Physician Assistant (PA) Facts According to the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA)

“PAs are medical providers who diagnose illness, develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications, and often serve as a patient’s principal healthcare professional.  With thousands of hours of medical training, PAs are versatile and collaborative.  PAs practice in every state and in every medical setting and specialty, improving healthcare access and quality.”

Program History

In January 2001, Marietta College received a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to help launch the master's program.  The “Pioneer” cohort began the 12-month didactic (classroom) and 14-month clinical phase (family, internal and emergency medicine, general surgery, orthopedics, prenatal care/gynecology, psychiatry/behavioral health, and pediatrics rotations) program in 2002, graduating in 2004 with a Master’s of Science in Physician Assistant Studies.

While the Pioneer class of 15 students has grown over the years to our current class size of 36, the program has strived to maintain the intimate feel a small cohort provides.  This is especially evident in our PASP 502 Physical Exam I and PASP 504 Physical Exam II courses, where the class is divided into two labs (18 students/each), allowing for optimal faculty-to-student ratios and opportunities for individualized attention.

Accreditation Status

The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Marietta College Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Marietta College. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.

Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be March 2028. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.

To view the program's accreditation history,  visit http://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-marietta-college/ and click on the embedded accreditation document.

Student Success

The Marietta College PA program has an overall 98.6% graduation rate. 

The Marietta College PA program has an overall 100% Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) pass rate. 

For the past five years, 94% of Marietta College PA program graduates have been employed as PAs within six months of graduation.  Approximately a third of students secure positions with physicians or hospitals where they completed clinical rotations.

Marietta College PA graduates work in numerous fields of medicine, including primary care, internal medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, emergency medicine, general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, hospital medicine, hematology/oncology, urology, cardiology, rheumatology, OB/GYN, interventional radiology and many more.  Other graduates go on to successfully obtain positions in post-graduate residency programs across the US.  The profession and career opportunities are only limited by one's imagination.