Admissions Criteria
The 2024-2025 Admissions Cycle opens April 25, 2024, and closes July 15, 2024, for the January 2025 matriculating cohort.
Completion of a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university is required. The UKPAS program does not require a specific degree and the program does not favor one degree over another. All applicants must meet the minimum academic standards for the Graduate School which is at least a 2.75 institutional undergraduate GPA and a 3.0 Graduate GPA (if applicable). The program may allow a higher Graduate GPA to trump a low Undergraduate GPA if at least 20 credit hours are acquired from a Graduate degree program. (This is a case-by-case basis reviewed by the Admissions Committee and does not guarantee the Graduate GPA will be accepted.) Your degree must be completed by December 2024 if applying in the 2024-2025 Admissions cycle that opens mid-April 2024.
The prerequisites are as stated in the Graduate School Bulletin:
Courses must be taken from a regionally accredited college or university with a letter grade received and equivalent to the UK course requirement. Pass/Fail grades are not accepted except in Spring 2020 due to COVID (see link below). The UKPA program will also accept AP credit if the AP score is equivalent to the UK course requirement for the program as well as CLEP credit. You may check the UK AP credit chart for equivalency here and the CLEP chart here. We will allow multiple retakes of the prerequisite courses for admission. However, applicants must earn a "C" grade or higher for the course to be accepted. Lastly, exceptions, substitutions, and waivers are not allowed for ANY prerequisite course requirements due to fair admissions policies and accreditation requirements.
For the August 2024 Admissions Cycle, applicants may apply with two outstanding pre-requisite courses, as long as they are completed by August 2024.
COVID Response pertaining to P/F grading given in the Spring 2020 semester.
Checking Course Equivalency
To determine equivalency with the UK courses listed below, consult the Transfer Equivalency Database. If your course is not listed in the equivalency database, a copy of the course syllabus must be sent to Julia Berry for review of equivalency. If the course is not equivalent to the UK course number below, then it will not be accepted, and we will not allow substitutions.
Pre-Requisite Courses**
| Course | Requirement | Credit Hour | UK Equivalency |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Chemistry I w/Lab | 1 Semester + Lab | at least 3 CH | CHE 109 & 110 w/CHE 111 or CHE 105/111 |
| General Chemistry II w/Lab | 1 Semester + Lab | at least 3 CH | CHE 107/113 |
| Organic Chemistry w/Lab | 1 Semester + Lab | at least 3 CH | CHE 230/231 or CHE 232/232 |
|
Human Anatomy* or |
1 Semester (3 hours) or |
at least 3 CH | ANA 209 or ANA 109 (must be paired with ANA 110 only) |
|
Human Physiology* or |
1 Semester (3 hours) |
at least 3 CH | PGY 206 or ANA 110 (must be paired with ANA 109 only) |
| General Biology w/Lab | 1 Semester + Lab | at least 3 CH | BIO 148, 150 or 152 w/ 151 or 155 lab |
| Microbiology w/Lab | 1 Semester + Lab | at least 3 CH | BIO 208 or 308 with 209 or 309 lab or 380 lab |
| Statistics | 1 Semester | at least 3 CH | STA 291, 296, BST 230 or 330, or PSY 216 |
| Psychology | 1 Semester | at least 3 CH | PSY 100 |
| Developmental Psychology | 1 Semester | at least 3 CH | PSY 323 or the former PSY 223 (we WILL NOT accept abnormal or any other psych. course) Must be a full child thru adult lifespan. |
|
Anthropology or |
1 Semester | at least 3 CH | ANT 160, SOC 101, SOC 255 or HHS 453 |
| Medical Terminology | 1 Semester | at least 1 CH | CLA 131 |
*A standalone Anatomy cannot be paired with an A & P II course and vice versa. The prerequisite must be taken with their corresponding course (i.e. Anatomy is paired with Physiology or A & P I is paired with A & P II).
**Science prerequisite courses that are equivalent to the UK courses are generally those taken from a biology/chemistry pre-med curriculum. Please make sure to check our transfer equivalency database to see if your school's courses are equivalent to the UK course requirement. See the link for the database above.
***Prereqs do not have an expiration. I.E. We will accept courses that were completed over 5 years ago.
Applicants must meet all behavioral and technical standards for the College and Program. Please read here: Behavioral and Technical Standards
The UKPA Program reviews the institutional undergraduate GPA as well as the prerequisite GPA during admissions. A minimum 2.75 institutional undergraduate GPA is required per the UK Graduate School requirement. The program will allow a graduate GPA to trump the undergraduate if it is at least 20 credit hours from an enrolled graduate program. This does not include post-bach graduate classes which are not associated with program completion.
The University of Kentucky Senate has approved the removal of the GRE requirement to be implemented in the NEXT admissions cycle (2024-2025 Admissions Cycle; Opening April 2024). UKPA does not require any standardized exam for application including GRE, PACAT, MCAT, etc.
Applicants do not need to report any standardize test score on the CASPA application, as the admissions committee will not consider test scores in the decision process.
UK Students GRE Prep Seminar
UK's Transformative Learning offers GRE Prep courses. Please refer to this link for more information.
The UKPA Program requires patient contact, however, a minimum amount of hours is not set. Contact hours may be completed utilizing the following (but not limited to) medical disciplines: CNA, EMT, CMA, Medical Tech., Professional Hospice Volunteer, Physical Therapy Assistant, Athletic Training, Scribe, etc. Applicants should obtain hands-on clinical skills such as, but not limited to, taking patient vitals, blood pressure, glucose, administering immunizations, etc. Also, you may go to our FAQ link here for more detailed information about acquiring patient contact experience. Applicants' patient care experience is recorded in the CASPA application when they apply.
Patient contact hours are documented in the CASPA application only. The UKPA program does not require any other documentation i.e. pay stubs, signed forms from preceptors, etc.
All students matriculating into the UKPA Program are required to meet certain technical and behavioral standards of the program and College of Health Sciences. Additionally, applicants must pass a background check and drug screenings. If you have questions concerning the standards, background checks, and/or drug screen please contact Tammy Jo Edge.
Covid-19 Vaccine Protocol
COVID-19 vaccines are strongly encouraged but not currently mandated at the University of Kentucky. However, many of our clinical partners and off-campus course activities are in facilities that require healthcare providers, including PAS students, to be vaccinated. At present, some clinical sites, including UK Healthcare accept vaccination exceptions for university-approved medical or religious reasons, but some do not. Thus, without being vaccinated, we cannot assure you will be able to fulfill the clinical requirements for graduation. Although we strive to work with our clinical partners to accommodate every student, this is challenging as guidelines change. If you do not meet a clinical site's vaccine requirements this may impact progression to timely graduation and the department cannot guarantee clinical placement. As an accepted student, if you choose to not be vaccinated, you will be subject to weekly COVID-19 testing, as currently mandated by the University. Further, by accepting admission into our program, you are agreeing to comply with any future mandates set forth by the University of Kentucky.
