If you know anything about rolling admissions, then you’ve probably heard it’s best to submit as early as possible to PA school. And this is true…

…But not ALWAYS. Some students are better off waiting a month (or few) before actually hitting submit on their CASPA application. The PA school application process is highly individualized and students need to do what is right for their personal situation but here are a few situations where you might want to delay your CASPA application or applying to PA schools:

• If you’re close to graduation. Though many schools will allow students to have a degree “in-progress”, waiting a few weeks to get your final transcripts might make sense for you. You’ll be a much stronger candidate if all your prerequisite classes have been completed and having a conferred degree allows you to apply to programs requiring you to complete your degree before applying.

• If your GPA is low(er). CASPA only calculates your GPAs ONE TIME each cycle (when you hit submit the first time), so if you are still taking classes and want those to count towards your GPA you need to hold off on applying until those courses are complete and grades have been assigned. If you’re very close to a GPA cutoff, then it might make sense to finish your classes (and get good grades of course!) before hitting that submit button.

• If you don’t have enough PCE. Even delaying your application for a few months can garner you a significant increase in PCE hours. For example, if you work 40 hours/week for three months you can gain as many as 480 new hours! If you’re worried you need more hours to be competitive for PA school then consider if delaying your application for a few weeks is worth it!

• If you haven’t taken Anatomy or Physiology. It’s no secret that A&P is a prerequisite for almost EVERY SINGLE PA school… and it makes sense. A solid foundation in these subjects will help you tremendously in PA school and many programs look closely at A&P grades to help decide whether a candidate is ready for the rigors of graduate level learning. Without grades for A&P, it can be hard to judge your readiness to enter the PA profession and this can make you weaker than other candidates who have finished all their science prerequisites. Consider finishing up these two classes before applying.

Though we encourage students to apply early to PA school, there are legitimate reasons for students to delay their application. You still need to keep in mind the due dates for each program (and give yourself time to get verified!) but strategically delaying your CASPA in certain situations might make you a stronger candidate. 

If you are on the fence about what to do, we offer an Intensive service, where we meet you on Zoom for an hour to talk about your specific stats and make the best plan for you to follow for you to get accepted into PA school! You can learn more here! Keep up the awesome work pre-PA!