Our Mission
“ As I went through this program – the way that it’ s structured and the staff that it has – to me it was inevitably going to yield a positive outcome,” Dorneval said.“ What I was seeing, how I was doing – how faculty and staff cared, always made time to speak to me and treated me with a high level of respect – all of these things aligning, God wouldn’ t have put me on this track if it wasn’ t positive.
“ I had high confidence that we were going to be accredited.”
So did his classmate Hannah Cotton. The Quincy native, who earned undergraduate and master’ s degrees at a private Christian school in Tennessee, chose to return home despite the probation status.
“ Everything about the classes and clinical structure that I was looking for in a school checked out for me,” Cotton said.“ The benefits far outweighed the accreditation question.”
That’ s not to say there wasn’ t a range of emotions that accompanied the October news.
“ I felt very proud of our program because I know our faculty and staff worked so hard to get that accreditation status,” Cotton said.“ It was so exciting, not so much for me personally, but just for the people that I care about who have poured into me over the last two-and-a-half years.”
Smith’ s confidence never wavered:
“ It is an exceptional program. It provides tremendous preparation for the next generation of physician assistants. The achievement of
Program Director and Associate Dean Ben Smith applauds the PA Class of 2024 graduates.
Continued-Accreditation is an indication of who we are. The support and comments from the students are representative of who we are.”
Not only did the Class of 2024 flourish as the program was under the ARC-PAs microscope, the program also continued to grow in strength.
The currently enrolled classes of 2025 and 2026 drew 1,834 and 1,954 total applicants, respectively, the two largest totals in the program’ s history. Their members also rank among the highest in terms of academic achievement, based on average math, science and cumulative grade-point averages and verbal and quantitative GRE averages.
“ Over time, the process to get into the FSU PA School has become increasingly competitive,” Smith said.“ That’ s happened because of the way alumni, faculty and staff are representing the program.
Florida State University College of Medicine
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A REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY