Accepted to PA School: Next Steps Before You Start

Accepted to PA School: Next Steps Before You Start

Your offer is conditional. Before you start, expect to clear a seat deposit (324 of 333 programs in PAEA's directory list one), a background check, any outstanding prerequisites, immunizations and health screening and final transcripts. The CASPA agreement adds two clocks: ten business days to report a new conviction, and five calendar days after you matriculate to withdraw everywhere else.

Programs publish their conditions, and the offer letter lists them, but the two CASPA clocks sit in an agreement you clicked through months ago. They bind you whether or not the program mentions them. This page puts the whole list in order, with the source for each item, a constructed timeline from offer to orientation, and what to do about other offers and waitlists.

The CASPA, PAEA and ARC-PA pages quoted below were checked on November 7, 2026. Your program's offer letter and onboarding checklist set your exact dates.

On this page: Reply and deposit: your first deadline · Background check: the Certiphi email and the ten-day rule · Outstanding requirements · Immunizations and health screening · The rest of the onboarding list · Releasing other seats and offers · Deferral · Constructed example: offer to orientation · Questions about accepted PA students

Reply and deposit: your first deadline

PAEA's CASPA Admissions Code of Cooperation asks programs to allow "at least two weeks to reply for acceptance" and asks applicants to answer offers "in a timely and considerate manner." Your offer letter gives the exact date.

PAEA's Program Directory shows each program's deposit terms. On November 7, 2026, 324 of 333 program pages said a seat deposit is required and 312 said it is not refundable; the 324 amounts ran from $100 to $2,000, with a median of $1,000 (our count). Programs supply these fields to PAEA themselves, so read the refund terms in your offer before you pay. Our PA school seat deposit guide covers amounts and refund rules.

If you are still deciding between two offers, do that first: choosing between PA schools lists the data every program must publish.

Background check: the Certiphi email and the ten-day rule

CASPA's background checks page says: "Some programs require applicant background checks prior to acceptance, while others require these checks as a condition of matriculation." For programs that use CASPA's service: "If you receive an offer of admission from a CBC participating program, Certiphi Screening will email you with instructions on how to complete the background check process. Receipt of this email indicates that the CBC is required as part of your acceptance to the program."

Watch for that email after an offer, including in spam, and start it the day it arrives. CASPA also says what the check can show: "all prior convictions, guilty pleas, city ordinance citations (such as public intoxication), illegal possession(s) including possession of alcohol under the legal age, payments of fines (including those for traffic violations), and in some cases, prior records thought to have been expunged."

The rule your offer letter may not mention is section 24 of the 2026-2027 CASPA Applicant Agreement (last updated January 22, 2026):

"For each PA program to which I apply that requires me to provide criminal background history information, if I am convicted of or plead guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor or felony criminal offense after I submit my application, I will notify the program within ten (10) business days."

It applies from submission, not from acceptance, so it covers the months between your offer and your first day. Section 25 adds that after matriculating you "may be required to provide criminal background history information and/or submit to a criminal history check (a) as a condition of my participation in rotations and clinical practice experiences required for graduation from my program, and (b) as a condition of licensure as a PA under applicable state law."

Outstanding requirements

PAEA's PA Program Admissions Resource (2023, written for programs) advises programs that admit candidates with outstanding requirements "to have them sign a form acknowledging what requirements are pending and when those requirements must be completed." Its list:

• "Outstanding bachelor's degree"
• "Prerequisite course(s)"
• "Health care certifications such as Basic Life Support"
• "Experiential requirements"
• "Background checks"
• "Health screening requirements"
• "Receipt of official transcripts, if required by the institution"

Two fields on each PAEA Directory page show how a program handles this. On November 7, 2026, "Outstanding pre-requisites must be completed in the following time frame" read "At any point prior to matriculation" on 116 of 333 pages and "No information provided" on 67. The other 150 gave their own wording, 142 of them a date or a window, ranging from "By the application deadline" to "June 1, 2027". "Maximum number of outstanding prerequisites allowed" gave a number on 192 pages, most often 2 (105 pages) (our count).

Our view: treat every outstanding item as a deadline with your name on it, not as paperwork. Put the program's date for each one in your calendar the day you accept, and finish the last prerequisite before the program's cut-off, not on it. A grade that posts late is a missing requirement until the transcript arrives. The countercase: if the program confirms in writing that an item can be completed after orientation, follow its date instead.

Immunizations and health screening

ARC-PA's 6th-edition Standards (PDF, effective September 1, 2025) require in A3.09 that every program "publishes, makes readily available to current and prospective students, and consistently applies policies based on current CDC health professionals' recommendations and applicable state or country mandates for: a) minimum immunization and health screening of students". A3.16 requires the student record to document "that the student met the institution and program health screening and immunization requirements".

So the list is written down. Ask the program for its A3.09 policy if the offer letter does not attach it. Start the items on it as soon as you have the list.

The rest of the onboarding list

PAEA's resource lists "common requirements" programs track before matriculation, including:

• "Student background check"
• "Tracking of required coursework/training that must be completed prior to matriculation"
• "Final degree conferral transcripts received"
• "Health screening, health insurance, and immunization requirements"
• "Review of the technical Standards and student handbook"
• "Pre-matriculation study or reading requirements"
• "Required institutional training (e.g., HIPAA, safety, etc.)"

It also tells programs to make consequences clear, which "could range from retraction of admission to delaying of financial aid to delayed access to course information".

Releasing other seats and offers

Once you accept, PAEA's agreement makes your choice visible. Section 22: "PAEA will disclose my matriculation status to all PA programs to which I have applied to via CASPA." Section 23: for each program that offers you a seat, PAEA discloses "the number of acceptances I have received from other PA programs (without identifying those programs) and whether I have accepted an offer at any other PA program that participates in CASPA".

Section 20 sets the deadline for everything still open: "Within five (5) calendar days of matriculation at a PA program to which I have been admitted, I must notify all other designated programs for which my application is still under consideration that I no longer wish to be considered for admission to their program."

Our recommendation: do not wait for matriculation. Release seats you will not take as soon as you deposit, because the program can then offer your seat to someone on its alternate list. Use a short, plain decline or withdrawal email.

If you are accepted at one program but on the alternate list at your first choice, keep the first-choice application open, send that program one letter of continued interest, and decide the day it answers. PA school waitlist and alternate status explains how alternate lists work.

Deferral

Deferral is the program's decision. PAEA's resource says programs "may consider allowing deferred admission for such reasons as military deployment, personal or family hardship, or medical issues", may ask you to sign "a deferment letter outlining specific terms of deferral", and may collect updated materials such as a background check, an "updated acceptance letter, and an additional deposit to hold one's seat". Programs that grant one must tell PAEA: "Any time a deferral has been granted, programs are required to notify PAEA". Ask in writing, give the reason, and get the terms in writing.

Constructed example: offer to orientation

Constructed example, written by us. The applicant, program and dates are invented.

Context (invented): Noor Abernethy receives an offer on December 1 from "Sable Ridge University" for a class starting in late May. One prerequisite, Biochemistry, is in progress.

Noor had no new criminal matter, so section 24 never applied. If one had come up in March, she would have had ten business days to tell the program.

Questions about accepted PA students

What should I do right after getting accepted to PA school?

Read the offer letter for the reply date and every condition, then accept, pay the deposit and start the background check and immunizations. Release other offers once you have deposited.

Do PA schools do background checks after acceptance?

Some do it before acceptance and some as a condition of matriculation, per CASPA. Programs using CASPA's service send the check through Certiphi Screening after an offer.

Can a PA school rescind an acceptance?

Yes. PAEA's resource lists "retraction of admission" among the possible consequences of missing onboarding requirements, and section 24 of the CASPA agreement lets programs reconsider an applicant's status after a new criminal matter.

Do I have to withdraw from other PA schools after accepting?

Yes, by matriculation at the latest. Section 20 of the CASPA agreement gives you five calendar days after you matriculate to notify every other program still considering you.

Can I defer my PA school acceptance?

Only if your program agrees. PAEA's resource says programs "may consider" deferral for reasons such as military deployment, hardship or medical issues, and may require an additional deposit.

Review the writing you send next

The one letter this stage can call for goes to a first-choice program that still has you on its alternate list, and it goes once. Get a free Quick Review of your letter of intent against GradPilot's letter of intent and interest rubric, the closest fit for a PA letter: it checks that the letter ties a named feature of that program to your reason for wanting it, and that the commitment you state matches what you can keep now that you hold another seat.

Starting at a newer program? See PA school provisional accreditation. More guides are in our medical school essays hub. Final grades for terms you listed as in progress go in through the CASPA update after submitting steps.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• PAEA, CASPA Admissions Code of Cooperation: reply window, applicant responsibilities.
• PAEA, 2026-2027 CASPA Applicant User Agreement and Release (last updated January 22, 2026): sections 20, 22, 23, 24 and 25.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center, CASPA Background Checks: timing, Certiphi Screening, what checks show.
• PAEA, PA Program Admissions Resource (2023, written for programs): outstanding requirements, onboarding, deferral.
• ARC-PA, Accreditation Standards for PA Education, 6th edition (effective September 1, 2025): A3.09 and A3.16.
• PAEA, Program Directory (2026-2027 cycle; 333 program pages read November 7, 2026; self-reported by programs): deposit and outstanding-prerequisite fields (our count).