UNT Health Science Center PA Interview: Onsite MMI & Prep

The Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) program at UNT Health Fort Worth requires an onsite interview and uses the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format. If you have seen third-party prep sites guessing that UNT Health uses a virtual panel interview, trust your invitation email instead: the interview is held in person at 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth's Cultural District.

Admissions are rolling, and the program reviews applications on a first-come, first-served basis. Confirm your specific interview date, check-in time, and station instructions in the invitation email from the Office of Admissions and Recruitment (817-735-2003 or admissions@unthealth.edu).

To practice timed stations out loud before you travel to Fort Worth, Confetto runs AI mock MMI circuits and single stations for PA school interviews with follow-up questions and rubric feedback. Start your free week.

For students applying for the class entering in August 2027, UNT Health publishes four key dates on its MPAS program page. Because applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis, waiting until August or September means many interview spots have already been reviewed.

Pay close attention to the September 1, 2026 CASPA requirement. UNT Health requires a Green-Verified CASPA application by the deadline. Green-Verified means you have submitted the application, paid the fee, had all transcripts and at least two evaluation letters received by CASPA by the posted deadline, and reached verified status with all GPAs calculated by CASPA. If you are still putting your timeline together, our CASPA application guide walks through how verification works.

• April 30, 2026: CASPA application opens.
• September 1, 2026: CASPA submission and Green-Verification deadline.
• September 1, 2026: Deadline for CASPA to receive official GRE scores.
• September 15, 2026: Deadline for UNT Health to receive the application processing fee.
• December of the year prior to matriculation: Deadline to finish any outstanding prerequisite courses.
• August 2027: Classes begin for the 75-student incoming cohort.

In an MMI, you rotate through short timed stations and speak with different raters. The best guide to what UNT Health evaluates is the program's published mission, its five departmental values in the 2026-2027 Academic Catalog, and the Expected Physician Assistant Competencies listed on the MPAS website.

The program's mission statement is specific: "The mission of the program is to create solutions for a healthier community by preparing graduates with knowledge and skills needed for physician assistant practice, emphasizing primary care medicine and meeting the healthcare needs of underserved populations."

First established in 1997, the PA program is housed within the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM) and led by Department Chair and Program Director Lauren Dobbs, MMS, PA-C, Medical Director Jeffrey Beeson, DO, RN, EMT-P, Director of Academic Education Julia Reynolds, MPAS, PA-C, and Associate Program Director Jennifer Crumm, MSM, PA-C, RD. The curriculum emphasizes interprofessional education alongside medical, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and public health students, plus hands-on training in the Regional Simulation Center (which recorded 157 activities in three years), virtual and augmented reality, telemedicine, and point-of-care ultrasound.

Do not recite the mission statement or values list to your interviewer. Instead, use the five departmental values and the program's published competencies to choose which personal stories and clinical reasoning steps you bring into each station.

When you stand outside an MMI door on the Fort Worth campus, you need a repeatable routine so you do not ramble once you step inside. For common behavioral prompts that also show up in hybrid circuits, keep our list of PA school interview questions bookmarked.

Use this five-step checklist for UNT Health scenario stations:

• Name the tension in your first 15 seconds. Restate what is happening and which two valid priorities are pulling against each other.
• Ask what you do not know yet. Before judging a patient, classmate, or coworker, state two facts you would gather privately.
• Look for social determinants of health. UNT Health explicitly lists identifying social determinants that contribute to healthcare disparities as an expected competency. Check whether transportation, cost, health literacy, or stigma is driving the problem.
• Commit to a concrete first action and explain why. Walk through two options, pick one you can defend, and say how you would loop in your supervising physician or interprofessional team.
• Leave room for follow-up questions. Pause after about two to three minutes of structured reasoning so your rater can push on your answer.

Our team wrote the 10 practice questions below around the program's mission in primary care and underserved populations, its five core values, its interprofessional setup inside TCOM, and faculty work highlighted on UNT Health's pages (such as PA students tackling HIV stigma through public health campaigns and telemedicine training).

• 1. Primary care and social determinants: A patient in a Fort Worth family medicine clinic has missed two follow-up visits for uncontrolled hypertension. When he arrives today, the front desk asks if you want to discharge him from the practice per clinic policy. How do you handle this?
• 2. Courageous Integrity: You are a first-year PA student preparing for an anatomy lab exam. A classmate offers to share photos of a graded lab setup from an earlier section. What do you do, and what do you say to your classmate?
• 3. Better Together (Interprofessional education): During a simulation in the Regional Simulation Center with DO, pharmacy, and nursing students, one student takes over every task and ignores input from the pharmacy student regarding a medication interaction. How do you step in?
• 4. Cultural humility and stigma: UNT Health PA faculty and students have worked on public health campaigns to reduce HIV stigma. A patient in your primary care clinic declines routine screening and seems anxious that staff will judge them. How do you approach the conversation?
• 5. Telemedicine and underserved care: UNT Health trains PA students in telemedicine. During a virtual visit with a patient in a rural Texas county, you realize the patient is rationing insulin because of cost. What steps do you take during and after the call?
• 6. We Care (Patient-centered education): A parent brings in a child with a viral upper respiratory infection and demands an antibiotic because they cannot afford to miss another day of hourly work. Walk through how you talk with the parent.
• 7. Be Curious: A coworker at your clinic complains that a non-English-speaking family is non-compliant because they did not complete a specialist referral. How do you respond to your coworker, and what would you check with the family?
• 8. Show Your Fire (Motivation and mission fit): Why do you want to train in a 30-month PA program housed within the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, and how have you tested your interest in primary care for underserved communities?
• 9. Professional Behaviors: On a clinical rotation in Pharr or Houston, you realize you documented a physical exam finding on the wrong patient chart an hour ago. Your preceptor has already left for lunch. What do you do right now?
• 10. Resource allocation: A community health center in Tarrant County receives a grant that can fund either a weekend primary care clinic or a full-time community health worker to help patients with insurance and medication assistance. Which do you recommend, and what information do you want first?

Because UNT Health's interview is onsite, your preparation needs to cover both spoken MMI reasoning and the logistics of an in-person day on Camp Bowie Boulevard. Here is our two-week plan:

• Days 1 to 3 (Audit your CASPA file and stories): Reread your CASPA application and map one real clinical, volunteer, or teamwork story to each of UNT Health's five values (Courageous Integrity, Be Curious, We Care, Better Together, Show Your Fire).
• Days 4 to 7 (Timed MMI drills): Practice answering two prompts a day from our list above using a 2-minute reading timer and a 5- to 6-minute speaking timer. Commit to a clear decision early in your response.
• Days 8 to 10 (Primary care and Texas underserved context): Review how you talk about social determinants of health, interprofessional teams, and why you want to train at TCOM in Fort Worth. Keep your "Why UNT Health?" answer under 90 seconds.
• Days 11 to 12 (Full mock circuit): Run a back-to-back circuit of 6 to 8 timed stations without pausing to restart. If you are applying to multiple programs, check our guide on how many PA schools to apply to so you can balance interview travel across your list.
• Days 13 to 14 (Fort Worth travel and onsite logistics): Confirm your route and parking at 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, lay out professional interview attire, and prepare two specific questions for faculty and current students (for example, how didactic students use the Regional Simulation Center or how MPAS/MPH and MPAS/MHA dual degree options work).

You are a PA student rotating at a primary care clinic in Fort Worth. A 54-year-old patient with type 2 diabetes and hypertension has missed two appointments in a row. When he arrives today, a clinic staff member tells you the office should dismiss him for non-compliance so his slot can go to patients who follow instructions. How do you approach the staff member and the patient?

• how many PA schools to apply to

• UNT Health Fort Worth: Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS)
• PAEA Program Directory: University of North Texas HS Center Ft Worth
• UNT Health 2026-2027 Academic Catalog: Department of Physician Assistant Studies
• UNT Health 2026-2027 Academic Catalog: Office of Admissions and Recruitment
• ARC-PA Accreditation History: University of North Texas Health Science Center - Ft. Worth
• UNT Health Fort Worth: Health Professions Overview