Physician Assistant Studies COVID-19 Update

The admission policies below are being implemented due to the current COVID-19 crisis. For further clarification, please contact pa@nyit.edu.

Online Courses/Labs

We will accept online courses, including labs, for the completion of our prerequisites.

Patient Care Experience

In light of the difficulty candidates are facing in completing patient contact experiences, the program is reducing the required patient care experience requirement to 100 hours for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 application cycles.

Pass/Fail option

If you are applying to the Physician Assistant Studies, MS program, the Department of Physician Assistant Studies will accept a grade of pass (in lieu of a numeric letter grade) for all courses completed in Spring 2020.

During the application process, you will be required to provide a link to a statement or document from your institution, indicating that a Pass/Fail policy was implemented during the crisis period.

Note: Students are advised to opt out of P/F, if it is an option, not only to offer an accurate evaluation of their ability to meet the academic demands of the MS curriculum, but also in the event the student chooses to apply to other graduate programs.

Current B.S. / M.S. Students

Pass/Fail (P/F) option
If you are currently in the undergraduate phase of the Life Sciences, B.S. / Physician Assistant Studies, M.S. track, the Department of Physician Assistant Studies will accept a grade of pass (in lieu of a numeric letter grade) for all courses completed in Spring 2020, for your progression requirements. This policy will be revisited for Summer and Fall 2020 coursework. Please check back here for updates.

Students are advised to opt out of P/F, not only to offer an accurate evaluation of their ability to meet the academic demands of the MS curriculum, but also in the event the student chooses to apply to other graduate programs.

We also urge you to view the New York Tech institutional policy regarding the Pass/Fail option. Specifically, we urge you to note the following recommendations:

Depending on your major (particularly in the School of Health Professions) and your status (i.e., on probation, veteran students, Dean's or President's list), there might be other consequences for selecting a Pass/Fail grade. Prior to making the Pass/Fail choice, you are strongly encouraged to speak to your academic and athletic advisor, as well as counselors in financial aid or international education.

Matriculating Students

Patient Care Experience Hours
For students matriculating into the Life Sciences, B.S. / Physician Assistant Studies, M.S. track in Fall 2020 only, we are waiving the required 50 patient care hours.

• For this cohort only, the 50 hours you have already accumulated will be counted towards the 250 hours you are required to complete during the undergraduate phase of the program.
• The letters of verification for any hours already completed can be submitted prior to transition into the professional phase, with the 250 hour verification. Please view our FAQ for the correct procedure.