Dominican University of California PA Interview: Format & Prep

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The Dominican University of California PA program interviews invited applicants in person on its San Rafael campus from September through December on a rolling basis. According to the program's admissions and outcomes pages, the 28-month MSPAS program requires a completed CASPA application between May 1 and October 1 with all prerequisites finished at submission, and posted an 86% first-time PANCE pass rate for the Class of 2025. Sources: Dominican University of California: Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPAS), Dominican University of California: MSPAS Frequently Asked Questions, Dominican University of California: Program Goals, Outcomes and PANCE Performance. Last checked November 3, 2026.

What the Dominican University of California PA interview looks like

Dominican University of California holds its Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies (MSPAS) interviews in person on its campus at 50 Acacia Avenue in San Rafael, California. According to the program's MSPAS Frequently Asked Questions and main admissions page, interviews are by invitation only and run from September through December. For another campus format, read our Daemen University PA interview guide.

Dominican evaluates CASPA applications on a rolling basis between May 1 and October 1 until every seat in the incoming class is filled. Confirm your exact day's schedule in your invitation email from the Office of Graduate Admissions. If you are also applying to California schools that use recorded video screening, see our guide to the CUSM Kira video interview.

To rehearse speaking your answers out loud before you travel to Marin County, Confetto's PA school mock interviews let you run live mock interviews with follow-up questions on your clinical background. Start your free week.

Dominican University of California MSPAS interview and program snapshot
Item	What Dominican and ARC-PA state
Format and location	By invitation only, in person on the San Rafael campus (50 Acacia Avenue)
Interview season	September through December (rolling admissions)
Application window	May 1 to October 1 through CASPA (no supplemental application required)
Program length	28 months (7 consecutive semesters, 102 units): 16 months didactic, 12 months clinical rotations, final month summative evaluation
Accreditation	ARC-PA Accreditation-Continued (next validation review March 2032)

What Dominican evaluates: mission, biopsychosocial model, and technical standards

Dominican's MSPAS page and Technical Standards spell out the educational philosophy and graduate competencies the faculty teach and grade. Use these three pillars to pick which clinical and volunteer stories you tell on interview day.

First, the curriculum is built on an integrated biopsychosocial medical model. In the 16-month didactic phase, students learn in groups through discussions, lectures, role-playing, standardized and simulated patients, independent research, and case-based problem-solving. Show that you pay attention to psychological stressors and social barriers alongside physical symptoms.

Second, Dominican is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as both a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI), with more than 25% of undergraduate students identifying as Latinx and more than 25% identifying as Asian American or Pacific Islander. Faculty member Christopher Forest, PA-C, DFAAPA, DHSc presented research in 2025 on integrating medical conversational Spanish into the PA curriculum, and conversational Spanish or another second language is strongly recommended for applicants.

Third, Dominican's MSPAS Technical Standards list the behavioral and social attributes required for admission, retention, and graduation. Bring concrete examples from your work that show these traits in action:

Compassion, empathy, altruism, integrity, responsibility, and tolerance
Responsive, empathetic listening that builds rapport and respects cultural differences
Working effectively as a member of a physician-PA team and seeking consultation from supervising providers appropriately
Accepting constructive feedback and adopting appropriate modifications
Recognizing your own limitations in knowledge, skills, and abilities and asking for help
Adapting to changing environments, prioritizing competing demands under taxing workloads, and functioning in the face of medical uncertainty

12 Dominican PA practice interview questions with example answers

Our team wrote the 12 questions and example answers below around Dominican's integrated biopsychosocial model, its HSI and AANAPISI community focus, its Technical Standards, and its clinical rotation structure. For broader practice across general prompts, read our PA school interview questions guide.

1. Why do you want to become a Physician Assistant, and why at Dominican University of California?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "I want to practice medicine on a physician-PA team where I can examine patients, build differential diagnoses, and adjust care plans while collaborating closely with my supervising physician. Working two years as a medical assistant in an East Bay family practice showed me how much access a PA adds when working families cannot wait months for an appointment. Dominican is my top choice because you teach through an integrated biopsychosocial medical model using small-group case problem-solving and simulated patients. Because I grew up in Northern California and speak conversational Spanish with patients daily, training at an HSI and AANAPISI campus in San Rafael and rotating across diverse Bay Area communities matches the primary care PA I want to become."

2. Tell us about a patient encounter from your paid direct patient care hours that shaped how you view the biopsychosocial model.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "At the urgent care where I worked as a phlebotomist and medical assistant, a 58-year-old man came in three times in two months with uncontrolled hypertension. During his third intake, instead of just repeating the blood pressure reading, I asked how things were going at home. He shared that he had switched to a night-shift security job after his wife lost her hours, and he was skipping his diuretic so he would not need restroom breaks while on patrol alone. I relayed that context to the PA on duty. Together they switched his medication timing to when he woke up in the afternoon and connected him with a discount program. Vital signs only make sense when you ask how a patient lives and works."

3. Serving diverse populations is central to our community. Tell us about a time you cared for someone whose cultural or socioeconomic background differed from yours.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "While working as an EMT in Alameda County, we responded to an elderly Cantonese-speaking woman with shortness of breath whose adult daughter hesitated to let us transport her. Rather than rushing past her hesitation, I kneeled at the patient's level, used our phone interpreter line right away, and asked what worried them most about the hospital. The patient feared being intubated alone without family able to explain her wishes, as had happened to her brother in 2020. Once we explained through the interpreter that her daughter could ride along and that we would hand off her care goals directly to the triage nurse, she agreed to transport. Listening first and using a qualified interpreter built trust when minutes mattered."

4. Tell us about a time you received constructive feedback after making a mistake. How did you respond?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "During my first month as a dermatology medical assistant, I set up a sterile biopsy tray and accidentally let the outer wrapper of a gauze packet touch the corner of the sterile field. The PA noticed before the procedure started, paused the room calmly, and asked me to set up a fresh tray. After the visit, she gave me direct feedback to slow down my prep and open peel-pouches from a consistent angle. I thanked her, stayed 20 minutes after clinic to practice opening 5 packets in a row with a senior MA watching, and created a visual check before calling the provider into any procedure room. I never contaminated a tray again."

5. Describe a time when you had to prioritize competing demands during a physically or mentally taxing shift.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "On a Monday morning at our community clinic, one of our three medical assistants called out sick while two walk-in patients arrived with acute symptoms. I had a patient waiting for an ECG for chest tightness, a toddler due for three immunizations, and a provider waiting on a stat point-of-care glucose. I triaged by clinical urgency first. I immediately notified the PA about the chest tightness patient and ran the 12-lead ECG within 3 minutes so the provider could evaluate him right away. Next, I checked the fingerstick glucose while the PA reviewed the ECG, and then I let the toddler's parent know the 10-minute delay before drawing up the vaccines carefully."

6. Tell us about a time you recognized your own limitations in knowledge or skills. What did you do?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "While working as a phlebotomist at an outpatient lab, a chemotherapy patient with fragile veins came in for a routine draw. After inspecting both arms and palpating carefully, I could not feel a vein I was confident I could access on the first try. Even though the waiting room was backed up, I knew attempting a blind stick would cause unnecessary pain and risk a hematoma for an immunocompromised patient. I told the patient honestly that I wanted my lead phlebotomist to take a look so we could get her draw done in one smooth attempt. My lead used a pediatric butterfly needle on the dorsal hand while I observed her landmarking technique."

6 more Dominican PA interview questions (clinical year, ethics, and teamwork)

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7. During the clinical year, students rotate across different clinics and hospitals, including both local and non-local sites. How do you adapt to unfamiliar clinical environments?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "When I worked as a float medical assistant for a regional health system, I was regularly assigned to four different clinics across two counties on 24 hours' notice. To adapt fast, I arrived 30 minutes early at any new site to learn where emergency supplies and lab tubes were kept, introduced myself to the front desk and nursing staff first, and asked the lead clinician how they preferred handoffs. Rotating across both urban and rural clinics taught me how to step into a new team without slowing down patient flow, and I have budgeted for travel during my clinical year."

8. Describe an ethical dilemma you witnessed in healthcare and how you handled it.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "At the clinic where I worked as a scribe, a colleague took a photo on her personal phone of an unusual rash on a patient's forearm, with no face or name showing, and mentioned posting it in a pre-PA study group chat. Even without a name visible, I knew from HIPAA training that taking any patient photo on a personal device for social media violates patient confidentiality. I pulled my coworker aside privately, reminded her of our clinic's privacy policy and how recognizable a room or tattoo edge can be, and asked her to delete it from both her camera roll and recently deleted folder. She deleted it on the spot."

9. Tell us about a conflict or difficult communication with a coworker or supervisor and how you resolved it.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "When I worked night shifts as an emergency department tech, a nurse and I had a tense exchange after she thought I had ignored a call light while I was stocking trauma bays. In the moment, I finished helping the patient in the room first so care was not delayed. Once the floor calmed down, I asked the nurse if we could talk privately for 2 minutes. I acknowledged how frustrating it is when call lights ring unanswered, explained where I had been assigned by the charge nurse, and suggested a 30-second huddle every two hours so we both knew when I was off the main hallway. Our shifts ran smoothly after that."

10. What have you learned from shadowing or working alongside a Physician Assistant about the physician-PA relationship?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "While shadowing an orthopedic PA for 20 hours and working alongside three primary care PAs as a medical assistant, I saw that autonomy in the physician-PA team grows out of trust and clear communication. In clinic, the PA independently took histories, examined joints, interpreted X-rays, and performed injections for her own panel. When a post-op patient presented with unexpected calf swelling and atypical pain, she ordered a stat venous duplex ultrasound and walked over to consult her supervising orthopedic surgeon between cases so they could coordinate anticoagulation together. That balance of independent reasoning and timely consultation is why I want to be a PA."

11. Our admissions rubric gives preference to applicants with over 50 hours of volunteer service. How have you practiced civic skills and social responsibility in your community?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "For the past two years, I have volunteered every other Saturday at a food pantry and blood pressure screening table in San Rafael's Canal neighborhood, logging about 140 hours. Many of the residents we serve work hourly jobs without paid sick leave. My role is to check blood pressures, write down the readings on a bilingual wallet card in Spanish and English, and help families sign up for sliding-scale appointments at local federally qualified health centers. Showing up consistently at the same table taught me that health education works best when you meet people in their own neighborhood before an emergency forces them into a hospital."

12. Our 28-month curriculum includes 16 months of didactic learning, 12 months of clinical rotations, and a final month of summative evaluation. How will you handle the academic pace and prepare for the PANCE?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "I learn best when I combine daily active recall with small-group case discussion. In my upper-division physiology and microbiology courses, I previewed lecture objectives the night before, drew pathway diagrams from memory after class, and met weekly with three classmates to quiz each other on clinical vignettes. At Dominican, I plan to treat each organ-system block and each clinical rotation like board preparation from day one. During the clinical year, I will read up on two conditions I saw in clinic every evening, track which diagnostic topics I have not yet seen in person, and use practice exam feedback to close weak areas before the final summative month."

How to prepare for your in-person interview in San Rafael

Use this seven-step checklist written by our team to get ready in the two weeks before you arrive on Dominican's campus:

Audit your CASPA file line by line. Re-read your personal statement and every work and volunteer entry so you can speak for two minutes on any role without notes.
Build six clinical stories from your 500+ paid direct patient care hours. Tag each story with the Dominican Technical Standards it demonstrates: empathy, team collaboration, recognizing limitations, accepting feedback, handling stress, and cultural humility.
Know Dominican's three-phase curriculum: 16 months of didactic group and standardized-patient learning, 12 months of clinical rotations across nine rotations (including five-week required rotations in seven core specialties: Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Women's Health, Pediatrics, Behavioral Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Surgery), and a final month on campus for summative evaluation.
Review clinical placement policies from the MSPAS FAQ: all supervised clinical practice experiences are provided by the program, and students are not required to provide or solicit clinical sites or preceptors.
Prepare for your PA shadowing follow-up. Name specific moments from your 8+ hours shadowing or working with a PA that show how a PA consults with a supervising physician.
Plan your San Rafael travel early. Interviews are in person at 50 Acacia Avenue in Marin County. Wear full business attire with closed-toe shoes.
Bring two thoughtful questions for faculty or students, such as how students collaborate in the Clinical Simulation Services learning labs or how medical conversational Spanish is integrated into the curriculum.

Dominican PA program PANCE pass rates and outcomes

Dominican publishes five years of first-time Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) pass rates, academic attrition rates, student-to-faculty ratios, and job placement figures on its Program Goals, Outcomes and PANCE Performance page.

Across the five published cohorts from 2021 through 2025, first-time PANCE pass rates ranged from 82% to 96%, with the Class of 2025 achieving an 86% first-time pass rate (and the Class of 2020 posting a 100% first-time pass rate on the main program page). By our calculation from Dominican's published PANCE table for classes 2021 through 2025, the unweighted five-year mean first-time pass rate across those five classes is 88.8% (compared to a 92.0% unweighted five-year mean for the national rates in the same table).

On its outcomes page, the program notes that it actively reviews PACKRAT scores, PAEA End-of-Curriculum (EOC) scores, and PAEA End-of-Rotation (EOR) exam pass standards with attention to improving first-time PANCE pass rates.

Academic student attrition was 0% for four straight classes (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025) after 6.7% in 2021. The student-to-faculty ratio held steady at 11.67:1 for 2023-2024, 2024-2025, and 2025-2026, lower than the PAEA Report 36 benchmark of 12.8:1. For employment, 100% of graduates actively seeking work were employed within 12 months of graduation, with six-month placement rates of 86% for 2023 and 85% for 2024.

Dominican University of California MSPAS outcomes by cohort
MSPAS Class	Dominican First-Time PANCE Pass Rate	National First-Time PANCE Pass Rate	Academic Student Attrition	6-Month Job Placement Rate
Class of 2021	96%	93%	6.7%	Not published
Class of 2022	91%	92%	0%	Not published
Class of 2023	89%	92%	0%	86%
Class of 2024	82%	92%	0%	85%
Class of 2025	86%	91%	0%	In-progress

Dominican PA admissions requirements, prerequisites, and tuition

Applicants submit a verified CASPA application between May 1 and October 1, and no separate Dominican University supplemental application is required. Because Dominican does not evaluate files that fail to meet every stated requirement at the time of submission, verify your courses, clinical hours, and degree status before you apply.

For general comparison across programs, see our guide to PA school requirements or our California Northstate acceptance rate guide.

Degree and GPA minimums: A bachelor's degree must already be conferred on your official transcript at the time of CASPA submission. You need a minimum 3.0 overall GPA and a minimum 3.0 GPA in your last 30 semester hours of science courses (3.50 or higher is preferred for both).
Patient care and PA shadowing hours: At least 500 paid direct-patient contact hours in a hands-on role (such as EMT, paramedic, phlebotomist, nurse, medical assistant, or medical scribe. over 1,000 hours is preferred) and at least 8 hours shadowing or working with a Physician Assistant.
Letters and exams: Three letters of recommendation from previous instructors or employers are required, with recommendations from clinicians given more value. The GRE is recommended (institution code 2587) but not required. Non-native English speakers who did not earn their degree in the U.S. or Canada must submit a TOEFL score of at least 100 internet-based or 600 paper-based.
Prerequisite completion and online rules: All prerequisites must be completed at the time of application with a grade of B- or higher. Online science prerequisites are not accepted, except for online labs taken in Spring, Summer, or Fall 2020 and Spring or Summer 2021 (Pass grades are accepted from Spring and Summer 2020). Non-science prerequisites may be taken online.
Required science prerequisites: 8 semester units (12 quarter units) each of Biological Sciences with lab and Chemistry with lab (inorganic or organic chemistry may be substituted), plus 4 semester units (5 to 6 quarter units) each of Human Anatomy with lab, Human Physiology with lab, and Microbiology with lab. Anatomy and Physiology must be completed within 7 years of the application deadline.
Required non-science prerequisites: 3 semester units (4 to 5 quarter units) each of College Algebra or higher, Statistics, and General Psychology, completed within 10 years of the application deadline. Physics, Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry, and conversational Spanish or another second language are strongly recommended.
Admissions preferences and DACA policy: Preference is given for a 3.50+ overall and last-30 science GPA, over 1,000 direct patient care hours, over 50 volunteer hours, veteran status, healthcare licensure (EMT, Paramedic, RN), Dominican degree holders, SES disadvantaged background, residence in a medically underserved area or nearby county, and foreign language fluency. The program welcomes applications from undocumented, DACA, or DACA-eligible applicants, noting that a valid SSN or ITIN is required to complete background checks prior to matriculation.
2026-2027 tuition and costs: Tuition starts at $1,461 per unit in Year 1 across the 7-semester, 102-unit program, with total tuition of $154,520 and total direct costs of $156,915 (including $1,505 in campus fees and $435 in graduate activity fees). Estimated indirect costs include $3,000 to $5,000 for clinical site costs and $700 for medical equipment. No institutional grants or scholarships are offered, and eligible students may borrow up to $20,500 per award year in Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans.

Practice your Dominican PA interview out loud

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Dominican University of California PA interview in person or online?

Interviews are by invitation only and take place in person on Dominican's campus in San Rafael, California. The interview season runs from September through December on a rolling basis.

Can I apply to the Dominican PA program with prerequisites or my bachelor's degree in progress?

No. Your bachelor's degree must be listed as awarded, earned, or conferred on your official transcript at the time of CASPA submission, and all prerequisite courses must already be completed with a grade of B- or higher.

How many patient care hours and GPA do I need for Dominican's PA program?

You need a minimum 3.0 overall GPA, a 3.0 GPA in your last 30 semester hours of science courses, at least 500 paid direct-patient contact hours (over 1,000 hours preferred), and at least 8 hours shadowing or working with a PA. Admissions preference is given to applicants with a 3.50 or higher overall and last-30 science GPA.

What is the Dominican University of California PA program PANCE pass rate?

First-time PANCE pass rates published by the program are 86% for the Class of 2025, 82% for 2024, 89% for 2023, 91% for 2022, and 96% for 2021. Academic student attrition was 0% for the classes of 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Does Dominican University of California require the GRE or a supplemental application for PA school?

No separate Dominican University application is required beyond your verified CASPA application. The GRE is recommended (institution code 2587) but not required.

How much is tuition for the Dominican University of California PA program?

For the 2026-2027 entering class, total tuition across the 7-semester, 102-unit MSPAS program is $154,520, and total direct costs including campus and graduate activity fees are $156,915. The program does not offer institutional grants or scholarships.