What do you major in to become a physician assistant

As a pre-PA student, a significant part of your preparation for PA school will center on your academic work — completing required courses, maintaining or improving your GPA, and plotting out a schedule to stay on track.

If you decide to be a PA during your early college years, you also have the opportunity to craft your selection of major around your career choice. Or, if you're a nontraditional student, you might find that the number of prerequisite courses you need add up to the equivalent of a second bachelor's degree and wonder if working toward one might be a wise move. 

While graduate PA programs require that you earn a bachelor's degree prior to enrollment, the type of bachelor's is mostly up to you. According to the latest Student Report, the most common degree major for those who are accepted to PA school is biology (41.5%), followed by health sciences (14.8%). 

But, that doesn't mean that PA schools favor applicants with those majors. Most PA students (72%) decide on the PA profession before or during college, which gives them a chance to align their academic path with their future goals. 

Additionally, some students might be undecided about their specific career path but have a general idea that they want to work in health care. They might already be on a health- or science-focused degree track and then simply continue once they decide to go the PA route. 

As a future PA, you aren't beholden to any particular major. As long as you complete the prerequisite courses, your bachelor's degree can be in any area. But if you have enough time (or remaining credits) to be selective, there are a few principles that can guide you in making the best choice in a degree major. 

The primary reason that many PA students have similar undergraduate degree majors is efficiency. There's a lot of course overlap between earning an undergrad degree in biology or health sciences and the common prerequisite courses required by PA programs. 

But, the precise course requirements for a given major or degree will vary a bit between universities. You might find that majoring in neuroscience or psychology gives you the ability to knock out more PA school requirements than other options.

Or you might find that at your university, a less common pre-PA major provides you more flexibility outside of the core degree requirements. Though they might not be the most popular among pre-PA students, some options might help you avoid a gap year or take credits that wouldn't count toward your degree. 

A good general place to start evaluating efficiency is to know the most commonly required PA school prereqs. These include anatomy (required by 94% of PA programs), general chemistry (84%), physiology (83%), microbiology (80%), statistics (74%), and general psychology (61%). 

After that, consider the specific requirements of your target PA programs (if you have these). Though PA programs share many of the same basic academic standards, examining the particulars of the programs you plan to apply to will help you know which major would be the most productive for you. 

Also, you can take this same approach if you're considering a post-baccalaureate program. Though some of these are, indeed, great options and might offer the chance to earn a certificate, you want to be sure that the courses included in a program would primarily be serving your prereq needs before signing up. 

After ensuring that you can make good use of your time and money by being efficient with your academic plan, you might then consider the challenge of a degree track.

To get into a healthy mindset around this concept, it's helpful to concentrate on the fundamental purpose of PA school prerequisites. 

As an aspiring PA student, prereqs can feel like a checklist that you need to work through. But their true intent, particularly from the viewpoint of PA programs, is for you to prepare academically for what lies ahead. 

If everything goes as planned and you get into PA school, you want to feel confident in your ability to handle the workload. And confidence doesn't come through imagining some future version of yourself that's better and smarter; it comes through experiences that push you to grow. 

So while you could, technically, choose any major that you like, selecting something that seems somehow "easier" might not be the strategic move that you're hoping for. Yes, doing so might result in slightly higher grades, but it won't challenge you. 

By attempting to avoid courses or a degree track over concern about your ability to do well, you'll also inadvertently avoid gaining the confidence that comes with rising to the challenge. When you're not pushed to overcome a few academic obstacles, you miss out on the chance to develop and strengthen adaptive skills that would serve you during PA training. 

Here, it's important to note that we're talking about selecting a major that helps you gain the skills and knowledge that would benefit you, not what might "look good" to a PA program. (We'll get to that in a moment.) 

So, after taking efficiency into account, think about what you're interested in learning as a future PA. What would you be excited to dive into? When you read through the required core classes and review the optional courses that would fulfill a degree's requirements, which seems the most interesting to you? What would you be willing to push yourself to learn more about? 

Every possible degree or post-bacc program will have some level of "extra" courses that aren't required for your target PA schools. However, they might be ones that interest you or push you in new ways. And when you're excited about the subject material or taking on something new, the class will contribute to growing your solid academic base. 

Occasionally, when a future PA is questioning the best degree path, they look to approach the decision from an outsider's perspective. 

"What major would look good to PA programs?" Instead of, "What major would be best for me as a future PA?"

This kind of approach is not unique to choosing a major. It shows up in many areas of pre-PA prep, including patient care roles, volunteer experiences, and shadowing opportunities. 

But while it's smart to be mindful of what your future application will include, approaching your pre-PA decisions from a what-will-look-good mindset increases the chance that your experiences, academic and otherwise, will remain two dimensional. 

If you've already earned your degree or are reasonably far along a degree path that seems unrelated to your future goals, such as business, English, communications, or history, the reverse is also true. 

You don't need to worry that your past non-PA-related academic work will "look bad." But, your background will pique some curiosity about what precipitated the change in direction for you, which you'll be expected to answer through your personal statement and during PA school interviews. 

If your story is genuine, it will shine through and make total sense when you share it. 

But, if you decided to become a PA back when you were a college freshman yet intentionally opted to earn an unrelated, "easy" degree to bump your GPA, you'll have a tough time explaining your choice. 

However, there's no need to overcomplicate the decision if you're starting early. Choosing a major, just like the other decisions you make along your pre-PA path, can be simple. If you focus your choices on things that actually help you build your foundation as a future PA, you'll naturally opt for deeper, more multidimensional experiences. 

And all of those activities, including your academic work, will translate into applications, essays, and interviews with greater depth. Ones that don't just "look good" but allow both you and your target PA programs to be confident that you're ready for what's to come. 

If you have the option of starting your academic plan early and selecting your degree to match your future goals, start with an efficient plan that makes the most of your course credits. 

From there, consider what options will allow you to grow and build confidence for a future of studying medicine. 

And then, rather than getting caught up in how a course or degree might "look," concentrate on making academic choices that will serve you. When you do, you can be confident that you'll land on the degree major that will help you make the most of your pre-PA work. 

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