New Students

The Arcadia University Department of Medical Science has a history of success in educating compassionate and highly qualified medical professionals who are lifelong learners. We are invested in creating a diverse, learner-centered, collaborative environment. We maintain this mission by meeting our Program values and goals.

Our Physician Assistant Program is committed to fostering resilience in an increasingly complex and interrelated global society. We prepare our students to excel in professionalism, leadership, and service.

(A3.12h)

The Glenside campus is the historic home of Arcadia University and serves both undergraduate and graduate students. The Physician Assistant (PA) program is located in Brubaker Hall, which offers dedicated classrooms, laboratory space, virtual dissection technology, offices and a student resource room. Students at the Glenside campus have access to student services on the campus, including the Landman Library. The PA program faculty is based at each respective campus, but the faculty share teaching and course responsibilities at both campuses.

Both the Glenside and Christiana campuses follow the same curriculum. Combined, the two campuses offer the resources and advantages of a large program with the personal attention of smaller classes. Human cadaver prosection in the anatomy lab takes place on the Glenside campus. Students from the Christiana campus are scheduled to attend anatomy lab during the summer semester.

The Arcadia University Department of Medical Science opened a campus in Christiana in the fall of 2006. The Christiana Campus resides in a professional office complex in the growing Newark area and provides a different learning environment. The campus includes classrooms and laboratory spaces, virtual dissection technology, a Student Center, offices and meeting rooms. The Christiana students are provided access to the University of Delaware library facilities and Athletic and Recreational Center located 15 minutes from campus. Students at the Christiana campus will be required to travel 4-5 times in the summer semester to attend the anatomy prosection labs.

(A3.07) Every full-time student at Arcadia University is required to fill out health forms before the start of class to be in compliance with University Policy. More information and instructions.

(A3.15e) Due to the intensity of the PA program, students are discouraged from outside employment while enrolled in the PA program. Employment during this program makes it difficult to have time for social activities, hobbies, and recreational activities, and rest. Students are prohibited from applying compensated clinical experience toward academic credit. 

(A3.05) Additionally, students may not provide services within a preceptor’s practice apart from those rendered as part of the clinical year of the program. Students are not permitted to have clerical or teaching responsibilities within the PA program. Students may not receive compensation for any work performed within the preceptor’s site or practice.

This Student Handbook is the University’s official notification of its policies, rules, regulations, and standards of conduct and applies to all students including those visiting or auditing courses. The Student Handbook also contains student rights and responsibilities along with campus services and resources. Students are responsible for knowing and understanding the contents of this handbook. Enrollment is considered as acceptance of all conditions specified in this handbook. Students should also familiarize themselves with all the University Policies located in the Policy Library.

The policies, rules, regulations, and standards of conduct are under continual examination and revision and the University reserves the right to change them at any time as may be necessary for the interest of the University. This handbook merely presents the information in effect at the time of publication; it is not a contract and does not guarantee that the materials contained within it will not change. The University also reserves the right to modify or discontinue any of the services, programs, or activities described in this handbook. Changes to the handbook apply to prospective students and students currently enrolled.

This handbook remains in force and effect in between terms of the academic year and during holidays and other periods of the academic year when classes are not in session.

The Policy Library serves as the official, centralized depository for all university policies. All officially approved policies having institution-wide applications throughout the university community (those generally pertaining to more than one division or department) will be contained within this library.

The most current version of a policy will be found here. Any copies (print or online) of policies that are inconsistent with the official version found in this library should be disregarded. 

To maintain an organized system of change control and to ensure consistency throughout the university, individual departmental websites should not contain separate copies or versions of university policies or applicable procedures. Instead, departmental web pages that reference university policies and procedures must use hyperlinks to the web pages and/or documents in the Policy Library.

Policies are organized by category and alphabetical order. Related procedures, if any, are linked to the applicable policy.

All students enrolled in Arcadia University’s PA program (both campuses) have access to an extensive array of online full-text medical journals and textbooks through Landman Library.

Students are required to bring their own laptop computer to all classes. Specifics for computer recommendations are available from Arcadia’s information technology resources.