the instructions and guidelines provided by CASPA regarding completion of the application. You will designate Northwestern University.

As part of the CASPA application, you will submit a personal statement and official academic transcripts from all institutions attended at the baccalaureate or higher level, among other components. In addition, you will request that evaluators submit letters of reference (called "evaluations" in CASPA) on your behalf.

To meet the admissions requirements of our Program, your CASPA application must include:

  • 3 or more submitted evaluations
  • At least one evaluation from a healthcare professional who can discuss the applicant's abilities and performance in providing patient care, preferably someone who has supervised the applicant in a clinical setting

Personal references from friends or family members are not accepted.

As part of the CASPA application, up to 5 total evaluations may be submitted on an applicant's behalf and all submitted evaluations will be reviewed by our admissions committee. There is no admissions advantage or disadvantage associated with the number of letters (3, 4, or 5) submitted as part of the application.

Verified CASPA applications with fewer than 3 submitted evaluations will not move forward to application review until such time as at least 3 evaluations have been submitted.

CASPA Resources:

 Submitting the Supplemental Application

The Northwestern University PA Program Supplemental Application will be launched on this webpage concurrently with the launch of the CASPA application on April 25, 2024, and can be started at that time with a current-cycle CASPA ID.

The Supplemental Application is available to all applicants--that is, it is not sent separately to selected applicants.

The Supplemental Application includes:

  • 3 required essay submissions
  • 1 optional essay submission
  • summary of their completed, in progress, or planned prerequisite coursework

There is a $50 application fee paid online upon Supplemental Application submission. You may view and work on the Supplemental Application without submitting payment.

Applicants will not be able to access or submit the Supplemental Application after the September 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time application deadline.

 Step 4: What to Expect After Submitting Your Application

 What to Expect After Submitting Your Application

The Northwestern University PA Program will send notification acknowledging receipt of your completed application once the required materials have been received:

We will then contact you by email at the address provided to us as part of your CASPA application to confirm the complete status of your application. Your application will then be put in queue for review by our admissions committee. All applications are reviewed in the order that they achieve complete status.

Applicants are holistically evaluated on the basis of their individual merits. Admission decisions are based on the following criteria: academic record, patient care experience, health care experience, professional references (evaluations), written personal statement, supplemental application essay responses, awards/honors/accolades, and all Experiences provided via the CASPA application (leadership, volunteer/community enrichment, PA shadowing, research, teaching, extracurricular, and additional professional experiences). Select applicants are invited to interview and their candidacy is further evaluated based on interview performance.

To learn more about the rolling admissions process, sending updates, and the admissions interview and offer timeline, we invite you to visit the Next Steps page of our website.

Prerequisites

Please review our prerequisites to confirm your eligibility to apply.

 Degree Prerequisites

A completed baccalaureate degree from a regionally-accredited institution, or an equivalent institution as determined by Northwestern University, is required prior to matriculation into the program. Applicants are welcome to apply with a baccalaureate degree in progress, provided that this degree will be conferred prior to matriculation.

  • Applicants educated outside the United States and English-speaking Canada must utilize a transcript evaluation service. See the International Applicants page for details.
  • Applicants from the United States or Canada with coursework completed outside those countries do not have to utilize a transcript evaluation service if the coursework appears on their transcripts from the U.S. or Canadian institutions (e.g., study abroad).
  • Applicants must have an Overall GPA and Overall Science GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale, as calculated by CASPA.

 Coursework Prerequisites

Official transcripts must show that the following prerequisites have been completed. Substitutions are not accepted.

To be considered further for admission, all prerequisite coursework must be completed no earlier than 7 years prior to application cycle deadline. Thus, for the 2024-25 application cycle, all qualifying prerequisite coursework will have been completed on or after September 1, 2017.

Applications will still be considered if prerequisites are still in progress or planned for the future. In fact, this is a common circumstance, and it carries no advantage or disadvantage to an applicant during application evaluation.

As of September 1, 2024, up to three prerequisite courses may be in progress or planned for the future. In this scenario:

  • Up to three prerequisite courses may be in progress or planned to be completed between September 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.
  • Only one prerequisite course may be in progress or planned to be completed between January 1, 2025 and May 30, 2025.

Qualifying prerequisite coursework will also adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of "C" or higher. Prerequisites may also be completed with a grade of "Pass" if the granting institution certifies on their transcript that such a designation is equivalent to a grade of "C" or higher.
  • Labs are not required for any prerequisites.
  • A single course cannot be used to satisfy multiple prerequisites.
  • Coursework can be completed through any regionally-accredited institution, which includes almost all community colleges.
  • Coursework may be taken in-person or online.
  • Coursework must be taken for college credit, and must appear on an official college transcript.
  • Coursework taken for continuing education credits, "CEU" credit, or certificates of completion will not fulfill prerequisites.
  • Coursework from Kinesiology, Exercise Science and Nutrition departments may not be accepted to meet our prerequisites. Applicants are welcome to confirm course eligibility by providing the course syllabus to us at paprogram@northwestern.edu. Prerequisite courses must cover, in sufficient detail, the content areas listed in the table below.
  • Lower-division or "Intro/Survey"-level coursework may not fulfill prerequisites. Applicants are welcome to confirm course eligibility by providing the course syllabus to us at paprogram@northwestern.edu.    Prerequisite courses must cover, in sufficient detail, the content areas listed in the table below.
  • AP coursework will be accepted as long as classes appear on a college transcript with assigned credits. If AP coursework is completed Pass/Fail, the passing grade (or equivalent) must be a C or higher.
Course
Prerequisite
Requirement Additional Details
Biochemistry one
academic term
  • Minimum three college credits
  • Content: protein structure and function, lipids, carbohydrate metabolism, DNA and RNA protein synthesis
  • Not satisfied by organic chemistry, nutritional biochemistry, metabolic biochemistry
Microbiology one
academic term
  • Minimum three college credits
  • Content: bacteriology, virology, parasitology, mycology
  • Not satisfied by molecular biology, cellular biology or bacteriology alone
Statistics one
academic term
  • Minimum three college credits
  • Content: measures of central tendency and dispersion, hypothesis testing
  • Not satisfied by calculus
Medical Terminology one academic term
  • One or more college credits
  • Not satisfied by professional, educational or life experiences
  • No "test out" options are accepted
Anatomy & Physiology two academic terms
  • Minimum six college credits
  • Met by taking either one academic term of Anatomy and one academic term of Physiology, or two academic terms of Anatomy & Physiology, combined.
  • Content: all major organ systems (e.g., endocrine, nervous, circulatory)
  • Not satisfied by pathophysiology

 Pre-Admission Clinical Experience

For the 2024-2025 application cycle, candidates must present in their CASPA materials a minimum of 1,000 hours of direct patient care experience, accrued upon the date of application submission. CASPA applications submitted with fewer than 1,000 accrued hours of direct patient care experience are not considered further for admission. Enrolling class cohorts average well over 1,000 clinical hours at the time of application submission.

In accordance with the CASPA FAQ guidance on Experiences, applicants shall include past, current and/or in-progress experiences. Do not include future or planned patient care experiences or hours.

Hours associated with the completion of previous academic degrees, certifications, or training do not count as patient care experience for our Program. Preference is given to applicants having experience that requires a period of training and results in direct, hands-on patient care. When evaluating a given clinical experience, our Program considers the role, hours, level of responsibility, and degree of patient interaction.

All else equal, roles that feature greater clinical responsibility and, proportionally, a greater number of weekly hours providing direct, hands-on patient care, are valued more highly than roles of lesser responsibility or with fewer hours of weekly direct patient care. Evidence of community service or engagement (e.g. healthcare provided to underserved populations) is also highly valued.

On your CASPA application, please be sure to detail the depth and breadth of your direct clinical responsibilities in each role you have held. If you have been promoted or have been progressively assigned more clinical responsibilities in a given role over time, please highlight this for us in your application.

Applicants are encouraged to "shadow" a PA to become knowledgeable about the role of the physician assistant. This experience does not count as patient care experience. Due to conflict of interest considerations, and in the interest of maintaining equity in the admissions process, the Northwestern University PA Program is not able to assist PA Program applicants with obtaining PA shadowing experiences. You may consider contacting your local physician assistant organization (in Illinois, the Illinois Academy of Physician Assistants) for assistance and networking opportunities.

For all applicants, patient care experience hours are automatically projected forward based on the date of CASPA application submission and the provided weekly hours. Applicants who start new positions or experiences or who wish to report significant updates to their weekly hours and/or professional responsibilities may do so via CASPA. Alternatively, updates and modifications to patient care positions and other experiences may be sent to paprogram@northwestern.edu

 Test Requirements

GRE (Graduate Record Examination)

The submission of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) test scores is not required and any GRE scores submitted will not be evaluated during application review.

CASPer, PA-CAT, and MCAT

The submission of CASPer, PA-CAT, or MCAT test scores is not required and any such scores submitted will not be evaluated during application review.

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)

Official TOEFL scores are required of all applicants who have not earned (or who are not in the process of earning) a baccalaureate degree or graduate degree from a regionally-accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university, regardless of the official language of the country in which the education took place or the predominant language of the degree-granting institution. Minimum required scores are listed below.

Results from the TOEFL Essentials Test or IELTS cannot be used in fulfillment of the TOEFL requirement.

Professional or academic experience will not be considered as a potential basis for waiving the TOEFL requirement.

Minimum TOEFL scores

TOEFL test options Total Listening Reading Writing Speaking
Internet-based test 84 20 20 20 24
Computer-based test
223        
Paper-based test
563        

Official and valid TOEFL scores must be submitted and received by our Program by the September 1, 2024, 11:59pm Central Time application deadline. PDF score report copies received at the time of testing or in the mail are not considered an official score report. TOEFL scores are valid for two years prior to the May/June of intended enrollment.

The Northwestern University Physician Assistant Program's Institution Code is 4888.

Visit the TOEFL website for more information.

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