Can You Take PA School Prerequisites Online? CASPA Acceptance Guide- a direct, evidence-based answer to the question that holds up more pre-PA applications than any other — including which PA programs explicitly accept online prerequisite courses with labs.
The short answer: yes, you can take PA school prerequisites online — including lab sciences — and they will be accepted by the overwhelming majority of CASPA-participating PA programs. This is the single most common question we hear from pre-PA applicants, and the answer has changed dramatically in the past five years. What was a contested, program-by-program question in 2019 is now a near-consensus policy across the 300+ ARC-PA-accredited PA programs in the United States.
But “the overwhelming majority” is not “all,” and the details matter. Some programs accept online prerequisites without restriction. Some accept online courses but not online labs. A small number still require all sciences to be completed in person. And every program has its own definition of what “online” means, what “accredited” means, and what “lab” means.
This guide walks through what CASPA itself requires, what individual PA programs actually accept, which prerequisites are universally accepted online, where the friction points are, and how to verify acceptance at your specific target programs before you enroll in a single course. By the end, you will know exactly how to build a prerequisite plan that no PA program can disqualify.
| In this guideWhy online prerequisite acceptance changed after 2020What CASPA itself requires (the accreditation standard)Online prerequisites accepted by ~95%+ of PA programsOnline lab sciences: the real acceptance landscapeHow to verify any program’s specific online policyRed flags that get online courses rejectedPrograms known to accept online prereqs (and ones that don’t)How PrereqCourses.com structures coursework for CASPA acceptance |
To understand where PA program policies stand today, it helps to understand how they got here. Before 2020, the prevailing position at most PA programs was that online prerequisites were acceptable but online labs were not. The reasoning was straightforward: programs believed that bench lab experience could not be replicated remotely.
Then COVID forced the issue. In spring 2020, every major US university — including the four-year institutions whose graduates feed the CASPA applicant pool — moved their labs online out of necessity. Anatomy & Physiology, Microbiology, General Chemistry, and Biology labs were taught for two to four consecutive semesters through home lab kits, virtual simulations, and video-based demonstrations.
PA programs faced a choice: reject the entire 2020–2022 cohort of applicants, or accept the labs their feeder schools were producing. Almost every program chose the latter. And once a program had formally accepted online labs from Harvard or Stanford or the University of Michigan during the pandemic, it became untenable to reject the same online labs from a regionally accredited online university afterward.
The result: a permanent policy shift. By 2024, the Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) was reporting that the majority of programs had formalized online lab acceptance in their published prerequisite policies. That shift is now stable. It is not going to reverse.
| What hasn’t changed: the accreditation standard. Throughout all of this, one thing has stayed constant — PA programs require that prerequisite coursework come from a regionally accredited US institution. This is the line that separates acceptable online prerequisites from unacceptable ones. A regionally accredited online course is treated identically to an in-person course from the same institution. A non-accredited MOOC or certificate program is not accepted, online or in person. |
CASPA — the Centralized Application Service for the PA profession — is the application portal nearly every PA program uses. It is run by Liaison International and serves more than 95% of ARC-PA-accredited PA programs. Understanding what CASPA does and does not require is foundational to understanding what counts as an acceptable prerequisite.
CASPA is a clearinghouse. It collects your official transcripts from every US college and university you have ever attended, computes a standardized GPA, classifies each course into a CASPA category (biology, chemistry, physics, behavioral science, etc.), and packages the result for PA programs to review.
CASPA does not distinguish between online and in-person coursework on the transcript. As long as your course comes from a regionally accredited US institution and appears on an official transcript, CASPA processes it identically to a course taken on a physical campus. Programs that wish to see this distinction must ask about it on a supplemental application — and the percentage of programs that ask has been falling for several years.
PA programs require prerequisite coursework from a regionally accredited US institution. “Regional” accreditation is granted by one of six US Department of Education–recognized accreditors:
Any university accredited by one of these six bodies is acceptable to virtually every PA program in the country. National accreditation — a different and lower-tier credential typically used by for-profit and trade institutions — is not acceptable to most PA programs, even when the institution offers online coursework.
This distinction is why where you take your online prerequisites matters far more than whether they are online. A regionally accredited online course is acceptable everywhere. A nationally accredited course — even one taken in person — is rejected at most programs.
Several PA school prerequisites have no lab component, and these are accepted online by essentially every PA program — provided they come from a regionally accredited US institution. If you have any prerequisites left to complete in this category, completing them online is a default choice, not a compromise.
| Prerequisite | Required By | Why Online Works |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics | ~80% of programs | No lab, no in-person component. Online statistics courses have been the standard delivery for over a decade. |
| General Psychology | ~75% of programs | Lecture-based course with no lab. Online format is identical to in-person format in practice. |
| Abnormal or Developmental Psychology | ~50% of programs | Lecture-based; online delivery is standard at most universities. |
| Medical Terminology | ~45% required, recommended by most others | Vocabulary-based content; online format is well-suited. |
| English Composition I & II | ~80% of programs | Writing-intensive but no lab; online format is widely accepted. |
| Biochemistry (when no lab required) | ~60% of programs | Most PA programs do not require a lab component for Biochem. Online lecture is universally accepted. |
| Sociology | ~25% of programs | Lecture-based course; online delivery is the norm. |
| Nutrition | ~15% of programs | Lecture-based; online format is well-established. |
If your remaining prerequisite gaps are confined to this list, online completion is effectively a non-issue. Take them at whatever regionally accredited institution offers the best combination of price, speed, and fit. Our non-lab prerequisite catalog covers each of these with course-specific guidance.
Lab sciences are where the real anxiety lives. A&P, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry — these courses make up the bulk of every PA prerequisite list, they are heavily weighted in screening, and they are the courses where program-by-program policy variation is greatest. Here is the realistic state of online lab acceptance in the 2025–2026 application cycle.
Modern online lab sciences typically combine three components: a virtual lab simulation platform (such as Labster, McGraw-Hill Virtual Labs, or HOL Science), a physical home lab kit shipped to the student, and live or recorded video demonstrations. The home lab kit varies by course — for A&P, it includes anatomical models, microscope slides, and dissection materials; for Microbiology, it includes culturing supplies and a small incubator; for Chemistry, it includes safety equipment, reagents, and glassware.
The combined experience is more hands-on than many students expect. Lab reports, data collection, and quantitative analysis are required. The course transcripts identically to an in-person section — it appears on your official transcript as the same course code, with the same credit hours, and CASPA processes it the same way.
| Lab Science | Programs Accepting Online | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Anatomy & Physiology I & II with Lab | ~90%+ | The most-accepted online lab. Required by virtually every program and heavily weighted in screening. |
| Microbiology with Lab | ~85% | Home kits include sterile transfer, staining, and culturing. Widely accepted post-2020. |
| General Biology I & II with Lab | ~90% | Virtual simulation plus home microscopy kits. Strong acceptance. |
| General Chemistry I & II with Lab | ~85% | Home kits include titration, stoichiometry, and reagent work. Accepted at most programs. |
| Organic Chemistry I with Lab | ~75% | Lower acceptance than other labs because organic chemistry technique is harder to replicate at home. Some programs require this in person. |
| Biochemistry with Lab (rare requirement) | ~80% | Few programs require a Biochem lab specifically. When required, online versions are typically accepted. |
| Physics with Lab (rare requirement) | ~85% | Only required by a small number of programs. Home kits handle mechanics, optics, and electricity adequately. |
| Strategic implication. If you are applying broadly to 10–15 PA programs — the recommended strategy — online lab acceptance is rarely the binding constraint. Even if 10% of programs reject online labs for a specific science, the remaining 90% are more than enough to build a competitive school list. The one exception is Organic Chemistry I: if you must complete it, plan ahead to either find an online-accepting program list or take it in person at a community college. |
The percentages above are averages across all CASPA-participating programs. Your applicant strategy is not built on averages — it is built on the specific policies of the 10–15 programs you actually apply to. Every applicant should personally verify online prerequisite acceptance at each target program before enrolling in any prerequisite course. Here is how, in order of reliability.
Every ARC-PA-accredited PA program publishes a prerequisite page on its admissions website. Look specifically for language about “online,” “distance learning,” “virtual labs,” or “in-person.” Programs increasingly include explicit statements such as:
If a program’s prerequisite page does not explicitly address online coursework, the default is acceptance — programs that reject online prerequisites almost always say so explicitly because they receive too many applications from online learners. Silence on the issue means it is not a screening factor.
Most PA programs maintain an admissions FAQ separate from the main prerequisite page. This is where the most current online policy is usually documented, including any temporary or evolving language. Look for FAQ entries titled “online prerequisites,” “virtual labs,” “distance learning,” or “COVID-era coursework.”
If the published documentation is ambiguous, email is the definitive source. A short, professional message to the admissions office gets a same-week response at the vast majority of programs. Use this template:
| Subject: Online Prerequisite Acceptance QuestionDear [Program Name] Admissions Team,I am preparing to apply to your program for the 2026 CASPA cycle. I would like to confirm two policy questions before enrolling in my remaining prerequisite coursework:1. Does your program accept online prerequisite coursework completed at a regionally accredited US institution?2. Does that acceptance extend to lab sciences (specifically Anatomy & Physiology I & II, Microbiology, and General Chemistry I & II) when completed online with home lab kits?Thank you for clarifying. I appreciate the time.Best regards, [Your Name] |
Save the response. If you later apply and a program tries to reject a prerequisite they confirmed in writing, the email is your appeal.
Reddit’s r/prephysicianassistant, the Student Doctor Network’s PA forum, and the PA School Finder community all maintain crowd-sourced acceptance data. These are not authoritative — programs can and do change policies — but they are useful for triangulating against your own research. A program that is repeatedly mentioned in 2024–2025 posts as accepting online labs is unlikely to have reversed that policy by 2026.
When online prerequisites are rejected by a PA program, the cause is almost never “because it was online.” It is one of a small number of specific structural issues with the course itself. Avoid these five pitfalls and your acceptance odds rise dramatically.
The single most common rejection cause. A course taken at a nationally accredited online university — or worse, at a non-accredited certificate provider or MOOC platform — will be rejected by most PA programs regardless of how the course was delivered. Before enrolling, confirm that the institution awarding the credit is regionally accredited by one of the six accreditors listed earlier in this guide.
A course that does not appear on an official transcript from a degree-granting institution cannot be processed by CASPA. This rules out continuing education certificates, professional development units (PDUs), and most third-party MOOC offerings — including paid Coursera or edX certificates that do not award college credit. The course must transcribe.
Most PA programs require letter-graded prerequisites. A course completed pass/fail will be flagged at the screening stage and may be rejected. If a course offers a pass/fail option, always choose letter grading. The COVID-era pass/fail acceptance window has closed at most programs.
PA programs typically require 4 credit hours for science prerequisites with lab (3 lecture + 1 lab) and 3 credit hours for non-lab prerequisites. A 1-credit “survey” course or a 2-credit abbreviated version will not satisfy the requirement, online or in person. Confirm the credit hours before enrolling.
A small number of online lab courses are flagged because the lab component is entirely virtual simulation, with no home kit and no hands-on work. PA programs are increasingly willing to accept virtual simulation labs, but a course that includes home kits and physical experiments has a stronger acceptance profile. When in doubt, choose the course with a physical lab kit.
| The PrereqCourses standard. Every science course at PrereqCourses.com is delivered through Upper Iowa University — regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Every course transcribes officially. Every course is letter-graded. Every lab science includes a physical home lab kit. This is the structural profile PA programs are looking for. |
Based on published prerequisite pages and admissions FAQs at the largest CASPA-participating programs, programs fall into three broad categories. This is not a complete list — and policies change — but the patterns are stable enough to guide your school-list strategy.
These programs have explicit language on their prerequisite pages confirming that online courses, including labs, are accepted from regionally accredited institutions. This is the largest group — roughly 70–75% of all CASPA programs. Examples of programs known to fall in this category include many of the larger state university programs, several private programs that have actively recruited career changers, and most of the newer programs accredited in the past five years.
If you are unsure where to apply, start by building a school list weighted toward this category. You retain maximum flexibility on where to complete your prerequisites, and you will have a competitive application no matter how you completed them.
These programs accept online lecture coursework but require lab sciences (A&P, Microbiology, Chemistry) to be completed at a physical campus. This is a smaller but meaningful group — roughly 15–20% of programs. The list includes some highly selective programs that have not yet revised their pre-2020 policies, and a few programs concentrated in specific geographies.
If a program in this category is on your target list, plan accordingly: take your lab sciences at a local community college, and use online completion for the non-lab prerequisites (Stats, Psychology, Med Term, English Comp, Biochem). This still saves substantial time and money compared to taking everything in person.
A small minority of programs — roughly 5–10% — still require all prerequisites to be completed in a traditional, in-person format. This is most common at programs affiliated with a specific medical school or health-sciences university that has institutional reasons to maintain strict policies.
If a Category 3 program is your dream school, you have a strategic decision to make. The pragmatic answer for most applicants is to keep one or two Category 3 programs on the list as reach schools, while focusing the bulk of your application strategy on Category 1 and Category 2 programs where you can compete more efficiently.
| Don’t get hung up on Category 3. Pre-PA applicants who fixate on the small number of programs that reject online coursework often miss the larger point — there are more than 200 programs in Category 1 alone. That is far more programs than any individual applicant will apply to. Build a target list weighted toward programs that match how you actually want to complete your prerequisites. |
PrereqCourses.com is built around the exact CASPA acceptance criteria described in this guide. Every structural decision — from which university partner we use, to how courses transcribe, to whether labs are virtual or physical — is engineered to maximize prerequisite acceptance across the largest possible number of PA programs.
All PrereqCourses prerequisite coursework is delivered through Upper Iowa University — a Higher Learning Commission–accredited (regionally accredited) university with credit-bearing courses that transcribe officially. UIU has been a degree-granting institution since 1857 and is recognized by the US Department of Education. Courses appear on a standard Upper Iowa University transcript, with course codes, credit hours, and letter grades.
This accreditation profile clears the highest bar PA programs apply: regional accreditation, US institution, official transcript, letter grades, full credit hours. The same profile is what makes UIU coursework acceptable to the overwhelming majority of CASPA-participating programs.
Lab sciences at PrereqCourses include three components designed to satisfy PA program lab requirements:
The combined lab experience is hands-on, documented, and structurally equivalent to a traditional university lab from a transcript perspective.
PrereqCourses uses rolling enrollment with rolling completion. You can start any course on any day. You can finish in six to ten weeks if you work intensively, or take the full sixteen-week term if you need more time. This pace lets pre-PA applicants compress prerequisite completion into a fraction of the time a traditional academic calendar would require — without changing what appears on the official transcript.
Not from your transcript. CASPA does not annotate online vs. in-person coursework, and the transcript itself does not distinguish them. Programs that wish to know this must ask explicitly on a supplemental application, and the percentage of programs that ask has been falling for several years. Many programs do not ask at all.
Yes. Online A&P I and A&P II with home lab kits are accepted by approximately 90%+ of CASPA-participating PA programs when taken at a regionally accredited US institution. A&P is the most-accepted online lab science and is required by virtually every PA program.
It depends on the program. Roughly 75% of PA programs accept online Organic Chemistry I with lab — lower than the acceptance rate for A&P or Microbiology because organic chemistry technique is harder to replicate at home. If you must complete Orgo, build your school list with this in mind, or plan to complete it at a community college if your top-choice programs are in the rejecting minority.
Regional accreditation is the higher-tier credential granted by six US Department of Education–recognized bodies (HLC, MSCHE, NECHE, NWCCU, SACSCOC, WSCUC). National accreditation is a lower-tier credential typically used by for-profit and trade institutions. PA programs require regional accreditation for prerequisite coursework. National accreditation is not sufficient for most programs.
No, not for credit-bearing prerequisite coursework. MOOCs that offer certificates without college credit cannot be processed by CASPA because they do not appear on an official transcript. The exception is a small number of MOOCs that partner with universities to award actual college credit — these are acceptable when the partner university is regionally accredited and the credit appears on an official transcript.
Yes, at the overwhelming majority of programs. Home lab kits have become the standard online lab format, and PA programs have formally updated their policies to accept them. A small minority of programs (Category 3 in this guide) still require physical-campus labs. Verify your target programs before enrolling.
Yes, the majority do — and online prerequisites from a regionally accredited four-year university like Upper Iowa University are typically accepted at programs that also accept community college coursework. A minority of programs (the most competitive 25–30) prefer prerequisites from a four-year institution, which is one reason the four-year online option is strategically advantageous.
Yes. Many successful applicants take their lab sciences at one institution and their non-lab prerequisites at another, or split coursework between an online provider and a local community college. CASPA processes coursework from multiple institutions without any disadvantage.
This is uncommon when you have verified acceptance in writing in advance. If it does happen, three options exist: (1) provide the email confirmation you received and appeal the decision, (2) take the rejected course in person at a community college if time permits, or (3) reweight your application toward programs that did accept the coursework. This is why upfront verification matters so much.
Substantially faster, for two reasons. First, self-paced enrollment means you can start any day and finish in six to ten weeks rather than waiting for a 16-week semester. Second, you can take courses sequentially without summer breaks or scheduling conflicts. A career changer completing the full science prerequisite stack can compress 24–36 months of traditional coursework into 12 months of self-paced online work.
The question “can you take PA school prerequisites online?” has a clear, evidence-based answer in 2026: yes, including labs, at the overwhelming majority of PA programs. The remaining anxiety in the pre-PA community is largely a holdover from pre-2020 policies that no longer reflect program practice.
The real strategic questions for applicants are not whether online prerequisites are acceptable, but: (1) does the specific institution awarding the credit hold regional accreditation, (2) does the course transcribe officially with letter grades and full credit hours, (3) does the lab include genuine hands-on work, and (4) have you verified acceptance with your specific target programs in writing. Get these four right and online prerequisite completion is not a compromise — it is a strategic advantage that gets you to CASPA-ready in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional alternatives.
For a complete map of what PA programs require, how CASPA evaluates your application, and how to time your prerequisite work to your application cycle, see our pillar guide on online PA school prerequisites.
| Ready to start? All PA school prerequisite courses at PrereqCourses.com are delivered through Upper Iowa University — regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with lab kits included, letter grading, and official transcripts. Most courses can be started today and completed in six to ten weeks. |
Not sure which courses your specific PA programs require? Speak with an academic advisor — we’ll pull your transcript, build your target school list, and map a course-by-course path through your remaining prerequisites.
