PAEA Releases Student Report 6
As the leading authority on PA education research and data, PAEA regularly publishes findings from research surveys of students and programs. In keeping with this tradition, PAEA has released Student Report 6: By the Numbers | Data from the 2022 Matriculating Student and End of Program Surveys.
This report summarizes data from PAEA’s two cross-sectional student surveys, the Matriculating Student Survey and the End of Program Survey, which are administered on a rolling basis to all programs who sat or graduated a class, respectively, in a calendar year. Here are a few interesting findings from this report, but please see the full report for more insights!
Copies of each survey, in their entirety, can be found here.
Growth in URiM Matriculants and Graduates
Over the last three Student Reports, there has been a noticeable increase in the proportion of PA program matriculants and graduates who identify as underrepresented in medicine (URiM, please visit the AAMC’s website for how URiM is defined). For matriculating students, the percentage of individuals identifying as URiM increased to 27.4% in 2022, up from 14.0% in 2020. Similarly, the percentage of students identifying as URiM increased from 10.4% in 2020 to 21.4% in 2022.
Why Students Are Choosing PA School
Since the Matriculating Student Survey started in 2016, “Desire to care for patients,” “Mobility within PA specialties,” and “Work-life balance” have remained atop the reasons for why students chose to enter PA school. Over the years, “Mobility” and “Work-life balance” have jostled for the second spot, but “Patient care” has sustained its #1 spot over the six years’ worth of data. In fact, it saw its highest mark yet in the 2022 data, with 91.6% of matriculating students citing it as a reason for becoming a PA.
Life After PA School
And finally, in which specialties are graduates looking to practice after graduating? Graduating students were asked to rate the desirability of practicing in different specialties. The table below shows the top five specialties based on the percentage of graduates rating that specialty as “Desirable.” Student Report 6 saw Family Medicine move into the top five, narrowly edging out Inpatient Specialties, with Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine Specialties, Surgical Specialties, and Primary Care remaining in the top five from the previous report.
| Specialty | Percentage of Graduates Reporting the Specialty as “Desirable” |
|---|---|
| Emergency Medicine | 58.4% |
| Internal Medicine Specialties | 54.2% |
| Surgical Specialties | 53.6% |
| Primary Care | 50.1% |
| Family Medicine | 47.3% |
Learn More
These data, and much more, can be found in Student Report 6: By the Numbers | Data from the 2022 Matriculating Student and End of Program Surveys.
