You’ve finished (or are finishing) your prerequisites. You have the required number of patient care hours. You have written your own mission statement and figured out where you want to apply.
And the moment you have waited for is here!
CASPA is open!
But… now what?
As we always say, take a deep breath. Rushing your application will not get you into that white coat any faster, but it may lead to careless mistakes.
Go ahead and open your CASPA so you can look around and get a feel for it, but take time to make sure your ducks are all lined up before you submit.
Consider adding another school or two
It may be tempting to apply only to your top school choice. Perhaps you think that doing so will show your dedication to that program. But most programs want to see a dedication to health care, not to their specific school. We know this may come as something of a shock, but there are even Carolina fans at Duke!
Last year The Journal of Physician Assistant Education (JPAE) published a research article showing that for “each additional program designation, the odds of matriculating improved by 7.2%.”
That increase continued up to 13 schools, after which they found no substantial bump in matriculation odds.
Get organized
Make a folder in your browser bookmarks for each of the schools where you plan to submit an application. Look through those pages to make sure the schools’ website information matches the information listed on CASPA. If there are any discrepancies, email the school for clarification.
Make a spreadsheet
Never underestimate the power of a spreadsheet to transform an entirely overwhelming situation into something only moderately overwhelming. The Physician Assistant Life website has a comprehensive workbook that you may find useful.
Strategize the timing of your CASPA submission
That spreadsheet you just created is useful here. Some considerations might be:
Admissions process
Take note of how each school's admissions cycle works. Is it rolling admissions? Semi-rolling? Is there a priority application timeframe?
Submission deadline: And what does the status need to be?
Let us shout it for those of you in the back. CHECK WHAT CASPA STATUS IS REQUIRED TO MEET THE SCHOOL’S DEADLINE!
The three options are color-coded for each school. They are:
- Blue Deadline: Your complete CASPA application must be e-submitted by this deadline (this excludes anything in the Program Materials section of your application)
- Orange Deadline: Your CASPA application must be complete and submitted by this deadline (includes application fees, final transcripts and 2 of your 3 recommendation letters)
- Green Deadline: Complete application must be submitted and verified by CASPA
Remember that going from submitted to verified can take a while. To be safe, submit your application at least four weeks before any green deadlines.
Patient care experience cutoff
You’ll want to pay extra attention to this if your hours are on the lower side. If a school cuts off hours when you submit your CASPA, it might be better to wait a bit longer. If the deadline is later, check to see if the school will project out your hours to the deadline if you submit before it or if they will let you send an update later. But please don’t wait until the last minute—in reality, that extra 100 hours probably won’t make or break your application.
If shadowing or volunteer hours are required, check those too.
Courses in progress
Consider how many courses you have in progress and when you will finish them. If you have several courses that will wrap up in May of this year, it might be best to wait until you have the grades from those to submit the CASPA.
References
Have you chosen your references? Have you asked them if they are willing to write a letter on your behalf?
If any of your references are unsure what to write, here are some guidelines from AAMC for medical school evaluations that will be useful for PA school letters, as well.
Finally
Please check that you meet the requirements for each program you are applying to. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your money.
Speaking of money, have you looked to see if you qualify for CASPA fee assistance?
Then, quadruple-check everything one more time before you hit that submit button.
The Duke Physician Assistant Program Admissions Blog presents information based on the experiences of Duke PA Program staff and faculty. While the information provided is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication, requirements can change. Please visit the Duke PA Program website for the most up-to-date information.