Graduate Admission

Applicants will complete a University application, which includes a personal statement and an interview.  The Valpo MSPA Program Admissions Committee will review all applications to the MSPA graduate phase of the 5-Year Physician Assistant Program.

Preference will be given to students who are either enrolled in the BSHS degree or who have completed the BSHS degree; however, this does not guarantee acceptance in place of a non-BSHS degree applicant.

Items in the applicant’s file that demonstrate maturity, leadership, commitment to a career in healthcare, and service to others would also strengthen the case for admission.

BSHS degree applicants will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Overall cumulative GPA
• Overall lab science GPA
• Overall health science GPA
• Interview
• Three letters of reference
  • At least one letter of reference must be from a healthcare professional who can comment on the applicant’s abilities and performance in a clinical setting

Preference is given to students who demonstrate higher achievement in GPA (overall, science, & health science), maturity, leadership, commitment to a career in healthcare, and service to others.

Applicants who are not enrolled in, or have not achieved, the BSHS degree must meet (or must demonstrate they will meet) the prerequisite degree, coursework prerequisites, and pre-admission clinical experience for the MSPA Program.

Application submissions must include:

• Official academic transcripts from Valparaiso University
• Overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• Overall lab science GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
  • Competitive applicants typically have an Overall GPA and a Science GPA of 3.40 or higher

• Three letters of reference
  • At least one letter of reference must be from a healthcare professional who can comment on the applicant’s abilities and performance in a clinical setting.

• Minimum of 132 hours of direct patient care or healthcare experiences documented prior to the start of the MSPA Program.
  • Direct patient care experiences include both paid and unpaid work in a health field where you are directly responsible for a patient’s care, for example actively working with patients as a nurse, paramedic, EMT, CNA, physical therapist, occupational therapist, etc.
  • Healthcare experiences include both paid or unpaid work in a health field where you are not directly responsible for a patient’s care, but still have patient interaction, for example administering food or medication, taking vitals, obtaining record-keeping information, shadowing (PA preferred), working as a scribe, medical assistant, etc.

Coursework Prerequisites

Official transcripts must show that the following prerequisites have been completed.

• Applicants will be considered if prerequisites are still in progress or planned; however, all prerequisite coursework must be completed prior to the start of the MSPA Program.
• To be considered for admission, all prerequisite coursework must be completed no earlier than 10 years prior to the application cycle deadline.
• Prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of “C” or higher.