Duquesne PA Program Interview: Faculty Progression Guide
Duquesne's 5-year PA program requires a faculty interview to enter its 40-seat accredited phase. See what the committee evaluates, prerequisites and prep.
The Duquesne University PA interview is a mandatory personal interview with departmental faculty for students in Duquesne's 5-year, entry-level PA program. It is required to progress into the 26-month accredited phase, which has an ARC-PA approved maximum entering class size of 40 students, per Duquesne's Physician Assistant Studies page. You must earn a recommendation from the Accredited Phase Review Committee based on these interviews to enter the accredited phase in the summer after your third year. Sources: Duquesne University: Department of Physician Assistant Studies, ARC-PA: Currently Accredited Entry-Level Programs, PAEA: CASPA Program Directory (2026-2027 Application Cycle). Last checked November 3, 2026.
How the Duquesne 5-year PA program and interview work
Before you prepare for the interview, make sure you are looking at the right application path. Duquesne University's Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the John G. Rangos Sr. School of Health Sciences (RSHS) runs a 5-year, entry-level PA program divided into a pre-professional (pre-accredited) phase and a 26-month accredited phase (14 months of didactic study followed by 12 months of clinical education across 8 required rotations).
Duquesne is not listed in the 2026-2027 CASPA Program Directory. If you are applying through the standard graduate cycle, check our CASPA application guide and our breakdown of how many PA schools to apply to to plan your school list.
At Duquesne, students enter as freshmen and progress into the accredited phase in the summer semester after their third year. To make that transition, pre-professional students must complete mandatory personal interviews with departmental faculty members and receive a formal recommendation from the Accredited Phase Review Committee.
To rehearse for your faculty interviews out loud, Confetto offers PA school interview questions and mock interviews with follow-up questions based on what you say. Start your free week.
| Item | What Duquesne's PA Studies page states |
|---|---|
| Who interviews | Pre-professional PA students seeking admission or progression into the accredited phase |
| Who conducts the interview | Departmental faculty members |
| Decision body | Accredited Phase Review Committee |
| What the interview reviews | Student performance and potential to achieve academic and career satisfaction |
| How scheduling works | Students receive scheduling information directly from the department |
| When the accredited phase begins | Summer semester after the third year (with mandatory departmental orientation) |
What the Accredited Phase Review Committee evaluates
Duquesne states that faculty interviews review your performance and your potential to achieve academic and career satisfaction. If you are not granted a recommendation by the Accredited Phase Review Committee upon completing the interview process, you will not be admitted into the accredited phase.
Meeting the GPA and course numbers alone does not guarantee progression. The RSHS faculty reserves the right not to admit a student into the accredited phase even when academic and program requirements are met if they determine the student is not a suitable candidate, such as for a felony conviction or failing to exhibit an ethical and professional attitude and behavior.
Because students meet with their designated PA Faculty Advisors at least once a semester across years 1 through 5 and receive annual Professional and Behavioral Evaluations from faculty, your interviewers already have a longitudinal record of how you show up. Those evaluations track seven specific areas that you should expect to discuss or demonstrate in your interview:
- Personal accountability and responsibility
- Attendance and punctuality
- Professionalism in class and advising interactions
- Verbal skill and class participation
- Writing skills
- Communication with faculty and staff
- Understanding of the PA role and practice settings, built through strongly recommended physician or PA shadowing before the accredited phase
What happens if you defer or need to reapply
If you earn a recommendation from the Accredited Phase Review Committee for the accredited phase but cannot start the program at the designated summer semester time, Duquesne allows you to reapply for the following year.
If you reapply for the following year, you may be required to repeat the faculty interview process, and a seat in the next cohort is not guaranteed. All new accredited phase students must also attend the mandatory departmental orientation program at the start of the summer semester.
Mission, Spiritan values and curriculum details to know
Strong interview answers connect your preparation during the pre-professional years to how Duquesne actually trains PAs in the 14-month didactic phase and 12-month clinical phase. Duquesne's mission centers on educating the mind, heart, and spirit in a values-laden, ecumenical atmosphere open to diversity, preparing graduates to practice competently and reliably as extenders of physicians.
Instead of reciting the mission statement, connect your experiences from your first three years to these specific elements of the Duquesne curriculum:
- Interprofessional Education (IPE) Grand Rounds Workshop. Held three times a semester during the didactic phase, this workshop puts PA students into small interdisciplinary teams with students from the Rangos School of Health Sciences, the Mylan School of Pharmacy, the School of Nursing, and the Mary Pappert School of Music to create a treatment plan for a live simulated patient.
- Diversity and health disparities requirement. Every Duquesne PA student meets the program benchmark of either studying abroad for a semester or enrolling in the 3-credit Disparities in Healthcare course. For the Class of 2025, 27% studied abroad and 73% took Disparities in Healthcare.
- History and Physical Examination capstone. At the end of the three-course sequence (PHYA 403, PHYA 412, and PHYA 421), students perform a complete history and physical exam on a healthy simulated patient and are graded by both faculty and the standardized patient on verbal communication and professionalism.
- Simulation and clinical technology. The program trains students using simulation, clinical immersion, telemedicine, and electronic medical records before they enter academic teaching facilities in the clinical year.
- End-of-rotation written and oral cases. Across each of the 8 required clinical rotations, students identify a patient case in the first two weeks, submit a written case, and deliver an oral case presentation to faculty, classmates, and didactic-phase students covering history, physical exam, differential diagnosis, diagnostic plan, treatment plan, and standards of care.
Two-week preparation checklist for Duquesne pre-professional students
This is our team's suggested preparation plan leading up to your departmental faculty interview. Watch for your official scheduling information from the department and confirm your exact day, time, and room or link in that notice.
- Review your semester advising notes. Since you meet with your designated PA Faculty Advisor at least once a semester, look back at the academic challenges and successes you discussed over the last five semesters and be ready to explain how you acted on your advisor's feedback.
- Audit your shadowing reflections. Shadowing a physician or PA is strongly recommended prior to the accredited phase to see clinical roles and practice settings. Write down two specific patient encounters you observed that clarified why you want to practice as a physician extender.
- Connect your Disparities in Healthcare coursework or study abroad semester to patient care. Prepare one concrete example of how examining social inequalities and cultural perceptions in that requirement shaped your approach to inclusive care.
- Prepare an accountability story. Faculty evaluate personal accountability, punctuality, and communication every year. Have an honest example ready of a difficult science prerequisite week, how you managed it, and what you changed in your study habits.
- Practice answering out loud. Run through the practice prompts below and our broader list of common PA school interview questions with a timer so your answers stay focused and conversational.
Duquesne PA practice questions (written by our team)
Duquesne's program page states that faculty interviews review your performance and your potential for academic and career satisfaction, alongside ethical and professional behavior. Our team wrote the practice questions below around those evaluation areas and Duquesne's curriculum. They are for practice only.
- Looking back at your pre-professional science coursework at Duquesne, which class pushed your study habits the hardest, and what did you change to succeed in it?
- What have you observed while shadowing a PA or physician that confirmed the PA role will give you long-term career satisfaction?
- Duquesne asks PA students to examine the moral and ethical foundations of their thoughts and actions. Tell me about a time when doing the right thing in an academic or clinical setting was uncomfortable.
- In the didactic phase, you will join Pharmacy, Nursing, Health Sciences, and Music students three times a semester for Interprofessional Education Grand Rounds. Tell me about a time a teammate from a different background noticed something you missed.
- How did your semester abroad or your Disparities in Healthcare course change how you think about cultural perceptions of illness and health inequalities in the United States?
- The transition from the pre-accredited phase to the 14-month didactic phase is steep. How will you know early if you are falling behind, and how will you use your PA Faculty Advisor?
GPA, prerequisites and spring clearances for the accredited phase
Show details
To progress from the pre-accredited phase into the accredited phase alongside your faculty interview recommendation, you must meet Duquesne's academic and pre-clinical standards. For a comparison with typical graduate admission rules nationwide, see our guide to PA school requirements.
During the pre-professional phase, you must maintain a 3.0 semester and cumulative GPA, earn a 'C' or better in all required RSHS pre-professional coursework, and hold a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA across the required science prerequisite courses. If you completed any prerequisite course at another college or university, the grade earned at that institution is used to calculate your prerequisite GPA.
Pre-professional students who have earned a cumulative 3.0 GPA or better, but who fall below the 3.0 semester GPA requirement for the first time in their final pre-professional semester, are allowed to begin the accredited phase on academic probation. Falling below the standard again during the accredited phase results in permanent academic dismissal.
- Required science prerequisites (3.0 cumulative prerequisite GPA and 'C' or better required): Biology I and II with labs, Chemistry I and II with labs, Physics I with lab, Microbiology with lab, Anatomy I and II, Physiology I and II, and Histology.
- Clinical observation: Shadowing a physician or PA is strongly recommended prior to starting the accredited phase.
- Pre-clinical health and technical standards: All pre-clinical health requirements and documentation of ability to meet performance indicators and technical standards must be completed by the spring of the third year.
- Background clearances and drug screening: Depending on assigned clinical sites, students must complete Pennsylvania Act 33, Act 34, and Act 73 background clearances and any site-required drug screening at their own expense.
Class size, freshman profile, PANCE benchmark and accreditation
Duquesne's PA program holds Accreditation-Continued status from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). Its date first accredited is 1993/10/01, and its next ARC-PA review is scheduled for 2032/07.
The ARC-PA approved maximum entering class size for the accredited phase is 40 students. Across the three most recently reported cohorts on Duquesne's PA Studies page (Classes of 2024, 2025, and 2026), by our calculation from Duquesne's attrition table, 115 total students entered the accredited phase (an average of 38.3 students per cohort) and 107 graduated with their cohort.
For PANCE performance, the program sets an internal benchmark of a 90% or higher pass rate for first-time test takers and a 100% ultimate pass rate. For incoming freshmen entering the 5-year pathway in 2025, the enrolled cohort posted an average high school GPA of 4.29, an average SAT score of 1308, and an average ACT score of 28 (with test-optional admission offered beginning in 2020).
Ready to practice your answers before meeting with departmental faculty? Use Confetto to run realistic mock interviews and get instant rubric feedback on your clarity, professionalism, and examples. Start your free week.
| Metric | Class of 2024 | Class of 2025 | Class of 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARC-PA maximum entering class size | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Actual entering class size | 38 | 40 | 37 |
| Graduates | 38 | 34 | 35 |
| Attrition rate | 0% | 15% | 5.7% |
| Graduation rate | 100% | 85% | 94.3% |
Practice question
Our faculty interviews review your academic performance so far and your potential for long-term career satisfaction as a physician assistant. What have you learned over your pre-professional years at Duquesne and through your shadowing that tells you this role fits you?
See an example answer
When I entered Duquesne as a freshman, I knew I liked science and patient care, but my shadowing hours over the past two years showed me what day-to-day life as a physician extender actually looks like. Last spring I shadowed an inpatient internal medicine PA who rounded on a man admitted for heart failure exacerbation. The attending physician set the overall diagnostic direction after morning rounds, and the PA spent 20 minutes at the bedside adjusting the diuretic plan, coordinating with the clinical pharmacist on his home medication list, and explaining the fluid restriction to his daughter in plain language. Watching that teamwork made the role click for me. Academically, Anatomy and Physiology II tested my time management more than any course I had taken before. After earning a B-minus on the first exam, I met with my PA Faculty Advisor, switched from passive rereading to drawing pathways from memory with a study partner, and finished the semester with an A. Between that academic adjustment and seeing how PAs collaborate across disciplines, much like we will in IPE Grand Rounds during the didactic year, I know I am ready for the pace of the accredited phase and the team role of a PA.
Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented. This response directly addresses the two criteria Duquesne publishes for the Accredited Phase Review Committee interview: pre-professional academic performance and realistic career satisfaction. It uses concrete details from PA shadowing, references semester advising with a PA Faculty Advisor, and connects naturally to Duquesne's Interprofessional Education Grand Rounds without sounding scripted.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Duquesne University PA program require an interview?
Yes. Personal interviews with departmental faculty members are mandatory for pre-professional PA students seeking progression into the accredited phase, and you must receive a recommendation from the Accredited Phase Review Committee to be admitted into the accredited phase.
What do faculty evaluate during the Duquesne PA interview?
According to Duquesne's PA Studies page, the faculty interviews review your student performance and your potential to achieve academic and career satisfaction. Faculty also require students to exhibit ethical and professional attitudes and behaviors to proceed into the accredited phase.
Is Duquesne University's PA program on CASPA for 2026-2027?
Duquesne University does not appear in the 2026-2027 CASPA Program Directory. Duquesne operates a 5-year, entry-level PA program where students enter as freshmen and progress from the pre-professional phase into the 26-month accredited phase in the summer after their third year.
What GPA and prerequisites do you need to enter the Duquesne PA accredited phase?
You need a minimum 3.0 semester and cumulative GPA, a 'C' or better in all required pre-professional courses, and a 3.0 cumulative GPA across the science prerequisites: Biology I and II with labs, Chemistry I and II with labs, Physics I with lab, Microbiology with lab, Anatomy I and II, Physiology I and II, and Histology.
What is the class size and accreditation status of Duquesne's PA program?
Duquesne holds Accreditation-Continued status from ARC-PA (date first accredited 1993/10/01, with its next review in 2032/07). The ARC-PA approved maximum entering class size is 40 students, with recent entering cohorts of 38 (Class of 2024), 40 (Class of 2025), and 37 (Class of 2026).