New physician student school ranking system puts CMU at No. 4 nationwide
A new ranking system has put the Central Michigan University Physician Assistant Program at No. 4 in the country.
CMU was ranked No. 49 in 2007 by U.S. News & World Report, which previously was the only system that ranked PA schools.
“The old ranking was done by a report that everyone takes as legitimate,” said Clint Fitzpatrick, director of admissions and enrollment management for the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions. “But a lot of people don’t scratch the surface and find out how subjective that ranking system is.”
The new ranking system published in The Journal of Physician Assistant Education is based on first-time pass rates of the national certification exam, student-to-faculty ratio and other factors.
“I wasn’t considering CMU for PA school, but now that I know they’re ranked so high I’m definitely going to look into it more,” said Allen Park freshman Woodrow Holder.
The article that proposed the new ranking system asserted the research was reproducible.
“We’re one of the few programs that’s not associated with a medical school, so this is a pretty big honor,” said Dr. Ahmad Hakemi, professor and director of the CMU PA program.
CMU takes 45 PA students a year, and has had a first-time pass rate for the national certification exams of almost 100 percent.
“Most programs can do that with 20 students, but we have a larger program,” Hakemi said.
One of the reasons for CMU’s success, Hakemi said, was because of the mediation program for students. Most PA programs will simply kick a student out if they fail a class, but CMU does not.
“In the five years I’ve been here I’ve only seen three people not make it for the program,” Fitzpatrick said.
CMU also brings in adjunct professors from all over Michigan to teach. Professors come from Michigan State University and Grand Rapids to teach for CMU, Hakemi said.
“It kind of blew my mind when this came out because most of these schools are heavy hitters, and we’re a home-grown program and competing with the big boys,” Fitzpatrick said.
