Questions to Ask at a PA School Interview

Questions to Ask at a PA School Interview

Ask about how the program's policies work in practice, not about numbers it already has to publish. ARC-PA's accreditation standards require every PA program to publish its five-year PANCE pass-rate report, graduation rate, total cost estimate and accreditation status. Asking for those tells the interviewer you did not read the website.

The standards also require programs to publish policies on remediation, deceleration, student employment and travel to rotation sites. A policy tells you the rule. Only the people in the room can tell you how often it is used and what it feels like. That is where your questions go.

The ARC-PA standards quoted below are the Sixth Edition, which ARC-PA's standards page says is "effective as of September 1, 2025"; both were checked on November 7, 2026.

What you can already read before the interview

Standard A3.11 of the ARC-PA Accreditation Standards, Sixth Edition says: "The program publishes and makes readily available to enrolled and prospective students current program information, including:" and then lists the items below.

Standard A3.12 adds admission practices, including "favored or preferred characteristics, individuals, or groups (if applicable)" and "required work experience." So "what are you looking for in an applicant?" is answered on the site too.

What this looks like on a real site: West Chester University's PA program has separate PANCE Pass Rates, Graduation Rate and Accreditation Information pages. Its graduation table shows the Class of 2025 entered with 27 students and graduated 26, a 96.3% graduation rate. A candidate who asks West Chester for its attrition rate is asking for a number on a page linked from the program's own menu.

The policies that need a person to explain them

Standard A3.14 says the program "publishes, consistently applies, and makes readily available to enrolled and prospective students" a list that includes:

c) policies and procedures for remediation d) policies and procedures for deceleration e) policies and procedures for withdrawal … i) policy for student employment while enrolled in the program j) policy for student travel to required rotation sites

Each of those is a rule on paper. Your questions turn the rule into a picture of what happens to a student who needs it.

Our view: every question you ask should pass one test: could you have answered it from the program's website in ten minutes? If yes, cut it. If no, and the answer would change whether you rank the program first, keep it.

The countercase: if the program's site is thin or hard to navigate, asking where to find the PANCE report or cost estimate is a fair logistics question for the admissions coordinator. Ask it by email before the day, not of a faculty interviewer.

Questions for faculty

Two constructed lists follow, written by us for this guide. They are not from any program's interview materials. Each question is tied to a standard, so you know what written policy sits behind it.

Constructed list: six questions for faculty

1. "How are clinical rotation sites assigned, and how much say does a student have?" A3.14(j) makes them publish a travel policy, not how placements are chosen.
2. "When a student fails an exam in the didactic year, what happens in the first week after?" This asks for the remediation process (A3.14c) as a sequence, which shows how fast support starts.
3. "How often has a student decelerated in the last few cohorts, and how did the program support them?" The deceleration policy (A3.14d) says what is allowed; this asks whether it is used.
4. "What does a preceptor do if a student is struggling on a rotation?" It tests whether the program's clinical-year support matches its didactic-year support.
5. "What has changed in the curriculum in the last two years, and why?" It shows how the program responds to its own outcome data, which A3.11(b) makes it publish as "evidence of its effectiveness in meeting its goals".
6. "Which part of your program do current students find hardest?" Faculty who answer this plainly are telling you something about the culture.

Questions for current students

Students know what the policies feel like. Ask them on the tour or at the student panel, which PAEA's guide for programs treats as part of interview day: it tells programs the day lets them evaluate how you interact with students, faculty and staff.

Constructed list: six questions for current students

7. "How far did you travel for your rotations, and who paid for housing?" The travel policy (A3.14j) gives the rule; students give the miles.
8. "Does anyone in your class work during the program? Is that realistic?" The program publishes a student employment policy (A3.14i). This asks whether anyone can actually do it.
9. "When you struggled in a course, who did you go to first?" It tells you who remediation really runs through.
10. "What is a normal weekday in the didactic year, start to finish?" The standards do not make programs publish this.
11. "What do you wish you had known before you started?" It asks for the thing no page on the program's site covers.
12. "If you could change one thing about the program, what would it be?" Listen for whether the answer is about logistics or about people.

Questions to skip

• Anything on the A3.11 list: PANCE, graduation rate, cost, accreditation status, curriculum outline.
• "What are you looking for in an applicant?" A3.12 makes them publish much of it.
• "How did I do?" or "When will I hear back?" Neither belongs in the interview. Decision timing goes to the admissions office; for that, read the program's own timeline.
• Questions about prerequisites or deadlines for your file. CASPA's customer service page sends those to programs, but the coordinator is the person to email, not your interviewer.

Turning answers into a decision

Write the answers down the same evening, with the names of the people who gave them (you need those for the PA school interview thank-you email), in the same five rows for every program:

Those notes do two jobs. They feed the comparison in our guide to choosing between PA schools. And the "one sentence" row is the specific, first-hand reason a later letter of intent needs. A constructed line, written by us: "Your second-year students told me the rural rotation is the one they would not give up" is a reason no other applicant can write.

If you are still writing secondaries, the same research belongs in your why this program essay. For the rest of the day, see what to expect on PA school interview day and the PA school interview questions you will be asked.

Questions about asking questions at a PA interview

How many questions should I ask at a PA school interview?

Two or three per interviewer, prepared in advance, with more for the student panel. Neither ARC-PA's standards nor the program pages quoted here set a number.

Is it bad to ask about PANCE pass rates?

Asking for the rate itself suggests you did not read the site, because ARC-PA requires programs to publish it. Asking what the program changed after a weaker year is a real question.

What should I ask current PA students on interview day?

Rotation travel, working during the program, who helps when you struggle, and what a normal day looks like. Those are the things policies cannot show.

Is it okay to have no questions?

Better to have two. "You answered my questions during the presentation" is honest, but it wastes your one chance to learn what the website cannot tell you.

Review the writing you send next

The answers you collect are the raw material for the letter you send after the interview. Get a free Quick Review of your letter of intent against GradPilot's medical school letter of intent and interest rubric, the closest fit for a PA letter: it checks whether the letter ties a feature of the program to your own reason for attending. For a program secondary that is still open, the PA why this program rubric checks whether your answer names something this program in particular does; for news since you applied, use the update letter rubric.

More PA and medical guides are in the medical and health school essays hub. Expect them to ask you questions about the PA profession too.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• ARC-PA, Accreditation Standards for PA Education, Sixth Edition (first published August 18, 2025; effective September 1, 2025): Standards A3.11, A3.12 and A3.14.
• ARC-PA, Entry Level Accreditation Standards page: Sixth Edition effective date.
• West Chester University, PANCE Pass Rates, Graduation Rate and Accreditation Information: an example of A3.11 items on a program site; Class of 2025 graduation table.
• PAEA, PA Program Admissions Resource (2023, written for programs): interview day and student interaction.
• CASPA Applicant Help Center (Liaison), CASPA Customer Service (modified September 23, 2026): questions that go to programs.