Anatomy and physiology PathA requirements for Pathologists’ Assistant Programs. Every NAACLS-accredited Pathologists’ Assistant program requires Anatomy & Physiology I and II — and the field is built on gross anatomic dissection, so A&P is the prerequisite that PathA admissions committees scrutinize most carefully. This guide walks through what the requirement looks like at each program, why A&P matters more for PathA than for any other allied-health credential, what counts as an acceptable A&P course, and how to take majors-level A&P I and II online through a regionally accredited four-year university.
Pathologists’ Assistants spend their professional lives doing one thing: gross anatomic examination of tissue. Surgical specimens. Autopsy specimens. Biopsy specimens. The entire profession is built on the ability to look at an organ, identify the relevant anatomic structures, describe what is normal and what is abnormal, and process the tissue for downstream microscopic and molecular analysis. The cognitive foundation for that work is anatomy and physiology — the same way differential equations are the cognitive foundation for an engineer or constitutional law is the foundation for a litigator.
Every NAACLS-accredited PathA program understands this, and every program builds A&P I and II into its prerequisite stack. There is no PathA program that accepts applicants without A&P; there is no path to ASCP PathA certification that bypasses it. Among the dozen or so prerequisite courses required by PathA programs, A&P is the one that admissions committees scrutinize most closely — partly because it’s the most directly predictive of master’s-program performance, and partly because the difference between a strong A&P course and a weak one is enormous.
This guide walks through what the A&P requirement looks like at the major NAACLS-accredited PathA programs, what makes a course count, what makes a course get rejected, and how to take majors-level A&P I and II online through a regionally accredited four-year university — without sitting through 16-week semester courses that don’t fit a working adult’s life.
A&P is a prerequisite for many allied-health programs — nursing, PA school, physical therapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic. But the role A&P plays in PathA admissions is different in important ways.
Nursing is patient-care-first; A&P is foundational but not the daily work. Physical therapy is movement-first; A&P is foundational but oriented toward musculoskeletal application. PathA is anatomic-examination-first — the core daily work of the profession is identifying anatomic structures, recognizing pathologic deviations from normal anatomy, and describing them in standard medical terminology. A weak A&P foundation manifests immediately in PathA master’s-program performance, which is why admissions committees treat A&P grades as a primary signal.
Most PathA master’s programs include a dedicated gross human anatomy course in their curriculum — usually the M1 anatomy course taught alongside or shared with the medical school students. That course is brutal. It assumes that students arrive with substantial undergraduate A&P preparation. A student who completed undergraduate A&P with a B+ or higher is positioned to succeed; a student who scraped through with a C is not. Admissions committees know this, and they apply that knowledge in their ranking.
PathA programs apply recency rules to all science prerequisites — typically 5 to 7 years. For A&P specifically, several programs apply the rule more strictly. The reasoning: anatomy doesn’t change, but a student’s command of detailed structural anatomy decays measurably over time. A 10-year-old A&P course on a transcript will sometimes be flagged for retake even when the same applicant’s General Chemistry from the same year is accepted.
Every PathA program requires A&P I and II. The variation is in the specific format, the level (lower-division vs. upper-division), the lab requirement, and the recency window. Below is what the major programs require.
| Program | A&P requirement | Lab required? | Recency |
| Duke | Two-semester sequence (A&P I + II), upper-division preferred | Yes | 7 years |
| Drexel | Two-semester A&P sequence with lab | Yes | 7 years |
| Quinnipiac | A&P I + II, 8 credits with lab | Yes | 5 years |
| Maryland | A&P I + II, upper-division preferred when possible | Yes | 5 years |
| Toledo | A&P I + II, 8 credits with lab | Yes | 7 years |
| Wayne State | A&P I + II with lab; or separate human anatomy + physiology courses | Yes | 7 years |
| EVMS | A&P I + II, 8 credits | Yes | 5 years |
| Loma Linda | A&P I + II with lab; vertebrate anatomy + physiology accepted as alternative | Yes | 7 years |
| Touro | A&P I + II, 8 credits with lab | Yes | 5 years |
| University of Washington | Two terms human anatomy + physiology (or combined A&P sequence) | Yes | 7 years |
The variation is real but manageable. Every program requires A&P I and II. Every program requires a lab. Every program applies a recency rule. The differences are mostly at the margins — some programs prefer upper-division (300+) numbering, some accept lower-division (200-level), some accept “human anatomy” and “human physiology” taken as two separate courses in lieu of an integrated A&P sequence. None of these differences should change your enrollment decision: take majors-level A&P I and II with lab, from a regionally accredited four-year university, within the recency window for your target programs.
Not every course labeled ‘Anatomy & Physiology’ on a transcript will satisfy the PathA requirement. Several structural features distinguish a course that counts from a course that gets rejected.
Many community colleges and universities offer two parallel tracks of A&P: a majors-level version (typically labeled “Human Anatomy & Physiology I” with a numbering of 200+ or 300+) and an allied-health-track version (typically labeled “Anatomy & Physiology for Allied Health” or “Survey of A&P”). The majors-level version is required for biology, pre-med, and pre-PathA students; the allied-health-track version is designed for medical assistants, dental hygienists, and similar paths and does not satisfy the PathA prerequisite. The catalog description is the diagnostic — if it specifies “for allied health professions students” or “non-majors,” look closer.
Every PathA program requires that A&P include a substantive lab. The lab can be virtual, at-home, or in-person — the format is not the disqualifier. What matters is that the lab is graded, that it includes actual practice with anatomic identification and physiologic measurement (not just demonstration videos), and that it appears on the transcript as a graded lab component. Survey-style courses without a real lab are not accepted, even when the lecture portion is rigorous.
Every PathA program requires that prerequisite coursework be issued from a regionally accredited institution — recognized by CHEA and the US Department of Education through one of the seven regional accreditors (HLC, MSCHE, NECHE, NWCCU, SACSCOC, WSCUC). Nationally accredited (DEAC) coursework is sometimes accepted but is far riskier — the safe answer is regional accreditation. Online and self-paced delivery from a regionally accredited four-year university is universally accepted; the modality is not the bar, the accreditation tier is.
If your A&P I or II falls outside the recency window of your target program (typically 5–7 years), it will not satisfy the prerequisite — even if the course was rigorous, well-graded, and from a regionally accredited four-year university. The fix is to retake the relevant semester at the same level. A 10-year-old A&P I can be replaced with a single self-paced course in 8–10 weeks; you don’t need to redo II if II is still within the recency window.
Some applicants take a single 4-credit course labeled “Human Anatomy & Physiology” and assume it satisfies the requirement. Almost no PathA program accepts a single semester — they want A&P I AND A&P II as a sequenced pair, covering the full body-systems curriculum across two semesters. A single combined course typically covers maybe 60% of the material that the I/II pair covers, and it gets flagged at admission review.
A&P courses delivered through nursing programs, dental hygiene programs, and medical assisting programs are often labeled simply “Anatomy & Physiology” on a transcript without indicating their allied-health-track origin. Programs trained to spot this will pull the catalog description to verify. If you took A&P as part of an LPN-to-RN bridge or a similar allied-health track, expect it to be flagged — sometimes accepted, often not. The safe move is to retake majors-level A&P from a regionally accredited four-year university.
Some online A&P courses are offered without a lab component or with only a token “virtual demonstration” lab. PathA programs reject these. The course must include a real lab with graded technique — virtual labs are accepted as long as the technique component is real (anatomic identification quizzes, physiologic measurement exercises, lab reports). The course you select online needs to be the version with the lab attached, not the lecture-only variant.
Applicants whose A&P courses are 6 to 8 years old often miss the recency rule until application review. By that point, the application cycle is already in motion and there’s no time to retake. Check recency early — if either A&P I or II is approaching the boundary of your target program’s recency window (5 years for the more conservative programs, 7 for others), plan to retake the affected semester before the application cycle, not during it.
A small number of biology programs offer “Vertebrate Anatomy” or “Comparative Anatomy” as alternatives to human A&P. Some PathA programs (Loma Linda, in particular) explicitly accept this; most do not. If your transcript has vertebrate anatomy in lieu of human A&P, verify acceptance with each of your target programs before counting on it. The safe move is to take majors-level Human A&P I and II as a clear, unambiguous prerequisite.
The single best path for working adults adding A&P to their transcript is self-paced online coursework from a regionally accredited four-year university. Two structural features make this work: the credits issue from a four-year-university transcript (not a community college), and the lab is built in (not optional).
BIO 270 Human Anatomy & Physiology I covers the structural and functional foundations: cells and tissues, the integumentary system, the skeletal system, the muscular system, the nervous system, and the special senses. 4 credits with lab. The lab includes anatomic identification, microscopy, and physiologic measurement.
BIO 275 Human Anatomy & Physiology II continues with the endocrine system, cardiovascular system, lymphatic and immune systems, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, and reproductive system. 4 credits with lab. The lab includes physiologic measurement, dissection-equivalent anatomic identification, and case-based clinical correlation.
Both courses issue through Upper Iowa University, which holds HLC regional accreditation — the same accreditation tier as state flagship universities. The transcript from Upper Iowa is a regionally accredited four-year university transcript, indistinguishable from credits issued from any other HLC-accredited institution. Every PathA program in the US accepts this accreditation tier.
The self-paced format means a working adult can complete A&P I in 8 to 12 weeks (instead of a 16-week semester) and then advance directly to A&P II without waiting for the next academic term. The lab component is included — not an extra add-on or a separate course. Lab grades appear on the transcript exactly as they would for an in-person course.
If you’re building the full PathA prerequisite stack from a non-science background, A&P I and II typically run in Months 7–11 of a 12-month timeline, after you’ve cleared General Biology I and built bandwidth on the chemistry chain. Pairing BIO 270 A&P I with CHEM 330 Biochemistry I is a common pairing for working adults — A&P is anatomically heavy but cognitively distinct from biochemistry’s molecular focus, so the two don’t compete for the same study energy.
The published minimum at virtually every PathA program is a C in A&P (a 2.0 on a 4.0 scale). The competitive standard is significantly higher. At the more competitive programs (Duke, Maryland, Drexel, Quinnipiac), the average admitted A&P grade is a B+ or A-, and the program-specific science-prerequisite GPA at admission is typically 3.5 to 3.7. A C in A&P is not technically disqualifying, but it places an applicant well below the competitive band.
Admissions committees treat the A&P grade as a leading indicator of master’s-program performance. A student who struggled with undergraduate A&P is, statistically, more likely to struggle with the gross human anatomy course in the master’s program. A C in General Chemistry is interpreted as a snapshot of one course’s difficulty; a C in A&P is interpreted as a signal about the applicant’s preparation for the field. The cost of a weak A&P grade is disproportionately high in PathA admissions.
Retaking A&P is a legitimate and common move for PathA applicants with weak grades. Most PathA programs apply some form of grade-replacement or grade-update policy when an applicant retakes a course — though most calculate both grades into a comprehensive science GPA. The retake removes the C from your active record and replaces it with a current, stronger grade. Combined with recency, the retaken grade can substantially strengthen an application.
Yes — provided the issuing institution is regionally accredited and the lab is a substantive part of the course. The post-2020 consensus across NAACLS-accredited PathA programs is that online and virtual-lab delivery is acceptable for A&P prerequisites when issued through a regionally accredited four-year university. Touro, Drexel, and several other major programs explicitly state this in their admissions policy. Older programs that have not formally updated their policies generally apply the same de facto standard.
Typically 5 to 7 years from the date of completion. A few programs apply 5 years strictly (Quinnipiac, Maryland, EVMS, Touro); most apply 7 years; a small number have no formal recency rule but evaluate older coursework case-by-case. If your A&P is over 5 years old and you’re targeting any of the programs listed in Section 2, the safe move is to retake the affected semester.
Yes — most PathA programs accept separate human anatomy and human physiology courses in lieu of an integrated A&P I/II sequence, provided each course is taken with a lab and at least one of them is a full upper-division course. UW and Wayne State explicitly accept this format. Loma Linda accepts vertebrate anatomy and physiology as an alternative. For most applicants, however, the integrated A&P I/II format is simpler and more universally accepted.
No PathA program requires cadaver lab as part of A&P at the prerequisite level. Cadaver experience is provided in the master’s program, typically through a shared M1 anatomy course or a dedicated PathA gross anatomy lab. Undergraduate A&P labs that use models, virtual dissection, or animal-based dissection are accepted; cadaver lab is not expected. If your undergraduate A&P happened to include cadaver work, that’s a small bonus on the application — not a requirement.
Histology is recommended (not required) by most PathA programs and is an outright requirement at a small number. Pathologists’ Assistants spend significant time at the microscope, and undergraduate histology preparation is a meaningful application strengthener. If your timeline allows, adding a histology course or a histology component within an upper-division biology course is a smart investment in admissions competitiveness.
Most students find A&P I and II to be the most volume-intensive courses in the prerequisite stack — they cover an enormous amount of structural and functional detail, and the memorization load is significant. General Biology I and II are conceptually demanding but lighter on memorization. Plan A&P I and II for blocks where you have stable bandwidth; don’t sequence them during your busiest months at work or major life events.
A&P is the highest-priority biology course in the PathA prerequisite stack — every NAACLS-accredited program requires it, every program scrutinizes the grade, and every program applies a recency rule. The ambiguity that exists in some other prerequisite areas (Organic vs. Biochemistry, Statistics vs. Calculus) does not exist for A&P: take majors-level A&P I and II with lab, from a regionally accredited four-year university, within the recency window of your target programs.
The cost of getting A&P wrong is high. A non-majors / allied-health-track A&P course gets rejected. A single combined semester of A&P fails the I/II requirement. A 10-year-old A&P course fails recency. A C grade in A&P depresses the science prerequisite GPA in a way that’s hard to recover from. The safe path — majors-level, with lab, regionally accredited, recent, with a strong grade — is also the cheapest in total time and total dollars.
For working adults adding A&P to their transcript without giving up a full-time job, self-paced online courses through a regionally accredited four-year university are the realistic path. PrereqCourses.com offers majors-level A&P I and II with built-in labs through Upper Iowa University (HLC accredited). Both courses are typically completable in 8–12 weeks each, with monthly start dates and no fixed semester schedule.
If you need majors-level Anatomy & Physiology for PathA admission, enroll in BIO 270 Human Anatomy & Physiology I (4 credits with lab) and BIO 275 Human Anatomy & Physiology II (4 credits with lab). Both issue through Upper Iowa University, an HLC-accredited four-year university, with lab components included. Self-paced; monthly start dates; typical completion 8–12 weeks per course.
If you’re building the full PathA prerequisite stack alongside A&P, the typical sequence pairs A&P with the chemistry chain — see the PathA prerequisites pillar guide for the complete enrollment roadmap. The free Advisory Service maps your existing transcript against your specific PathA target programs and flags exactly which courses are required. New advisory sessions begin on the 1st of every month.
Browse the full course catalog at PrereqCourses.com/courses.
