The University of Charleston is a small private university located in Charleston, WV.

Our 40-acre campus rests amidst magnificent mountains, rivers, and the capital city. The city is alive with fun restaurants, shops, historic sites, a civic center, theaters, malls, and plenty of outdoor recreation. In addition, UC is in close proximity to three hospital systems and the State Capital complex. This allows for easy access to experimental education and advocacy activities for our students.

Why choose the UC Physician Assistant Program?

Synthesized Medicine Curriculum

Instead of courses addressing content separately in clinical medicine, diagnostic skills, and pharmacotherapeutics, the UC PA program has been designed to integrate all of these components together into specialty-based modules to enhance retention.

Small Classes and Personalized Attention

The UC PA Program annually admits 30 students. Each student is paired with a faculty advisor who provides support throughout the 28-month program.

Active and Collaborative Learning

The UC PA Program strongly values utilizing innovative educational methods. As a result, a variety of approaches are used beyond standard lecture, including case-based, problem-based, and team-based learning experiences.

Simulated Patient Education

UC students have the opportunity to practice the skills and knowledge they learn in the classroom on our state-of-the-art simulation (SIM) mannequins.

Early Direct Patient Interaction and Inter-Professional Experiences

Through our Patient-Centered Care (PCC) series of courses, students are challenged through simulated clinical experiences with standardized patients, beginning the second semester of the didactic curriculum. During the third and fourth semesters, our students team up with students from the UC School of Pharmacy to collaboratively provide care for standardized patients. During the clinical phase, students work with UC pharmacy and nursing students and medical students from the WV School of Osteopathic Medicine to manage standardized patient cases.

Clinical Rotations

The UCPAP strives to educate PAs who are competent in primary care medicine. Sixteen weeks of clinical training are spent in general medicine rotations. The UCPAP has over 75 clinical sites in rural, underserved areas, exposing student to a variety of patient populations and disease states.

Applicants for admission must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution PRIOR to the January matriculation date and meet the following academic standards:

• 3.0 cumulative GPA
• GRE combined Verbal and Quantitative score no lower than 292 and Analytical Writing no lower than 3.0 (University of Charleston CASPA specific GRE Code – 8830)

Applications will not be considered until all application materials have been received and VERIFIED by CASPA and the Supplemental Application has been received by the UCPAP. (Please note: once official documents are submitted, verification by CASPA may take as long as 2 to 4 weeks.)

• Three letters of reference received by CASPA
• Official transcripts received and VERIFIED by CASPA
• Official GRE scores received by CASPA
• UCPAP Supplemental Application received by UCPAP Following CASPA verification, the UCPAP will send academically eligible candidates the Supplemental Application link via email).The UCPAP Supplemental Application must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EDT August 1, 2016. 

For more information: http://www.ucwv.edu/PA/Admissions/

Our Master of Physician Assistant Studies program offers a unique curriculum emphasizing a holistic approach, promoting teamwork and collaboration among students, within a specialty modular design. The ideal candidate will be well-rounded demonstrating excellent grades, hands-on patient care experience, an altruistic commitment to service and volunteerism, and the desire to serve as a primary care practitioner in a medically underserved area.

The University of Charleston Physician Assistant Program (UCPAP) is a January start program. We will accept students in this application cycle for our January 2017 start class only.