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Pre-Physician Assistant/Associate Advising

Pre-physician assistant/associate advising spans all the years of a student's Whitworth education. Explore your career interests, receive personalized guidance, and gain skills and experience outside of the classroom that will prepare you to be a competitive applicant for graduate programs and a compassionate future practitioner.

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Why pursue pre-PA advising at Whitworth?

  • Find your calling. Vocational discernment is interwoven into all aspects of pre-PA advising, from mentoring to seminars and guest speaker events.
  • Form connections with professors and advisors who want to see you succeed and will support you every step of the way. Our advisors even continue to assist students after their Whitworth graduation, particularly as they prepare their PA school applications.
  • Take a specialized seminar course that will help you explore career paths.
  • Gain experience working with individuals who are different from you. Enroll in a study abroad program that includes a medical internship, or join a student-run club like En Christo that serves low-income residents in Spokane. You will develop important perspectives you can apply toward a career in which you’ll be working with patients from all walks of life.
  • Build leadership skills that will strengthen your résumé. At Whitworth, you will have many opportunities to develop into a capable and caring leader, whether by volunteering for a worthwhile cause, getting involved with student government or residence life, or serving as a teaching assistant.
  • Develop transferable skills that will make you more effective in your future medical career and in other areas of life. A Whitworth liberal arts education will prepare you to think critically and communicate clearly.
  • Explore health careers and gain hands-on medical experience through internships in the medical field.
  • Become who you're meant to be.

Ask our faculty

Headshot of Elizabeth Abbey

Ask Professor Abbey

eabbey@whitworth.edu

Professor Elizabeth Abbey teaches health science and advises students interested in pre-PA, pre-medicine and nutrition.

Faculty Page

Our pre-PA advising grads make a difference (and get jobs)

Our graduates are working as physician assistants/associates across the country.

Recent job placements include:

  • Maggie Callan, dermatology physician assistant, Advanced Dermatology & Skin Surgery, Spokane
  • Faith Lopez-Flores, internal medicine PA-C, Mountain Park Health Center, Phoenix, Ariz.
  • Lindsey Foster, post-acute care physician assistant, TeamHealth, Spokane
  • Joey Hope, interventional radiology physician assistant, TRA Medical Imaging, Tacoma, Wash.

Our recent pre-PA advising graduates further their studies in the top PA programs at institutions including:

  • University of Washington (MEDEX Northwest)
  • George Washington University
  • Wake Forest University
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Colorado
  • Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions
  • Quinnipiac University
  • Des Moines University

What related majors can I explore?

You may be surprised to learn you can choose any major as a pre-physician assistant/associate student. While it’s more common to choose a major in the sciences, PA school applicants can also choose majors in the humanities like history, English and theology, and complete a significant number of credits in the sciences.

The most typical majors chosen by pre-PA students include:

Next steps

Academic Information

What Is It Like?