University of South Dakota campus

Health Sciences

MS Physician Assistant Studies at University of South Dakota

University of South Dakota, United States

Programme overview

A 24-month master's programme on the Vermillion campus with a 12-month didactic phase followed by 12 months of supervised clinical rotations. It has been ARC-PA accredited since 1995 and is the only accredited PA programme in South Dakota.

Faculty: School of Health Sciences  |  Department: Physician Assistant Studies  |  Duration: 24 months  |  Study mode: full-time  |  Location: Vermillion, SD, United States

What you will study

Classroom study in the first year, then clinical rotations in areas such as family medicine, surgery and emergency medicine.

Career pathways

Graduates report 100% job placement, many in South Dakota's rural areas, and a 93% first-time PANCE pass rate over five years.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Applications go through CASPA; international applicants have additional requirements.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Graduate programmes admit for Fall and Spring terms; some programmes do not admit for the spring term and some have earlier deadlines (see the graduate catalog per programme).

Entry terms for international applicants: Spring 2027 classes start January 11, 2027 (new student arrival deadline January 10); Fall 2027 classes start August 23 (new student arrival deadline August 20).

International graduate applicants, Spring 2027: December 5 for MAcc, MBA and MS Business Analytics, and December 5 for MS AI and Computer Science. Fall 2027: July 15 for MS AI and Computer Science and August 1 for MAcc, MBA and MS Business Analytics. Other programmes have deadlines listed in the graduate catalog.

Graduate applications go through the USD Graduate Application or GradCAS; Audiology, Speech Language Pathology, Law, Medical, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies and Social Work use specialty CAS applications. Application deadlines are set per programme in the Graduate Catalog and are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The graduate application fee cannot be waived or deferred and is non-refundable.

Law (JD): applications open September 1 for the next year's admission; applicants apply through LSAC CAS and must submit the LSAT, GRE or JD Next. June LSAT scores are accepted for the same year if the application is submitted by July 1. Out-of-state applicants scoring 150+ on the LSAT receive in-state tuition.

Apply through the official page: https://www.usd.edu/Admissions-and-Aid/Apply

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