Stanford School of Medicine
PCAP– Primary Care Associate Program

Prerequisites

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Clinical Prerequisite

A minimum of 3,000 hours of direct patient care experience must be completed by the application deadline.  Hours accrued as a student in a training program or idle time cannot be used towards this total. This requirement can be met with 18 months of full-time work experience or equivalent part-time hours.  This requirement is meant to help the applicant achieve a knowledge base and skill set needed for the successful completion of our program; not all health care positions can or will provide the appropriate experience.  Both paid and volunteer hours are acceptable.

Examples of Acceptable Medical Backgrounds

Clinical experiences involving direct patient care are evaluated on an individual basis.  Students have entered training from a variety of clinical backgrounds, including, but not limited to:

Other clinical experiences involving direct patient care are evaluated on an individual basis.

Due to the accelerated nature of the program, competitive applicants generally have many years of experience working in clinical settings which involve various levels of patient responsibility and involve a high level of critical thinking. Additionally, some or all of their clinical experience has been in the US where they have interacted with a PA or NP and gained insight to the US medical system.

Clinical experiences which are not acceptable would consist mainly of, but not limited to the following duties: administrative, massage therapy, home care and "shadowing a doctor".  Although valuable to the practice of medicine, clinical experiences which lack direct patient care responsibilities are not competitive and do not prepare students for successful completion of our accelerated program.

Academic Prerequisites

All required coursework must be documented as being completed on an official transcript from a United States school, college or university possessing "institutional accreditation" by one of the following six regional associations: Western Association (WASC-Junior and Senior), Middle States Association (MSA), Northwest Association (NASC), North Central Association (NCA), Southern Association (SACS-CC), and New England Association (NEASC-CIHE and CTCI) of Schools and Colleges. The institution's accreditation must be awarded at the time the coursework was taken. All prior coursework will be considered regardless of the year in which the course was taken. All high school coursework submitted to meet program prerequisites must be completed in the United States. Except for meeting the program and GE prerequisites, advanced placement, transfer of credit, or credit for experiential learning are not permitted because of the integrative structure of the curriculum.

Institutions that have specialized, professional or single mission types of accreditation (often held by trade, technical, vocational, occupational or military schools) will need to be reviewed by Foothill College to determine whether such credits will be acceptable. Candidates with chiropractic and naturopathic degrees often need to fulfill Foothill College's General Education (GE) requirements, unless they possess a degree from an accredited institution. Courses offered through the United States military must be credited by a regionally accredited institution. Official transcripts from all regionally accredited institutions attended must be included in the application packet; therefore, request them at least a month in advance.

Applicants who expect to receive their Associate's degree or higher before the end of the Spring term of the application year must include a letter from a school evaluator or counselor verifying degree candidacy in the application packet. Applicants expecting to receive their first academic degree are strongly encouraged to complete these requirements by the end of Fall 2007. Applicants who expect to obtain the Associate of Science degree from Foothill College upon completion of our program are required to complete the General Education requirements, unless they have a Bachelor's degree or higher from a regionally accredited institution.

An applicant is allowed a maximum of three (3) courses in progress or lacking at the time of the application deadline, but a maximum of two (2) classes may be in progress or lacking after January, 2008. This includes courses for academic (program and general education) prerequisites for admission and all degree requirements for applicants expecting their first academic degree before the end of the Spring term of the application year. Proof of registration for all courses in progress or lacking and, subsequently, the transcripts showing the final grades must be submitted to the admissions office as soon as possible. Grades for Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology must be completed by the end of the Fall term.

The PCA Program does not offer advanced placement.

Program Academic Prerequisites

All applicants must complete the following courses with a grade of "C" or better.  A minimum of 3 semester or 4 quarter units is required for each course.

Grades for Human Anatomy, Human Physiology and Microbiology must be completed by the end of the fall term. No exception! For combined Human Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) classes, a full academic year curriculum is required. All coursework for A&P must total at least 12 quarter units or 8 semester units. Applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements or who completed A&P more than 10 years ago are encouraged to retake the full year curriculum of A&P. It is recommended that applicants complete beyond the minimum requirements for English and Math because of the need for strong analytical and communication skills. For example, we encourage applicants to complete a general statistics course and take English 1B. Class substitutions that do not cover the scope or information covered in the above classes will not be accepted. If you have any questions regarding academic prerequisites, please contact our admissions office.

General Education Prerequisites

Applicants who have not received an Associate's degree or higher from a regionally accredited institution and who do not expect to receive one by the end of the Spring term of the application year, must complete coursework for the following Foothill College General Education requirements:

CLEP, high school and upper-division coursework are not acceptable for the General Education prerequisites. Class description of the courses that satisfy General Education requirements can be found in the Foothill College General Catalog, which is available online. Any concerns about these requirements should be directed to Foothill College's Counseling office.

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