Advice & Insight From PA Application Specialists
For the 2020 class, the successful applicant had a GPA of 3.76, with a science GPA of 3.63. They had 2491 hours of research experience and 3468 hours of healthcare experience. Average age was 26. The program is 28 months long and non-thesis, awarding the MPAS degree upon completion. Classes are made up of only 25 students. You should have taken 2 or 3 upper-level Biological and Chemical Science courses per semester and taken a majority of upper-level Biological and Chemical Science courses from a 4-year institution. You must have a minimum of 1000 hours of direct patient contact. You must have a minimum GPA of 3.00 Selection of interviewees is based on several criteria including:
– academic achievement (particularly in the sciences)
– type and extent of health related experience
– 3 letters of recommendation (1 must be a collegiate academic reference and 1 must be a direct patient healthcare supervisor)
– GRE/MCAT scores
– the candidate’s personal narrative and interview evaluation.
Iowa explains that they try to make the interview process ‘relaxed and fun’ so try not to get too nervous! You should expect a pre-interview orientation session along with student panels, an MMI interview, and a campus tour. The MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) is a commonly used interview format that combines multiple stations each of around 5 minutes’ duration. You will rotate from one to the other until the interview (of around 6-8 stations) is complete.
Applications are accepted from April onward, and must be filed by October 1st. All application materials must be filed by this point. Admission is on a rolling basis, and you will be offered admission within two weeks of your interview if you are successful. The rolling process continues until the end of the cycle. If any seats are remaining to be filled, they will be filled at this point. All notifications of admission will be made by March 1st.
As this is an MMI, you should expect a range of stations, with a mixture of questions and scenarios.
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