University of Findlay PA Program Interview, Questions & Stats

Mission, simulation facilities and program culture

When you answer "Why University of Findlay?", connect your goals to the training environment on campus in Findlay, Ohio. From the program's Outcomes page, the mission of the Physician Assistant Program at the University of Findlay is "to provide our students with the medical knowledge, technical skills, and experience in a variety of didactic and clinical settings necessary for them to become ethical, competent, and compassionate healthcare providers as part of the healthcare team." This complements the university's mission to equip students for meaningful lives and productive careers.

Four facts from Findlay's official pages give you concrete details to discuss during your interview:

• The UF Village PA labs and simulated operating room: Completed in January 2020 on Frazer Street, the renovated lab space includes a 15-station patient assessment lab that accommodates up to 30 students, a skills lab, a scrub room, and a simulated operating room. The nursing labs sit right next door in the UF Village so students from different health professions can collaborate the way they do in a hospital.
• 100% interprofessional education (IPE) participation: During the four didactic semesters, every PA student completes required IPE activities to build teamwork across disciplines. Preceptor evaluations during the clinical year rated the Class of 2025 at a mean of 4.96 out of 5 for professionalism and 4.91 out of 5 for communication, above the program's 3.5 benchmark.
• Longitudinal service-learning: Each cohort completes a required four-hour group service-learning project during each of three semesters (12 structured hours per student), plus cohort service-learning that totaled 552 hours for the Class of 2025, 528 hours for 2024, and 456 hours for 2023. By our calculation from the University of Findlay PA Outcomes table, those 552 hours across the 24-student entering Class of 2025 equal an average of 23 service-learning hours per entering student.
• 100% OAPA and AAPA membership: Every Findlay PA student is a member of both the Ohio Academy of PAs (OAPA) and the American Academy of PAs (AAPA), placing the university at Platinum status in the OAPA student membership incentive program.

12 University of Findlay PA practice interview questions

Our team wrote the 12 practice questions and labeled example answers below around Findlay's mission, its seven entry-level competencies, the UF Village lab facilities, and its physician-PA team philosophy. For broader preparation across common prompts, read our guide to PA School Interview Questions: Top 40 for 2026-27.

• 1. Mission and fit: Why do you want to train at the University of Findlay PA program, and how does a 24-student cohort fit the way you learn?
• 2. Profession and autonomy: Within the physician-PA relationship, PAs exercise autonomy in medical decision-making as part of a healthcare team. Tell us about a time you balanced independent problem-solving with knowing when to consult a supervisor.
• 3. Interprofessional collaboration: Our PA labs in the UF Village sit next door to the nursing labs, and 100% of our students complete interprofessional education activities. Share an experience where you worked across roles to help a patient or client.
• 4. Cultural humility (Competency 7): Tell us about a time you recognized a personal assumption or bias while caring for or working with someone from a different background. What did you change?
• 5. Burnout and resilience (Competency 4): Our competencies ask students to understand the signs and causes of burnout and apply strategies for sustainable practice. What does your current system for handling heavy academic or clinical stress look like?
• 6. Self-reflection and weaknesses (Competency 5): Describe a time you critically evaluated your own performance, found a gap in your knowledge or skills, and built a plan to fix it.
• 7. Service and advocacy (Program Goal 4): Findlay PA students complete a longitudinal group service-learning project across three semesters and maintain 100% membership in OAPA and AAPA. What community need have you worked on, and how did you measure your impact?
• 8. Systems-based practice (Competency 6): A patient in your rural family practice rotation needs a diagnostic workup, but tells you they cannot afford the out-of-pocket cost under their payment plan. How do you approach this with the patient and your supervising physician?
• 9. Patient-centered communication (Competency 2): Tell us about a time you had to explain a complex rule, procedure, or health concept to someone who was anxious or overwhelmed.
• 10. Professional boundaries (Competency 3): Describe a situation in work, volunteering, or shadowing where maintaining professional boundaries or patient confidentiality was difficult.
• 11. Clinical readiness and travel: Our final three semesters require full-time training across seven core rotations plus an area of interest at off-campus clinical sites. How have you prepared for the transition from four semesters of classroom learning to traveling for clinical rotations?
• 12. Ethical practice (Competency 4): You notice a colleague or classmate documenting a physical exam finding they did not actually perform to save time on a busy shift. Walk us through what you would do.

Example answers for 3 key Findlay interview questions

Use these responses to see how concrete stories connect to Findlay's published competencies. Do not memorize them word for word.

Question 2: Within the physician-PA relationship, PAs exercise autonomy in medical decision-making as part of a healthcare team. Tell us about a time you balanced independent problem-solving with knowing when to consult a supervisor.

"While working as a medical assistant in an outpatient internal medicine clinic, I roomed a patient coming in for a routine blood pressure check who mentioned new mild shortness of breath when climbing stairs. Within my scope, I took a focused history on when the symptom started, checked his pulse oximetry and orthostatic vitals, and pulled up his recent medication changes so the chart was ready. Instead of waiting in the normal queue or trying to reassure him myself, I walked directly to the supervising PA and gave a 30-second summary before the next scheduled visit. The PA ordered an immediate EKG, which showed new atrial fibrillation. That day showed me how the physician-PA team works best. You take ownership of thorough data gathering and clinical reasoning within your training, and you communicate early with your supervising physician when a presentation shifts outside routine care." Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented.

Question 4: Tell us about a time you recognized a personal assumption or bias while caring for or working with someone from a different background. What did you change?

"During my first month volunteering at a community food and health pantry, I handed a printed blood pressure log and low-sodium recipe sheet to an older gentleman who had missed two clinic follow-ups. When he came back two weeks later with the sheet blank, my first internal assumption was that he was not motivated to manage his hypertension. Instead of lecturing him, I sat down and asked what part of using the log at home was hardest. He quietly told me that he had low vision from diabetic retinopathy and could not read small print, and he lived alone. I apologized for assuming a paper handout worked for everyone. Together we set up voice memos on his phone to record his morning readings and connected him with a local Lions Club vision resource. Now I always ask how a person prefers to receive and track information before I hand them a plan." Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented.

Question 5: Our competencies ask students to understand the signs and causes of burnout and apply strategies for sustainable practice. What does your current system for handling heavy academic or clinical stress look like?

"During my junior year, I took Organic Chemistry and Anatomy while working 20 hours a week as a patient care technician. Halfway through the semester, I noticed my earliest warning sign of overload: I was rereading the same textbook page three times at midnight and becoming irritable with my roommates. I realized that just pushing harder was not a sustainable strategy for a 95-credit PA curriculum. I changed two habits immediately. First, I switched to active recall blocks of 50 minutes with a hard cutoff at 9:30 p.m. so I protected seven hours of sleep. Second, I started a Sunday afternoon routine of running three miles with a friend outside of healthcare and prepping my meals for the week. Protecting sleep and keeping one non-medical commitment on my calendar kept my grades up and taught me how to spot fatigue before it affects patient care." Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented.

Two-week preparation plan for the Findlay PA interview

This two-week checklist is written by our team to help you organize your preparation around the University of Findlay's published selection criteria and competencies.

• Days 1 to 3: Audit your CASPA application and healthcare hours. Findlay states that all claimed healthcare experience hours may be subject to a random audit. Review every clinical, volunteer, and shadowing entry on your CASPA submission so you can speak accurately about your exact duties, dates, and supervisors.
• Days 4 to 6: Map seven stories to Findlay's seven competencies. Write down bullet points (situation, your action, outcome, and lesson learned) for one real story per competency: Medical Knowledge, Interpersonal Skills, Clinical and Technical Skills, Professional Behaviors, Clinical Reasoning, Systems-Based Practice, and Cultural Humility.
• Days 7 to 9: Connect your goals to Findlay's curriculum and outcomes. Review the four-semester classroom phase, the UF Village patient assessment lab and simulated operating room, the three-semester clinical phase across seven required rotations (family practice, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, women's health, general surgery, emergency medicine, and psychiatry/mental health) plus an area of interest, and the three-semester group service-learning project.
• Days 10 to 12: Record timed spoken practice. Answer all 12 practice questions from this guide out loud on camera. Check that you follow Findlay's shadowing and professionalism mindset: respectful tone, patient confidentiality first, and clear team awareness.
• Days 13 to 14: Prepare two thoughtful questions for the faculty. Ask about topics that show you read their outcomes page, such as how students choose their three-semester group service-learning project or how interprofessional simulation exercises with nursing students are structured in the UF Village.

PANCE pass rates, class size and graduation outcomes

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The University of Findlay PA program holds Accreditation-Continued status from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA), with its next validation review listed on the university's accreditation page for September 2026 (and listed as January 2027 in the ARC-PA September 2025 actions report). According to the program's Outcomes page, since 2010 all graduates have passed the PANCE, and all graduates over the past 14 years passed on their first attempt except for eight. Of the 317 graduates since 2000, 95% are currently certified through the NCCPA.

University of Findlay PA program outcomes (Classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025)

Outcome measure	Class of 2025	Class of 2024	Class of 2023	Program benchmark
PANCE first-time pass rate (UF)	96%	100%	95%	At or above national average
National PANCE first-time pass rate	91%	92%	92%	N/A
ARC-PA maximum entering class size	24	24	22	N/A
Actual entering class size	24	25	23	N/A
Graduates	23	22	19	N/A
Graduation rate	96%	88%	83%	N/A
Attrition rate	4%	12%	17%	N/A
OSCE cohort mean score	87%	89%	89%	83% or higher (passing is 73%)
End of Curriculum (EOC) exam mean	1537	1536	1514	Within 1 SD (46) of national mean (1516)
Preceptor evaluation: Professionalism (5-point scale)	4.96	4.93	4.89	3.5 mean score
Preceptor evaluation: Communication (5-point scale)	4.91	4.85	4.87	3.5 mean score
Cohort service-learning hours	552	528	456	Plus 12 hrs/student in group projects

Admissions requirements, prerequisites and cost of attendance

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Applicants need a baccalaureate degree or first-professional doctorate (such as a PharmD) with a 3.0 minimum overall, CASPA science, and CASPA non-science GPA, prerequisite grades of C or higher (applications with more than two Cs in prerequisites are not processed further, and courses 10 or more years old in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Medical Terminology generally exceed statutory limits, evaluated via Transferology), three CASPA letters of recommendation and a resume, and an IELTS composite score of 8 (all bands 7.5+) for non-native English speakers without an approved degree. See how these rules compare in PA School Requirements: GPA, Prerequisites, Tests, Hours. For the 7-semester, 95-credit Fall 2026 cohort, the Cost of Attendance page estimates tuition and fees at $104,810 ($999 per credit hour tuition, $65 per credit hour general service fee, $50 semester activity fee, and PHAS course fees, plus a $1,000 non-refundable seat deposit upon acceptance) and total cost of attendance at $135,019.60 (including living expenses of $10,502.20 classroom phase, $8,641.40 clinical, $3,727 transportation, and $3,399 food/misc). Ready to practice your interview answers out loud before interview day? Start your free week.

Practice question

Why do you want to attend the University of Findlay PA program specifically, and how does our 24-student cohort and training environment fit your goals?

See an example answer

I want to train at the University of Findlay because your program pairs a tight 24-student cohort with hands-on interprofessional preparation before clinical rotations begin. For the past two years I worked as a patient care technician on a surgical step-down unit, where I saw how much smoother patient recovery went when PAs and nurses communicated well. Learning that your UF Village PA labs on Frazer Street include a scrub room and a simulated operating room right next door to the nursing labs stood out to me immediately. Practicing surgical scrubbing, patient assessment at the 15-station lab, and interprofessional exercises alongside nursing students during the first four semesters will make me much more prepared when I travel to off-campus sites for my general surgery and core rotations. I also value that every Findlay cohort completes a three-semester group service-learning project and maintains 100% membership in OAPA and AAPA. In a class of 24, nobody can hide in the back row, and that close accountability is how I do my best work. Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented.

It names specific University of Findlay details from official pages (the 24-student cohort, the UF Village simulated operating room and scrub room next to the nursing labs, the three-semester group service-learning project, and 100% OAPA/AAPA membership) and ties each one to a concrete clinical experience.

Frequently asked questions

What is the GPA requirement for the University of Findlay PA program?

You must have a minimum 3.0 overall GPA from all colleges attended, a 3.0 CASPA science GPA, and a 3.0 CASPA non-science GPA on a 4.0 scale. Every prerequisite course requires a grade of C or higher, and any application with more than two grades of C in prerequisite courses is not processed further.

Does the University of Findlay PA program require Patient Care Experience (PCE) hours or the GRE?

No. The University of Findlay PA program does not require the GRE and has no minimum required healthcare experience hours to apply. However, candidates with healthcare experience reported to CASPA receive preference, and more admission points are awarded for a greater number of hours in skilled positions.

What is the PANCE pass rate and class size for the University of Findlay PA program?

The ARC-PA approved maximum entering class size is 24 students. Since 2010, all graduates have passed the PANCE, with first-time PANCE pass rates of 96% for the Class of 2025, 100% for the Class of 2024, and 95% for the Class of 2023, beating the national average in all three years.

When is the University of Findlay PA program application deadline?

Your CASPA application must reach complete status (e-submitted with all transcripts, payments, and three letters of reference attached) by October 1 of the year before you matriculate, and it must be verified and released by CASPA by November 1 or it will be rejected. Qualified applicants automatically receive a supplemental application by email, which requires a $50 non-refundable fee.

How much does the University of Findlay PA program cost?

For the cohort entering Fall 2026, the estimated total cost of tuition and fees across all seven semesters (95 credits) is $104,810, and the estimated total cost of attendance including housing, transportation, and variable costs is $135,019.60. Accepted students also pay a non-refundable $1,000 seat deposit applied toward program fees.

Sources

• University of Findlay Master of Physician Assistant Program Overview & Admissions
• University of Findlay PA Program Outcomes, Mission & PANCE Pass Rates
• University of Findlay PA Program-Defined Competencies for Entry Level Practice
• University of Findlay PA Program Cost of Attendance (Fall 2026 Cohort)
• University of Findlay PA Program ARC-PA Accreditation
• UF Newsroom: Physician Assistant Lab Moves. Adds Simulated Surgical Suite
• ARC-PA Accreditation Actions Summary (September 2025 / January 2026)