Physician assistants, PAs for short, are educated in general medicine. They practice medicine, generally under the supervision of a physician or a surgeon.
PAs have competitive salaries and typically make over $100,000 on average. By 2030, this segment will grow by 40% and add over 40,000 new jobs in the US.
Compare this to just 10% growth in the health diagnosing segment, PAs are well set for the near future. So, getting into a top PA school is competitive and requires strong credentials, including a decent GRE general test score.
Here are the top 25 physician assistant programs, as per US News rankings, and the respective average GRE scores of their admitted applicants.
These scores have been collected from the PA schools’ websites. Some schools did not publicly provide their GRE scores, so we reached out to them to get this information.
| Ranking | School Name | GRE Quantitative Average | GRE Verbal Average | GRE Analytical Writing Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke University | 157 | 159 | 5.0 |
| 2 | University of Iowa | 159 | 158 | 4.5 |
| 3 | Baylor College of Medicine | 154 | 161 | 4.5 |
| 4 | University of Utah | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 5 | Emory University | 153 | 155 | 4.5 |
| 6 | George Washington University | 152 | 158 | 4.0 |
| 7 | University of Colorado | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 8 | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center—Dallas | 149 | 155 | 4.0 |
| 9 | Wake Forest University | 148 | 154 | 4.5 |
| 10 | Drexel University | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 11 | Oregon Health and Sciences University | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 12 | Interservice Physician Assistant Program | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 13 | University of Southern California | 150 | 154 | 4.0 |
| 14 | University of Washington | 152 | 156 | 4.5 |
| 15 | Quinnipiac University | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 16 | Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science | 153 | 155 | 5.0 |
| 17 | Stony Brook University—SUNY | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 18 | University of Nebraska Medical Center | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 19 | University of Wisconsin--La Crosse-Gunderson Medical Foundation-Mayo School | 157 | 158 | 5.0 |
| 20 | University of Wisconsin—Madison | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 21 | Midwestern University | 152 | 158 | 4.0 |
| 22 | Rutgers University School of Health Professions | Does Not Require a GRE Score | ||
| 23 | Stanford University | 156 | 157 | 4.5 |
| 24 | University of Florida | 150 | 155 | 4.0 |
| 25 | Cornell University | 153 | 159 | 5.0 |
In this Article
Does GRE matter for PA School?
Some PA schools such as Oregon, SUNY, and Wisconsin do not require a GRE score. Whereas for others, there are minimum cut-off scores usually around the 50th percentile mark. A few programs give you the option to take either the GRE or the MCAT. So it depends on the school that you are applying to. If you are reluctant to take the GRE or any other standardized exam, select programs that don’t require it.
Can you get into PA school with a low GRE score?
You can. All top PA schools employ a holistic review of your application. They consider multiple attributes, such as diversity, volunteer activities, GPA, and years of healthcare experience. They evaluate candidates on their merit and not just one factor, such as the GRE score. So even if you have a below-par GRE score, you must focus on other essential aspects of your application and portray your strengths.
What is a good GRE score for PA school?
PA schools do not expect very high quantitative scores from applicants. This is understandable since the applicants are coming from a medical background. For most of the top-ranking PA programs, the average quantitative scores hover around 153, and the verbal score about 157.
All of this means that you can get into the right PA school even with a low GRE score. Generally, 300+ is a safe score, and 310+ is a very competitive score for PA schools. But do make sure that you score 155+ on the verbal section to make a strong case.
Is GRE Waived for PA Schools?
Nearly half of all the PA schools in the US do not require a GRE score. Some of the programs that do require a GRE score offer waivers to eligible candidates on a case-to-case basis.
If you are looking for a GRE waiver at some of the top 50 PA schools, check out these 20+ PA programs that do not require a GRE score.